ANNUAL PRIZE LIST.
OPEN FOR COMPETITION UNTIL JANUARY 15TH, 1879.
[Illustration:]
GOLD WATCH. SEWING MACHINE. SILVER WATCH.
In addition to the smaller premiums which we offer and which every body
may get, there is a prize of a Lady's or Gentleman's =Gold Watch=, =a
Sewing Machine=, =Silver Watch=, and a =Small Patent Churn=.
The person securing the largest sum in subscriptions to the WITNESS
Publications before January 15th, 1879, will receive a Solid Gold
Watch, suitable for either a lady or a gentleman.
The person sending in the second largest amount in subscriptions to the
WITNESS Publications will receive a first-class Sewing Machine.
To the person third on the list, a magnificent Solid Silver watch will
be sent.
To the person fourth on the list will be sent a small patent churn,
suitable for a farmer who has a small number of cows.
The Churn is most simple in construction, and is therefore easily
worked, and is not apt to get out of order.
Renewals, as well as new subscriptions count in for the above mentioned
prizes.
JOHN DOUGALL & SON, Montreal.
PREMIUMS FOR THE MILLION.
In making up our Fall list of premiums we have tried to introduce as
many new articles as possible, but owing to the request of many of our
last year's workers who did not succeed in gaining all the prizes that
they wished for, we again offer some of the articles which last year
were most sought after. The Skates seem to have been the favorite of
the Young Folks, as over 700 pairs have been sent away to successful
competitors, and in every case, as far as we have learned, gave entire
satisfaction; we, therefore, for a short time only, offer the skates as
premiums on the following terms:
[Illustration: THE CANADIAN CLUB SKATE.]
To any Boy or girl sending us $9 in new subscriptions to any of the
WITNESS publications, we will send, securely packed and all charges
paid, one pair of the CANADIAN CLUB SKATES, worth $2.75 per pair.
[Illustration: EUREKA CLUB SKATE]
For $10 in new subscriptions we will send the all-steel EUREKA CLUB
SKATE, which retails at $2.75. For $15 in new subscriptions we will
send by express a pair of the celebrated steel and iron welded EUREKA
CLUB SKATE, worth $4.
(_Continued on Page 29._)
THE
DAILY NEWSPAPER:
THE HISTORY
OF ITS
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION.
_Re-printed from the "New Dominion Monthly."_
MONTREAL:
JOHN DOUGALL AND SON, 33 TO 37 BONAVENTURE STREET.
1878.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
THE "WITNESS" BUILDING. 2
UPPER CASE. 6
LOWER CASE. 6
SETTING TYPE. 6
MAKING "PI." 7
BACKWARD WRITING. 8
TAKING A "PROOF." 8
PLACING "MATTER" IN "TURTLE." 10
HOISTING "TURTLE" ON THE PRESS. 13
A FELLOW LABORER. 14
_The Press Room._ 15
THE NEWSBOY'S FESTIVAL. 15
ADDRESSING MACHINE. 17
ANSWERING AN ADVERTISEMENT. 18
COUNTING ROOM. 19
GRAVERS' TOOLS. 21
WAITING FOR THE EDITOR. 23
THE LIBRARY. 25
JOHN DOUGALL. 26
LOCKING UP "DOMINION" FORM. 27
[Illustration: THE "WITNESS" BUILDING.]
Guttenberg and Faust were good printers. Their beautiful work still
remains in proof that the moneyed partner was not in league with the
Evil One, even were it not known that the first book which issued
from their press was the Bible. Notwithstanding that it has often
been asserted, and may be reiterated for centuries to come, that the
fruit of the printing press is irreligion, the pages of the Mazarin
Bible--the earliest printed book known--remain still perfect and bright
as the morn that work issued complete from the press, four hundred
years ago and more,--an evidence that in the minds of the pioneers of
the art, good, and not evil, was the controlling influence. And the
history of printing ever since, shows that the bright days of the art,
in any part of the world whatsoever, have been ever contemporaneous
with increasing prosperity, intelligence and progress in the more
important things of life.
Time had not reached its greatest value in the anticipatory days of
the art; the world had not then been scoured to find the materials
wherewith to make cheap ink and cheap paper. The early printers,
in their work, had either to rival the exquisite manuscripts of
the monkish transcribers of written knowledge, or be considered
far behind in the "art preservative of all arts." Everything was
done conscientiously in those days, and with the greatest care. The
inventors were the printers, and their hearts were in their work.
Printers then looked upon their productions as works of art. Their
competition did not come in the shape of speed in production, nor
lowness of price, but in that of excellence of material and beauty of
execution; and when a man paid a fortune for a book, he expected that
it would be an heirloom to be handed from generation to generation, to
the end of time,--the same volume telling its story to grandfather,
father, son, and grandson, gaining value with each generation and
sanctity from the mere fact of age.
Now it is different. Rapidity of production, novelty, and above all
cheapness, are the leading characteristics to be aimed at by the
publisher who would reach the public. These latter attainments are
found in highest combination in that wonder of the present age, the
daily newspaper.
