The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-12-17

cree between the proof and copy The
work Is 20 be done as rule. in a limited
time. and unless the holder Ia qualified
and equipped for his work much time may
be lost by his frequent stopping 10 get
word OF course IT happens hat both
holder and reader ere delayed over some
particularly bad writing but they often
decipher what TO the inexpert appears 10
be crytograpby.
AZ the proof-reader works. his eve must
be on the alert for typographical errors.
his mind must be attentive TO the sub
ject treated: his technical knowledge
must be brought into constant use His
education must be thorough enough 10
enable him 10 at once notice mistakes
of commission or omission. and. more
over. he must have the style Of the
Office" always I'm mind. This latter. IL
may he explained 20 the uniformed,
is series Of arbitrary rules formulated
by the Office for the guidance of the
writer's. compositoJs and prOof-rcaders.
Their chief use Is to give uniformity
Of style To the paper. Without such
rules To govern, there IS such wide
diversity Of opinion among the authori-
ties and teachers Of English on many
points that & newspaper set up accord
ing to the individual IDEAS OF the writers.
editors, coapositors ara proof-rsaders
would present an appearance of singular
dissmilai ity in the matter Of style.
Take for illustration. the use Of num-
erals. 1t is equally correct to express
sentence thus: There were 20 men
present, or thus: There were fifty men
present The "style Of the office" fixes
the use Of figures in such cases TO num-
bers over 10 or 20 or 100, as may be deter
mined upon, on some points nearly all
papers agreeing, viz. that dates. ages.
time sums Of money. statistical and
tabular matter shall be expressed in
figures. Then there are rules governing
capitalization, abbreviations, compound
words (making such words as clubhouse
one word. clubhouse compound or club
house two words). italicizing. quoting.
and other rules OF a technical nature,
altogether making quite a lot Of things
to remember and have literally at the
fingers end
II has doubtless occurred to the reader
of this article that nearly. If not all.
the mistakes referred TO. aside from the
purely Typographical ones. should be
rectlhed by the editors handling the copy,
and. further. that no excuse can be offer
ed by the writer's themselves FOR max
ing such blunders II is a fact we'll
known by every person who handles copy
on a daily paper that the brightest, best
educated. and braniest men make at
times the worst breaks In their CODY.
1t would be folly 10 charge them with
a lack OF better knowledge; it rather
opens up question in psychology which
the learned philosophers may best dis
cuss.
As to the editors. IT may b. explained
If the mass Of copy they are required
TO handle in order 10 Gull out the more
desirable portions could be seen the eX-
cuse for an occasional bunder getting
past them would be self-evident: and
then, again, if all copy were prepared
technically and absolutely according
to rule, and the editors had time 90 mark
clearly every addition or alteration
necessary. and the copy-cutter could
run out entire stories 10 one man. and
the compositors made no mistakes In
type-setting then the much abused. long
suffering. necessary evil. the prJ)f-iead-
er. would flnd his occupation gone.