Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-07-30
THE TYPEWRITER.
Over $4,000 OF These Useful Machines in
Operation in the World.

| One of the great inventions of late years
and one which is fast becoming an essen
tial equipment to every well regulated
office, is the typewriter of which there are
numerous kinds. Not many cities of Au-
gusta's size and plenty have as many of
these machines as can be found here The
publishing houses, the banks, the State
House, and the various places of business
| have typewriters.
There are today as nearly as can be ap-
proximated, 3l2, 900 typewriting machines
| In operation all over the world, of which
! number about heights, or 275,O
are used in the United States. A promi-
nent Chicago firm estimates that 1S, 900
are in constant operation in that city A
study of the industrial readjustments
caused by this labor-saving device is in
teresting, particularly to the old-time
office clerk whom 1t has displaced An
average girl stenographer and typewriter
can now perform more satisfactorily the
work done by three male clerks In 1880.
The salary of the clerk in those days was
more than is paid to woman typewriter
in 1885 He received more because he was
worth 1t. To write letters concerning his
department of the business be required a
special knowledge of details He had to
be subdivision of the manager as it
were. But now the stenographer and
typewriter, a combined mechanism, en-
able the manager and heads Of depart
ments to get into direct communication
with customers and agents and to dis
pense with the services of corresponding
clerks.
1t Is calculated that typewriters have
increased the capacity of the busy press
wires from 30 to so per cent and that in
the case of ordinary commercial dispatches |
the gain has been at least 10 yer cent. An |
instance is given by the Chicago superin- |
tendent of one of the telegraph companies |
where one man received on the typewriter |
nearly g. 900 words of election news from |
the east In one night. This was an extra
ordinary feat but 1t shows what can be
done when it is known that the best work
Of the expert penman was never above
Is, 1000 words for tho same time and rarely
more than 12, 600 words. Such speed for
one night frequently paralyzed the arm
or hand of the most experienced of opera
Hctn fol xuha |
nights siege of that kind the telegraph
receivers would be unable, because of lame
arms, to lock the doors. Typewriters score
yet another triumph In telegraph offices
in the matter of manifold messages. BY
the old method Of the stylus pen thirty
copies of press matter was the limit, and
the operator had to press very heavily on
the pen to obtain that number. With the
machine thirty copies can be duplicated
with ease and even sixty at times.
AS to the number of employees sup
planted by writing machines, it is generally
conceded that two clerks for each type
writer is conservative estimate This
ID uot u uc ao w OcleBEdpu OllCerS, lOr mere, |
as has been shown, the economy has been
entirely in the direction of increased
efficiency. Calculating that in the United
States there are 200, 600 type writers in
effective use by commercial houses, the
conclusion is reached that 400, 900 clerks
have been displaced in this country within
two decades. Like all other labor saving
machinery, however, the typewriter, while
men on one hand has increased
for employment on the other
by making it possible to conduct business
enterprises upon larger scale. And the
economic process in this line Is still going
on. 1t now looks as if the stenographer
would soon be superseded by the phono-
graph and that rapid and accurate type.
writer operators who can transcrbe letters
by speaking machine will con-
stitute the correspondence equipment of
business firms IN the future