There is probably nothing so common of which so little is known, or
about which there is so much curiosity, as the newspaper. Men read it
every day; they abuse it, threaten to give it up, praise it, advertise
their wants in it, write to it, search it to see if their letters are
in it, call it hard names, pay for it year after year,--and still to
ninety-nine out of a hundred of them its production is a complete
mystery. To them it is a business office, a newsboy, or a post-office,
who are simply carriers, and that is all. It is the exemplification
of effect without cause,--an impersonal institution with plenty of
vitality, and sometimes even with genius; but it is always mysterious
even to those most intimately connected with it. The whole of its
secrets are known to no single individual. Its personality is swallowed
up in the editorial we, into whose depths no man penetrates, and even
the inquisition of the law never gets behind the innermost curtain. The
only name pertaining to it is that of the publisher, the _accoucheur_,
who becomes responsible for its daily birth.
For the benefit of those who have no opportunity of visiting a city
printing office and would know something of how such a one is arranged
and regulated, and also for the further satisfaction of those who have
visited an office of this description and learned only enough to make
them desire to know more, we will endeavor to describe the process of
making a daily newspaper, taking for a special subject the WITNESS
Printing House, where this magazine is published.
The general appearance of a newspaper has no little to do with its
success. It should be neatly and clearly printed, so that it may be
read with ease and pleasure. This depends chiefly on the mechanical
workmanship. Good paper is also a desideratum, but then it must not be
expensive, and need not be made as if to last for all time, as from its
nature the life of any single number of a newspaper is short, although
in the continual succession of numbers, day after day, there is much
of permanency about an established journal. A daily newspaper is the
world's history of one day to be read on the same day or the next, and
too often forgotten on the third; and to habitual news readers news
forty-eight hours behind the date is almost as ancient history, and
only interesting as a memorial of how the people lived so long ago.
There is hardly any portion of the world which has not been ransacked
for material of which to make cheap paper. The "American Encyclopædia"
gives the following extensive, though incomplete, list of substances
from which paper has been made: "Acacia, althæa, American aloe or
maguey, artichoke, asparagus, aspen, bamboo, banana, basswood, bean
vines, bluegrass, broom, buckwheat straw, bulrushes, cane, cattail,
cedar, china grass, clematis, clover, cork, corn husks and stalks,
cotton, couch grass, elder, elm, esparto grass, ferns, fir, flags,
flax, grape vine, many grasses, hemp, hop vines, horse chestnut,
indigo, jute, mulberry bark and wood; mummy cloth, oak, oakum and
straw, osier, palm, palmetto, pampas grass, papyrus, pea vines, pine,
plantain, poplar, potato vines, rags of all kinds, reeds, rice straw,
ropes, rye straw, sedge grass, silk, silk cotton (bombax), sorghum,
spruce, thistles, tobacco, wheat straw, waste paper, willow, and wool."
The principal materials are: "1, cotton and linen rags; 2, waste paper;
3, straw; 4, esparto grass; 5, wood; 6, cane; 7, jute and manila." In
Canada, the principal ingredients used in the newspaper are a mixture
of cotton rags and basswood; although from a very prevalent habit
amongst some of chewing paper, it might almost be presumed that tobacco
was also commonly used. The process of converting these different
ingredients into pure white paper is a most interesting one, but we
shall pass on to other materials used in making the newspaper without
further notice.
The central idea in the printing process is the movable type from which
the impression, which we call printing, is made. Types are composed
from an alloy known as type metal. Its chief ingredient is lead;
antimony is added to make it more stiff, and tin to give it toughness.
A very small quantity of copper is sometimes added to give it a still
greater degree of tenacity, and in some cases the ordinary type is
faced with copper through the agency of the galvanic battery,--an
expensive operation, but one which adds greatly to the durability of
the letters. A type has been described as a small bar of metal, with
the letter in relief upon one end, as in the illustration, by which,
also, it will be seen that the letter on the type is reversed, so that
the impression will appear on the paper as we see it.
[Illustration]
Types are of a uniform height, ninety-two hundredths of an inch being
the invariable height of all types, and of everything used to print
along with types all over the world. They are of various sizes, from
the letters two or more feet across, used in posters, to the minute
type only seen in the very smallest editions of the Bible, or in
marginal notes. The largest size commonly used in the present day is
"pica," of which 71.27 lines go to a foot. The next smaller is "small
pica," with 80 lines to a foot; then "long primer" (with which this
article is is printed), with 89.79 lines to a foot; then "bourgeois,"
100.79 lines to a foot; "brevier," 113.13 lines to a foot; "minion"
(with which the WITNESS is principally printed), 126.99 lines to a
foot; "nonpareil," half the size of "pica;" and "agate" (with which the
WITNESS advertisements are set), 160 lines to a foot.
