The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-18
Horace Greeley, the Inventor q
the Business Manager.
THE FIRST LIGHTNING PRESS.
How the Secret Of Stereotypine Wa
Guarded-The Blessed Discovery
Of Wood Pulp.

kSSASZ fishers at thai
~NEAz period lookef
u u.s. after the r..
3Ef72 ceipts and ex.
penditures o.
their establishments, hired foremen, pus
chased paper, type, ink, presses, etc; in
short, they superintended and directed all
the details. Each employed bookkeeper.
but his duties were confined to keeping
accounts; he was invested with no author.
ity to buy or hire Not until Greeley had
made signal failure several times as man.
ager 1.-THE Tribune was not his first ventureA
did he employ a man to attend to the bus
mess department alone. He was so for.
tunate as to secure not only trustworthy
man, but one admirably adapted by previ.l
Gus training and experience for the duties
he assumed. This relieved Greeley of
many perplexities of a nature foreign u
his taste, and left him free to devote hi
thoughts to matters of more congenid
character. He had always been emSaR-
raised for means to meet his pecuniary,
engagements, even when making mon
money than his wants called for, and thsus
troubles ended with the employment ofs
business manager. Dana and others hsys
pIOutCu Wv tnC ga PCkAChSV Va oAS0AVys ~
the leading journals OF the country nev
have q man to discharge this duty, and y
establishment is considered complsoo
without such a parsonage.
For the first half Of the present century
the Hoe double and single-cylinder presses
answered the demands of the journals It
the world with few exceptions. The doa-
ble-cylinder would print about 1000 and
the single-cylinder 1900 papers an hoas.
As the larger and older papers of Nev
York, prior to 1850. only circulated from
1900 to 5000 copies each daily. it viii ~
seen that this press served their purpose;
but the Sun, Herald and Tribune had opss
grown the capacity Of this press long be-
fore that period. As early as 1912 or lSi3
Moses Y. Beach, the wealthiest proprietokl
in the city, began to look about for soma
means to meet the steadily growing de-
mand for the Sun. While he and his sons
were experimenting with type larger st
one end than the other, with the view Of
adjusting them to the cylinder Of new
press, the inventor of the so-called Light
ming press finished the first of its kind and
offered to sell it to Beach with the assuf.
ance that it would print 10000 sheets sn
hour. So confident was Beach of the sue.
cess of his own idea that he declined the
offer, whereupOn it was rendered to and
accepted by the proprietor of the Phiiades-|
phia Ledger, who thus became the pos;
SCISSOR of the first lightning press made.
At this period, and for many years prior
thereto. the publisher of the London
Times had the forms of that paper stereo-|
typed by process similar to that now in
general use, the only difference being that
the plates were not curved as Is now the
case, but Hat, and were adjusted to spd1
worked on the old style Hoe pressesf A
native of Switzerland, I was Informed.
was the discoverer of this process, and
sold it and his services to Mr.. Walters for
a period of twenty-five years, during all 0f
which time it was carefully guarded se-
cret. By means of this invention the forms
were multiplied to any extent desired, and
it was not unusual for three or four
presses In that establishment to print SIM
ultaneously forms containing the same
matter. 1t was doubtless such q scene a
this that Thackeray describes in "Penden.
mis-, /" when Warrington. who had been out
late at night, comes suddenly upon tue
London Times building, blazing with light
from basement to roof, teeming with life
and humming with activity, exclaimed:
There she is--the great engine-shs ncvef
sleeps. She has her ambassadors in every quar-
ter OF the worid-her couriers on every roags
Her officers march along with armies and ksf
ENJOYS walk into statcsmens cabinets. u
Speaking Of the Times reminds me OF
complaints made by American exhibitor4
at the first worlds fair held in Londou4
Many of them wished to have attention.
called to their exhibits through the col.1
umns of that journal; but, on taking the
written notices to the Office OF the Time.
they were charged at the rate Of SO
Tor So q line for what they thought
should have been inserted gratultouslY.
Few or no journals in the United S6ta
did then charge for publishing such items
deeming them matters of news; hence ~
exhibitors thought il hardship that thsg
should be required to pay for them Y
London. The result was that very few
the exhibits were noticed in the columns
of the ''thunderer."
The substitution of wood for rags in ths I
manufacture of paper has done much faS
journalism. Without this substitute, oF
some other equally cheap and abundant
the printing OF the immense editions ne
SO common all over the country would
utterly impossible. The price Of rags 81
the stock on hand were always mattere&
deep interest and much anxiety e r.
fishers fifty years ago. An incfeDM
price meant diminished profits, and &e6
pleted stock threatened compulSQg
pension of publication. The rAg
was reported and published - reg
as the trade in any other commodity. H.
own country furnished only small
portion of the rags required for the paH
then used, and manufacturers DEPENDS
upon Europe for their supplies. Franc
Italy and Spain were the chief sources
supply. and shipped many hundred bate
annually to the United States. The Pr
duction Of rags has doubtless kept paa
with the growth IN population q "
world, but it has not kept pace VIII W
growth Of journalism. which would Dc
a sad plight today but for the introducslot
of wood pulp.
Having had something to say Of pags
published titty years ago, Will nor c'o
with a brief mention of newspaper W.
lished in the time of ChristopheT Cotu1
bus, somewhat more than three censas
anterior to the period treated OF In tnn
ries OF contributions. At q recent 49,
bition in Cologne, Germany, among o.
rare aud curious objects. was coiiecs
of newspapers, the oldest Of which e.
back to the year 1926. 1t describes tns 81
trance of the Roman emperor into 4.
logna. and tells how his holiness the w. /
met his imperial majesty on that aus~
occasion. The next oldest paper CONT 4
an account Of the overflow of the IibG
1880. Other newspapers. coming do.sS
the year 1914, tell of wars with the in 49,
the assault Of cities ana other remarks~ 4
events.
OF these sixteenth century papers
were fourteen exhibited, and all exceps -
were small quartos or eight-page jour-
one Of them was apparently an cAsS
published to giorify the king of Spain.
bears a sensational title. in these Sor
True Newspaper, describing how the ~
King OF Spain has lately acquired In ~ 3