The Bentons: How an American Father and Son Changed the Printing Industry

6 The Formation of the American Type Founders Company

79 chapter 6 The Formation of the American Type Founders Company American foundries such as Benton’s in Milwaukee were not faring especially well in the late 1870s because there were too many of them. “[A]s manufacturing processes improved, and more foundries entered into business, a serious problem of overproduction confronted the industry.”1 Because of the overabundance of available type, foundries granted too much credit to unstable printers, outfitted whole printing plants for entrepreneurs with insufficient capital, and engaged in savage price wars with each other.2 In 1878, Benton’s foundry joined five Chicago type foundries and one from St. Paul, Minnesota, in sending a letter to the United States Type Founders’ Association about “the existing demoralization and abuses in the trade”3 that were lowering the price of type. A proposed price list was included with the letter, which also observed that the members of the association had previously agreed to a uniform schedule of prices. But eight years later, the Chicago Type Foundry (Marder, Luse & Company) offered a discount of 25 percent on type manufactured on its American System of Interchangeable Type Bodies (see Chapter 4) for cash payments made between the first and tenth of the month. The company justified its action by arguing that older types of irregular sizes were being dumped on the market at ridiculously low prices by founders who were finally being forced to adopt the new point system. The Inland Printer magazine summarized the situation: It has been known for some months past that a rather spirited and lively competition for business has been going on between our various typefounding establishments, a competition which time only seemed to increase in intensity and volume. It was hoped, however, that wiser counsels would ultimately prevail and put an end to a strife which could only 80 the bentons result in loss to all concerned. But such has not proven to be the case. The chasm widened, active competition grew into open antipathy, and the rivalry became keener day by day. Prices were cut to the rocks, and the methods resorted to by some houses to secure business were alike injurious and indefensible.4 The Inland Printer editors were confident that a meeting in late September 1886 of the Type Founders’ Association at Niagara Falls would resolve the problem: “the insurmountable difficulties about which we hear so much will disappear like snow before the summer’s sun.”5 An agreement was in fact reached by the twenty foundries present to stabilize prices, allowing a maximum discount of 10 percent for accounts paid monthly or within 30 days of purchase. However the Type Founders’ Association disbanded in 1888,6 and the following year, “in the face of an extremely lethargic business atmosphere,”7 the Chicago Type Foundry repeated its earlier offer of a 25 percent discount on its types. Barnhart Brothers & Spindler, also of Chicago, matched this offer and then announced another discount of 40 percent on certain older types. When the Central Type Foundry of St. Louis and the eastern foundries decided to uphold the 1886 agreement and not lower their own prices, “the practical result was nation-wide confusion and endless recriminations and reprisals in the typefounding industry.”8 Another problem was of course the invention of the Linotype machine. Before the Linotype came into general use, the main business of type foundries had been with the managers of daily newspapers, who wanted local foundries to provide them with type supplies on short notice. But the Linotype took most of the newspaper business away from the foundries. According to Dr. James Eckman, “Each machine could wipe out an entire type foundry.”9 The Merger Type foundry owners began to realize that there was no choice but to consolidate. After many meetings and much argument, a plan was drawn up, promoted by John Marder of the Chicago Type Foundry; Arthur T. H. Brower of the Union Type Foundry, also in Chicago; and two New York bankers.10 When the oldest and most respected foundry, MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan of Philadelphia, joined the group advocating for a merger, its success was virtually guaranteed. A short, anonymous article in the November 1892 Inland Printer magazine announced the merger of 23 type foundries and their incorporation as the American Type Founders Company. The company is formed to acquire and carry on the business of the following firms and corporations: MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan, Philadelphia; Collins & McLeester, Philadelphia; Pelouse & Co., Philadelphia; James Conner’s Sons, New York; P. H...