_Pearl._
Machinery now does nearly every part of labor, thus saving tim
_Agate._
Machinery now does nearly every part of labor, thus sav
_Nonpareil._
Machinery now does nearly every part of labor, thus
_Minion._
Machinery now does nearly every part of labor,
_Brevier._
Machinery now does nearly every part of
_Long Primer._
Machinery now does nearly every part
_Small Pica._
Machinery now does nearly every
_Pica._
Machinery now does nearly
There are also several smaller sizes which are used for special
purposes only, as for Bibles. These are "pearl," "diamond," and
"brilliant," the last almost a microscopic type.
[Illustration: UPPER CASE.]
[Illustration: LOWER CASE.]
[Illustration: SETTING TYPE.]
The different letters of the alphabet vary in thickness. The _m_,
which, whether capital, lowercase, or italic, is nominally square in
body,--that is, just as broad as the line is deep,--is taken in America
as the basis of measuring the quantity of matter in a page, and, thus
used, is written "em." The unit of measurement is a thousand "ems,"
which means an amount of matter equal to a thousand such square types.
A line of this article measures seventeen ems, and there are fifty-five
lines to a column, thus a full page contains 1,870 ems, for which a
compositor would usually be paid forty-four cents. Every one who reads
knows that some letters are used more frequently than others. For the
ordinary class of English work, the relative ratios of the letters, as
nearly as can be calculated, are as follows :--y, l, k, j, q, x--3;
b, v--7; g, p, w, y--10; c, f, u, m--12; d, l--20; h, r--30; a, i, n,
o, s--40; t--45; e--60; in all, 532. The "fonts," or supplies of
single styles of type, are made of all sizes, from two or three pounds
to thousands of pounds, according to the quantity needed. Before the
types are used they are placed in two "cases," called respectively the
"upper" and "lower," which are placed on a stand or "frame." The upper
case is divided into ninety-eight boxes of equal size, in which are
placed the CAPITAL and SMALL CAPITAL letters, as in the plan given, by
which the position of each letter and character may be seen. The lower
case has fifty-four compartments of different sizes, in which are the
"lowercase" letters, spaces, quadrats--commonly called "quads"--and
other prime necessities for a printing office. The quadrats are pieces
of metal lower than the type, and are used for filling out blank
spaces, such as the incomplete lines at the end of a paragraph, while
the "spaces," which vary from the thickness of a hair to the width of
the letter _n_, make the spaces between words. The larger spaces are
all multiples of the _m_, which is square, and are therefore called
quadrats, or quads.
[Illustration: MAKING "PI."]
With a pair of these cases before him, the compositor begins his work.
His "copy" (the reading matter to be set in type) lies before him on
the right hand side of the upper case, which is very seldom used. He
has in his mind a phrase of the article he is setting, and picks up the
letters one by one, placing them in turn in a composing "stick," which
he holds in his left hand. He does not pick the letters from their
boxes at random, but, as a matter of habit, his eye searches out a
particular letter that lies in a position to be grasped before his hand
reaches it. He never looks at the face of a letter to be sure of what
it is, but only at the notch, or "nick," at one side at the bottom,
which must invariably be placed upward or towards his thumb in the
stick. With the nicks down the words would look as follows:
[Illustration: BACKWARD WRITING.]
When a line is completed it is "justified,"--that is, the spaces
between the words are increased or diminished, so that each line will
end with a word or a syllable. An ordinary-sized stick will contain
thirteen lines of the size of type in which this article is set; and
when the stick is full, then comes one of the most unsatisfactory
duties for novices--that of "emptying" it. There will be in the
stick some two hundred different pieces of metal. Lifting them out
of the stick in one piece is a precarious proceeding. The boy in the
illustration has evidently failed in the attempt, as do most beginners.
The result of such a slip is "pi," which is made by no stated rules,
but in numberless ways. A common work for beginners is setting up the
"pi," which, when set up, looks like this:
heq ae tti d, mc cu bah, tchi ooh hi jz. vbcmwp;"--MKe 3 : - hx.
i.r ta wsmt [fl]m_c_b2_uo_'z_e_wlec_t_ 3_o_,_gsu_ ,s--qvuke9_oi_?b
[fi]y a_t_i_m_ _o_ i_rr_ ,h _a_e6 Ij _g_s_s_ off _ieer_ xo _a_
_l_pgt _r_o ,_re_nc _o_c thd _ad_e_o_ _s_ir_t_ , ifofy
From the stick the type is transferred to a "galley," a long metal or
wooden tray, against whose side and end the type rests. It is usually
placed in an inclined position that there may be no danger of the type
"pying," or becoming so mixed up as to be useless. When the galley
becomes filled it is "locked up"--an operation made plain by our
illustration--and "proofs" taken. This is done by "inking" the type by
means of a roller, then placing a sheet of damped paper upon it and
passing a heavy iron roller, surrounded by a "blanket," over it.
The proof is then sent to the proof-reader, who goes over it carefully,
comparing it with the copy, which is read aloud to him by the
"copy-holder." Any corrections to be made are indicated by certain
hieroglyphical marks, which, with slight variations, are recognized by
printers everywhere.
[Illustration: TAKING A "PROOF."]
