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Show IWMmm What vShell li Be? Wff f site 4nMf avrlf 1 PRINTER? I Not the country town, "one a J horse" kind, but the kind that runs the big printing shops of J the country, and sometimes be- comes a member of the firm. s J How your boy may go about realizing 6uch an ambition. The 2 start and the various steps up" 2 wards' described, together with a the remuneration that each new 2 position brings. 2 By C. W. JENNINGS. 2 igeA ENERALLY speaking, there fi'vrtsi isn't much known about if f v I J the printing business out-avtyiW out-avtyiW side of the Immediate fol- wTJil lowers of the craft or those closely connected with It, and the average father, particularly In a country town, would probably not consider it with high favor as an occupation oc-cupation for his son, believing, perhaps, per-haps, that about all there la to It Is setting type and laboriously running an old-fashioned press at not very high pay. However, there is not a finer line of work, nor one with better opportunities opportuni-ties for acquiring a competence and for advancement among all the lines of human endeavor. The fact that printing is one of the most Important departments of modern industry adds to the opportunities that are open to the earnest young man. Like all occupations, to acquire proficiency pro-ficiency In printing the applicant must begin at the bottom and devote several sev-eral years to learning It. He has to start as apprentice. To get a Job In the first place, let your boy (or yourself) apply to the foreman of the particular printing establishment es-tablishment you may select; for the Toreman is the boss of the workroom, t is well. If you have any choice, to choose an institution of some standing which does a large and varied class of work, as the opportunities for learning learn-ing will be far better there than In a little job office of the "one horse" v-ariety. Except In some country towns, so-called, so-called, the boy has to be registered with the union as an apprentice right from the start; but this will not entail any expense, as the typographical union does not charge dues or other fees until the neophyte has- become a journeyman. Your boy must be about sixteen years old, but he need have no further education than the merest or dinary one. His pay for the first year will be about four dollars a week, and the work eight hours a day, as obtains senerany m printing oinces. His duties for this period will be to get acquainted ac-quainted with the cases (the flat boxes divided into compartments containing 1' i type) and sorting leads, and tD run errands for workmen, etc. During the second year his pay will be two dollars a week higher, and In this period he will get his first direct work at the cases, learning to set imprints im-prints (the insertion of names, addresses ad-dresses or other matter Into type already al-ready set) and small .reprint (short printed matter). In the third year the pay jumps to eight dollars weekly, and the duties show a corresponding growth. By this time he will have a pretty good rudimentary knowledge of the business, busi-ness, and will he able to acquire proficiency pro-ficiency in setting longer reprints, and locking up small forms of type, 1. e., getting them ready for press and foundry. Fourth year his pay is now $10 a week, and he Is almost a printer; for your boy Is now setting plain jobs, from manuscript and doing the ordinary ordi-nary regular work of the journeyman. The fifth year he Is a senior student, stu-dent, known colloquially as a "two-thlrder" "two-thlrder" (this term refers to the pay, which is $14 a week, or two-thirds that paid to Journeymen), doing practically everything the regular workmen do and putting polish on his practical education. Then he is a full Journeyman and drawing $21 a week, and goes Into the union as a regular member. The cost of belonging to the union Is, roughly, $10 to $15 a year, part of which goes to the maintenance of the printers' home at Colorado Springs. Any member mem-ber Is admitted to this home when, through age or disability, he Is unable to earn his living, and even Is allowed there during convalescence after sickness, sick-ness, and all necessities furnished him without charge. There Is no such thine- as a memher ever having tr rn to the poorhouse. , After your boy becomes a Journeyman, Journey-man, the foreman tries him out on various phases of the work to find if he has executive ability or a special aptitude. The first special "stunt" will probably be to give him the entire work of setting, making up, and preparing pre-paring for the foundry of a sixteen-page sixteen-page form, with, of course, such help as he may require, and if he does this well he will find himself before long handling the most Important work of the shop, and will then be eligible for the assistant foremanship. If an opening should occur, he would be competent to take this position by the time he Is twenty-three, or seven years after he started out as apprentice; appren-tice; and a couple of years or so later would be able to take the foreman-ship. foreman-ship. The foreman Is the actual boss of the composing room, employing all the men and laying out the work, etc., of the Journeymen and apprentices. Foremen are paid from $35 to $60 a week, according to the size of the establishment es-tablishment and the city they may be in. Their assistants receive from $25 to $40 weekly. The next step In advance Is to become be-come assistant superintendent at $50 to $75 a week, and then superintendent, superintend-ent, when your boy's pay will be from $3,500 a year up to any figure the business can afford. The superintendent superintend-ent is the highest direct authority over the composing room, job room, press room, and bindery, and, of course must be a man of large attainments and experience, as It is to him that tne firm looks to fix the factory cost of Its work, which really means the most .responsible position directly in the institution. Notwithstanding this, your boy may reach superintendency by the time he is thirty-five. The advance from here Is to the general gen-eral managership of the company, and then, of course, the presidency. It Is likely, however, that your boy, unless he should get some such political po-litical position as that of public printer, print-er, who has charge of all ollicers and employes of the government printing office, or state printer, would be taken into partnership by his own or some other firm, and thereby build up an independent in-dependent printing or publishing business. busi-ness. All the foregoing figures are based on the assumption that your boy has gone Into a Job printing office to get his training, as these have a greater variety of work than a newspaper office. of-fice. Indeed, most printers in newspaper newspa-per offices have served their term at job work. These are paid more than Job printers, journeymen on newspapers newspa-pers getting $28 a week when working days and $.'i3 at night; assistant foremen fore-men $.'!3 to $38; and foremen anywhere from -$40 a week up. Foremen in some of the large New York offices are paid as high as $80 a week. Apprentices generally get two dollars a week more than when in job ofiices. At this time early in his career, either when he Is a two-thlrder, or soon after becoming a Journeyman, your boy should take the course of study that will fit him to handle a typesetting machine. These courses may be taken at night, last sixteen weeks, and generally cost $G0. One cannot be a thoroughly equipped printer without having this training. Machine operators generally get about two dollars a week more than floor-men. floor-men. Proofreading will probably be acquired ac-quired during the course of the printer's print-er's training, as, when he is apprentice, appren-tice, he will have to hold copy for the regular proofreader. If he has a good general education and knowledge of affairs, he can develop himself sufficiently suf-ficiently to fill this position. The future In it Is not particularly attractive, attrac-tive, however, for a proofreader that gets $35 a week Is quite rare, and there Is no direct step of advancement advance-ment from that position. The prices and regulations referred to In this article are based on conditions condi-tions as at present existing in New York city, which are not essentially different from those In other large cities. In small cities the pay runs generally lower, of course. (Copyright, 1910. by the Associated Literary Lit-erary Press.) |