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Show THE HISTORY BLAZER A'E11' S OF I. rTAH'S PAST FRO112 THE Utah State IIistorical Society 300 Rio Grade Salt ~ a kCei ty. VT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 333- 3503 A Moses for the Printing Industry PRINTINEVGO LVED SLOWLY FROM THE TIME OF Johann Gutenberg's invention of movable type near the middle of the 15th century to the next giant steps- the invention of typesetting machines and the web press near the end of the 19th century and of the automatic press in the early 20th century. New engraving processes simplified illustration, and the result was a continual-ly expanding market for all types of printed matter. The demand for printing, especially commer-cial printing and job printing, opened up a new field, according to Edward M. Lovendale: " the scientific marketing of the printed product- a field that had been shamefully neglected throughout the entire history of the printing industry. A Moses was needed to lead the bewildered followers of Gutenberg out of the wilderness of profitless ' guesstimating' into the land of profitable promise. Such a leader was discovered in the year 1917 in the person of R. T. Porte. " Born on May 8, 1876, in Canada, Roy Tenvin Porte and his widowed mother moved to North Dakota when he was five. At age 14 he began his lifelong association with printing and publishing by working in a print shop. His career later took him to Cincinnati and eventually to Salt Lake City in April 1916 to become the executive secretary of a local printers organization called the Franklin Club. Virtually every print shop in the city had joined the club and paid dues to wver the expense of an office, telephone, utilities, supplies, and the executive secretary's salary. For a time, Lovendale said, things went smoothly enough, but then the members got to quibbling over the dues, which were based on the size of each printing plant. More important, though, " dissatisfaction arose over the way some of the shops seemed to keep busy- apparently at the expense of others.. . . A few were accused of resorting to sharp practices in securing an undue proportion of the local business. At that point Jay T. Harris, president of Arrow Press, one of the largest printers at that time, " proposed that a price list be compiled and printed, and that Secretary Porte devote his time almost exclusively to the production of a list comprehensive enough to become a real price index for the tradem- a reliable guide as to what various printing jobs ought to cost, based on paper, typesetting, press work, etc. In April 19 17 the first six- page list compiled by Porte for the Franklin Club appeared. By December 1919 the Western Newspaper Union ( WNU) house organ was calling it " unquestionably the most important modem invention in the printing industry." In fact, John E. Jones, manager of the Salt Lake branch of the WNU, had suggested, when he first heard of the new Franklin Printing Price List, that if it had value locally to printers it should be equally valuable to printers in other towns and cities. The idea appealed to Porte, but he knew it would be complicated. For one thing, the price of paper in different parts of the country varied greatly. Porte proved equal to the task, though. He ( more) enlisted the support of the WNU and its salesmen to convince printers and small town publishers to buy the price list. Porte also sought cooperation from the other companies that served the needs of printers. And he traveled to Denver to explain to printers there how the pricing system worked. They were enthusiastic about adopting it. Major companies like the American Type Founders and Bamhardt Bros. & Spindler helped Porte find markets for the list with printers throughout the United States and Canada. By 1919 the Franklin Printing Price List had 2,000 subscribers. In December of that year Porte acquired enough stock to gain control of the list as well as me Business Printer, a trade publication, as president of Porte Publishing Company. In 1924 Porte established his business in Sugar House at 952 East 2100 South. Over the years the original six- page price list issued in 1917 evolved into a large catalog that became the bible of the printing industry. Its numerous tables- constantly updated to reflect changing costs and technology - became indispensable to printers in providing them with the information they needed to estimate the cost of jobs for their customers and to ensure themselves a profit. It was translated into several foreign languages and widely used in Europe and elsewhere. Porte died in Salt Lake City on July 21, 1936, at age 60, survived by his wife Rhoda, who took an active part in the business, and a son and daughter. The Franklin Printing Catalog ( printers often referred to it simply as Porte) was so useful that was destined to survive his death. Porte Publishing Company was eventually superseded by the present Franklin Estimating Systems. See Edward M. Lovendale, A_ Fer Fifieen Years. .. Ihe History of the Franklin Printing Catalog ( Salt Lake City, 1932), a pamphlet in the Utah State Historical Society Library; Salr Lake Tribune, July 21, 1936. THEH ISTORBLYA ZERi s produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533 - 3500. 960407 ( MBM) |
