The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-10-24
A SERIOUS QUESTION.

The Barre Telegram f Wednesd day sage:
"Dear Ola Jack Harris, whose every
word written or spoken, brngs smile 10
eartli's poor ured 1nOrtala, gl3riheS the Tel
egrdpt with a quarter o. column free sdv'I
all Dec tuse the types made us SAY tarrier,
when furrier was iuiebded. Yet in the
same article the JOURNALS types brought
shame upon poor Harris by making "a full
head Of steam read a fall head OF stream
and the biggest scare head on the fret page
Of the JOURNAL read 'Nineis' Proposition
when Miners was intended. Such is fate.
In the midst Of death there Is life, etc, and
those who live in glass houses should NOT
throw the stove covers too promiecuously.
Bless your devoted old gray head, Brer
Tlsyer, you are rigAt-as night as the com
positor will permit Seriously, the subject
OF compositors is one to which l have given
much OF NY hest and deepest thought. l
have wondered why and where and when
the faint of hereditary hatred OF writers for
the press fret began 70 run riot within
them, | have wondered how they could be
80 heartless as to grapple with poor little
uuoffending paragraph that never did any.
body any harm and wasn't designed to, and
by def and rapid manipulation render II
murderous, piratiCal, incOudiary and even
sctually unavailable, / have made five
line notice of An individual which should, Il
least, have brought box of cigars if not
manned and bAmstrung in the news room,
and, when ii appeared in print and the edi-
ton was nearly all off, IL was 30 grossly IL
belous--uot to say inuecent-that fight " as
the only alternative. l tried herOicAlly he
other day ut four different times-Once in
COPY and three on proo-tO say that a
friend who had been i'll would be about
next week. The efforts, joint and several,
were entirely un8vailiug AZ against the
combined and CUld-bloOded opposition, and
the item appear d reading that the party
would be absent" Bat expected it and
was braced for the shock.
AS matter Of f9c., the daring character
/ who essays to GET out copy these days takes
desperate chances aud bis life in his hands.
, He takes the first sheet off the press with
an all of sullen resignation and abjsct fear
equally mixed, and If he finds that he has
only b5en made supremey ridiculous he it
PLAYING in great luck, 1t is a condition
which confronts U.S. brethren, not theory
The compostor is mercless, and the NOR.
tai enemy Of copy. The craft regard it al
I as "ho wash" anyway, and that however
they construe / the general result will b,
| the same. Finally, although they may not bt
aware Of it-and probably wouldn't care i
they were-they are largely responsible fo
| the drink habit. When a man becomes
dazed through sfflctions OF his copy, he il
| liable TO assuage his 1T icken soul with that
which biteth l want Morrow and Fortne,
| and otherS who are throwing themselve
into the vortex for the sake OF humanity Il
| labor with the cJmpOsitors Some goo,
may come of it. They-the competitors
not Morrow and Fortuey may not be 81
wholly depraved but that they may be re
| claimed, / don't like to be compelled Il
believe in total depravity, and | want TO al
ford them last chaDCs, Does this obi &C
appeal to the brethren?
= 5. l am rather anxious to see in VIII a
sort of shape this will be allowed to app esl