The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-05-26
TIE PRINTING OFFICE.
One Glass of Men Who Were Never
Known to Betray Professional Con-
hdence.

London Printer and Stationer.7
Printers have meyer, We think, received
due appreciation for the honorable conf.
dence which they have preserved in regard
to the secrets with which they have neces-
sarily been intrusted. Such a case as this
often happens. An article in a newspaper
or magazine makes what Is called .'sensa-
ton 1t Is entirely anonymous and pub
lie curiosity is excited to the utmost to dis
cover 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 was suspected of writing
1 tor the press, would at once lose his position
his otice-perhaps his reputation. On the
other hand, the writer may be struggling
author, Woodworking journalist, or a mere
/ literary amateur In any case his secret Is
preserved; his anonymity is safe as long as
1t is conhded to the printers.
Some years ago there was great stir made
about book entitled "Ecce Homo" 1t
was a clever work, and had an unexampIed
success. ''Who is the author?" was the
question on everybody's lips. Some scores
of persons were named, and they repudiated
their participation in it. All sorts Of con
lecture were hazarded and no doubt large
sums would have been paid by several con-
ductOrs of journals for authentic information
as to the name of the author. Yet that
name was known to a master printer, his
overseer, and at least some of the compost
tors, but it was never revealed. When the
name was published, it was not through the
instrumentality of the printers but entirely
independent of them. They had faithfully
kept their secret.
Going back few years, the authorship of
the . Waverley Novels may be referred To
as a remarkable incident of literary history 7
Sir Walter SCOTS authorship, although /
known by twenty persons, including num-
Der of printers, was so well concealed that 4
the great novelist could not, even in his I
matches vocabulary, find words of praise /
sufficient to express the sense of his CRATE
full acknowledgment and wondering admir> .
alton for the matchless fidelity with which .
the mystery had been preserved.
There Is another species of secrecy-that (
relating 10 the careful supervision of conf
Dental public documents, books printed for
secret societies, and the authorship of arti-
cles, or pamphlets, as already referred to,
which has been most honOrably maintained.
When treaties are prematurely published in
the copy Is obtained from some
leaky or venal official, and not from any of
the printers who set up or work off the orig
inal. A case of this kind occurred year or
two ago. wherein convention between this
and another power was revealed to
Foreign office, at Whitehall, there is a reg
ular staff OF printers always at work, and if
these men liked they might let out secrest
Of the NEST mOmentOus kind, any one OF
which would, perhaps, in these days Of
journalistic competition, be worth a few
hundred pounds. But such dereliction OF
duty has never yet occurred it was clerk,
and not a compositor, who betrayed his
rust.
Most honorable to the profession is the story
If Harding, the printer, who bravely bore a
Imprisonment rather than reveal the au- !
horship the celebrated Draper letters 2
The printer sat in his cell calmly refusing :,
he entreaties of his friends to divulge the "
lame of the writer, Dean Swift, a church
nagnate, and great wit who dressed him -
cid in disguise of low Irish peasant and
at by, listening to the noble refusal and
he tender opportunities, only anxious
hat no word or glance from the unfortunate
rinter should reveal the secret. Swift was Y
ent solely upon securing his own safety at
he expense of the other he covered before P
be legal danger which Harding boldly con- e>
-onted. The world has unequally allotted Al
he need of fame to the two combatants "a
he wit and the printer both fought the " "
attic for the liberty of the press until the N
ense of an outraged community released an
he typographer from the peril so nobly en- NJ
In thousands of other instances similar 81
deity has been exhibited. In short, it Is ne
art of the professional honor of printer a.
Of to disclose, either wantonly or from We Ia
al motives, the secrets ofany Office in which Pl
2 is employed. FRI
There is also the allegiance which prin- Al
rs pay to their chief, in not divuging ~
nportanU intelligence. In some cases a 10
,mpositor is necessarily intrusted with ~
I item of news which would be ne H,
,tiable Immediately, and worth pounds to lal
IN. Seldom or ever is there betrayal of
ust in this way. The examination papers, OF
,inted 50 extensively in London, are of the IN
ost tremendous importance to certain tI
asses, who would pay almost any sum to iii
)tain the toughest proof the night before. | d
II instance of this kind occurred quite TO
Gently. \ printer got at" and flu
-omised a considerable amount of money
+ rough proof What, was his course of
,tion? He simply informed the authorities,
Id the tempter was punished. 1t
lother and a creditable example of how
ell and honorably kept are the secrets of
e printing office.
Bad for Pendleton. SCI
tir
MON Democrat n. H.