Chapter 19

SUMMARY OF REPORT ON THE PRINTING TRADES

A smaller proportion of the industrial population in Cleveland is engaged in printing than in most large cities. The number of persons employed in printing occupations in 1915 is estimated at approximately 3,900, made up chiefly of skilled workmen. Little common labor is used in any department of the industry.

The business of printing is usually conducted in small establishments. There are not more than six plants in the city which employ over 75 wage earners. Data collected from 44 local printing shops, showed an average working force of only 36 persons. Due largely to this characteristic printing affords an unusual number of opportunities for advancement to the skilled workers in the industry. The smaller the establishments are the greater is the proportion of proprietors, superintendents, managers and foremen to the total number of wage earners. Ten per cent of the total working force in the printing industry is employed in supervisory and directive positions. In many of the large manufacturing industries of the city the proportion in such work is less than three per cent.

No other manufacturing industry employs so large a proportion of American born workers. In recent years many of the skilled industrial trades have been recruited to a very large extent from foreign labor, but in printing the American worker has so far held his own remarkably well. This is due in part to the relatively high wages and desirable working conditions and to the necessity in all branches of printing for a working knowledge of English.

Practically all of the trades are thoroughly organized. The unions are united in a body called the Council of the Allied Printing Trades. Although only about half of the shops in the city employ union labor exclusively, the union regulations as to wages and hours of labor are observed in both open and closed shops.

Printing workers are among the best paid industrial wage earners in the city. A comparison of the weekly earnings in the various manufacturing industries is shown in Diagram 12. This comparison is based upon the 1914 report of the Ohio Industrial Commission.

The comparison of the earnings of women in various industries, shown in Diagram 13, is less favorable to printing. On the basis of the proportion of women that earn $12 and over per week this industry takes third place. It should be noted, however, that nearly all the women employed are engaged in semi-skilled work in binderies,--a lower grade of work than that done by most women workers in clothing factories, where wages are higher. Compared with other occupations that require about the same amount of experience and training, in textile, tobacco, and confectionery manufacturing establishments, the wages of women employed in the printing industry are relatively high.

Wage earners in printing establishments lose less time through irregularity of employment than do those in most other factory industries. The kind of work done by women is more seasonal than that done by men, although less so than in other manufacturing industries which employ large numbers of women.

COMPOSING ROOM WORKERS

Nearly all the workers in this department of the industry are hand or machine compositors. Until about 30 years ago, before practical type-setting machines were invented, all type was set by hand. Today the hand compositor, except in very small shops, works only on jobs requiring special type and special arrangement, such as advertisements, title covers of books, letter heads, and so on.

In the city there are about 1,200 people employed in composing room occupations, or about 30 per cent of the total number of workers in the industry. This number includes some 50 women employed as proof-readers and copy-holders. Nine-tenths of the composing room workers are members of the International Typographical Union, although the number of shops that employ union men exclusively, called closed shops, approximates only one-half of the total number in the city. The remainder, while employing union labor, observing union hours, and paying union wages, reserve the right to hire non-union workmen.

Composing room workers are the best paid in the industry. A comparison of average wages in newspaper and job establishments is shown in Table 27.

TABLE 27.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF JOB AND NEWSPAPER COMPOSING-ROOM WORKERS, 1915

+---------------+------------+ | | Newspaper | Workers in trade | Job offices | offices | -------------------------+---------------+------------+ Foremen | $5.19 | $6.65 | Linotype machinists | 4.66 | 4.84 | Proof-readers | 4.63 | 3.98 | Monotype operators | 4.57 | .. | Linotypers | 4.28 | 4.65 | Monotype casters | 3.96 | 4.30 | Stonemen | 3.94 | 4.89 | Hand-compositors | 3.48 | 4.58 | Copy-holders | 2.30 | 2.93 | Apprentices | 1.64 | 1.30 | -------------------------+---------------+------------+

Compositors suffer most from the diseases that are common to indoor workers. The stooping position in which much of the work is done, together with insufficient ventilation and the presence of gases from the molten metal used in monotype and linotype machines, favors the development of lung diseases. The number of deaths from consumption among compositors is more than double that in most outdoor occupations.

