PRINTER AND PUBLISHER

Making the Printing Business Profitable
It would appear that the International Cost Com-
mission has put cost-finding on a sure basis, and
that nothing now remains to do but to put in
practice the systema recon-mended.
To know the cost of manufacture is the first
essential to business prosperity. Such kniowledge is
a sure foundation upon which to build. A cost svs-
tem alone can give stulc knowledge.
But, after all, this is mere bookkeeping, and
bookkeepers do not bilild businesses, nor do they
make profits.
Two things reinain to be considered by the lhead
of a printing busilness: (1) Courage to charge a
reasoniable profit and (2) management to keep costs
down.
If you charge according to the cost system, you
cosrle out whole anld itimake a living. It's up to yous
to miake moIney that yout can keep, if need be, apart
from youir busiiness?1 -molney youl ca ca ll yotr owln.
Have coutrage to add profits in every bill. That is a
good habit to acquire, because it lansds yol on Easy
street.
A. more difficult problem, that is uip to the heads
of printing businesses, is rilanagement. To get the
greatest outpuit for every dollar that gets into the
expenditure colulmins of yoiir cost systenm requtires
good management.
If your cost of productieon is too high, you will
lose comipetitive business, and establishmlents that
are better nmanaged will take work at lower prices
andi mlake greater profits than thie mismanaged plant
can do at higher prices.
The true and the only road to success is by the
wav of good mianagemenest.
Yossr business is a profit-imakisng nmachine. That
is what youi boutght it for-Profits! Not wages. Why
accept worry and care for wsages, whieh you can get
as a eare-free emplovee?
See, then, that your profit-mlsaking machine is
running right. lihat goold workrmeni are amply pro-
vided with the t wherewithal to work with. That
machines are always in good order. That no em-
ployee can excuse his lov output or his ineffective
work by your neglect.
The great een-le in the priinting office is iipro-
ductive tiile, that is paid for by youi. No onre but
yourself can slay that ernemny. Good management
is thi weapon to kill it with.
Without good management a cost-finding systerm
will avail little. It is true that a conscientiouslv-
kept cost-finding systemi will reveal weak spots in
rmlanagesment; but liere ani ouince of prevention is
better than a pound of cure.
The well-managed printing office can do work at
lower prices than the badly-managed printing offiee.
and make more profit on the work. That is wortli
repeating. The people who buy printing will ilti-
nmately find out the offices that are well managed.
Now that the cost qutestion has been undertaken,
we look forward to an International printing-office
management commission; but in the meanwhile let
every good manager in the printing business go into
convention with his partners, or foremen, with a
view to finding just where he is paying for two steps
where one is enoiugh, or foilr hours where three are
enough.
Are the workmen efficient and hustlers? Are

the presses belted up to the imaxinmum effective
speeds? Is the office clean? Is the paper stock
kept in a nmanner to prevent spioilage or waste? Are
the compositors setting live jobs or pulling sorts froin
dead and live jobs? Ar e the compositors chopping
up leads and rules (and wastting them), or have thev
ample fonts of each eut ready for Iise? Is material
hunted up before or after the jol) is given oitt?
Ail these queries pertain to management.e-The
A merican Biltietin.

PAGE FROM SWEENEY & McCONNELL'S REMOVAL
NOTICE CIRCULAR -
Housewarming of Victoria Printers
Even the priinters itiake i-money in tihe est. Four
years ago Sweeney & MciCotilnell suecumbed to tle
ittractions of the priinting ibusiness aaid hung out
their sign in Victoria, B.C. Last inonith they imoved
insto their own nlew three-storey building at 1010-
1012 Langley Street,
and on the 1 th of
the month were the
ihosts of their retstom-
OIBI ^ P -H. TE Iers and the trat(e at
s----- _ -__ thie hIou.sevarniing. As
the Victoria Times
reimarlks, in referring
to the everit, the
_ 'R9 -9w* ~1 transition in f o u r
years from a $3,000
rotncern to a $30,000
ne is no sarsall
achievement--partici-
larly, we wotild add,
in the printing bisai-
landsome offices
I- occu py the front por-
tion of the ground
floor,' with the me-
chanical departments
in the rear and base-
imsent. Individtual electric drive is used on all ma-
chines. Pendirng the expected future growths, the
two upper floors will be rented as offices.
Service to customners has been frequently men-
tioned in these colunl?ss as essential to worth-while
sueceess. In their original "at-home" circular
Sweeney & MeConnell asribe their success to a re-
cognition of the fundamental principle.

OUR BUSINESS
GROWTH
IORR 1906 O907 iS S S
"TIIE SECRET OF SUCCESS IS SERVICE"

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