s, and had a brother-in-law
running a little print shop around the corner and spending very little
money for ink, paper, and other such materials. Each head of a department
also had full power to "hire and fire," as he called it. The foreman of
the composing-room said to us, when we questioned him in regard to this
matter, "Why, if I didn't have the power to hire and fire I could not
maintain discipline in my department; rather than give that up, I would
resign my position."

As a result of this state of affairs, we found a brother of the foreman
occupying an easy position in the composing-room, a brother-in-law, two
nieces, two nephews, and a son occupying easy positions at good salaries
in the press-room and various other nephews and other semi-dependents
working away under foremen who were related to them in the various
departments. In the composing-room, also, we found, upon careful
investigation, that several of the employees were very heavily overpaid at
times and that they divided the surplus in their pay envelopes with the
foreman.

When we called these things to the attention of the manager, he was deeply
surprised and pained. "Why," he said, "every head of a department in this
printing and publishing house is a personal friend of mine. I have the
highest regard for them and have held their honor and uprightness so high
in my estimation that it has never occurred to me to investigate their
administration in their several departments. You know, of course, that
this is the usual procedure in the printing business. The foremen regard
these prerogatives as being especially theirs and would very deeply and
bitterly resent any attempt on the part of the management to take them
away." The manager was only partly right. It is true that these practices
have been followed in many printing and publishing houses; that they are
followed in some even to-day; but even in his time the most progressive
and successful had long ago abolished this inefficient and
dishonesty-breeding system.

SCIENTIFIC PURCHASING ENDS ABUSES

To-day in every well-managed printing office, as well as every other
industry, there is a purchasing department. Materials are purchased, not
through favors, or on account of bonus from the salesmen, but upon exact
specifications which are worked out in the laboratory. Materials are
accepted and paid for only after a laboratory analysis to ascertain their
true worth. Materials are kept in a stores departm