The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-01-07
Newspaper Advancement.


has been such improvement within com
paratively few years as in printing ma
chinery. The fastest presses OF a few
years ago are now obsolete. The modern
web perfecting presses are marvels. Hoe
& Co. have built for the New York Herald
a machine that will print, fold. paste an(
deliver 90. 600 four page Heralds or six
page Heralds. in one hour. This is equiva-
lent to !. 800 copies a minute. and 800
| copies a minute means twenty-five copies
a second. 1t took a little over a year tC
build this press but, as the Herald says. it
took more than four hundred years to
make the building of it in that time pos
sible.
The folder which forms an important
portion of these wonderful machines is,
we are told the invention Of an old sea
captain. Hoe Il Co. who had been en-
gagged in manufacturing presses for many
wears. and who have long stood at the
head in this business. bought the patent
anu ullllIet IL. IHeIt dIc otutl "N"
pcrfectiny presses in the market. but the
sea captains folder gives the Hoe ma
chimes the pre-eminence.
For the smaller papers there are less
expensive presses and folders. OF the
folding machines the Dexter is admit
teddy the best in the market 1t costs Il
Il
wood, but possesses greater durability, is
less cumbersome. and has many points ot
advantage over its competitors. These
machines may be attached to 4 cylinder
press OF run separately.
We feel safe in asserting that the news
paper has kept pace with the advance in
the machinery required for its produc-
ton. Maine journalism has made great
strides forward: how great can hardly be
realized by. individual readers. Within
the past ten years the Maine weeklies
have, almost without exception. been en-
larged and improved, and they are still
striving for better results. editorally and
mechanically. The literary excellence and
news value of the newspapers issued from
some of the smaller towns is really sur
prising. Indeed. we do not think the city
| papers have kept pace with the weeklies.
! Certainly they do not cover the local news
/ field so successfully. and by this we mean
the city proper and adjacent towns. Ii
our city dailies would discard plate mat
ten and fill the space now used in that way
with local news items and articles we are
sure they would find ii Il profitable ven
ture. The columns OF amy one o1 our en-
terpliSing weeklieS will show them how il
is done
In his admirable essay ON The Ameri-
can Newspaper Charles Dudley Warner
says: ''Iioracc Greeley used to advise
the country editors to give small space IL
the general news Of the world but t" cul-
tivate as>iduously the home field to glea1
every possible detail OF private life in the
circuit of the county and print it, The
advice was >hrewl for metlopolitan e,li-
tor. and it WAS not without its profit t,
1 the country editor. ii was founded, ON {
! deep Knowledge III human nature: namely.
upon the fact that people read most eager
/ lN that which they already know. ii il il
about themselves ol. thrir neighboi.S. if il
is a report OF something they have beer
/ concerned IN. a lecture they have heard. q
fair, a festival. "l We'lGin4 OK funeral. "a
/ harll-raisiny they have attended. MI.
Warner does NOT himself approve OF what
4 he terms these .'Wulthle>~ details. bllt
readers of the country papers appreciate
them. and often they are pf yaiu, in more
sen>cS tilAu one.
The change OF torm to which tn, city
and country l"pel~ alike are coming We~
! Advocated hy MI. Warner M }i~ ~Say.
which Wa published eleven wears ago.
He SAYS: ''Nothin4 j. more rnM ieldy
than our biz blanket sheets: they hoe
awkward 10 handle, incouvt:icnt to read.
unhAndy to bind and preserve. 1t is dit
tirul1 to classify matter in them In uul
>caSons they alt too large: in time Of
] brisk advertising. and in the sudden access
OF important news. they are too small -
il. . . 1t seems /" me the inevitable
remedy is newspaper Of small pages OF
forms. indefinite in number that can at
any hour be increased or diminished ac-
cording to necessity, to be folded, stitched
and cut by machinery" If for stitched
you read pasted. to this complexion have
we come at last. The smaller page is
being relocated to the past.
Our Contributors.