Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-06-03
THE OLD HAND-PRESS.
A Type-Foundry Agents Futile Efforts Il
Bring 1t Into Disrcpute.

A Type-Foundry Agents Futile Efforts to
Bring 1t Into Disrcpute.
A large man with 1nustache brood
ing over his mouth like some great,
National sorrow visited the Bell Office
this week. He was travelling for an
Eastern house which makes specially
of printing materials and sight drafts.
He tried to sell us large press with
wheels on it and a strongly made and
binding chattel mortgage attachment.
He spoke very highly of this latter
feature and said their mortgages were
never known to break. He said tho
mortgages they were now putting in
for printers in the Northwest were
alike satisfactory to themselves and
the sheriff. He alse spoke incidentally
of the press itself and we gathered that
it was to be set up and fed with white
paper, which would come out nicely
printed with tariff editorials and origi-
nal clippings. We judged that either
a Democratic or Republican press
could be ordered, and that there was no
extra charge for an attachment to run
in an original poem.
Our first impulse was to seize pen
and write out check sufficiently able
bodied to cover the cost of recording
the mortgage. turning We caught a
reproachful glance from the dark, cast
iron countenance of the old Washing
ton hand-press ahd desisted. Part of
the desist was caused by not being
able to call to mind the address of any
bank which had ever put in sealed pro-
posals for handling our checks.
To turn the matter off we asked the
man If he had a sample press with him.
He said he had not Then we said that
we did not believe that his house would
start him out on the road without one,
and that it was our opinion he had
pawned it. We told him that we pro-
posed to report him and that we had
no further use for him. He seemed
agitated, and after leaving bill for
some type we ordered of his firm last
week he went out.
One of the kind of presses he sells
doubtless has its advantages, especially
for use in daily offices in the larger
places like New York. Still, in many
New York offices where the circulation
is chiefly confined to the affidavit OF
the business manager it would seem
that the old hand-press would not
be entirely out of place. When the
press peddler had formally put on
his injured look and jumped tho
office we turned to the old hand
press with sigh of relief. After
all that style of press seems to
give the greatest satisfaction. No
one can write intelligently of the
power of the press who has not pulled
it. 1t seems to have early in life Or
dered a large consignment of choice,
springy power and to still have most
of it on hand. 1t is all used in hold
ing back. The man who said the press
was the greatest power in the world
had pulled the Washington hand vari-
ETY.. Some people may think that
Washington should have kept right on
crossing the Delaware and freezing to
death at Valley Forge instead Of stop
ping to invent balky printing press.
The calm, dispassionate historian of the
future who is working by the day will
have to decide this point.
All this will go to explain why we
still work off the paper on the station
airy press when we might have one
which would be amply competent to
get up on the editorial tripod and put
its feet on the table. Some people
may prefer to have press sitting
around the Office blowing about having
more brains than the editor but we do
not long for it. Give us rather the
simple society of the hand press which
will not shy at the ears and was never
known to kick its hind feet through
the Observation-Disclosures Cd. IT, Bell.