PRINTER AND PUBLISHER

What is the Job Worth?
By John M. Imrie
L AST month a printer in a Canadian city of
about 16,000 secured a large catalogue order
from a local manufacturer. The composition
and presswork he did himself, but lack of proper
equipmient forced him to send the printed sheets to
a neighboring metropolis to be bound in the cloth
cases for which the order called. Accustomed to the
"shopping" habits of his customers he asked three
establishments to subnmit tenders on the work. One
of these-one of the largest bookbinding establish-
ments in Canada-quoted $536. The other firms
were printers and bookbinders, each employing up-
wards of 100 hands. One put in a price of $334:
the other was eager for the work at $165. The three
written tenders were submitted to Printer anrd Pub-
lisher as proof of the accuracy of the printer's con-
tention that tie printers of the larger cities should
conduct more aggressively campaigns of cost educa-
tion in their own constituencies.
It is much easier to poinlt oilt the weeds in an-
other's garden than to dig up the ones in our own.
Many country printers insist that most price-cutters
reside in the cities: on the other hand many city
printers contend that the low prices obtaining in
surrounding towns are the greatest obstacles in the
way of improved price conditions in the cities. To
meet the objections of members of both camps I
carry on memory's finger tips a number of price-
cutting stories "taken from real life." When the
large city printer talks about the weeds in the gar-
den of his country confrere I repeat such a story as
the one used in the opening paragraph of this talk.
But I have also stories with which to answer the
town or small city printers whlo believe that life
would be a perpetual paradise but for the incuirsions
of the citv price-cutter. The manager of the Berlin
Telegraph Printing Co., Limited, vouches for the ac-
cuarace of one I have just added to nmv collection.
The Collegiate and Technical Institute of Berlin,
Ont., asked three local houses for prices on 400 cosm-
mencement programs, the work to be identical with
that supplied the previous year. There were 4 pages
and a cover, all on deckle edge stock, the inside in
green ink (on one side of the paper only), the cover
in green ink and gold bronze. The binding was to be
done by the customer. The schoolmaster would read
in the following order, the prices which were submit-
ted-$12.00; $17.50; $18.00. HTe would consider
the $12.00 price to be the right one because it was the
lowest. I would reverse the order and increase the
highest price by one dollar, for to nue it seems as
though the following prices are fair in the light of
conditions existing in Berlin and similar places in
Ontario:
Composition-
Inslide, four pages ............................$ 7.20
Cover, two pages .. ............................. 1.60
Lock-up-
One 4-pp. form ................ ................. 40
Two 2-pp. forms ...................... . .. ....... 40
Make-ready-
One 4-pp. form, including wash-up for green... .40
Two 2-pp. forms, Including wash-up for gold size .00
Running-
One 4-pp. and one 2-pp. forms, green ink, 400
ilmpressions each ....... 80
One 2-pp. form, gold, ineluding bronzing, dust-
tng and bronze ...... ............... .....* . 2,25

Ink ...................................... .20
Stock ......................................... 500
$18.85
The publisher of the Carp (Ont.) Review asks
Printei and Publisher's opinion as to the priee of
500 copies of a telephone directory, size 6 inches x
83/4 inches, 14 pages anld cover. Here it is, Mr.
Evoy:-
Composition-
13 pages 10-It., 51 ems x 29 eins=22,500 ems,
@ 90 cents= ..o............ ............ 0.2
Cover and title-page ...... ............ .. 280
Lock-up (run iu 2-pp. forms)--
Eight 2-pp. form .............................. 1.60
Make-ready, eight 2-pp. fors .................... 1.60
Runniing time, eiglt 2-pp. fornls, 5 i.Ip,ressiml
each ....... .......... 4.00
Ink .. .... ..... ....15
Bilnding .......................................... 2.00
Stock and cutting ........... ....................... 2.75
$03.15
A merchant ini Barrie, Ont., gets out an 8 pp.
81l/ inch x 11 inch circular printed on 40 Il. pro-
gram paper. J. A. MacLaren, of the Barrie Exam-
ii?er, sublmits a copy of the circular for a price. I
swould qiote $40.60, made 1up 1as follows:-
Composition, 8 pages, 30 hoirs ... _... ..............24.00
Lock-up, four 2-pp. forms (rules around page) .... 1.e0
Make-ready, four 2L-pl. forms ...................... . 1.00
Rting time. four 2-pp. forrlls, 1.100 Impressions
each ................. ........................ f0
Iltk ............. ....... ....................... ..40
Binding .... ....................................... 2.60
Stock ............................................. 4.00
$4000
Mr. MacLaren also siibrhiits a bread ticket, size
3 inch x 5%1 inch, aind asks a price oni 5;000 copies
printed two-ulp. I would consider $11.00 a fair price
for this job.
Composition, two-up ....... ...........; . 3.20
Lock-up of type and perforating rules, two for..s .40
M ake-ready ... ............ ........... ................ 2
IRunning tiiie, t-o forms, 2.500 imrpressions each... 4.e0
Ink ................ ...... 10
Stoek (150-11). ttig) ndl t( ticg .... 2.0
$11.00
At the Ontari?o Bar Association Batnquet in Tor-
onto, on December 29, Jllstice Iidldell paid a warm
tribute to journalismi ainld to the power of the press
as an ally of the law. This power has been officially
recogniized by the I)oominion, Provincial and local
police and the active co-operation of the press has
frequently been sonightl and granted. Last month
the newspapers were asked to assist the Ontario police
in the discovery of a man ncamed Mcintosh who was
in hiding to evade arrest. What was supposed to be
his photograph was supplied to certain newspapers
by the Ontario authorities and reproduced at their
request. It turned out afterwards that the photo-
graph was not that of the criminal but of a brother
who closelv resembled hir. The latter has entered
suit against tie newispapers for libel, and under the
existins libel law the .lsuit Iay possibly le silu:cssfill.
The tribiite of Justice Riddell and the thanks of the
police for pasit assistance will not avail the news-
papers in their hour of need, save only as' they will
emphasize the unfairness of the present law and
assist in seeuring a proper amendment thereto.

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