Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1897-03-13
TIE PASSING OF THE PRINTER.
A chiefs among ye takin' notes,
And, faith, he'll prent them
Burns

make most interesting story. From
small daily paper of sixty or seventy
years ago-and they were few and far
between then-to the twelve and Six
teen page daily of to-day is a far cry.
The press of that day was worked en-
tirely by hand and the process was
slow and cumbersome. The modern
press is run by electricity at the rate
of from 5000 to $4,000 an hour, and
the papers counted, cut, folded and
pasted all by machinery.
The sheet of the earlier day con-
tanned, ontside of local news, only
meagre amount of the news of the
world, and that was away behind
time. The many cable lines girdling
the globe and the wonderful telegraph
service has changed all that, and the
reader can now peruse the events of
the earth of the day before chronicled
for his benefit.
In the art of printing, from the
time of its introduction into Europe
in the Fifteenth century for over 400
years, the manner of assembling the
types, by hand, was almost Identical
Type setting devices had been in
vented and were used to some extent
as lately as thirty years ago. but they
were found to be impracticable in the
daily newspaper offices, where swift
ness of composition is the desidera-
tion, and for book publishing, where
accuracy and neatnesS are demanded.
Some seven or eight years ago. how
ever, type-setting machine known
as the Mergenthaler linotype was in
vented and introduced, has been
greatly improved and is now in use in
nearly every large daily in the coun-
try. This machine is also type
casting machine-that is. one which
sets the type and then automatically
casts it line for line into solid piece
by a plunge into boiling hot metal.
The linotype is wonderful piece of
mechanism and will do the work of
about five men. 1t entirely obviates
the necessity of distributing the
type for further use, and it has
thrown out of employment thousands
of compoSitorS. 1t is also now used
in book and law publishing. doing the
work perfectly The linotype can be
made for any size type desired and re-
QuireS, outside of the one compOSitOr
operating it, machinists in charge at
the ratio of about one man for every
five machines.
The old-time printer is now rapidly
becoming thing of the past. In the
days when the newspapers followed
the tide of civilization westward his
art was in demand and his services
always welcome. Now the great daily
knows him no more and only occasion
ally the country printing Office proves
haven of rest and the means of fill
ing an empty stomach and putting
into his pocket a little silver. He
has been pushed from an occupation
which took him years to acquire and
rendered him well-nigh worthless for
any other work. He has been crowd
ed out by step forward of the lad
vanced civilization" of the present
day.
Always nomad and wandering
bird,' the latter day has forced him
to go farther in search of employment
which in times past was the least
source of his troubles. Before the
advent of the ''machine" he wandered
for pleasure and because of restless
disposition. Now he travels seeking
employment and because he has to
exist.
The close of the war inaugurated
an era of good times for the printer,
and old-timerS say that then wages
were higher and work more plentiful
than before or since in their day
The telegraph service was rapidly
being perfected and extended, and
the newspaper becoming widened in
its scope as a newSgather and giver
The public was expecting more from
the newspaper, and the printer wa:
in demand. The development of the
great. West created opportunitie:
which were eagerly seized by the
newspaper man, and this period wa:
one in which the printer realized thu
full flush of prosperity. These were
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