The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1860-05-23

THE LONDON TIMES.

OhO uA IA
THE LONDON TIMES.
The London correspondent of the New
York Herald furnishes the subjoined in
teresting letter respecting the London
INES, It's resources, expenses, income,
&c:
Through the polteness of the manager
OF the establishment. | was permitted
yesterday to'visit the mechanical portion
OF the office of the London Times, and to
spend sufficient time there to get tolera-
bly, good idea Of this immense concern.
ana the manner IN which business is done |
IN it. This Office as almost evervb body
knows, is located in Printing House
Square, and probably almost everybody /
has imagined that Printing House Square
Is large and noisy place in some busy
| thoroughtare of London, and that the
Times Office would OF course be in some
| locality where it could at least be easily /
| tound. Such, however, is notthe case, and |
without map, and constant inquiry il |
would be impossible for a stranger to find /
| IT, even when placed within a block OF |
| the office. Striking towards the Thames |
| from Oft Ludgate Hill. in the vicinity OF
! Blacktriar's bridge, threaded half doz
\ en- narrow streets and when near the riv.
| er and satisfied that had lost my way, |
| came upon little triangular space, from
one side of which rose a dingy looking
! brick building, over the door Of which
was a little sign, 4'fhe Times Uffice, and
| underneath, the arms Of England. 1t was
a perfect solitude, within three minutes
walk of one Of the great arteries OF Lon
| don. Upon entering, | was shown into a
| small room, called "the finishing ROOM"
| Here, upon presenting my card, was IN
| troduced to a very gentlemanly man, who
informed me that he had been connected
with the paper for more than forty years,
| and who offered to show me over the es
| tablishment. In his room the forms are
| all made up, the galley's being brought
| down from the composing-room, and the
one adjoining for that purpose. Here
alone were the galleys Of matter, and ad-
| vertisements left over, OF the latter OF
which my guide informed me there were
often sixty or seventy columns, for which
| space cannot be found even in the immense
double sheet which is daily published.
The dav before, two thousand advertise
| mepts were taken in at the office, which Is
| alongside of this finishing room" and
| which Is devoted exclusively to the recep-
! ton of adVertisements-and about iii
teen hundred different ones go into the
paper daily making up from eight to ten
pages of the sixteen printed. About SIX
columns Of these daily are advertisements
of servants wanting places. These are
| charged eighteen pence each, and are llmi-
| ted to three lines. many of them being re-
written after coming to the office, and
| made to conform to the prescribed form.
No difference in price is made on account
Of anv additional number of insertions.
From here we went into an adjoining
room. where the day compositors" were
at work upon the second edition OF the
paper. which is printed at half-past twelve
o'clock, and contains, IN addition to the
morning news, the letter of the Paris cor
respondent, and such foreign matters as
arrives in the morning mails. There are
fifty compositors employed in this depart
ment, and who, after the evening edition
Is worked off. go to work on the advertise
ments. while there are seventy compost
tors employed upon the night work. max
: ing in all one hundred and twenty com
positors. To correct their matter are en-
! | ployed twenty-tour proot-readers, one
u half for the day and the other for the
; night.
From this composing room we went IN
to the foundery. The morning edition Of
the Times varies from sixty to seventy
! | thousand copies, and in order to save the
time in printing. and the expenses of set
? ting up an extra form. duplicate of the
t original itself is on the other. This is eff
! fected in the following manner: The
l form being brought down here, pulp Of
/ pqpier macEe. prepared by some secret pro
cess. is spread on it. and beaten intolt with
+ a large heavy brush The process and the
+ hardening of the mould occupies but d
! minute and half. and when it IS taken
" off the form. it. Of course, presents per
d ect fac simils of the form itself. 1t Is
: rhen placed in sort Of press, and while
o vet plable is shaped in the circular
form which it Is necessary the torm'
y -hould have TO accommodate themselve
= 70 the cylinder presses, and then tn
= molten types metal Is poured and IN thre
minutes more il is cooled, and, bein
u taken out of the mould, the imperteC
- tous which have occurred in the cast
+ ing are rectifed. and in half an hour thi
form Is ready for the press. 1t would re
uuire the work of seventy men sevel
~ hours 10 effect the same purpose as TIN
: little piece Of work-which is done il
y thirty minutes.
