The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-05-19
SECRETS OF THE PRINTING OFFICE.
One Glass of Men Who Were Never Known
to Betray Professional Confidence.
London Printer and Statiouer1

One Glass of Men Who Were Never Known |
to Betray Professional Confidence.
[London Printer aud ststiOnsr.l
Printers have never, we think, received
due appreciation for the honorable confidence
which they have preserved in regard to the
secrets with which they have necessarily
been intrusted. Such case as this often
happens. An article in newspaper or mag
azine makes what is called sensation" 1t
is entirely anonymous, and public curiosity
is excited to the utmost TO discover the name
of its author. The writer may be Cabinet
Minister, high official, a courtier, or any of
the thousand and one persons who, If he were
suspected of writing for the press, would at
once lose his position, his office-perhaps his
reputation. On the other hand, the writer
may be struggling author, Woodworking
journalist, or mere literary amateur. In
any case his secret is preserved; his anony-
nifty is safe as long as it is confded to the
printers.
Some years ago there was great stir made
about book entitled "Ecce Homo" 1t was
a clever work, and had an unexampled sue
cess. "Who is the author2" was the question
on everybody's lips. Some scores of persons
were named and they repudiated their par
ticipation in it. All sorts of conjectures were
hazarded, and no doubt large sums would
have been paid by several conductors of
journals for authentic information as
to the name of the author. Yet
that name was known to a master print
er, his overseer, and at least some of the
compositors, but it was never revealed.
When the name was published, it was not
through the fundamentally of the printers,
but entirely independent of them. They had
faithfully kept their secret
Going back few years, the authorship of
the ''W averly Novels" may be referred to as
remarkable incident of literary history.
Sir Walter SCOTS authorship, although
known by twenty persons, including a num-
Der of printers, was so well concealed that
the great novelist could not, even in his
matchless vocabulary, find words of praise
sufficient to express the sense of his grateful
acknowledgment and W ordering admira-
ton for the matches fidelity with which the
mystery had been preserved.
There is another species of secrecy-that
relating to the careful supervision of conf
Dental public documents, books printed for
secret societies, and the authorship of articles
or pamphlets, as already referred to, which
has been most honorably maintained. When
treaties are prematurely published in news
papers the copy is obtained from some leaky
or venal official, and not from any of the
printers who set up or work off the original.
A case of this kind occurred year two ago,
wherein a convention between this country
and another power was revealed to one of
the evening newspapers. In the Foreign
Office, at Whitehall, there is regular staff
of printers always at work, and if these men
liked they might let out secrets of the most
momentous kind, any one of which would,
perhaps, in these days of journalistic compe-
| tition, be worth few hundred pounds. But
such dereliction of duty has never yet oc-
Cured; it was clerk, and not a compost
tor, who betrayed his trust.
Most honorable TO the profession is the
story of Harding, the printer, who bravely
bore imprisonment rather than reveal the
authorship of the celebrated "Drapier" let
ters The printer sat in his cell calmly re-
fusing the entreaties of his friends to divulge
the name OF the writer, Dean Swift, a church
magnate, and great wit, who dressed him.
self in the disguise of a low IRISH peasant,
and sat by, listening to the noble refusal and
the tender opportunities, only anxious that
no word or glance from the unfortunate
printer should reveal the secret. Swift was
bent solely upon securing his own safety at
| the expense of the printer; he covered be-
| fore the legal danger which Harding boldly
confronted. The world has unequally allotted
the need OF fame to the two combatants.
The wit and the printer both fought the bat
tie for the liberty of the press, until the sense
of an outraged community released the
typographer from the peril so nobly encount-
cred.
In thousands of other instances similar
| fidelity has been exhibited. In short, it is
part of the professional honor of a printer
not to disclose, either wantonly or from venal
motives, the secrets of any Office in which he
is employed.
There is also the allegiance which printers
pay to their chief, in not divulging
| important intelligence. In some cases COM
| positor is necessarily intrusted with an item
| of news which would be negotiable immedi.
ately, and worth pounds to him. Seldom OF
ever is there betrayal of trust in this way.
The examination papers, printed so extern
sively in London, are of the most tremendous
Importance to certain classes, who wouldpay
almost any sum to obtain the toughest proof
the night before An instance of this kind
occurred quite recently. A printer was "got
at" and promised a considerable amount of
money for rough proof. What was his
course of action? He simply informed the
| authorities, and the tempter was punished
1t was another and creditable example OF
how well and honorably kept are the secrets
of the printing Office.