THE COALVILLE NEWS, Vol. I, No. 1
Harry went upstairs and sat down to write an article about the
discharge of the home miners as a result of the foreigners having been
given work in the Annex Mine, then he went to work and set it up in
type-form. It was the middle of the afternoon when he finished and
there was a galley and a half in all. This, added to the local news
items that Tommy set in the meantime, would be enough to fill the rest
of the space in the forms, and Harry felt very well pleased.
“I’m going to make up the forms now, Tommy,” he said, “and have them
all ready so we can go right to printing the first thing in the
morning. We may be able to get the papers printed by noon.”
He went to work making up the forms, as he had said, and soon had the
type all in and evened up at the bottom, so that the foot-stick would
fit up evenly against the lower ends of the seven columns of type. The
foot-stick is of iron, and is about half an inch thick and two-thirds
of an inch wide. There is a side-stick, also, that fits against the
type lengthwise of the form. Between the foot-stick and the side-stick
is a space of about half an inch, and in this space quoins are placed.
These are cast-metal, nearly half an inch thick at the large end and
sloping down to only about an eighth of an inch at the other end. They
have indentations and ridges in their top, these indentations and
ridges alternating, and there is a key, as it is called, with a handle
at the top and indentations and ridges in the other end, which is
about one-third of an inch in diameter. There are only four of these
indentations and ridges in the end of the key, and they fit into the
indentations and ridges in the quoins. When the key is twisted around
and around by the handle, the two quoins, placed face to face with the
large ends in opposite directions and the thin ends pointing toward
each other, are spread apart.
The flat, straight sides of the quoins pressing against the iron chase
at one side and against the iron foot and side-sticks at the other,
compress the type in the form and tighten it so that even though it
consists of several thousands of little individual pieces of metal,
viz., the type, spaces, quads, etc., it is all pressed together like
one solid piece of metal. The form thus locked up, as it is termed,
can be lifted off the imposing stone and carried and placed on the
press to be printed from, or taken off the press and carried and placed
back on the imposing-stone and the quoins loosened; this frees the
individual pieces of metal from compression and the type can be taken
out and thrown back into the cases, ready to be set up and be printed
from again.
Harry, having filled the forms with the type and fitted the sides and
foot-sticks in, placed the quoins in between the foot-sticks and the
side of the chase. These forms that Harry’s paper was to be printed
from were seven-column ones. A form of that size requires two pairs of
quoins at the foot, and three pairs of quoins at the side, to compress
the type in the chase sufficiently, to hold them all in place and make
the type as compact as one solid piece of metal.
Harry had learned all this in the office in Allentown, and he placed
two pairs of quoins at the foot and three pairs of quoins at the
side of each form, and pushed the two pieces constituting each pair
of quoins together with his fingers. This was tight enough for the
present, as he would not lock the forms up until ready to go to press
in the morning. To lock them up tightly and leave them overnight caused
the chases to spring. They are strong, but bend slightly when the forms
are locked up tightly, and if the forms are left locked up too long and
the chases thus become sprung, the whole form will “cave in.” A bushel
or two of “pi,” or mixed and jumbled type, is the result.
It is too tedious a job and takes too long a time to sort out and
distribute such a large quantity of this mixed type. It is therefore
thrown into a carton labeled “Old Metal,” to be sold back to the type
foundries at the rate of about eight cents per pound. At the same
time the publisher writes an order to the same type foundry to send
him a hundred pounds of new type for which he pays about sixty cents
per pound. Therefore printers have to be careful of their printing
paraphernalia so that the profits of running their printing business
will not be appreciably diminished.
“I almost forgot something,” said Harry, turning to Tommy. “Run down to
Mr. Merwin’s carpenter shop and get the ink-board that I had him make
for me. It has been done several days, but it won’t be needed till the
time comes to print, and I didn’t think to get it.”
“All right,” said Tommy, and he went on the errand, returning in about
ten minutes with the ink-board.
