by John Howells and Marion Dearman
(Discovery Press, copyright 1996)

In laying out a structure for this book, a great deal of time was spent analyzing questionnaires and data returned to the authors by correspondents. We read our way through stacks of letters and stories from tramp printers over the past 25 years who supplied copy for a newsletter titled, When Printers Worked with Real Type.(Published from1982-1985 by John Howells, at San Jose California.)

Our original goal was to create a sociological statement about tramp printers, their work traditions, values, and position in the history of the North American work force. Surely, this group was unique among the workers and tradesmen. To our knowledge, no other industry operated the way the printing trade did. Few workers enjoyed the freedom of movement and autonomy available to printers. Unusual work practices, rigid adherence to centuries of tradition, a high degree of literacy, and complex social relationships traditionally placed printers in a unique category in America’s labor movement. Tramp printers formed a distinct subcategory within the working community. Their “education” often placed them in the forefront of labor leaders once they settled down and became conventional workers.

It may be of interest to the reader to learn that this book’s authors are both hot-metal printers. Like many tramp printers, they used the knowledge and experiences gained from touring the country to forge ahead in their printing careers, and to later move on into other spheres of interests. One author earned a doctorate in Sociology, the other a master’s degree in Anthropology.

As social scientists, our original intent was to publish this study as a contribution to the field of Sociology of Labor. Our goal was to produce an academic study of the phenomenon of tramp printers. After many hours of surveying voluminous research material, it became clear that a monograph of objective, analytical, and scientific descriptions of tramp printers and their place in the Sociology of Labor could wait. More urgent was the problem of getting the story in print while some tramp printers were still alive to relate their experiences.

Therefore, this volume intends to address the subject in a more entertaining manner, hopefully in a way that will encourage broad readership and induce an appreciation of tramp printers in a wider audience. Were this study to be rigidly academic, many negative facets of the lives of tramp printers would need to be detailed and the dysfunctional aspects emphasized. Without doubt, the consequences of drifting from town to town, job to job, affected some tramp printers in adverse ways. Some never put down roots, they abused alcohol, left broken families, and generally “broke the hearts of kith and kin.”

At the same time we attempt to create a sociological statement about tramp printers, their work traditions, values, and position in the history of the North American work force. Surely, this group was unique among the workers and tradesmen. To our knowledge, no other industry operated the way the printing trade did. Few workers enjoyed the freedom of movement and autonomy available to printers. Unusual work practices, rigid adherence to centuries of tradition, a high degree of literacy, and complex social relationships traditionally placed printers in a unique category in America’s labor movement. Tramp printers formed a distinct subcategory within the working community. Their “education” placed them in the forefront of labor leaders, once they "settled down" and accepted permanent employment in a community.

Although severely dysfunctional individuals were in the tramp printer minority, these individuals tended to be the most colorful, the best remembered, and the most envied by “homeguards” who felt trapped in their humdrum, staid and safe jobs. 

Unlike most workers who misuse alcohol and shun responsibility, dysfunctional tramp printers suffered little damage from getting fired. When a printer was sacked for drinking on the job, he didn’t have to become a beggar on skid row; another good-paying job waited across the street, across town, across the state, or across the country. However, as will be explained later, drinking was so common on so many newspapers (among editors and reporters as well as printers) that drinkers often were not fired unless drinking interfered with their ability to keep up with the composing room’s production standards.

The fact is, most tramp printers were not alcoholics or derelicts. At any given time in history, the majority of them were temporary “tourists.” In good times, they were tramp printers by choice, and not by necessity. In depression times, it was necessary to travel to find work—until jobs opened up back home. Traditionally, young fledgling printers took time at the end of their apprenticeships to enjoy the adventure and freedom of traveling, or “tramping” while they searched for an ideal place to settle down. Many eagerly looked forward to the completion of their apprenticeship so they, too, could “tour” the country and enjoy the luxury of working where and when they pleased after an onerous obligation of six years working in the same place. Some tramp printers (like the authors) traveled with their families, sometimes living in house trailers or renting apartments close to the printing plants where they worked.