In daily papers, when great expedition is required, the proofs are
read in "takes,"--which requires us to turn back for a moment in this
description. Doubtless many of our readers have desired to know why it
is that newspaper publishers are continually requiring correspondents
to write only on one side of the paper, and thus encouraging so much
waste and additional postage. It is this:--the copy is given out in
"takes," or sections, of a dozen lines, more or less. To do this the
sheets are often cut and renumbered. Thus, if the manuscript were
written on both sides, endless confusion would ensue. The proofs are
often read in these "takes," the impression being obtained from the
type while in the stick. At times, when the news arrives immediately
before the paper is sent to press, this reading is the only one it
receives. Ordinarily they are read two or three times over, or oftener;
first with the copy-holder, who reads the copy while the proof-reader
compares it with the printed proof before him, then "revised" by the
proof-reader, who compares the second impression, or "revise" with the
one on which the errors or omissions had been previously indicated, and
glanced over a third time, to see that no mistakes have been overlooked
in the previous reading and with more careful attention to the sense of
the passage. Then a proof goes to the writer for further revision, if
necessary.
The best proof-readers are usually those who have had some experience
as compositors, and thus know from experience the errors most likely
to be made, and the manner of correcting them so as to cause the
least delay. Proof-reading requires a very unusual association of
qualifications. The really good proof-reader must be perfectly
acquainted with his own language, and have some general knowledge
of almost all others, besides of the dialects of his own. He must
have a general acquaintance with literature and be able to confirm
every quotation, and have the dictionary and gazeteer at his fingers'
ends. He must have an eye which nothing escapes (technically called a
typographical eye), and be able to detect and correct the errors made
by both author and compositor,--and the number by the former is usually
not inconsiderable. And withal he must have a temper which nothing can
ruffle, a power of centring his attention on the dryest matter read for
the second and third time, and determination sufficient to see that
every correction indicated is duly made--and this last is by no means
the least of his necessary qualifications.
In the early days of printing, the proof-readers were eminent scholars,
and it was no unusual thing for a proof to pass through the hands of
several of the most learned men of the time and neighborhood before
the sheets were printed. It is related of Raphelingus, a distinguished
scholar who was engaged in reading proofs in Antwerp about 1558, that
he declined the professorship of Greek at Cambridge, preferring to
correct the text of the oriental languages. Plantin, of Antwerp, and
Stephens, of Paris, used to expose publicly the sheets of their books,
offering a reward to any who would discover errors in them. But it is
very seldom, if ever, that a work is issued from the press absolutely
typographically perfect. In this respect the Oxford edition of the
Bible is said to be the most successful work published.
Many are the ludicrous and mortifying mistakes made in printing.
Erasmus, rather unfortunately for himself, corrected his own proofs,
with such a result that he declared that either the devil presided
over typography or that there was diabolical malice on the part of the
printers. Perhaps the most astonishing example of bad proofreading
was the edition of the vulgate edited by Pope Sixtus V. His Holiness
carefully supervised every sheet of this wonderful edition before it
was sent to the press, and to stamp it with his authority fulminated
a bull that any printer who, in reprinting the work, should make any
alteration in the text would be excommunicated. This was printed as
a preface to the first volume of the work. Isaac Disraeli, in his
"Curiosities of Literature," says, in referring to this circumstance,
that "To the amazement of the world, the work remained without a
rival--it literally swarmed with errata. A multitude of scraps were
printed to paste over the erroneous passages in order to give the true
text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with these patches; and
the heretics exulted in this demonstration of papal infallibility! The
copies were called in, and violent attempts made to suppress it; a few
still remain for the raptures of the Bible collectors. Not long ago the
Bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty guineas--not too much for a mere
book of blunders."
Another historical erratum was an intentional one made by a printer's
widow in Germany, at whose house a new edition of the Bible was
being printed. At night she stole into the office and altered the
passage--Genesis III., 16--which makes Eve subject to Adam, by taking
out the two first letters of the word _Herr_, used in German, and
substituting in their place _Na_. The passage thus improved read:
"and he shall be thy fool," instead of, "and he shall be thy lord,"
as it should have been. It is said that this woman was punished by
decapitation. Perhaps the most striking error of all in any edition of
the Bible was the omission of the negation in the seventh commandment
in one instance. This edition was very effectively suppressed.
[Illustration: PLACING "MATTER" IN "TURTLE."]
In reporting Parliament some ten years ago, one of our morning papers
contained a statement to the effect that the Hon. Mr. Holton said
he had no doubt that Mr. Morris was tight (right), a single letter
proving very derogatory both to the speaker and to the very highly
respected gentleman to whom he referred.
When the proofs have been read and the errors corrected, or supposed
to have been corrected, the "matter" is placed in the forms. Those,
for the "rotary" press used in the WITNESS office, form segments of
the central cylinder of the press, and from their resemblance to a
turtle shell are called "turtles." The type is placed in the form piece
by piece, the different kinds of matter each in its proper place.
