See quotation. 1855. (Printers’ term.)
1824. Loren Webster, chief ink-dauber in a rat-printing office at the west; Ralph Walby, nothing at all but a rat-printer.—The Microscope, Albany, N.Y., March 6.
1853. Resolved, That any member belonging to the Society, accepting a situation, and working for less than these rates, shall be treated by us as a dishonest man, and [we] hold it our privilege to publish him to the world as a “RAT”: Resolution of the Printers’ Convention held in Portland, Oregon, June 11.
1855. Perhaps our readers ask, what is meant by the term “rat.” It is a term recognized by the printing fraternity, and is applied to those who work at less rates than honest printers can afford.—Oregon Weekly Times, Aug. 4.
1856. Any institution that holds out inducements to rats must be nearly gone in.—Sacramento American, n.d.
1860. The use of the words ‘Rats’ and ‘Ratting,’ in the sense referred to, is, I believe, confined to printers.—Knick. Mag., lvi. 431 (Oct.).
1881. The men who agree to go into the strike are always the more united and determined class. The rats who refuse suffer accordingly.—The American, No. 73, Dec. 31, 181/2. (N.E.D.)
1892. [He said] that “rats” were still employed in the Tribune office, every one of whom “must go” before the boycott against the office could be declared “off.”—The Nation, N.Y., Aug. 11, lv. 96/2. (Id.)
