Texas; the very name suggests surprise and action. The largest State in the Union, an empire in size and potentialities, rich in resources, rich in romance and history, it is also rich in men of character and accomplishments. Texans are noted for their love of freedom, their willingness to fight for it and their ability to make good. Whenever there is a row in sight, your real Texan hesitates only long enough to learn where the mixup is fiercest, and that's where you find him instanter. So much for Texas and Texans. Now let us get down to the subject under discussion; none other than Tom P. Thornton, President of A. Zeese Engraving Company, Dallas, Texas, and member of the Executive Committee of the American PhotoEngravers' Association. Some years ago, when we didn't know Tom well as we know him today, we addressed him as "Thomas." This brought back an immediate reply to the effect that his name was just plain Tom, which is something else again, Mawriss. Well, that's the kind of a guy Tom is;-take it or leave it. as makeup of Jim Jeffries, he could do his share of it. Tom Thornton received his education in the public schools of Texas, and his higher education in the University of Hard Knocks, where he graduated with high honors. He became a wage-earner, and consequently joined the sacred ranks of labor,earning his first dollar by dropping corn for neighbors during the cornplanting season. This was in the days. before corn-planters were invented, and when the farmer depended upon muscular exertion rather than gasoline. Tom was an active young chap, and the farm lost its charms early in his life. Like all great men, he taught school, became a newspaper reporter, engaged in the retail drug business (before drug stores became saloons), and afterward went into the general mercantile business. Getting tired of the tank towns, he made a new resolution on Jan. 1, 1903, and on the same day moved to Dallas, where he became associated with the Fishburn Illustrating Company, one of the first engraving concerns in the South. That didn't hold him very long, and he next became a magazine publisher. He soon learned enough about that game to get out of it, and in 1905 he was elected Manager of the A. Zeese Engraving Company, Both graving Company, a ten-thousanddollar corporation, which under his guidance has since grown to an institution having considerably over one hundred thousand dollars invested, and owning its own building erected. especially for the A. Zeese Company plant. Mr. Thornton (it's about time we called him "Mister"), since his connection with the A. Zeese Engraving Company, has confined his efforts largely to that institution; but having come from the soil, he has retained a certain love for it, with a result that Tom is a real, genuine, dyed-in-thewool Texan. Born in Freestone County, Texas, Jan. 7, 1874, a time when natives of that great State were still referred to as "Texicans." Both the State and Tom have outgrown that slander. Being a Texan, you naturally connect Tom with long-horn steers and wild mustangs, and you are quite right. He was raised on a farm, which in those days was called a ranch, and in his early days learned to handle with equal facility the rope and the rifle. He can speak to cattle in their native language. It was during that period of his life that he became acquainted with work, and being of the physical proportions and facial his personal investments are largely in Texas land. Tom is an ardent sportsman and very fond of hunting and fishing, devoting most of his time to that form of recreation. He hasn't become infected by the golf bug as yet, but in quieter moments can be interested in that great American game entitled, "Draw Poker." Being a family man, he has a wife, and two children—a son twenty-two and a daughter eighteen years of age-both of whom are students in Texas Universities. He is a charter member of the Dallas Rotary Club, likewise of the Dallas Ad. League; also a member of the Dallas Athletic Club, the Dallas Auto Country Club, and is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner. Please Take Notice The undersigned is anxious to secure a copy of Amstutz Hand-Book of Photo-Engraving, by N. S. Amstutz, third edition, published by the Inland Printer Company, Chicago. Anyone having a copy of this book in a state of good preservation, and wishing to dispose of it, will confer a favor by communicating with me. I will pay five dollars for one copy of the book. As only one copy is desired, I will accept the first one offered. F. H. GAGE, Engineer, Care Pacific Press Publishing Assn., Mountain View, Calif. The man who thinks it is his business to defeat his competitors is wrong. His competitors are not his enemies. They happen to be workers in the same field. The most efficient competitor offers the greatest inspiration to the business man who is keen enough to see that his job is to serve his public. The wise man looks upon competitors as co-operators. E. W. Houser, President of the Barnes-Crosby Co., is going to do a little globe-trotting in the near future. He will leave Chicago the latter part of May, to attend the Annual Convention of the International Rotary Clubs, which is to be held in Los Angeles, the first week in June. After that, he intends to go to San Francisco, to play around a bit with the Shriners at their Annual Convention. In the meantime, and as usual, he will improve the opportunity to meet and talk organization to the photo-engravers located in the cities through which he will pass. Mr. Houser expects to return to Chicago in about four weeks from the time of his departure, and will then go into active training for the TwentySixth Annual Convention of the American Photo-Engravers' Association. We never tire of extolling the qualities of THE PHOTO-ENGRAVERS' BULLETIN as an advertising medium to those who have something to sell to photo-engravers. We enjoy the distinction of reaching every photo-engraving establishment in the United States every month; consequently, the BULLETIN has no rivals or competitors. This position has been attained in just one way by giving service. We know the BULLETIN'S value as an advertising medium, and we feel that many of our advertisers also realize its value. There are others, however,— especially those who are constantly entering the field,-who need to be told about it. Telling is one thing and making good is quite another. Several months ago Mr. W. McK. White, President of the White Manufacturing Co., came to the BULLETIN office and exhibited photographs of the Howard Rotary Type-High