This is a matter requiring both skill, care and ability, so that
paragraphs are all placed under their proper headings, and that two
articles do not become "mixed up," as sometimes happens. There have
been many illustrations of the evil effects of such a medley, but none
hardly equal to that given by Max Adeler, which, we presume, has been
subjected to some ingenious improvement. He says:
"The _Argus_ is in complete disgrace with all the people who
attend our church. Some of the admirers of Rev. Dr. Hopkins,
the clergyman, gave him a gold-headed cane a few days ago, and
a reporter of the _Argus_ was invited to be present. Nobody
knows whether the reporter was temporarily insane, or whether
the foreman, in giving out the 'copy,' mixed it accidently with
an account of a patent hog-killing machine which was tried in
Wilmington on that same day, but the appalling result was that the
_Argus_, next morning, contained the following obscure but very
dreadful narrative:
"'Several of Rev. Dr. Hopkins friends called upon him yesterday,
and after a brief conversation the unsuspicious hog was seized
by the hind legs and slid along a beam until he reached the hot
water tank. His friends explained the object of their visit, and
presented him with a very handsome gold-headed butcher, who grabbed
him by the tail, swung him round, slit his throat from ear to hear,
and in less than a minute the carcass was in the water. Thereupon
he came forward and said that there were times when the feelings
overpowered one, and for that reason he would not attempt to do
more than thank those around him, for the manner in which such a
huge animal was cut into fragments was simply astonishing. The
doctor concluded his remarks, when the machine seized him, and in
less time than it takes to write it the hog was cut into fragments
and worked up into delicious sausage. The occasion will long be
remembered by the doctor's friends as one of the most delightful
of their lives. The best pieces can be procured for fifteen cents
a pound, and we are sure that those who have sat so long under his
ministry still rejoice that he has been treated so handsomely.'"
In the recent number of an English religious paper a somewhat similar
mistake took place, the report of a meeting for the conversion of the
Jews and an item on the advantages of phosphates as manure being pretty
well shaken up together.
The matter all being properly placed in the "turtles," of which there
are eight for the DAILY WITNESS, the latter are "locked up" by means of
screws at the ends, by tightening which pressure is brought to bear on
all sides of the matter, and it becomes as one mass, so solid that it
would not fall to pieces though it fell from one floor to another. It
will be noticed that a section of the turtle forms the arc of a circle,
while the sides of the type are parallel. How to make the matter close
firmly under these circumstances was the subject of much study. One
inventor made his type wedge-shaped, but that did not answer, and the
difficulty was at length overcome by making the rules which divide the
columns so much larger towards the top than the bottom that the column
rule sits into the arch of types after the same fashion as a keystone
in masonry.
The "turtles," when being made up, are placed on stands made for the
purpose, which are wheeled along to the hoist and lowered to the press
room.
The hoist used in the WITNESS office has some peculiarities which
distinguish it from others. Where so many young people were working
together, it was considered unsafe to have a a hole in the floor with
no protection. The mechanical manager, Mr. John Beatty, therefore
set his mind to work to invent attachments whereby the hoist would
automatically open and close, as required. He was entirely successful,
and now the machinery is so arranged that whenever the hoist is at any
particular flat the gate opposite it is raised so that free access may
be had to the platform; at all other times the gate is closed, so that
no one can fall into what is, too often, little more than a man-trap.
Descending with the "turtles" to the ground floor, we arrive at the
pressroom, where the forms are hoisted on to one of Hoe's mammoth
eight-cylinder rotary presses. The turtles are fastened, or "locked,"
on to an immense cylinder and form a portion of its circumference, the
rest of its surface being used for distributing the ink. Surrounding
this cylinder, and acting in conjunction with it, are eight other
cylinders, very much smaller than the one bearing the type. At each
of them stands a man, whose duty it is to "feed" the press--that is,
place the sheets, one by one, so that at the proper time they will be
clutched by the automatic fingers by which they are drawn around the
smaller cylinder, at the same time being pressed by the one bearing the
type, so that a clear impression is made. The sheets are then carried
away by means of tapes, and deposited evenly on tables at the rear of
the press. This machine will print sixteen thousand copies an hour, and
is often run beyond that speed in the WITNESS office. Its catalogue
price is thirty thousand dollars.
