Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-12-06
PRINTERS, ERRORS:

| As class, the manipulatols of
type may trnthfnlly be called the
best land worstl abused men in the
world, and without sufficient reason.
Very few outside ofthc trade know
the difficulties under which they
labor or have even a FLINT concep-
tion of the skill, care and patience
required. Absolute correctness is a
prime ESSENTIAL to secure public APP
probation, aud how very little is
done in the way. OF assistance
= Copy properly prepared is great
consideration and rarely received
That which is called good is often
the very reverse. 1t may be fair to
the eye and yet blind to the SENSE
The patron does not know exactly
what he needs. II be has any ideas
upon the subject they may be per
verified ones, and the little smatter-
ing he has of the art tends to lead
him astray and demand impossibili-
ties. His Judgment has not been
trained IN the matter ofletters. He
knows nothing of" Justification" ex-
cept that he believes he has it in the
largest sense to give the printer
"particular fits y when an error is
found. Why six line plea and non
pareil commit be made to chime like
notes of music is beyond bis IDEAS of
eternal fitness of inanimate matter.
According to his views, it is the most
simple of undertakings to set, make
up and work off 100 pages more or
less, in the most unreasonable short
space of time. Before pouring out
the walls OF their wrath upon the
head of the printer, it might be well
for men to pause and consider how
much he is to blame. Somewhere in
pur desultory reading we have met
with the statement that any old
piece of Mosaic work containing
Few hundred pieces is exalted to the
skies and pronounced wonderful. 1t
required patience, no doubt, probably
taste and study, but carrying out
the drift of the article read) how
very little In comparison to the tens
and hundreds of thousands OF still
more slender and minute particles
the printer is required to handle to
make up paper or book. Take q
solid page of the Cabinet as an ex-
lmple. 1t contains some $4,000
"emsp or about 81 GOO letters. This
is greatly more than any Mosaic
Known. And they had to be placed
without any chiseling or sand paper
.ng, as could be done in the delicate
work of table, chair or picture. Take
his as basis, calculation is easy as
20 the amount Of type compositor
handles during his hours of daily
Labor in distributing and setting
Easy it is also to conceive how such
little fragment of metal will slip out
of place, how letter or space may
be dropped, word spelled incor.
rectly, point be wrong, how errors
will creep in despite all care-and
the generous public be outraged at
the gross carelessness aud stupidity
of the printer Errors do occur, we
must admit, but they are fabulously
uncommon when compared to
chances Of their being made, and
books and papers are monuments to
the correctness of the craft, their
swiftness and certainty Of touch. ed.
ucation and never ceasing vigilance.
They practically know the truth of
our words. But we do write for the
multitude of outsiders, and with the
hope that the simple illustration we
have given may open their eyes to
the great injustice done to those,
who, "with their noses in the space
box" toll away their lives for the
benefit of the world Mt large.--Prin-
ter's Cabinet.