Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-07
1.-THE THUNDERER. !"
SOMETHING ABOUT THE GREAT LON
DON NEWSPAPER.
The Wonderful Machinery Employed
and the Great Editorial
Force.

time looks at the building where the
''Thunderer" is printed, says a London
correspondent of the New Orleans Times
Democrat, is impressed with the solidity OF
its character. 1t is typical of the great
newspaper that has often been called the
"Jupiter" of the press. From time imme-
mortal, or at least from time so far back
that the present generation was in its
swaddling clothes, the ''Thunderer" has ex-
erted more influence than any newspaper
ever published. 1t has had its ups
and downs; its season of prosperity and
failure. Kings and queens have bowed
before it, and even the Little Old
Lady of Threadneedle Street" has on
more than one occasion been compelled
to sue for mercy at Its doors. Ministers
have cajoled and petted it. They have
snapped their fingers at it in turn and
pretended to care nothing for its utter
ances 1t has made and unmade more
men than any other newspaper in the
world, and wherever the English language
is spoken or in whatever land the English
man finds his home, the Times is revered
as one of the institutions of Great Britain,
and among the rural population is held in
as much respect and generation as West
minister Abbey or the Tower of London
Armed with a letter from John c. Mac
donald, the publisher of the Times, we pre-
sent ourselves at the door of the office at 9
o'clock in the evening. The chunky little
Englishman who stands guard at the in
side door reads the letter carefully, rings
an electric bell, and in few minutes the
junior clerk from the publication office
leads the way to an inspection of the
building, and explains the manner of get
ting out an issue of the great newspaper.
We are first shown into the publication
Office, a big, roomy place, only dimly
lighted now, and where thousand clerks
are busy receiving advertisements. Mr..
Macdonald's Office is vacant. He has gone
home for the night. One of his numerous
assistants is taking things easy In an ad-
joining Office.
THE EDITORIAL ROOMS.
The editorial room is cut up into vari-
Gus little offices, where the editorial
writer's and the various subordinate edit
ors, reviewers, correspondents and report
ers do their work. This floor is devoted
exclusively to the editors and writers who
are not intimately connected with the
news service. 1t is cheerful apartment
to work in. Electricity throws a flood of
light in all corners. At one side of the
big apartment is a comfortably furnished
council room, in which there is big
table, plenty Of chairs, bookcase, some
files of newspapers, and the walls are dec
grated with valuable engravings and etch-
ings. 1t is in this room that Mr.. Walter
and Mr.. Macdonald meet the chiefs of
staff and consult with them upon various
matters relating to the paper.
The floor above is the most interesting.
1t is the composing-room. 1t is lighted
with electric lamps, and there is an
abundance Of room. even for the small
army of men who are employed there.
Opening out of the composing-room is
the news-room. Here there are quiet
offices, where the parliamentary reporters
are received, and where the local news is
edited, and adjoining is the special tele-
graph-room, with wires running direct to
Paris, Berlin, Vienna, St. Petersburg and
many parts of England, Ireland and Scot
land.
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTS.
There are a dozen or more telephones in
a connecting room, and these the parlia-
mentary and news reporters use with great
freedom Indeed. | was surprised to see
that the telephone has been more gener-
ally brought into use by the English than
American newspapers. During the ses-
sions of Parliament all the night reports
are sent to the Office through this medium.
A stenographer sits at the table just below
the telephone transmitter and takes the
notes as spoken from the Times reporter in
the Commons. There are a score or more
Of these reporters who take turns at receiv-
ing reports. Instead of transcribing them
as we do in America, they are taken in
turn to men who operate type-setting ma
chimes and are read off to them as the ma
chine reels out the type, set and ready to
90 into the form. The telephone is used
to facilitate the work of getting out the
Parliamentary report. But to prevent err
rors the reporters in the Commons take
their notes as fully as usual and repair tc
the Office after adjournment, where they
read the proof, not from the messages sent
over the telephone wires, but from theil
notebooks. This checking system pre-
vents errors of dictation. By the side o.
the room where the special wires are i:
another type-setting machine, and the
Paris letter of NJ. de Blowitz is put into
type hot from the wire. These type-set
ting machines are quite feature of the
Times office. There are perhaps dozer
of them in use. The foreman of the com
posing-room told me that they would Sc
E. 8 II
night.
SPECIAL WIRES.
One man is in charge of all the specia
wires. and he has wire in direct commu
ntcation with Reuters office. Without any
hattery, it may be said that this man can
at a half hours notice, place himself IL
communication with any part of the glob'
where the telegraph reaches, and it is NJ
unusual thing for HIM to receive through
Reuters agency dispatches from the int
rior of India, from China, japan, Canadi
and America, as well as from continental
Europe in one night.
There are employed in the composing
room of the Times so men. Not all o
them are used in setting type: large fore
is REQUIRED to classify the small advertise
ments that form so important feature o
that newspaper. Some of these are pal,
by the day, some by the week and some b.
the piece. and they all makes good wages.
asked the young man who was showing M
over the building about the editorial force
He said that the Times had nearly 100 me-
in London on its pay roll These furnlsl
editorials, reviews, reports of all kinds an
do special work. Its number of toreiig
correspondents, he said, was SO large tina
he could not tell the number except by
reference to the books in the bushes
Office.
CORRESPONDENCE.
aAnd Won NAV rest assured" he sale