| Show ta 4 r ax min ri r A 2 a E r A rint hop 41 X af ia q P binting tar w aw Fraik hnS aorl table by ELMO COTT WATSON JANUARY 17 Is the anniversary of the birth of benjamin franklin and many americans of many d efferent trades and professions who claim h in as one of their own will join in honoring his memory on that date for the many sided franklin and frankl n the versatile have become proverbial in referring to this man but no trade or profession krofel sion has a better claim on him nor a better reason to celebrate his birthday than the printers and publishers of this country for it was wits as a printer that he got his start in life it was as B franklin printer that he first made his mark in the affairs of colon al at america it was as under that title that he first became a pub lisher and for all the worldwide world wide fame that he attained as a state statesman stateman man a philosopher and a scientist he reta ned bed a keen interest in printing and publishing to the end of his days I 1 doubt if franklin would have attained to his eminence among the immortals if it were not for his good fortune and the world s good for tune to have learned the print ng trade writes henry lewis bullen founder of the typographic library and museum at jersey city N i J in the book the amazing benjamin franklin published in recent years by the frederick A stokes company his father wanted him to be a tallow candler had he obeyed I 1 fear that his fame if any would have been local to bos ton there Is nothing inspiring or forceful in tallow or its products but which of all civi civillia civill liza za uon tion s greater forces can equal the power of the printer printers s types truly none franklin was a diffident man by no means an orator timid about rising to speak an un willing speaker averse to the arts by which politicians gain their fame and purposes in variably he sought to influence h a countrymen and their friends by means of h s leaden types composed in his own r shop they gained him a world wide aud ence which was convinced by their silent but wide extended voices that the r master was uttering utter ng the profoundest wisdom in the guise of common sene senze the most buncom mon inon element in men mens s conduct benjamin franki n used many forces successfully in his unparalleled career but his most powerful thunderbolts were found in the cases hold ng his invincible printing types franklins franklin a career as a printer started in 1718 when he was twelve year old ha was alpren to his brother james franklin a printer who was publishing the new england courant in boston young ben secretly wrote articles for the courant and was delighted when his brother not knowing their authorship pub dished them until james franki frankl n d sc the sources of them and severely lectured young ben for his presumption but when james franklin was imprisoned for printing in the courant articles which gave offense to the colonial assembly and prohibited from printing the courant any longer he was glad enough to have it issued under the name of his brother whose indenture was thereupon cancelled so at the early age of seventeen young ben became a newspaper paper ed tor and publisher this arrangement d d not last very long however and because of differences which arose between the two brothers ben left the courant and find started out for new fieldi D sap pointed in his hope of finding work as a printer in new york he went on to a and there he obtained a position as a printer for samuel keimer helmer who bad had one of the two printing es in the quaker city encouraged by sir william ke he th the governor of pennsylvania to set up in business for himself franklin started to go to london to buy equipment tor for a print shop the help which keith heith had promised to give him was not forthcoming and young ben found himself stranded in the british capital but the energetic young colonial was soon em aloyed at samuel palmers printing house in london and after that in the of john watts one of the lead ng craftsmen of the time franklin spent 14 months in england then returned to ph ladelphia and went to work again in ke he mer s shop this time as foreman at once he demonstrated the initiative and in which was to characterize his whole life reimers supply of type was aas limited and chiq wants could not be satisfied without sending to england so foreman franklin made a mold tor for casting castin letters and supplied his employer with the type which he needed in 1728 he formed a partnership with a tain hugh meredith with meredith furnishing most of the money for the enterprises and frank lin moat of the brains it was at this time that he wrote the famous epitaph which he hoped would be placed on his gravestone when he d ed and which from its tone ind bated that he desired no higher honor than to be known as B franki n I 1 arinter that was the name which appeared over his pr nt shop when meredith withdrew from the partner sh p two years later in the meantime franki frankl n had bought out the a gazette a newspaper started by keimer reimer soon after franki n left his employ A short time after he trad had assumed sole manage ment of the printing bu ness bess he was appo anted public printer by the pennsylvania assembly in 1732 he wrote and began publication of his famous poor Pic richard hards s Al manack tle tl e average sale of which was tor for 25 years more than copies annually franki frankl n was not only a good printer and a good ed tor for but he was also a good bus ness man so I 1 is printing enterprise nourished flourished ao well that in 1748 at the age of forty two he