Of course, a number of printers and employers in the printing industry during those halcyon days of tramp printers did not view tramps with fondness. Some union members disliked tramps because they forced regular workers to “give out their overtime” (explained later).  Some employers resented tramp printers’ lack of loyalty to the company and often arrogant attitudes when dealing with management. The irresponsible, alcholic tramp printers were well remembered, and those who behaved normally were forgotten. These negative viewpoints will be recorded insofar as we’ve been able to collect them.

Therefore, after long consideration we (the authors) succumbed to our personal biases and happy remembrances of the positive aspects of being tramps. We fondly recall the euphoric sense of freedom, the reinforcing bond of camaraderie with other printers, and adventures to be discovered by taking whichever fork of the road appeared to be the most romantic. Our decision is to concentrate on presenting stories, anecdotes, and observations of those who enjoyed this way of life. Rather than a traditional ethnographic description of function, role, solidarity, and such, from the viewpoint of the observer—that is an “etic” view—we prefer to take an “emic” approach. We will describe the lives, customs, and behavior of tramp printers from their perspective rather than from the judgmental viewpoint of an observer. In other words, the views in this book are from the participants’ observation. So, those of you who are looking for something scientific rather than entertaining, better wait for the scientific dissertation, which may or may never be published.

Sources of Information for this Book

The core of this book about tramp printers was written by tramp printers themselves. The majority of the contributors to this book are now dead. You will be reading stories sent to us over a 20-year period—you’ll find transcripts of conversations and interviews plus personal experiences and observations written by tramp printers, about tramp printers.

We’ve deliberately refrained from over-editing this material for fear of losing the impact of the actual words of the tramp printers and their contemporaries. You may even find typographical errors sprinkled among these pages, but we don’t apologize; we are in a hurry to publish. Those very few remaining hot-metal printers anxiously awaited publication of this book. They wanted to see their handiwork before they too, join their brother and sister printers. As a result, the publication sold out almost immediately.

The idea for this project began back in 1972, when the authors began collecting information from other tramp printers. We intended to publish a paper for the California Sociologist, a journal published by California State University at Los Angeles. We became sidetracked by other projects, however, and never got around to doing much more after completing one paper on the Sociology of Labor, and one paper on the effects of automation on newspaper workers.

While we were deciding what to do with the information, John Howells decided to issue a “tramp printer’s newsletter” and circulate among a mail list of ex-tramps. This publication had two names: When Printers Worked With Real Type and Tramp Printers’ Newsletter. It was published on a more or less regular basis for about three years.

Many stories, anecdotes, and incidents related in this book came from those early contributors. These memories came from printers who traveled between the years of 1920 to 1970. Unfortunately, most, if not quite all of these respondents have passed away during these two decades of procrastination. Then in 1994, fired with a resolve to complete our project, we issued a new call for information through the pages of the CWA News (a newspaper issued by Communications Workers of America) and The Printer (a publication for printing historians and hot-metal printing buffs)
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A new wave of information flooded us, with stories and memories of a later group of traveling printers: those who became printers after World War II. Their traveling years were of a different quality and experience from their counterparts who went through the depression. The newer breed enjoyed one of the more idyllic periods of printing history in that they rode a wave of continual prosperity and full employment—that is, until the new processes abruptly ended forever the careers of tramp printers.

Another very valuable source of printing history came from the book Adventures of a Tramp Printer by John Edward Hicks. A very well-traveled printer, Mr. Hicks drew on his experiences as a tramp printer in the 1880’s and 1890’s to produce a very readable collection of vignettes about tramp printers. He traveled the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, worked on big city dailies, country weeklies, and job printing shops. His experience in traveling about the country enabled him to become a field representative for the International Typographical Union. Hicks eventually settled in Kansas City where he published his book with nationwide help from editors, newswriters, historians, and of course, other tramp printers. He must have been in his 90s at the time of publication