The Bozeman weekly chronicle., 1888-07-04


for machine for printing oil paper,
linen, cotton, wooden and otheraiticirs
lie was an English author, ailldil not
live to carry out his grand conception
in his patent.
But it is not within the design or
scope of this necessarily brief address
to attempt anything like a detailed his
tory of the wonderful improvements
which, during the present century, have
been made i'll type, printing presses
and journalism Us IL profession. The
rapid advancement made has been
simply phenomenal. The largest and
best power presses of to-day, capable of
feeding themselves from huge rolls of
paper, printing, cutting and folding the
same ready for mailing, at the rate of
10000 to 10000 copies of our mammoth
metropolitan tlailies an hour, are simply
marvels of modem mechansln-thc
products of an inventive genius never
| before approached or attempted in the
history of the world. The consequence
is that the daily and weekly issues from
the thousands of printing plants
throughout both the civilized and semi
civilized portions of the globe are seat
tered broadcast with Il profusion eX-
ceeding the leaves of autumn. II hard
| ly requires any great stretch of the
imagination to arrive at the conclusion
that st. John, on the island of Patmos,
may have had prophetic glimpse of
the present printing press when he
penned the following: "And he showed
me pure river of water of life, clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. In the midst
of the street of it, and on either side of
the river, was there the tree OF life.
which bare twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month and
| the leaves of the tree were for the heal
ing of the nations"
| 1t would he impossible to describe
or even family portray. the silent. yet
potent and widespread influences of
the Press to-day. II forms and moul,ls
public opinion, makes and nnmakes
rulers and nations; it brings the world
in panoramic view each succeeding
day, with all its diversified interests
and incidents, to every cottage door lis
well as to every gilded palace; it lays
under contribution the Golfers of the
rich and pittance of the poor; it brings
into active, useful service the hands of
the most skillful and the brains of the
most versatile and profound thinkers,
at laughs at impossibilities, and cries
it shall be done" Who can estimate
its influence and power: Who can
keep pace with its rapid strides, or es.
innate its destined achievements? II
resembles the stone, seen by prophetic
vision, which vas hewn out of the
mountain without hands, and, being
set in motion, rapidly increased III
size and velocity until it filled The
whole earth. Intellectual darkness
ignorance and superstition invariably
recede before the electric light of it.
progressive presence, While the worlt
stands amazed and fascinated at tht
strength and brilliancy of its appear
ance. And nowhere else on the globe is
the powerful and beniticent influences
of the Press more intelligently appre
ciated than in the great West, and es
pecially under the genial skies and il
the pure, healthful and invigoratins
atmosphere of our own beloved Mon
tana.
Some faint idea of the magnitude .
the newspaper business may he gleane,
by glancing at the immense circulation
claimed by one or more of the leading
dailies in any of the important cite
east or west. Take, for instance, til
Boston Daily Globe, with circulation
upwards of 1s5,OOO copies daily, or say
an aggregate of 100000 copies fo
each week, or 5O,OOO,O0O copies yea
The figures are not only startling, the
are almost incomprehensible. In il
article descriptive of the intricate an
.. mighty machines used to strike OFF sue
an immense issue, the Globe says:
"To watch the operations of going
press with editions that foot up 10
daily total of 100000 copies, which II
turned off with positively bewilderin
rapidity, is to receive an object lesso
; in the well-nigl miraculous work =
the modern steam printingpesS.
To the uninitiated and non-mecilaniri
mind, the spectacle, though i,nrrrssir
is somewhat confusing. The Ing Jun
!, bos rise before You in huge piles ufiro
cylinders, wheels, cranks, knives. tupt
and levers. At the word go the sta
wart pressman, who stands with Ii
hand on the lever, releases it. and wit
Il scream and Il rush the Whole ma
becomes suddenly instinct With Ii
and motion. You see the cylinders /
volving, black and glossy with I'M
: they do not seem to he moving l,arti
" ularly fast, but the main drums II
v wheels are moving ut II rate that del
your best efforts to keepmy count
10 their revolutions. 1t seems as il
= Il spirit of fury possessed these iron IA
- steel monsters. The whirr and /
:. roar of their impetuous activity ill 80
"a ears with tumult of noises anil dal
- your eyes to watch it. Grinding Il
- gnashing their teeth in their ragi
:, haste, the omnivorous ,Iumhos pull
;. to their gaping jaws ream after re;
of the snowy sheets of paper that ;
fed to them in huge rolls and by
=. ton. Jumbo is a rapid feeder, Int W
M a steel-lined stomach his digestion
" good, and he disgorges as fast as he
" fed. Throwing out Globes at the I
aa of about 400 copies a minute, Jun
o keeps his attendants pretty busy pi
~ ~ ing up and carrying off to the deliy
II. room the results of his enorm
=, energy. 1t is indeed a sight well wo
" seeing to behold this latest marvel
m na the noble craft and mystery of pr
'Hs my ing in all its pride of swift andmig
M motion. 1t is probable that the f
l,- est presses have yet to be built, for
nr inventive genius of America is
.he doubt destined to accomplish thi