The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-01
PRINTING IN JAPAN.
THE LANGUAGE NECEssIT ATEs
QUEER WAYS OF TYPEsETTING.

with Different Character for Ev-
cry Word the Work of the Com
PositOr il Rendered DimcuIf-Lan-
Euage Hard for Foreigners 10
Learn.
". f. Curtis in Chicago Record.
Washington. Nov. 22.-An the govern
ment engraving. Iithographing and print
ing. including the manufacture of bank
bills and postage and revenue stamps in
Japan. is done at an Institution known by
the simple and expressive name of Inset
sukioku. II occupies a fine building OF
French architecture. recently erected and
equipped with all the improvements and
conveniences OF a well-ordered printing
office. but its capacity is insufficient and
the increasing business has caused an
overflow into a number of ancient and
ill arranged structures that have long
occupied the densely shaded grounds that
were once the abode of a prince. The
employees all wear uniforms of white cot
ton while at work which are changed for
their ordinary street dress when they
leave the building. Many, perhaps two
thirds OF them, are women and girls who
look very neat and orderly in their scanty
raiment, for it is but a single garment,
without buttons and only held together
by a girdle around the waist, and dis
closes a considerable portion of their per-
son. which in other countries it is con-
sidered modest to conceal. But their un-
conscious innocence feels no shame.
Upon the left arm of each employee is
series of short stripes of red. which indi-
Gates rank and length OF service. Some
of them have four, five and six stripes,
showing that they are veterans. The
foremen or forewomen of the several di-
visions have another distinctive badge.
The machinery is mostly OF French ana
German manufacture. Much OF IL was
made In Japan, upon stolen patents, FOR
the government has only to buy one press
or piece of apparatus. The ingenius ma
chinists of the country will produce as
many copies as are needed without COM
Function or lack Of skill, although Japa-
nese limitations are not always as durabiA
as the models. | could only find one ma
chine from the United States. and that "a
big trimming knife In the bindery. The
secretary and assistant superintendent,
who showed us around. told us that there
was no objection to American machinery.
They agreed that the best presses in the
world We're made In the United States,
but the institution was organized ana
equipped by Europeans under contract,
and they naturally preferred what they
We're familiar with.
Inc government makes It's own INKS,
type and other supplies and has mill
in the suburbs of Toxic, at which every
grade from the finest bond to ordinary
printing paper Is manufactured. The Jap
anese, as we all know, make the best pa
pers In the world. There are machine
shops connected with the lnsctsukioku al
which air repairs are made, and conven-
tional machinery, and nothing is bought
abroad except an occasional press or some
recent improvement, which, as / have
said is Immediately initiated.
The natives make excellent engraVers,
and have the highest degree Of artistic
skill and taste Some OF the designers are
eminent artists, and samples OF their
work. which were displayed I'm an exhi-
btion room. surpassed anything 1 have
ever seen In France or Germany. But
their wages are absurdly low. The high
est salary paid among the engravers and
artists is equivalent to only A5 a month
In our money and this commands their
entire time and talent. The supernten-
dent Of the institution, who ranks next
to a member OF the cabinet. gets the same
pay as the messengers in the government
printing office at Washington The lowest
wages paid among the 600 employees, Is
8 sen, or 2ia cents day to the young girls
who carry the printed sheets from the
presses to the drying rooms and hand them
over the wires. The average is "a sen,
for eleven hours work--from 7 o'clock In
the morning to 6 o'clock at night, with
a half hours rest at noon for luncheon.
The composing room OF Japanese
printer. The ordinary Japanese vocabu-
larry is represented by 4,427 different char
acters or ideographs and forty-seVen sim
pie characters, known as Rama, which are
used to connect and complete them. For
official business, such as the printing need
ed by the executive departments of the
government, 2506 more characters are
needed, and to set the parliamentary de-
bates 5,9S7 more are required making a
total Of 1O,920 different characters In a
single font, such as is used in the 1nse-
Il he init
are between 1900 and 10000 more ideo-
graphs i'm the scientific vocabulary, and
| was told that II would require at least
10000 varieties of letters to answer all
possible demands of Japanese published
literature. Think Of a printers case con-
tanning $1,000 compartments.
The government Is endeavoring to sim
plify the japanese vocabulary and reduce
II to reasonable limits. A commission of
scholars and Dhilologists was appointed
some time ago by the minister Of educa-
ton upon the recommendation of a ma
tional teachers convention. and they are
said 10 be making some progress although
their task IS a most difficult one. There
Is no alphabet OF the japanese language,
as we understand that term Each word
Is represented by different character
or telegraph whose meaning is modified
or enlarged by the addition of a kama
as necessary, used either as a prefix or
suffix or both.
A font of Japanese type occupies a space
about eight or ten feet square. 1t is a
pen OF racks and cases, arrayed i'm the
form of a hollow square with narrow
passage TO afford an entrance and exit.
The chief compositor sits at a table I'm the
center with a case containing supply of
the forty-seven kama before him and a
long, peculiar looking composing stick
in his hand. He cuts his copy into small
takes and gives one 10 each of his five
or six assistants, who are usually small
boys and girls with amazing memories
They have their own composing sticks,
and. with their takes" held DEITY with
the composing sticks in their left hands
they rush around i'm front of the cases
and pick the type that are needed from
the bewildering mass of cases, singing
aloud the name of the character until
they find 1t. The work of composition
is therefore, a bedlam. which would
drive an American printer out of his wits
The uneducated Japanese cannot rec
ognize the meaning of printed character
by the eye. but only by the ear. There
fore he must read aloud. They always
have to read their newspapers aloud to
understand them. Formerly all the chill
dren studied aloud, and a traveller always
knew when he was in the neighborhood
of a school by the sound of their voices,
the same as a sawmill or a boiler factory;
but the government has prohibited this
in the public schools. and the youngsters
are taught by sight and not by sound
in fbaea dave NJ rnoderp ipnovaffons Pan