Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-07-17
THE LIFE OF A TYPO.
Interesting Reading to Those Who Know
Nothing About It..

AuCeroSClng Ke8O1nE to TnOSo VINO Know
Nothing About 1t.
To the careless observer the print
er's trade may seem a very simple one
and easy to learn, but it is in reality a
calling that requires for its mastery
and its highest rewards a service al
most as long and arduous as that
which Jacob underwent in order to Sc
cure his chosen Rachel. No hurried
requirement or extraordinary ability
will entitle the novice to any short
cut to the full privileges of the trade.
The lines are drawn in newspaper
offices, at least, as hard and tense
upon him as the divisions of the
castles in India. He must begin at
the bottom as a .'galley-boy,' IN
spends four years in fitting himself
for full membership in the printers
organization. Not until he has done
SO is he on a level with a printer who
has fully learned his trade, o can
he ccure the wages of such an One.
Foremen say it is difficult to find a
boy who is really fit to learn the trade,
but many Of them will keep one who
is inefficient because the work a gal
ley-boy is required to do does not re-
quirc special skill or ability. A boy
is first set at proving galleys." as it
is called, or taking proofs of the mat
ter that has been put in type for ex-
animation and correction by the proof
reader. He usually spends a year in
this work, and the second year is al
lowed to set type on a small weekly
salary. During the third and fourth
years ne is allowed two-thirds price for
the type he sets. In the third
year he is admitted to the Topographic
cal Union as an apprenticed member,
and in the fourth year as a full mem
Der. He is then allowed full price for
his work, and is Il good printer. if it is
possible for him to become such.
There are two classes of journeymen
printers, those who are good printers
and travel from choice and those who
are inferior and travel from necessity.
One-third of the newspaper printers are
tramps. If there is anything in a print
! CT 4 tramp will develop it, and print
ing is the best business in which to
tramp. Every paper has its regular
printers and usually half as many sub
| stltutes or ''subs." who work when
some Of the regulars lay of. This
makes it an easy matter to get work in
almost any city unless business is very
duh.
The amount of money hat a printer
makes depends chiefly on his rapidity
and accuracy, and to some extent on
| his luck. He is compelled to take the
piece Of copy which is first on the hook,
| and il it is 'fat" composition, or has a
wood-cut, pcrchance, in it, he is in
luck, while if he happens to get a list
Of proper names the fates have frowned
| upon him. Some matter is paid for at
| double rates, because in such matter it
is necessary to insert rules or adjust
figures accurately beSeath one anoth-
er, as in the scores OF baseball games,
etc. Other matter is paid for at one
and one-half rates. In this city print
ers are paid by the week for set
ting advertisements. The IA
! pidity with which a compositor
works, of course, depends largely on
the legibility of the manuscript. The
chief EDITORS writing is usually the
worst. The fastest compositors make
about 81 a day. Others will make
less. and the slower ones average about
$3.50. The amount and quality of
work done depends somewhat on the
compositor's nervous condition. One
mans work will vary greatly in guam
tity from day to day. 1t is not always
| the man who is moving his hands the
most rapidly who is doing the most
work. He must not make false move
ments, such as reaching for a letter in
the wrong place, knocking it against
the case, as many do from habit, and
swaying his body from side to side.
He is retarded by any movements that
do not add directly to his progress. A
printer sometimes has a good memory
and is able to remember things and read
illegible words by the context or by his
general information, and yet has not a
certain mechanical skill which is nee
essarv to efficiency. He does not see
the letter as he places it in the ''stick,'
but tells from the hicks on it which
side is up. The copy in offices where
rapid composition is necessary, as in
newspaper establishments, is cut up
into very small takes. and the COM
positor is often obliged to start in the
middle of a word or sentence. with no
context to aid him, and amiliarity with
different styles of handwriting is ex-
ceedingly valuable. There are extra
inducements for avoiding typograph-
ical errors. When the proof is read
and returned to the proof-reader it is
given to the printer who set up the
first ''take'' that contains three errors,
and he is obliged to correct not only
his own errors but those of all others
in the galley until he reaches another
take containing three others. Then
the compos tor of that take is COM
PEELED to correct in the same manner to
the next take containing three errors.
In this way those who do not make
more than two errors in one take will
rarely have to correct any proof. All
! changes in copy, after it has been set
up, are corrected by what is known as
1.-THE ring-man." Each union Office has
a man called 1.-the father of the chapel"
selected to settle disputes.
The Technology Of a printing-ot1ice
is Il st~umb!ing-blcck to those who have
not become familiar with it by actual
contact with the things named. A
form is a chase the size of the page it
is designed to print. The type is fast