Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-06-09
Chimes. Newspapers in san Francisco.

Chinese Newspapers n san Efsnc'eeo'
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
The majority of the Chinese merchants
and business men in this city, az wen az
their clerks and bookkeepers, can read ana
write the English language, and quite q
number OF them are subscribers to the
daily papers. That those, however, VINO
are not SO gifted may nave an opportunity
of showing what is transpiring IN the BUSY
world. there are at the present time lour
printed in Chinese characters
regularly published in a Francisco. Ihey
are all issued weekly and have an average
circulation OF $500 copies. The majority
OF these papers are sent into the lnterioro OF
British Columbia and the Sandwich Islands.
Only about one-ffth of the whole number
is taken in this city. The subscrlptlon
price OF each is $3.50 per annum, de-
iivered by carriers in the city, and 50 a
e if cent through the mails to the
country or abroad. The oldest paper oil
the quartette is the Recorder. published by
| Nun Kee & Co. It has been in existence
| eighteen years, and has a subscription list
| of $50, OF which so are delivered in the
city and the remainder mailed to the in
| terror. Nun Kee, its first editor
and proprietor, made a fortune out OF
the Recorder. Selling out three years
| ago, he returned to China to spend his de-
| clining years. The Oriental is published by
| Wah kee & Co. 1t has been in existence
| five years. and has a circulation Of about
| 400. The Weekly Occidental is now in its
fourth year, and Horn Hong & Co. its pro-
| prietors claim it is the Give" paper and has
the Largest circulation" 1t has 200 city
Shoe, its translator and reporter, is we'll
educated in English and Chinese. and
nothing of interest occurs in the Chinese
quarters that he does not report for the
paper which he represents. The American
and Chinese Commercial News, the latest
a%spirant for journalistic honors among the
Chinese, was started by Suey Kee & Co., a
little over three years ago. Its proprietors
intended to revoiutionize the Chinese news
paper business in this city, and engaged a
large staff of reporters, etc. Their purse,
however, WIS not as large as their ideas,
and a year ago they gracefully retired
bankrupt. The present proprietors now
have the paper on a paying basis and
claim a circulation OF 700. The title OF the
paper is printed in old Roman text,
and above it is a representation o.
a flaming dragon. The staff of a
Chinese newspaper consists usually OF four
persons. viz: An enItor, a sub-editor, a
translator, and a printer or pressman.
The editor and the sub-editor are generally
the p-oprietors, and each usually edits
onc-half the paper. The translator is the
most important person. His duties are to
pick up news around the Chinese quarters
and read carefully the American daily
papers. From these he culls the market
reports, accounts OF outrages on Chinese,
the passage Of any laws and ordinances
particularly affecting the Chinese, and other
items which he thinks will interest his
countrymen. These he translates into |
Chinese characters, and hands them to the
editors for insertion. The editors copy |
the characters SO supplied them with the
ordinary Chinese pen and specially pre-.
pared ink on what is called transfer paper.
The sheet of transfer paper is the same size
as the paper to be printed. When tia
with characters his labor is done, and he
hands the paper over to the printer. This
iunctionary has a photographic stone
air ady prepared, and to it he transfers the
characters On the paper. After setting
the ink on the stons with nitric acid and
gum he is ready for printing. After passing
a wet sponge over the stone, he rolls over
it an ink roller, the ink from which only
adheres to the written characters. He then
lays the sheet OF paper to be printed on the
stone, placing on top OF it a metal cover.
AL IIOn Daf Is HOW pdSSeO aCCOSS tuIS cover |
and frightened down by a lever worked by |
the foot OF the operator. The frame on
which the stone is set is then, by means OF
a strap I'D pulley worked by the printer.
made to slide under the bar its
whole length. The pressure OF the
bar on the cover causes the |
impression OF the linked characters to be
transferred from the stone to the paper.
The process is repeated until the required
number of copies is printed. Then the
stone is cleaned Off aud smoothed down,
and the characters for the other side of the
paper are transferred to it, and the print |
ing OF the other side OF the printed sheets
commences. One side only OF paper can
be printed at a time. A smart
printer car print one side OF 400
sheets in an ordinary working day. Five
working days required to get out an edition
OF 1000. The papers are printed with
black ink On single sheets OF thin white
paper, except at the Chinese New Year. |
when either red paper is used or the char
acters are printed in red ink on the ordinary
paper, red being considered the lucky color
among the Chinese. The charge for adver-
tisements is regulated by the number OF
characters employed. The price would
average about five cents a word in English,
or 50 for one inch square for one insertion,
with a reduction or''ads'% running for over
six months. The advertisements generally
consists Of notices of sailingdays"f steam
ers, notices issued by the Chinese Six Com
panies, and prices OF sewing machines,
lamps, firearms, and other commodities
which find a ready sale among the Chinese.
These are inserted by white merchants.