By Frank Granger
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"I’m thinking today / Of those days now passed away / When work was plenty and subs were in demand:
Of those good old days of yore, / Now gone for evermore, / When everything in type was set by hand."
Typographical Journal May 1896
The period around the late 19th and earlier 20th centuries was a time of unprecedented technological change in the printing industry. Rotary power presses, and automated typecasting were changing the European craft culture in American printing to an industry. People were displaced in the period of transformation, but the traditions, rituals, and lore were the last things to change.
One aspect of this culture was that of the mobility of a select number of the workers. The demand for skilled typesetters and the wanderlust of some printers fostered the tramp printing tradition. The tramp printer moved from city to town and newspaper to printing office seeking and usually finding work. The typical tramp printer or substitute called a "sub" remained in a location as long as there was work or until his itching feet took him to the next venue.
There was a hierocracy in the fraternity of printers. The youngest apprentice was called a devil. The journeyman printer could either be a regular or a sub. The regular workers would take time off from the grueling routine and turn their "sit" or situation over to a sub. Tramp printers often filled these temporary positions. Any man who tried to pass himself off as a journeyman before completing his apprenticeship was a "two-thirder." Working for less than established wages earned the title of "rat." In newspapers, especially, a chapel father or chairman supervised the typesetting. Chapel was an old name for a printing house.
Tramp printers were a proud group and evolved rites of membership. They were based on workplace skills, traditions, and lingo. Members of the unofficial brotherhood secured employment, credit at local bars and tips on where the railroad police were less watchful. Knowledge of the rails was necessary to secure the preferred mode of travel between places of temporary employment.
John Edward Hicks gives admission into this select fraternity and a look at what it was like for a young "tourist" printer in "Adventures of a Tramp Printer 1880–1890"in a recently republished edition by Indian Creek Books. The book is an inventory of the people, and places visited. Mr. Hicks had either kept a very detailed journal or had an astonishing memory.
Each chapter is the account of his travel to and sojourn in another town. Other tramp printers usually accompanied him. The personalities were often as colorful as their unusual monikers. "Kid Glove Willie," "Dixie" Dunbar, "Dirty Shirt" Smith, "Kokomo" Philips, and "Hi-Ass" Jones. Mr. Jones was a tall fellow so apparently everything about him was "hi."
A typical chapter picks up where the last one saw them heading for the rail yard on another journey. When they arrived into town the first visit was to a local printer or newspaper to inquire about work. If there was work to be had the foreman would often advance the tramp "the usual coin" which was enough to get a meal and perhaps a room.
Laying a printer’s rule on a bar was often the means of establishing credit or an introductory free drink. Next to print shops, bars were the most frequent place to find another printer. Certain saloons catered to the printing trade and were located at such addresses as "Nonpariel Alley" and "Newspaper Alley." Not all bars and boarding houses looked forward to the "tourist" trade and often they were greeted by "printers unwelcome."
Some of the printers would skip town on their "investors" leaving other members of the brotherhood to pay their debt, often unknowingly having it added to their bill. Since they often returned to the same places, sometimes they were met with previous debt.
The work of the traveling typographer varied little from place to place. The shops were often made up with as many subs as regulars. An itinerant typographer seeking work would inquire of the foreman. Any regular could take a break of a day or two and let his work be done by the sub. If no work was to be found, a Union man could have the foreman pass his traveling card around requesting contributions to get him to the next place of prospective employment.
The workers often "jeffed" for the best work. Jeffing was a type of dice game replacing the dice with spacing quads. Several quads were thrown and the number of "nicks-up" was counted. After work the men jeffed to see who would pay for drinks.
Another favorite hang out for printers was in the "red light district." Mr. Hicks gave as many names for these "pleasure palaces" as to his friends. "Filles de joie," "bawdy house," "the row," and "small place of sin," were just some of the names used to describe the places of popular entertainment. The back cover of Mr. Hicks’ book describes itself as "A rollicking recital of rowdy reminiscence." It certainly lives up to that description!
Some of the information on tramp printers came from "Adventures of a Tramp Printer" by John Edward Hicks, copyright 1999, (ISBN 0-9630316-1-3) Indian Creek Books, P.O. Box 8731, Kansas City, Missouri 64114-0731
Copyright © 2000 by Frank Granger
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