ie This yGpieT macbe process of mouldin
10 has been in use in the Times Office abou
>e five years. The secret of the composition
le Is known only to the discoverer, an Italial
q named Dalegani. who lives in London, an
= who brings the prepared pulp to tn
- Times Office every evening. he has no
. been able to procure patent for his IL
=. vention, it being alleged that it is only al
:, improvement upon the ancient metho
, of the stereotyping with plaster mould'
~ They say they find the composition slq
~ erior in every respect to plaster, it bein
" much clearer, and not injuring the fac
" of the types so much. Six duplicates ma
"a be taken from one mould before it
il" burnt through. The last page, contGT
- ing the leading articles of the Times,
~ sent down to the foundery about fOu
o'clock in the morning and a quarter Fs
:, six the impression is off.
II From here we went into the paper room
- which Is by the side of the foundery o
y, the basement floor, passing through
- large carpenters shop, where half a do
= en- men are kept constantly at work, an
n looking into several neat little bathroom
- constructed for the accommodation 9th
~ wOrkmen. The paper room we found I'll
~ ed with paper; and here obtained som
-, interesting statistics as to the amount
l'' the raw material consumed in the mbl
ny m cation OF the Times.
oI' The paper is furnished from four y
ny per mills. the property of the proprieto
:. of the London Times. and is made entir
=, ly of linen. During the Russian war; 4
- - a great many of the rags came from Ru
~, sia, and there being, therefore, a feartht
80 the supply might be cut short the pr
e!ES prietors offered reward of one thousar
'iu pounds sterling for the discovery of a su
=" stitute for linen. All sorts of material
ue straw. vegetable fbres of a great mar
.s is descriptions, shavings &c.-were SCI
II" them to experiment upon: but tn,
ees found nothing which would answer Il
elt purpose, and by some means managed
'it4 keep up the supply OF rags during Il
Oi' continuance OF the war. Nine tons.
le'l ninety thousand sheets of this paper a
ese used daily, and there is only room here
; a. keep day supply on hand Each she
nj nj costs the proprietors penny and a fart
'eIi ing and a fraction, so that the two shee
~ on which the paper Is printed, with Il
duty. the guide informed me. cost full
~ three pence the price at which the pap
n. II after it is printed Is sold to the newmen
- the profits of course, then, must be q
~, rived from advertisements, and the ado
u tion to the circulation of the paperis of
I'm IN direct pecuniary advantage This eircu
i" az tionhas however. increased consderaL
4 = within the past ten years. In 1881 tn
= r, teen millions Of copies were printed;
! ne 1867. sixteen millions one hundred thol
ny and: in 1858. sixteen millions seven hu
'eil drcd and eighty-fve thousand andfiftysi
,l ~ and last year over seventeen millions
= "' an average of tiity-four thousand copi
Ilne daily. were printed. The largest nunt
'!.'l' ever printed OF any single edition was
~ ~ the day after the funeral of the Duke
~ Wellington, when seventy thousand 90
20 les We're struck off
VI At the further end of this room is
machine which j, used for ''wetting dow
., 20 the old process of doing this bv ba
= % having been discarded about FIVE va,
IN IN since, and the machine now in use hsvi
'aii u,ni been invented by an employee in the
~ - per room. The apparatus is very sinn
- consisting of wooden apron, upon VIII
a' the paper is fed, and which carries il I,
.i.e der cylinder and brush, the whole bs;
'.o 'tl,I wet, and the paper, twenty-four sheets
49, which are fed At the same time, conf
,. lla. out thoroughly dampened. 1t is III
,'I - away in an adjoining room, and TIVE
- hours afterwards is all turned by ba,
I BY this machine 10000 sheets NAV
,'. ~ wet down in seven hours with the labor
three men-the same amount Of We
n"ae .,,ro which, under the old process, requil