A word may be said about the progress of the printing press towards
perfection. The changes have all been from direct or reciprocating
to rotary or revolving motion. At first the type was inked by "ink
balls," and the paper was pressed on it by a flat platen brought down
upon it with pressure by means of a spring or screw. Inking is now
invariably done by rollers, but the direct action of a flat platen
pressing against a flat bed is still preserved, not only in all the
smaller and simpler presses, but in those which do the very finest
work. The first great step towards increased speed was made when the
paper was pressed against the type by a cylinder or drum. This is
the character of most newspaper presses, and of a good number in the
WITNESS pressroom. In these presses the types still travel backwards
and forwards on a flat bed, which has to stop and reverse its motion
twice for every impression. The next step in advance was that which
placed the types also on a cylinder, so that there might be for them
only one continuous motion round and round in one direction. This
is illustrated by the large rotary presses in the picture of the
pressroom, one of which, the four-cylinder, has just been removed to
make way for presses adapted to finer magazine work. There is still
in the rotary press the necessity of feeding by hand. A number of
machines have been invented to feed themselves from a roll of paper,
thus introducing another rotary motion, and to "deliver" the paper by
still another rotary process. None of these presses, so far, have come
to such perfection as to print from type as well and as fast as the
great rotary press now used by the Witness, but they are constantly
improving in construction. Such presses have, of course, to print
one side of the paper and then the other before the sheet leaves the
press, and would have to deliver these perfected sheets as fast from
one exit as the rotary does from eight or ten. It is in these points
where the difficulty is found, as one side has to be printed before the
ink is dry on the other, and the rapid disposal of the finished papers
requires very ingenious machinery. There are further improvements
still in the future. We can imagine lithography completely supplanting
type or stereotype printing,--as it has begun to do,--the impression
of the type being transferred to stone, or some other lithographic
surface. If lithographic surfaces could be made cylindrical they could,
being smooth, work against each other, and so print both sides of the
paper _at the same time_. The whole press would thus consist of two
impression rollers and two more to ink them going round just as fast
as the chemical character of the ink would permit. The WITNESS has had
to purchase a new machine about every five years to keep up with the
times, and it is not probable that it will be otherwise in the future.
[Illustration: HOISTING "TURTLE" ON THE PRESS.]
As the sheets are printed they are gathered from each of the eight
receiving tables and carried off to the folding machines, of which
there are four on the same flat. These are unable to do all the work as
quickly as required, so that some are sent up to the bindery above, and
folded by hand.
Let us, for a moment, consider the amount of paper which goes through
the presses on this floor in a year. There are, devoted to papers, an
eight-cylinder rotary for the DAILY, a two-cylinder for the WEEKLY
WITNESS, and a single-feeder for the MESSENGER. There are also several
presses for job work, one of which, however, prints L'AURORE, and
another the NEW DOMINION MONTHLY, which need not now be referred to in
detail.
[Illustration: A FELLOW LABORER.]
Some fourteen thousand five hundred copies of the DAILY WITNESS are
printed daily, or 4,509,500 a year, excluding from the calculation
Sundays and legal holidays. The circulation of the WEEKLY WITNESS
averages twenty-six thousand copies, or 1,412,000 in a year. Some fifty
thousand copies of the NORTHERN MESSENGER are issued semi-monthly, or
1,200,000 sheets a year. Thus the total mounts up to more than seven
million papers which are printed on these premises during a year. A
few statistics with this number as a basis would prove interesting.
Piled in reams these papers would form a column 3,560 feet high, or
more than two-thirds of a mile. Stretched out and pasted together they
would reach four thousand four hundred and twenty-one miles. But such
figures as these simply daze one, and we will leave them and follow the
papers a little farther.
[Illustration: _The Press Room._]
These take two courses. Some go upstairs to the mailing room, while
others are counted out to the newsboys for street sale and to the
dealers throughout the city. The newsboys are a most unruly lot, and
to be kept under control are compelled to wait in a room, built on
purpose for them, until the papers are ready. This time they occupy in
quarrelling, cutting their names on the sides of the deal partitions,
and calling out to "Miss Gray," the traditional name given to every
young lady who has had charge of that department for the last ten
years or more. Should a gentleman take her place for the nonce, he
is called Mr. Gray. As soon as the papers are ready they are counted
out to the newsboys, each of whom has his particular beat or stand
in the city. Some, with more enterprise or capital than others, buy
by wholesale, and sell to others with less capital. A few, standing
on the street corners, have regular customers who pay or not, as the
case may be, each night; and as the business men pass, one after
another, the papers are handed to them almost as rapidly as tickets at
a crowded concert-room. Often they are snatched from under the boy's
arm; but no matter, without any system of book-keeping, or even a book
of original entry, each customer will be told the exact amount he owes
at any time, and without a moment's hesitation. These newsboys sell
from one to twenty dozen copies daily. They pay for the WITNESS eight
cents a dozen, and sell them at a cent each. Thus the newsboy's income
will average from four cents to eighty cents per day--the latter no
inconsiderable sum in these hard times.
[Illustration: THE NEWSBOY'S FESTIVAL.]
Although unkempt looking, rough in manner, boisterous and unmannerly
in speech, there is often much that is good in the newsboy, and Mr.
Beatty, of the WITNESS office, keeps a sharp eye after their character
and interests. About once a year the office gives them a dinner, or
something of the sort, which they attend as one man, or, more properly,
as one boy or girl, for some of the "newsboys" are girls. It is one of
these occasions which is shown in the picture. The boy standing with
his arms full and legs crossed has just been informed that he could
"pocket," and now wants to have his picture taken.
Much of the business once done by the newsboys has been taken away by
the fruit dealers, grocers, and confectioners throughout the city, most
of whom have regular customers to supply. To these the papers are sent
by four carts built for the purpose. They are shown in the picture
of the building, some of them in process of being laden and others
departing with their loads. During the day the number of papers to be
sent to each dealer is plainly marked on prepared labels, on which are
printed the name and address. These are arranged in order according to
the route they are to be taken. As soon as the papers are printed, they
are rapidly and securely tied up in bundles, with the label exposed,
for the carrier; and in a few minutes after the paper is sent to the
press the four carts are swiftly carrying them to all corners of the
city. Each driver has a shrill and peculiarly sounding whistle, which
is blown immediately before each dealer's door is reached; the bundle
is thrown on the sidewalk as the horse dashes by unchecked, and the
contents distributed amongst the crowd of customers sure to be waiting
for their WITNESS.
