Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1864-01-13
written expressly for tho Dayton Empirel
A IN EUROPE

AiNN ANHAANA AbhCA theu ~ ENhrIhlil u ~ OuiN
a; the same time Of the year. They Know
nothing here OF the extremes OF heat and cold
which are so characteristic of our American
climate. The summers are so short and cool,
that our indian corn will not ripen in their
fields, and their winters are so mild, that the
freezing up OF the Thames happens not often
sr than two or three times in a century, aud
the little ice they use in the summer, is brought
to them from abroad. We took with us a lib
eral supply Of linen clothes for summer wear,
and brought them bone unused. Except up
on one or two days our ordinary fall and win
ter garments we're entirely comfortable.
We accepted with great alacrity an invita-
ton We received one morning from an inau-
entail friend, to visit with him the printing Of
fee Of the London Times. After threading
our way for some time through a perfect laby-
rinth OF narrow alleys in the vicinity of ST
Paul S, many OF which are not over FIVE or
six feet wide, We at last found the extensive,
but not lofty or imposing edifce, which is the
home of this Jupiter Fonans of the Press.
Our friend presented his card of admission,
aud MIR. Simmons, a very polite old gentleman
who has been an dttdche Of the establishment
during the last forty years, took upon himself
the task Of showing and explaining to us, eve
rything OF interest that was to be seen.
First we saw the ingenious telegraphic in
s'rument by which the Superintendent com
munieates with the reporters in the Houses of
Parliament. Upon a face like that of a COM
pass, the alphabet is arranged as the hours are
on the face of a clock, and by touching the
little buttons which are on the outside rim OPP
posite to every letter, a little hand or needle,
nm "A similar Htal a. Tho ofhar and of tha miro
points with never failing accuracy to the let
tiers thus indicated, and in this way the words
are spelled out. Any child can manage it
BY means Of this instrument, a verbatim report
of everything tina, is said in Parliament up to
four o'clock in the morning, is received and
appears in that days issue of the paper.
Then we walked through tho Composing
rooms, where one hundred and thirty com
p%ositors are busy from morning until night,
and from night until morning. Then through
the Press rooms, the Library, the News room,
the Restaurant, the Bath rooms, the room in
which the news boys receive the papers,
watched over by a policeman to keep them in
order, and to protect the weak from the spoil
atoms of the strong. Then down into the
engine rooms, the cellar, in which the paper
is dampened for the press, the iorges and the
foundry. More wonderful even than the mag
nitude of the establishment, is the complete
system which perVades it, and arranges the
%minutest details. The paper is not printed
directly from the types, and the form which
the compositors make up Is never put into
the press. AS soon as completed, it is cover
ed to a depth of an eighth of an inch with a
preparation Of pdpier mache, which hardens
IN a few minutes, and is lifted of in a broad
thin sheet, This is placed in a mold, and
/ t.. Y-.It,l tvAn v,,tal Id ~ ..t..A-.
poured in upon IT. In one minute the lead is
lhed of, and a sterotyped form ready for the
4. press is completed. Mr.. s. gave me a part Of
The pdpier macke mold, from which the forms
Of the paper Of that morning were taken. Four
times the molten metal was poured upon it,
but it was not consumed, and a slight brown.
ish color is the only impression il received
from the intense heat, The secret of this
non.combustible preparation, is known to
none, | am informed, outside of the office of
the Times. The metal forms are remelted and
recast every day, at a most Insignificant eX-
pense. The types are distributed as soon as
the mould takeh, and rs they are subjected to
no pressure, each font will do good service
tor twenty years or longer. Before this plan
was adopted, new type was required every few
months.
The C mpositors are paid ninepencs and a
farthing-about eighteen cents-foP each
thousand ems, and at this price they are all
able to make good liyings. One man was
pointed out to us who can set two and a half
thousand in an hour. There are about thirty
proof readers, who are each paid eighteen
dollars a week, They do their duty marvel
lously we'll, and a typographical error in the
Times is rarely or never seen. / had seen a
statement somewhere, that these men received
very large salaries, bat we're obliged to submit
to a reduction of FIVE dollars for every error
they permitted to escape their attention This,
Mr.. S, told me, Is not the case. The men are
5 paid we'll, and are expected to do their work
we'll, but they are not required under penal
ties, to be perfection,
: There ia one electromagnetic, Mr.. John De-
lane, uuder whose inspection everything must
, pass-six 'leading-srticle men, who consider
a it no wonderful thing to dash off one Of those
/, massive editorials in ar hour, and Eve review,
ers. A barristeT in each Of the courts OF law,
and an army of shorthand reporters and cor
respondents. also contribute to those ponder
Gus and powerful columns,
The average cireulationis s~ixty-siK thousand
g copies, printed upon one hundred and fifty
n thousand sheets Of linen paper. The estab
%lishment owns four paper mills, and makes all
the paper it uses
In the restaurant We saw wagon loads o.
is eatahles in the course Of preparation for tbs
annual picnic, given by the proprietors to tn,
IS employees, which three hundred and ten O.
n them will DO ont tomorrow 20 enjoy
Is Hoes immense l0-cylindsr press, an Amer
70 lean invention, which cost ffy thousand dol
a lars, they say is a disappointment 1t was Il
print thirty five thousand copies in an hour
ils utmost capacity is sixteen thousand, andi