The apprenticeship system has held its own in the compositor's trade better than in most industrial occupations. In the establishments visited by the Survey Staff there were approximately 15 apprentices to each 100 hand and machine compositors. As a rule there is no real system or method of instruction. The points principally insisted upon by the union, which strongly favors the apprenticeship system, are that the number of apprentices employed shall not exceed that stipulated in the agreement between the employers and the union, and that each apprentice shall be required to serve the full term of five years.

During the first and second years the apprentice is required to perform general work in the composing room under the direction of the foreman. In the third year he joins the union as an apprentice. The apprenticeship agreement stipulates that during this year he must be employed four hours each day at composition and distribution. In the fourth and fifth years the number of hours per day on such work is increased to six and seven respectively. During the last two years of his term he must take the evening trade course given by the International Typographical Union, the expense of tuition being met by the local union. The agreement contains no stipulation as to wages for the first and second years. The wage for the third year is $9 a week, for the fourth year $12, and for the fifth, $15. Apprentices in newspaper composing rooms are permitted to spend the last six months of their period working on type-setting machines.

THE PRESSROOM

The pressroom occupations include platen and cylinder pressmen, web or newspaper pressmen, platen and cylinder pressfeeders, plate printers, cutters, flyboys and apprentices. Approximately 15 per cent of the men employed are cylinder pressmen, about 10 per cent platen pressmen, and less than three per cent web pressmen. Pressfeeders comprise over 40 per cent of the whole group. Nearly nine-tenths of all pressroom workers are employed in job establishments. Five occupations--those of cutters, floormen, flyboys, plate printers, and web pressmen--give employment to fewer than 40 men each.

The average daily earnings of pressroom workers in the establishments from which wage data were collected during the survey are shown in Table 28.

The hourly rates of pay are high as compared with those in other occupations requiring an equal or greater amount of skill and knowledge. Cylinder pressmen earn more per hour than do tool and die makers--the most highly skilled of the metal trades--and platen pressmen in charge of five or more presses earn more than all-round machinists and boiler makers. The rate for cylinder pressfeeders is about three cents an hour higher than that received for specialized machine work in the metal trades.

TABLE 28.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF PRESSROOM WORKERS, 1915

_Job pressroom workers_ Foremen $4.78 Cylinder pressmen 3.63 Cutters 3.41 Platen pressmen 2.97 Floormen 2.91 Cylinder pressfeeders, men 2.54 Cylinder pressfeeders, women 1.77 Platen pressfeeders, men 1.83 Platen pressfeeders, women 1.70 Flyboys 1.56

_Newspaper pressroom workers_ Foremen 6.11 Web pressmen 4.33 Web pressmen's assistants 2.95

Formal apprenticeship is practically unknown. The boy begins as a pressfeeder, usually on a platen press, and in the course of time gets to be a platen pressman. A knowledge of platen presswork does not qualify a man to run a cylinder press, and as a rule the platen pressman who wants to change must serve some time as a cylinder pressfeeder and cylinder pressman's assistant. There is no organized system for training beginners. The boy who wants to become a pressman must pick up the trade through experience and practice, the length of time required depending chiefly on how frequently changes occur among the force of pressmen employed in the shop.

THE BINDERY

The bindery is the only department of the industry in which any considerable number of women are employed. Some of the occupations, such as gathering, sewing, and stitching, are practically monopolized by women. They are also employed extensively in hand and machine folding. About one-fifth are gatherers and one-fifth sewers and stitchers. The other three-fifths are distributed among a number of occupations usually classed as general bindery work.