Again, some of the parcels have to be made up for the towns, to which
they are sent by railway, through the agency of the Express office.
Almost every town in Canada on the railway receives its bundle of
papers, and as each new railroad is opened the demand for the DAILY
WITNESS to be sent in this manner increases. A large number also go
by mail to the remote parts of the country, and in glancing over the
mailing lists the person most conversant with the geography of Canada
would be obliged to confess that a very large percentage of the names
he would there meet was entirely unfamiliar to him.
The manner of addressing papers adopted in the WITNESS office is to
print the names and addresses, with the date when the subscriptions
expire, directly on the papers themselves, in red ink. This method has
several disadvantages, but these are counterbalanced by the fact that
when once the name is printed it can never come off, as is the case
when addresses are printed on little slips of colored paper, and then
pasted on. In either method the subscribers' names are first set up
in columns, under their respective post-offices, these offices being
arranged alphabetically for facility of reference. It will be noticed
that the post-office is only printed once, and then in large heavy
type, the subscribers' names following it in the column. Five of these
columns, containing on an average two hundred names, are placed in a
"chase" and locked up. There are altogether in the office some three
hundred and fifty of these chases constantly in use. They have to
be continually revised, at which from two to ten men are constantly
engaged. When the mailing time comes the chase which is to be used
is inked and placed in the mailing machine, which is shown in the
engraving. The machine is worked by the operator's foot. A paper is
put under the hammer, as shown, and the treadle being pressed the name
in the chase beneath is plainly stamped on the paper. Only the first
paper of each parcel has the name of the post-office as well as that
of the subscriber. When all the papers going to one post-office have
been stamped, they are tied in one parcel and that with the name of the
post-office being uppermost, the general address of the whole is known.
When the parcel arrives there it is opened, and the postmaster makes
the further distribution.
[Illustration: ADDRESSING MACHINE.]
Those who read this account will understand how it is that sometimes
papers go astray. It would be wonderful if, out of nearly a hundred
thousand names always in type at the WITNESS office, while changes are
constantly being made in the lists, there were not some mistakes, and
it is creditable to the system adopted by newspaper publishers that the
number is comparatively so small.
As will have been observed, the type from which the WITNESS is printed
when in the turtles assumes a rounded shape. Readers of that paper
know that on many occasions it is embellished with wood cuts, and
that wood engravings are ordinarily cut on a flat surface. They may
have wondered how the difficulty is got over. In the WITNESS all the
engravings are electrotyped. To perform this operation an impression of
the engraving is first made in a sheet of wax by means of a powerful
press. The wax is so fine and the pressure so great that the finest
lines are reproduced. The wax is then blackleaded with graphite, made
especially fine for the purpose, and the waxen plate is inserted in an
battery in which is a strong solution of copper. In a few hours a thin
film of copper, the exact counterpart of the engraving, is formed. This
is laid on its face in a hot iron pan and over the back a covering of
tin foil is placed to give it consistency, the heat causing it to melt
and fill all the finer interstices of the engraving. Over this again
is poured a "backing" of lead or type metal, which is shaved down to
the exact thickness required. This is again backed with wood, to raise
it to the height necessary for printing. This wood has been curved
to the shape of the press and the electrotype is bent to correspond.
Some papers stereotype the whole form--a shorter process, but one
impracticable for an afternoon paper in editions, as, in the latter
case, even fifteen minutes' delay would be more than could be spared.
Thus having disposed of the mechanical branch of printing, we
will next resort to another matter of the greatest importance to
a daily newspaper--that of advertising. The DAILY WITNESS is sold
at a cent a number, a sum which hardly pays the cost of paper
alone; so that out of the advertisements inserted must be met the
expenses for printing, publishing, editing, etc. If an ordinary
newspaper, published in a small city such as Montreal practically
was twenty years ago, be examined, it will be found that nine-tenths
of the advertisements, measured by the space occupied, come under
one of the following categories: advertisements of liquors and
tobacco, of groceries including liquors and tobacco, or of places
selling liquors; advertisements of theatres and other questionable
amusements; advertisements of questionable medicines; advertisements
of questionable reading matter; advertisements of other quackeries.