“That’ll do first rate,” said Harry, taking it and looking at it. It
was made of two thicknesses of pine board nailed together crosswise,
and was covered with a sheet of zinc. “It can be placed on that box
you stand on to set type, when we go to print. You’ll have to do the
inking, Tommy, by hand. See, here’s the ink-roller,” and he set the
ink-board down against the wall and lifted the ink-roller out of a
wooden box.
The rollers used in printing are a composition composed principally
of glue and molasses, soft on the surface and at the same time tough
enough to stand a lot of use if carefully handled. This surface is
smooth and at the same time slightly grainy, as it might be called,
and the ink, when distributed on some smooth surface, adheres to the
roller. Then when the roller rolls across the top of the type, the
type is inked; and when paper on which anything is to be printed is
placed on top of the type and strong pressure brought to bear upon it,
the type-conforma--local news items, advertisements or whatever it may
be--is impressed on the paper, this constituting the printed sheet.
Ink-rollers have to be cleansed of the ink, and of dust or anything
that gets on them, by benzine, which removes the ink, etc., without
injuring the surface of the roller. Lye-water, diluted to the proper
thinness, will remove ink from type-forms, but will ruin the surface
of the ink-rollers, as the lye will eat into the molasses and glue
compound.
The ink-roller that Harry had purchased was fourteen inches long and
about three inches in diameter. At the center, extending through from
end to end and projecting half an inch or so, was what is termed the
core, this being an iron rod about half an inch in diameter, and such
an iron rod, or core, is in all ink-rollers. The projecting end of
the core fitted into holes in the ends of an iron frame, to which was
fastened a handle to grasp while distributing the ink and rolling the
roller across the form.
“You can handle this ink-roller and ink the forms without difficulty,
Tommy, as the roller isn’t very heavy.” He handed it to Tommy, who
tested its weight and nodded.
“Yes, I can handle it, I am sure,” he said. “It isn’t very heavy.”
When five o’clock came Harry looked at the two seven-column forms with
satisfaction, and nodded his head.
“Everything’s ready, and we start printing the paper the first thing in
the morning,” he said to Tommy, who nodded. “I hope the people will
like the paper,” he added.
“I’m sure they will,” the boy replied. “It’ll make the place seem
livelier to have a paper.”
“Yes, it’ll help some,” Harry remarked, and then they went out and to
their respective homes.
Next morning they began work promptly at eight. Tommy placed the carton
beside the table on which the press stood, and placed the ink-board on
it, and then in accordance with Harry’s instructions placed some ink
from the ten-gallon can on the ink-board. He rolled the roller back and
forth and crosswise until the ink was distributed thinly and evenly.
Meanwhile Harry had locked up the first form, the one with the heading
of the paper, and had placed it on the iron bed of the press; and this
made the preparations for printing complete, as in addition to making
the forms ready to print from the evening before, Harry, assisted by
Tommy, had folded the four hundred and eighty sheets of paper. As it
was only possible to print one form at a time, the paper had to be
folded. It was the “ready print” kind, one side of it, or two pages,
already being printed, and consisting of foreign news, as opposed to
local news. The four hundred and eighty sheets were stacked up on a
table at the side of the press.
“The paper is half printed already, Tommy,” said Harry. “Now let’s see
if we can print the rest in half a day. I don’t know how fast we can
print, nor how long it will take us to run these papers through, but
if we don’t get it done by noon we’ll surely be able to do so by the
middle of the afternoon. Now let’s get to work.”
Harry placed one of the papers up against the heavy ducking, which,
being sewed around a thin iron frame, constituted the tympan, as it is
called. It was the proper size to fit down over a seven-column form,
the iron flanges fitting around the form, thus not coming down onto the
type, and the thin metal frame called a friskit, fastened at the top
pivotally so it could be lifted up and down. He pulled down until it
fitted against the paper all around, thus holding it in place. Then he
laid all three--the tympan, paper and friskit--down onto the top of the
form, Tommy having inked the type from one end of the form to the other
as Harry had instructed him to do.
