PRINTERS' PROGRESS

The present strike involving something like eighty percent of the book and job printing of the city of Boston, and affecting Cambridge establishments as well marks another protest on the part of organized labor against the reduction of prices. The unions resent what one official has termed an attempt at "arbitrarily taking money out of the workers' envelops and giving it to the printing-consuming public." It is clear that this strike is merely an instance of the time-honored demand for less work and more wages; but it holds peculiar significance for the college man.

A century ago the cost of books was an important item in the estimation of college expenses. Later, as the development of improved presses made possible the cheap and extensive production of good books, every student with a moderate supply of ready money assembled a small library of his own during his college course. The modern student, however, is no longer able to indulge his natural inclination toward book-collecting; even for the most essential textbooks he often relies upon friend or college library. Under the ever-increasing demand of workmen for more wages, prices have steadily risen until a volume of even the most modest description is not infrequently quoted at three dollars. The labor union is slowly teaching the college student to appreciate the value of books. But the lesson is expensive.

The same statistician who two years ago declared a raise in wages justified by the increase a living expenses has now pronounced a reduction of ten per-cent in order. The workers, however, reply as usual with a demand for shorter hours at the increased pay. The exorbitant cost of production is eventually passed on to the purchase, and the price of books soars steadily upward. When publishers are forced to curtail the printing of textbooks because they can not sell enough to make one edition profitable, college students may well take alarm at modern labor conditions.