To avoid all such was the firm determination of the WITNESS from the
beginning, so that it had, as it were, to create its own advertising
business. Another custom against which it set its face was that of
using large and varied type in advertisements, seeing that when all do
this they neutralize each other in point of prominence, and get much
less value out of their space,--besides making a very ugly and vulgar
looking paper. It was held that among advertisements printed in uniform
type, a small number printed prominently would be worth a great deal to
those who chose to pay for them, and more in proportion to the fewness
of them. This end was gained by charging double to all who thought the
prominence worth the price. Instead of putting difficulties in the
way of making changes in advertisements, the WITNESS does its best to
get the advertisers to put in new advertisements every day, believing
that were this to become universal the advertising columns would be as
much studied as the reading columns. Here are one or two points not
understood by all advertisers: one, that it is of no advantage to draw
attention to commodities that are not worth the money they are sold
for. If purchasers are disappointed, the more attention drawn to the
goods the worse for the business,--those swindling concerns that live
on first transactions always excepted. Another thing is that it is
better to have an advertisement where it will be looked for by those
wanting the article than to have to draw the attention of everybody
to it. To get people into the habit of looking into certain quarters
for certain things should be the primary object of all advertisers
and advertising mediums. Some Montreal men are proving adepts in the
art of advertising and making it very profitable, while, on the other
hand, there is no way of throwing away money faster than by unwise
advertising.
Some idea of the amount of business which is done in advertising may
be obtained from the fact that in 1877-78, one of the dull years,
twenty-four thousand two hundred and ninety advertisements were
received in the WITNESS office, a daily average of seventy-nine. This
was obtained almost without any canvassing. A business that depends
largely on canvassing must necessarily adopt prices that will cover
canvassers' commission.
[Illustration: ANSWERING AN ADVERTISEMENT.]
There are many traditions in the WITNESS office in regard to remarkable
answers to advertisements. A gentleman, one bright summer's day, lost
a favorite canary, and hurried to the WITNESS office to make his loss
known. His advertisement was immediately sent up to the compositors'
room to be set up, and while this was being done the bird flew in
through the window and perched himself on the case immediately in front
of the young man who was putting the advertisement into type. Birdie
was caught, and soon the owner was happy again. It is well that all
lost articles do not, in a similar manner, find their way into printing
offices, as the character of the profession might then be subject to
suspicion.
The subject of curious advertisements is an endless one, and has been
fully entered into in Sampson's "History of Advertising." There is the
kind in which the sentences are, to say the least, ambiguous, as that
of the lady who advertised for a husband "with a Roman nose having
strong religious tendencies." Then there was "to be sold cheap, a
splendid gray horse, calculated for a charger, or would carry a lady
with a switch tail,"--hardly as curious an individual as the one spoken
of in the following announcement: "To be sold cheap, a mail phaeton,
the property of a gentleman with a movable head as good as new." A
travelling companion to these would be the following: "To be sold an
Erard grand piano, the property of a lady, about to travel in a walnut
wood case with carved legs." But what can compare with the specimen of
humanity referred to by a chemist in the request that "the gentleman
who left his stomach for analysis will please call and get it, together
with the result!"
The insertion of marriages is of early date, they first appearing as
news, and in certain respects were much more satisfactory than those
now given, as for instance, the one in the _Daily Post Boy_ of February
21st, 1774:
"_Married_, yesterday at St. James' church, by the Right Rev. Dr.
Hen. Egerton, Lord Bishop of Hereford, the Hon. Francis Godolphin,
Esq., of Scotland Yard, to the third daughter of the Countess of
Portland, a beautiful lady of £50,000 fortune."
Sometimes the papers in those days disputed as to the matters of
marriages and deaths. The _London Evening Post_, in April, 1734, said:
"_Married._--A few days since--Price, a Buckinghamshire gentleman
of near £2,000 per annum, to Miss Robinson, of the Theatre Royal,
Drury-lane."
At this the _Daily Advertiser_ remarks, a few days later, "Mr. Price's
marriage is entirely false and groundless"--a peculiar kind of marriage
that. The _Daily Journal_ about the same time asserts:
"_Died._--On Tuesday, in Tavistock-street, Mr. Mooring, an eminent
mercer, that kept Levy's warehouse, said to have died worth
£60,000."
But the _Daily Post_ informs the public that "this was five days before
he did die, and £40,000 more than he died worth."
* * * * *
That the principle of protection was known in 1804 is clearly shown by
the following important advertisement:
"To be disposed of, for the benefit of the poor widow, a Blind
Man's Walk in a charitable neighborhood, the comings-in between
twenty-five and twenty-six shillings a week, with a dog well
drilled, and a staff in good repair. A handsome premium will be
expected. For further particulars inquire at No. 40, Chiswell
street."
We will conclude this branch of advertising by one of more recent date
from a United States paper, whose frankness is charming:
"About two years and a half ago we took possession of this paper.
It was then in the very act of pegging out, having neither friends,
money, nor credit. We tried to breathe into it the breath of life;
we put into it all our own money, and everybody else's we could get
hold of; but it was no go; either the people of Keilhsburg don't
appreciate our efforts, or we don't know how to run a paper. We
went into the business with confidence, determined to run it or
burst. We have busted. During our connection with the _Observer_ we
have made some friends and numerous enemies. The former will have
our gratitude while life lasts."
This was inserted in the space reserved for death notices, and really
deserved some obituary poetry.
During December and January the department in a newspaper office busy
above all others is the one where the subscriptions are received and
the lists attended to.
[Illustration: COUNTING ROOM.]