Planer, on which he had been working for several years, and which had finally been perfected and was ready to be placed on the market. He had with him letters from several photo-engravers who had tested the machine in their establishments and who spoke very highly of it. His product looked good and he was advised to advertise it in the BULLETIN. He stated he was not quite ready for that as he had not yet determined upon the length of time required for production. As this was a matter of news and of interest to the trade, he was invited to write a technical description of his machine for the BULLETIN. This was published in the April number. He had no time to prepare an advertisement and, consequently, was placed at a disadvantage in the matter of returns. Immediately after the April number reached its readers, the BULLETIN office receive inquiries concerning the machine, and the White Manufacturing Company received quite a number of inquiries, some of them resulting in immediate orders. This brought a letter from Mr. White, expressing his great satisfaction, and enclosing copy for a quarter-page ad. for the May BULLETIN, together with a statement that he was preparing a half-page advertisement for the June issue. We take a justifiable pride in citing this instance of the BULLETIN's effectiveness in obtaining business for those who want it and deserve it. It is with deep regret and sorrow that we announce the death of Mr. C. H. Brandon, President of the Brandon Printing Company, Nashville, Tenn., and dean of the printing industry of that city. Mr. Brandon's death was totally unexpected, and was a great shock to the printing and allied industries, among which he had hundreds of friends. Mr. Brandon was one of the most prominent, best-known and beloved printers in the South. He was always active in organization matters, ever striving to improve the industry with which he was connected, and possessed of a charming personality that endeared him at once to the hearts of those who had the privilege of coming in contact with him. The Brandon Printing Company has maintained a photo-engraving department for years, and from its inception has been a member of the American Photo-Engravers' Association. Our sympathies are extended to Mr. Brandon's family and his business associates. It isn't very often that we are favored with advertising issued by Canadian photo-engravers; consequently, the book recently published by the Photo-Engravers and Electrotypers, Limited, Toronto, attracted more than usual attention. This book, which measures 9 x 12 inches, and contains twenty pages and covers, is a work of art, and an advertising effort that should place the firm behind it out in front. The outside front cover consists of a decorative design printed in gray-green and orange, bearing the title, "And the Basis of Judgment is Knowledge," the latter printed in black. The book extends an invitation to visit the home of this institution; and from that point on, tells its stories in pictures, surely an appropriate and consistent way to advertise the photoengraving business. The stranger is shown approaching the building, and from thence onward his progress through the establishment is graphically recorded by the camera. He is made to meet the principals of the institution, and is shown through every department of the plant. In the end, he bids good-by, and is invited to come again. Portraits of the service executives are also displayed. It is one of the best pieces of advertising calculated to show the character, ability, capacity and responsibility of an institution, that we have ever seen. Our good friend, I. M. Long, President of the American Engraving Company, Tulsa, Okla., is a firm believer in advertising and he is continuously at it. Long never has time for complaints or reminiscences. His eyes are always focused straight ahead. His latest advertising effort consists of a letter-file folder of standard size, ready to be placed in the letter-file of whoever receives it, with the name of his company printed on the upper flap, together with the information that the folder contains samples and prices of the latest styles in portrait engraving. The inside of the folder does contain the information mentioned, and will be very valuable for newspapers, printers, and advertisers in general who have occasion to order photoengravings. Together with this folder is a shipping envelope, all printed and addressed, containing a sheet of corrugated cardboard and a compartment for a letter, which is very useful whenever copy is to be sent to the engraver. This is a practical idea and a unique extension of service, which in this case begins before the order is placed. The Star Engraving Company, Los Angeles, recently issued a very attractive blotter, measuring 64 x 1034 inches, on which is printed a very beautiful color-process reproduction of an oil painting by Benjamin C. Brown. Mr. Brown on this occasion has painted a bit of California scenery, and the color-process reproduction has not only reproduced it in accurate detail, but has also caught the atmosphere of the original to such an extent that the artist felt moved to express his compliments to the Star Engraving Company. This blotter should convince even a skeptic of the firm's ability to produce excellent color plates. The West Coast Engraving Company, of Portland, Oregon, submitted an example of a re-engraved copper halftone, etched especially for bond paper, of more than the usual and expected quality. The subject shows a tiger in repose. The reproduction is excellent, the re-engraving is good. and the proof on bond paper, printed on an ordinary printing press, is one of the best we have ever seen of that character of work. It seems as though the greatest development in photo-engraving lies in the production of halftones suitable for printing on uncoated long step in that direction. paper stocks, and this example is a Our members are gradually beginning to appreciate the value of the lectures on photo-engraving that have been prepared by our Publicity Committee, and which are available to all photo-engravers for the asking and without charge, at any time. These lectures, four in number, deal with different phases of photo-engraving and its application, and can be read or committed to memory and recited by anyone in the photo-engraving business before printers' organizations, ad. clubs, commercial associations, et. They can also be used as technical articles in newspapers, magazines, periodicals, house organs, etc. In all cases, they will serve to advertise |