The times., 1899-02-12


it carefully from off the stone. By this
process the written characters have become
adherent to the stone, face down: the
stone is laid in bath of water. and being
porous, it becomes saturated thoroughly.
When this occurs, ii is laid on the bed OF
the press just as in the ordinary method
pursued by American pressmen. The press
is started. and as the stone goes under the
rollers the ink does not adhere to the wet
stone, but takes on perfectly the characters
that have been transferred. The paper is
fed to the cylinder, and as the stone runs
under il a perfect impression is taken. 1t
appears primitive. but it suits, as there
is only a small circulation to be provided
for. There is no circulation liar ON the
premises.
In my native city of Shanghai there
were three native daily papers, the most
influential of which was the Shun iao.
| presume il has succumbed to the low
ager Empress decree. The "Shun fao'
had eight pages, of rice paper. which went
to press in large sheets. so folded that the
blank side was turned inward when re-
Ceiyed by the subscriber. There was ro
need of cutting and pastng. 1t sold for
ten cash or about half a cent in AIneri
can money.
In Shanghai there is a mission press
in which are done printing. streotyping
and eleclrotyping. and it is said that there
in are printed about 100000 pages an
nudlly. One of my Collaborators has Wis
tied this institution and describes in the
following manner the methods OF working:
The compositors picks up the type with
pincers and presses it into clay in the bot
tom of shallow block. This block is
grooved, and into each groove the charac-
ter is pressed. When made ready the
preSsman put ink on the type. laid paper
on il. and pressed it down so that it should
receive an impression of every character
The type was not touched by hand, and
the characters were returned to their
boxes
The author of the article in the Typo
graphical Journal highly eulogizes the
progressiveness of Japan. Printing, he
says. gets every show there. 1t is patron
lied by the government and there is ma
tional printing Office at the capital.
The japanese typesetter," he writes,
has a difficult task. When his copy is
given to him he has to search among from
5000 to 10000 characters for the types that
he wants. An office of this size employs
from ten to twenty men. When the types
for the take have been gathered together
the chief of the force puts them in their
proper order, and then they are read over
in order that it may be ascertained wheth-
er the particles, etc. are used properly
say that the compositors sing out loudly
the names of the characters they have to
find.
There are about 400 daily papers in
Toxic, besides 800. periodicals. varying in
price from l TO cents per copy. None of
these papers has a larger circulation than
10,OC0 and the combined circulation of the
dailies is just over 100000 the weeklies
and other periodicals circulating about
an r-I.;- s-t,x
ordinary fecundity, all within the past
thirty years. In 1871 small weekly paper
was started in Toxic. followed By two
daily papers later. named the "Nichi Nichi
Shimbun" ebay by Day Newspaper and
the ''Mainichi Shimbun" ("Daily Newspa-
PERI. The .'Hochi Shimbun" (''Mail and
News'D appeared in 1872. The latter at
tackled the authorities. and the editor, Mr..
Tudiita, a learned man, was sent to prison
for some months. The ''Nichi Nichi SHIN
bun" and the 'tNainichi Shimbun" were
mainly advertising sheets, and printed par
agraphs which would be unprintable here.
The newspaper press has increased by
leaps and bounds. There are now about
500 newspapers and magazines in the coun-
try. devoted to scientific, religious, educa-
tional. sanitary, legal, and general topics.
Over 60,000,000 papers were carried in the
mails last year. In all the large cities the
holidays, and in the country they appear
several times a week and weekly. The To-
kio papers are the most influential, and
find their way TO all parts of the country.
The best knows papers, besides those men
toned above. are the Jill Shimbo public
Affairs and News. Among the reviews
are the Miyaka- no homo (Flower Of the
CapitaI) and the Kokumin- notomo, the or
gan of the Protestant missionaries. which
fights vigorously the tenets of Confucian
and Buddhist philosophy. Then there are
perusal of which is forbidden young wo-
men and girls, but the Mikado's
subjects are not ayerse TO am
biguous jokes. and they manage to evade
the law Before the newspaper era began
there were only broadsides or terror
sheets. which the native chapmen, the
yomi uri hawked about after fires, floods,
or earthquakes. My japanese friend says
that there was also a comic paper. the
'Maru Nlaru, inspired originally by
Punch.
LUX Sing concludes his very interesting
paper by remarking:
When l compare the growth of printing
in Japan with the unprogressiye tenden-
cies of China, l am filled with regret for
my fellow -countrymen, and can but hope
that they viii before long throw off the
shackles that bind them in their age worn
grooves. The people who have benefited
by the growth of printing and the spread
Of newspapers viii, hope cordially echo
my hope"