The occupations in which men predominate are forwarding, ruling, and finishing, and cutting. The forwarders comprise more than one-fourth of the total number of men engaged in bindery work. The other two skilled trades--ruling and finishing--give employment to about 35 men each.

The average daily earnings in the various occupations, based on returns from 44 establishments, were as shown in Table 29.

TABLE 29.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS OF BINDERY WORKERS, 1915

+-----------+-----------+ Workers in trade | Men | Women | ------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ Foremen | $4.78 | $2.05 | Rulers | 3.56 | .. | Finishers | 3.51 | .. | Forwarders | 3.23 | .. | Cutters | 3.21 | .. | Machine-folders | 2.81 | 1.49 | Wire-stitchers | .. | 1.57 | Apprentices | 1.53 | .. | Gatherers | .. | 1.52 | Sewers | .. | 1.52 | Other bindery operatives | 1.40 | 1.51 | ------------------------------+-----------+-----------+

On account of the seasonal character of the work considerable time is lost through unemployment, particularly in those occupations in which women predominate.

Beginners in these occupations in which the majority of the women are employed, start on folding or pasting, and as opportunity presents, gradually acquire practice in the higher grades of work, such as gathering and machine operating. There are some traces of the apprenticeship system in forwarding, ruling, and finishing, but these trades are so small that all of them combined require only a very few new workers each year.

OTHER OCCUPATIONS

Other departments of the printing industry are photoengraving, stereotyping, electrotyping, and lithographing. They give employment to approximately 700 workers, distributed among more than 20 distinct trades, requiring the most diverse sorts of skill, knowledge, and training. There are about 100 men in the city engaged in the different processes of photoengraving. Nearly all of the stereotypers, numbering from 60 to 70, are employed in newspaper offices. There are about 125 electrotypers and 400 lithographers. The labor conditions closely approximate those found in other departments of the industry. Average wages for the different occupations are shown in Table 30.

TABLE 30.--AVERAGE DAILY EARNINGS IN PHOTOENGRAVING, STEREOTYPING, ELECTROTYPING, AND LITHOGRAPHING OCCUPATIONS, 1915

Average Workers in trade daily earnings

Photoengraving Artists $6.32 Photographers 4.69 Etchers 4.52 Routers 4.25 Finishers 4.21 Proofers 3.69 Strippers 3.61 Blockers 2.36 Apprentices 1.49 Art apprentices 1.27

Stereotyping 4.00

Electrotyping Molders 4.41 Finishers 4.01 Casters 3.18 Routers 3.17 Builders 3.13 Blockers 2.05 Batterymen 1.97 Case fillers 1.59 Apprentices 1.10

Lithographing Lettermen 6.63 Artists 6.41 Pressroom foremen 5.80 Grainers 4.73 Engravers 4.35 Pressmen 3.91 Transferers and proofers 3.41 Pressroom apprentices 2.80 Tracers 2.63 Stone polishers 2.53 Pressfeeders 1.72 Other apprentices 1.59 Artist apprentices 1.23 Flyboys 1.10

There is no well organized system for training apprentices in photoengraving, stereotyping, and electrotyping, or in any of the lithographic trades, except that of poster artist, in which an efficient and strictly regulated system of apprenticeship is maintained.

THE PROBLEM OF TRAINING

The report maintains that up to the end of the compulsory attendance period school training preparatory to entering the printing trades must be of the most general sort, due to the fact that in the average elementary school the number of boys who are likely to become printers is too small to form special classes. For example, in an elementary school of 1,000 pupils the number of boys 12 years old and over to whom instruction in printing would be of value from the standpoint of future vocational utility, would probably not exceed two. While admitting the advantages of the junior high school for the purposes of vocational training, the report points out that even in a school where only pupils of the upper grades are admitted, the number who are likely to become printers is still too small to warrant special instruction. In a junior high school of 1,000 pupils not more than nine boys are likely to become printers.