be was able to retire from active bus bust ness bess he ile I 1 ad accumulated a al at for tune and was vas now ready to devote his time to his fie experiments and h s great variety of other interests although his partner david hall tool active charge of the printing bus ness in 1748 franklin retained a finane al at interest in it until 1760 then the wider field of states called h in he went to london as agent for pennsylvania in the d with the mother country over taxation and soon fund himself the bold defender of the rights of all the american colonies but even though the years which followed found him busy with many other affairs frank lin never got entirely away from h a first love the print ng business in the memorable year of 1770 1776 while he was representing the new na tion in pans paris he estabi hed a small printing of flee in the french cap tal to be used tor for ganda purposes and incidentally as a school of printing for h s two grandsons when he be left france he wai one of the most famous men of his kiwe me but at heart he was still B frank lin podler so he brought home to america with him the printing ament he had used in paris an a complete type foundry both of which he placed under the management of his grandson benjamin franklin bache the son of his beloved gaugh daughter ter sarah franklin bache franki frankl n retained his interest in this printing business to the end of his days constantly div ing his grandson the benefit of his experience and having a sort of general supervision over the enterprise then on april 17 the busy career of benjamin franklin ended in the city where he had risen to his first firt fame ph ladel phia he wis buried in christ church burying ground there however much his simple soul wanted to be remembered as B franklin printer his relatives evidently thought that an ep befitting his world wide fame was more appropriate than I 1 bening him to an old book so the epitaph which he had written for him self nearly a half century before was not placed upon the stone of his grave in attempting to evaluate the services of ben jamin franki n as a printer and a publisher one lo 10 confronted with ith the same wealth of material which characterized all of his other activities so it is it d to pick out the things which can be des gnatek as his greatest contribute contri but on to the journal sm of this nation this general statement however can be made franklin was as far in advance of his times as an ed tor for and a publisher as he was in many of his hn other roles many of the innovations in the newspaper busl bust ness bess which we regard as modern developments are nothing more than a repetition of their sue use by franklin among his ng achievements in the printing and publishing business and allied in dus bustnes tries are these he was the f first to attempt to illustrate the news in an american newspaper and also the first to publish questions and answers in a news paper he ile made the first newspaper cartoon the famous picture of a snake cut into sections td represent the colonies before before the revolution Ke a powerful pectoral pic toral al editorial v aich w as widely copied and used by other patriot newspapers he ile was instrumental in estabi sh ng 18 paper mills in the colonies he was the first to turn to great account the engine of advertising now an ind spen saMe sable ele ment in modern bus ness he was the first proponent of the chain news paper idea he ile d d 1 this by setting up in busl bust ness bess young journeymen pr aters supplying print ing office ament paying one third of the running expenses and receiving one third of the net profits an arrangement which was an ad vantage to all concerned he ile established such branches in seven reven d efferent places charles ton S C antigua and jamaica in the ivest ind es new york city I 1 ancaster pa new haven conn and in georgia of franki frankl n s idealism in h s worl wort as a print er and an editor we find this revealing statement in his autom in the conduct of my newspaper I 1 carefully excluded all 1 bell ng and personal abuse which has of late years become so d to our country whenever I 1 was wis solicited to insert any thing of that k nd and the writers pleaded as they generally d d the I 1 berty of the press and that a newspaper was ike 1 ke a stagecoach stage coach in which anyone who would A pay had a r ight abt to a place my answer vas vms that I 1 would print the piece separately if desired and the author in have as many copies as he pleased to it d tribute himself but that I 1 would not take upon me to spread his detraction and that having con with my bubser bers to turn furn sh them with what v hat be either useful or entertain ing I 1 could not fill the r papers with private al tei ter cation la in wh uh ch eh they bad no concern with out do ng them manifest injustice now nov many of our printers make no scruple of gratl gratifying fing the malice of individuals by false accusations of tl e fairest characters among our selves augmenting animos ty even to the pro of duels and are moreover so indis creet as to print scurrilous reflections on the government of neighboring states tates and even on the conduct of our best national allies which may be attended with the most pernicious con sequences these things I 1 mention as a caution to young printers and that they may be enczur aged not to pollute their presses and d bgrace their profess on by such infamous practices but refuse refue stead ly as they may see ee by my example that such a course of conduct will not on the whole be injurious to their interests by western newspaper union |
