Printers Code of Ethics; an honorable business...

I was looking back at some old documents that I have collected over time and thought I would post the printers code of ethics. Here almost a 100 years later the same code is applicable today. I think that people's mindsets have changed but maybe not for the best.

Here is the code of ethics published by the Typothetae in the Typothetae Tickler of Kansas City Missouri - March 1915.



Declaration of Policy and Code of Ethics

Adopted 1914

Organized October 18th, 1887

The members of the Typothetae dedicate their best efforts to business uplift and social service, and to this end pledge to themselves.

1st. To give full value for every dollar received.

2nd. To charge fair prices, viz., known cost plus a reasonable profit.

3rd. To subscribe to and work for truth and honesty in business; to avoid substitution, broken promises, unbusinesslike methods.

4th. To co-operate in establishing and maintaining approved business ethics.

5th. To be original producers and creators not copyists.

6th. To be promotive, looking to the needs of the customer, analyzing his requirements and devising new and effective means for promoting and extending his business.

7th. To place emphasis upon quality rather than price, service to the customer being the first consideration.

8th. To merit the support of buyers of their product by living up to the spirit as well as the letter of these standards.

9th. To develop, by co-operation with other departments of the Association, an ever-strengthening bond of union to the end that the service rendered to advertising by the graphic arts may achieve its highest efficiency.

10th. To aid in securing just and harmonious relations between employer and employed by establishing honorable conditions of employment.

To learn more about the historic timeline of PINE and the PIA.

“The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, one sometimes forgets which” - James Matthew Barrie