Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-07-10
SECRETS OF THE PRINTING
OFFICE.
One Glass OF Men VINO Were New
er KNOWN so Bstray Profess
atQnai Confidence. 81,
London prnter so statIoner

eF ABOtEm 80 stetrHy FE0tes-
stpnal confidence, s.4.
London Painter ana stationer.
Printers Nave never, we think
: received due appreciation for tho
, honorable confidence which they
have practised in regard to the Sc
: crets with which they have neces
sarily been entrusted. Such a ease
, as this often happens. An article
in newspaper or magazine makes
, what is called sensation ii is
entirely anonymous, and public Gu.
riosity is excited to the utmost, Ia
discover the name OF its author.
The writer may be cabinet minis
ter, a high official, a eourtier, or any
of the thousand and one persons
who, If he were suspected of writ
ing for the press, would at once lose
his position, his office-perhaps his
reputation. On the other hand, the
writer may be a struggling author,
a Woodworking Journalist, or mere
literary amateur. In any case his
secret is preserved; his anonymity
is safe as long as il is confioled TO the
printers.
| Some years ago thete was great
stir made about n book entitled
"Ecce HOmO.n II was clever
work and had an unexampled sue
cess. "WhO is the author ?" was
1 the question on everybOdy's lips.
Some scores of persons were named,
and they fepudiated their partici-
| pations in Ii. All sorts of coniect-
ures 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. Vet that name
was known to a master printer, his
overseer, and at least some of the
compOsitors, but it was never re-
vealed. When the name was pub
lished, il was not through the in
strumentality of the printers, but
entirely independents of them. They
had faithfully kept their secret.
Going back a few years, the au-
thorship of the ''Waverly Novels
may be referred to as remarkable
incident of literary history, Sir
Walter ScOtt's authorship, although
known by twenty persons, includ-
ing a number of printers, was so
well concealed that the great novel;
ist could not, even in his vocabu-
larry, find words of praise sufficient |
to express the sense OF his grateful |
acknowledgement and wondering
admiration for the matehless iidel- |
ity with which the mystery had |
been preserved.
There is another species of secre- /
cy, that relating to the careful SUI
pervision of confidential public doc /
uments, books printed for secret so /
cieties, and the authorities, and the |
authorship of articles or pamphlets /
as already referred to, which has /
been most honorably maintained.
When treaties are prematurely pub
lished in newspapers, 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 Oc-
CURED year or two ago, wherein a
convention between this cOuntryand
power was revealed to one
of Intervening newspapers. In the
foreign Office, at Whitehall, there is
q regular staff of printers always at
work, and if these men liked, they
might let out secrets of the most
kind, anyone of which
would perhaps, in these days of
journalistic competition, be worth
Il few hundred pounds. But such a
dereiiction of duty has never yet
it Wasa clerk and not n
eonpositor, 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" letter.
The printer sat in his cell calmly
the entreaties of his friends
to divulge the name of the writer,
Dean Swift, a church magnate, and
a great wit, who dressed himself in
the disguise Of low Irish peasant,
and sat by listening to the noble re-
fusal and the tender opportunities,
only anxious that no word or glance
from the unfortunate printer should
Oetray the secret. Swift was bent
solely upon securing his own safety
1t the expense of the printer; he
covered before the legal danger
which Harding boldly confronted.
The world has eventually allotted
he need of fame to the two com
The wit and the printer
both fought the battle for. the liber- :
" of the press until the sense of an
outraged community released the
from the peril so nObly !
In thousands of other instances
similar fidelity has been exhibited.
In short, it is part of the professions
Il honor of printer not to disclose,
either wantOnly or from Venal mo- !
ives, the secrets Of any Office in !
which he is employed.
There Is also the allegiance which {
lrinters pay to their chief in not e
iivulging important intelligence. a
IN some cases cOmpositor is neces- G
arily intrusted an item of news a
hat would be negotiable immedi- 7
Itely, and worth pounds to him. {
Seldom or never is there a betrayal q
II trust this way. The examina-
ion papers, printed so extensively 6
n London, are of tremendous i'm. !
,ortance to certain classes who q
would pay almost any sum to OBJ h
ain the toughest proof on the night c
,efore. An instance of this kind h
quite recently. A printer
vas "got at" and promised con-
iderable amount of money for a
ough proof. What was his course 4
# action? He simply informed the
and the tenlpter was
It was another and an
honorable instance OF how honor
bly, kept are the secrets of the :