The Portland daily press., 1880-06-16
Proof Reading.

There are few of those not practically en-
gagged in printing who comprehend the enor-
nous difficulties in the way of producing sim
gle page geographically correct. Leaving out
of consideration the variations from rules of
capitalization and punctuation, to which there
are as many exceptions as there are to any of
the so-called rules of English photography,
the labor of wedding out literal errors is one
which taxes the patience and assduity OF the
reader to the utmost. Errors which may strike
the casual reader as so plain and easily discern
ible as to raise a conclusive presumption of
carelessness, may have passed half dozen
careful readings unnoticed.
Many suppose that these errors might have
been avoided, in the first instance, by due care
on the part of the printer. This, to certain
extent is true, but not to the extent supposed.
1t might be proper to charge him with all
these errors If he had nothing else to consider
in performing his work but correct compost
ton. But there is certain demand made up
on him for quantity as we'll as quality. In Or
der to render his labor remunerative it is nee
sary that he should set during the working
hours of the day sufficient amount to entitle
him to living compensation, according to the
STANDARD by which the reading public are
willing to pay. This he cannot do if he de-
votes his entire attention to literal accuracy
When even careless reader who is suffici-
emily we'll informed to enable him to detect
errors devotes an hour to the reading of sin
gle page with mind fresh and unclouded by
other cares, he may discover errors which the
proof-reader has overlooked. But the profess
sional reader brings to the daily discharge of
his exacting duties a constitution similar to
that OF those engaged in other vacations. He,
like everyone else, is subject to the ills that
unfit him for close application and careful
discrimination. The most competent have
days when their minds are distracted by anx-
ieties that draw their attention from the work
in hand which they necessarily perform in
perfunctory manner. The very continuity of
this peculiar labor by which their faculties
become habituated, and their eyes expert to
detect errors, has the effect by the intellectual
drudgery to blunt their interest and tire their
minds. So that the verdict should often be
instead of careless proof readers, overworked
proof-readers.
There is probably not periodical publica-
ton in this, or any other country, which is en-
tirely free from error. To illustrate the diff
Guilty the following example is offered:
The superintendent of one of our leading
railroads employed an expert to prepare ia
BILE of rates of freight between the different
stations on single line of road running
through one State. Bent upon hating this
correct he had it examined and re-examined,
until no error could be discovered. The calcu-
lations were all simple. After the table was
prepared in manuscript, it was printed and
then submitted to expert proof-readers. All
the operations were gone over and proved. The
cost of preparing this table was $4,000 When
it was completed and pronounced perfect by
half dozen readers, it was subjected to the
test OF calculating machine which could not
err and in less than half an hour an error was
detected. Two or three hours work with the
machine discovered upwards of thirty mistakes
in calculation, either of which was clearly ap-
parent to any one acquainted with the simple
rules OF arithmetic, the moment his attention
was directed to the single calculation, unbi-
ased by any preconceived notions of its cor
rectness or incorrectness.
This merely goes to prove the fallibility of
the mental mechanism to which we are COM
PEELED to submit all printed matter for final
judgment upon its accuracy. When someone
can invent proof-reading machine we may
arrive at absolute perfection, and not till then
The most that can be hoped for, with the
means at hand is approximate accuracy.