The report recommends a general industrial course during the junior high school period. What the boys need at this time is practice in the application of mathematics, drawing, and elementary science to industrial problems. Shop equipment should be selected with this object in mind. It is doubtful whether it should include a printing shop, for while such a shop would be useful to the few boys who will become printers, it would be of little value in training for other industries. The report suggests as subjects which should be included in the general industrial course practice in handling and assembling machinery, the study of color harmony, and the principles of design in connection with the work in drawing, the use of printing shop problems in applied mathematics, and thorough instruction in spelling, punctuation, and the division of words. It also recommends the course of industrial information referred to in previous chapters.

The establishment of a two year printing course in a separate vocational school is recommended to meet the need for specialized instruction from the end of the compulsory period to the apprentice entering age. The printing trades are relatively small and it is only by concentrating in a single school plant all the boys who may wish to enter them that specialized training can be made practicable. In this way it would be possible to secure classes of from 60 to 100 boys each for such trades as composition and presswork. The report emphasizes the need for instruction in trade theory as against practice on specific operations. It points out that the boys will have plenty of opportunity after they go to work to acquire speed and manual skill, while they have little chance, under modern shop conditions, to obtain an understanding of the relation of drawing, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and art to their work.

The only trade extension training offered by the public schools at the present time is that given in the technical night schools. During the second term of 1915-16 there were 28 persons enrolled in the technical night school printing class. Of these 28 persons three were journeymen printers, five described themselves as "helpers," 11 were apprentices, one was employed in the office of a printing establishment, and eight were engaged in occupations unrelated to printing. No special provision is made for the apprentices. The course, which includes hand composition, a little press work, and lectures on trade subjects, is planned "to help broaden the shop training of those working at the trade." That it does so to any considerable extent is doubtful. Too much of the time is devoted to hand work and practice on operations which the boys can easily learn in the shops. It is believed that the plan followed in the evening apprentice course prescribed by the International Typographical Union, in which no shop equipment or apparatus is used, is better adapted to the needs of boys employed in the trade. The course consists of 46 lessons in English, lettering, design, color harmony, job composition, and imposition for machine, and hand folding. The classes are taught by journeymen teachers. In February 1916 about 100 students were enrolled, of whom approximately one-third were apprentices and two-thirds journeymen.

CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY REPORTS

These reports can be secured from the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. They will be sent postpaid for 25 cents per volume with the exception of "Measuring the Work of the Public Schools" by Judd, "The Cleveland School Survey" by Ayres, and "Wage Earning and Education" by Lutz. These three volumes will be sent for 50 cents each. All of these reports may be secured at the same rates from the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York City.

Child Accounting in the Public Schools--Ayres. Educational Extension--Perry. Education through Recreation--Johnson. Financing the Public Schools--Clark. Health Work in the Public Schools--Ayres. Household Arts and School Lunches--Boughton. Measuring the Work of the Public Schools--Judd. Overcrowded Schools and the Platoon Plan--Hartwell. School Buildings and Equipment--Ayres. Schools and Classes for Exceptional Children--Mitchell. School Organization and Administration--Ayres. The Public Library and the Public Schools--Ayres and McKinnie. The School and the Immigrant--Miller. The Teaching Staff--Jessup. What the Schools Teach and Might Teach--Bobbitt. The Cleveland School Survey (Summary)--Ayres.

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Boys and Girls in Commercial Work--Stevens. Department Store Occupations--O'Leary. Dressmaking and Millinery--Bryner. Railroad and Street Transportation--Fleming. The Building Trades--Shaw. The Garment Trades--Bryner. The Metal Trades--Lutz. The Printing Trades--Shaw. Wage Earning and Education (Summary)--Lutz.

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Transcriber's Notes:

Typos Corrected In Text: Table 15 on page 120: establishments for estabments page 194: "car fare" for "car far" page 15: employee for employe

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End of Project Gutenberg's Wage Earning and Education, by R. R. Lutz