Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-19
SECRETS OF THE pR1sr1se OFFICE.
One Glass of Men who were Never Known
to Bstray Professional Confidence.

One Glass of Men who were Never Known
to Bstray Professional Confidence.
ILondon Printer and Stationer
Printers have never, 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 Entrusted. Such case as this
often happens. An article in newspaper
or magazine makes what is called "sensa-
ton" 1t is entirely anonymous, and pub
lie curiosity is excited to the utmost to
discover the name of its author. The
writer may be cabinet minister, high
official 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 otice-pei haps his reputa-
ton. On the other hand, the writer may
be struggling author, Woodworking
journalist, or q mere literary amateur. IL
any case his secret is preserved his
anonymity is safe as long as it is confined
to the printers.
Some years ago there was great stir
made about a book entitled Ecce Homo
II was clever work, and had an unexam-
pied success. "Whc 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 conjectnres were hazarded, and no
doubt large sums would have been paid by
several conductors OF journals for authentic
| information as to tue name of the author
Yet that name was known to q master
printer, his oyerseer, 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 . Waverly Novels may be referred
! to as remarkable incident OF literary his
] tory. Sir Walter Scotts authorship, al
though known by twenty persons, was so
well concealed that the great novelist
/ could not even in his matchless vocahu-
larry, find words of praise sufficient to ex-
press the sense of his grateful acknowledge
ment and wondering admiration for the
matchless fidelity with which the mystery
( has been preserved.
| There IS another species of seerecy-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 main
! tanned. When treaties are prematurely
| published in newspapers the copy is OBJ
tanned from some lesky or venal official
and not from any of the printers who set
up or work off the original. A case of
this kind occurred a year or two ago,
wherein 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 journal
lstlc competition, be worth few hundred
pounds. But such dereliction of duty
! has never yet occurred it was clerk, and
not n compositor, who betrayed his trust
Most honorable to the profession is the
story of Harding, the printer, who brayely
| bore imprisonment rather than reveal the
authorship OF the celebrated DRAPER
/ letters. The printer sat in his cell calmly
refusing the entreaties of his friends TO
| divulge- the name of the writer, Dean
Swift, church magnate, and a great wit,
who dressed himself in the disguise of
low Irish peasant, and sat by, listening to
! the noble refusal and the tender importu-
mites, only anxious that no word OF glance
1 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 before the legal
/ danger which Harding boldly confronted
/ The world has unequaily allotted the need
of fame to the two combatants. The wit
aud the printer both fought the battle for
! the liberty of the press, until the sense Of
/ an outraged community released the typog-
rapher from the peril so nobly encountered
| In thousands of other instances. similar
fidelity has been exhibited. in short, it is
part of the professional honor OF printer
not to disclose either yyantonly or from
/ venal motives, the secrets of any Office in
| which he is employed.
| There is also the allegiance which print
ers pay to their chief, in not divulging
important intelligence. In some cases a
compositor is necessarily intrusted with
an item of news which would be negotiable
Immediately, and worth pounds to him.
! Seldom or ever is there a betrayal OF trust
/ in this way. The examination papers,
printed SO extensively in London. are of
| the most tremendous Importance to certain
| classes, who would pay 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 author
| tiles, and the tempter was punished. 1t
was another and creditable example OF
how well and honorably kept are the Sc
| crets of the printing office.