Then taking hold of the crank at the side next to him, Harry turned it
around slowly, the iron bed with the form on it moving through beneath
the iron cylinder, which was adjusted to exactly the right height so
that it pressed down tightly on the type-form, thus making a printed
impression. This iron bed was moved along by strong steel cogs on
the end of the cylinder next to Harry, these cogs fitting into cogs
along the entire length of the iron frame of the press. A small press
such as this needed only cogs at one end, as the cylinder had a steel
projection at the other end about half an inch in diameter, that fitted
into the hole in a portion of the iron framework of the press that
extended upward, somewhat like a flange.
When he had turned the crank till the bed of the press and the form
had passed completely through and somewhat beyond the cylinder, Harry
stopped and lifted up the friskit, the paper lifting at the same time,
and there was the front page of the first issue of “The Coalville
News,” printed neatly and clearly, staring him and Tommy in the face.
“How’s that, Tommy?” asked Harry, smilingly. “How does that look?”
“Great!” said Tommy. “Jinks! I didn’t know it would look as well as
that!”
“I was sure it would,” said Harry. “You see, I worked in a newspaper
office in another town, and helped print the paper, so I knew about how
it would look.”
Tommy nodded. “With the other page printed, it’ll be a nice paper,” he
said.
“You’re right, Tommy,” Harry agreed.
He took the paper off the tympan and sat down to look it over to see
if there were any errors that would have to be corrected. He did not
believe there were any, as he always corrected each line of type as
soon as he set it, and Tommy had done likewise, in accordance with
Harry’s instructions. Tommy had made a few errors, but Harry had
corrected these while making up the forms.
At the top of the first column Harry had placed his salutatory. It was
brief and consistent, simply stating that “The Coalville News” was
started with the hope that it would please the people of the town and
vicinity, that they would subscribe for and read it; that he, as its
publisher, would make it as interesting and newsy as possible, and
that he would do his best to make it a benefit not only to himself,
but to the town and community as well. At the bottom his name, “Harry
Weston,” and the words, “Editor and Proprietor,” appeared.
At the top of the next two columns, the type set double-column width
and in large type, was the article of protest Harry had written--the
protest against the foreign miners being given work in the Annex Mine
and the home miners being discharged. On the top line, in twenty-four
point type, or type one-third of an inch wide, Harry had printed the
main heading of the article in the following words:
NOT FAIR TREATMENT!
Just below this, in eighteen-point type, was a secondary heading line,
as follows:
“Foreign Miners Employed in the
Annex Mine--Home Miners
Discharged!”
Below this he printed a third heading, in twelve-point type, as follows:
“The Business Men of Coalville,
Including the Publisher of This
Paper, Protest! They Hope to
Get Mr. Morgan, the Annex
Mine’s Manager, to
Reconsider!”
Then followed the article, printed in eight-point type, the size
used throughout for the news portion, where Harry explained all he
had learned about the employing of the foreigners by Mr. Morgan and
the discharge of the home miners, that he had talked with all the
merchants in Coalville, who were unanimous in declaring Mr. Morgan’s
actions as unfair treatment of the home miners; and that they one and
all, including the publisher of “The Coalville News,” protested, and
approved of a protest being printed. This being the case, he, Harry
Weston, the editor and publisher of the Coalville newspaper, had
written and printed the protest; he hoped it would have considerable
effect in getting Mr. Morgan to reconsider his unfair treatment of the
home miners, and that it might lead to his discharging the foreigners
and re-employing the home men.
It was a good article indeed, well-written, and would make a good
impression undoubtedly, as Harry had written it carefully, and it was
couched in calm, conservative language.
There were no errors to correct, so they went right ahead printing;
in an hour and a half’s time they had printed the first page of each
of the four hundred and eighty papers. Harry then took the form off
the press and put it back on the imposing-stone. The form was not too
heavy for one to handle, as it weighed only about eighty-five pounds.
He then washed the ink off the face of the type with a cloth moistened
with benzine, unlocked the form by loosening the quoins, and then
locked up the other form and put it onto the bed of the press.
“The ink on the first hundred or so of the papers we printed is dry
enough by this time so it won’t offset,” said Harry, “and by the time
we get those printed the rest will be dry enough.” “Offsetting” means
the smudging of the white, unprinted paper by the moist ink from the
printed paper.
They got the four hundred and eighty papers printed a little while
before noon, and after he had taken the form off the press, put it
on the imposing-stone, cleaned off the type with benzine and then
unlocked the form. Harry turned to Tommy:
“I’ll tell you what I want you to do, Tommy,” he said. “You can do it
after you have eaten your dinner. I want you to get at least three
other boys and have them come to the office with you. Get them here
as soon as you can after dinner. I want you four to distribute these
papers into the homes of the people here in Coalville. You see, I
haven’t any real list of subscribers as yet. I have them still to get,
and I don’t know of any better way to get them to subscribe than to
hand them sample copies until they do subscribe; and in due time I will
have a regular bona fide list of subscribers and can send the papers
through the post-office.”
“Very well,” said Tommy. “I can get three boys to help, easily enough.
We’ll be here soon after one o’clock.”
“Good, and thanks, Tommy. Tell them I will pay them a fair price for
the work, and will hand them their pay as soon as they have finished.”
“All right,” and Tommy hurried out. Harry followed, and locking the
door, made his way downstairs and to the Tompkins home, where he ate
quite appreciatively of Mrs. Tompkins’ good food.
He had not been at the office more than ten minutes before Tommy
arrived, accompanied by three other bright-looking boys.
“Here they are, Harry,” he said. “These boys’ll help distribute the
papers.”
“All right. I’ll divide the papers among you. There are four hundred
and eighty papers, but I want to keep sixty of them, as I am going to
distribute the paper in all the business houses at the same time you
boys are distributing them in the homes. That leaves four hundred and
twenty, which will be one hundred and five for each of you. I’ll count
them out.”
He did so, and found that there were fifteen extra copies. “They put
these in for good measure, I suppose,” he said. “I’ll keep them in the
office, as I want two to put on file, and there may be a few people who
will come in and want an extra copy. Now go ahead, boys, and be sure
and leave a paper at each house. The best way to do will be to divide
the town up into four sections, and each deliver papers in his section.
That will be more systematic than haphazard delivery and you will not
be so likely to miss any houses.”
“All right,” said Tommy, and the other boys nodded. They went
downstairs, discussing among themselves which boy should deliver
papers in each of the different sections.
Harry then, with the sixty papers under his arm, went downstairs and
made his way from store to store, then upstairs into the professional
offices and into the city clerk’s office. He did not stop to talk to
the merchants, but simply handed them the paper, or laid it on the
counter, and went on. It was done in three-quarters of an hour. He
returned to his office and sat down to rest, as he had worked pretty
hard and was tired. Taking up one of the papers he began looking it
over while waiting for the boys to return.
They did not get back till nearly four o’clock. “We delivered the
papers at all the houses,” said Tommy. “We only had three papers left,
and I brought them back.” He handed them to Harry, who placed them on
the table.
“That’s good,” he said. Then turning to the other boys, he added: “How
much do I owe you for distributing the papers?”
They glanced at one another, and then one said: “I guess fifty cents
apiece would be about right.” He glanced at the other two and they
nodded.
“That is all right, and reasonable enough,” said Harry, and he handed
each of them a fifty-cent piece.
“Thanks,” they said, and then the one who had spoken up added: “If you
want us to carry papers each week, we will do so.”
“Yes, I will want you to do so for a few weeks at any rate,” was the
reply. “Come up to the office every Friday about one o’clock.”
“All right, we’ll be here,” the same boy said, and the other two
nodded, then they left the office and went down onto the street.
At five o’clock Harry and Tommy went to their homes.
Harry’s paper, “The Coalville News,” the first issue of which the
people read with interest, pleased them very much and was the subject
of much favorable comment.