New-York tribune., 1900-03-25

took the lead of all other processes There was
great outcry by many workmen against the inven-
ton of stereotyping and electrotyping and the
velopment of printing machines 1t was claimed
that they would drive good workmen out of the
business. and compel to accept miserable
wages. Johnson. in his Topographic" :" called on
Parliament TO put tax all printing done by
machines, as to make its cost TO the buyer equal
to that of hand press work 1t is safe to say that
proved printing machines the skilled workman
would be receiving about one-half or one-thrd of
what he now gets So far from driving men out of
work. the new processes have made more work for
presses WouId he TenjTad to nrint % editi0y ia nf
magazine like Munseys McClures. 1t is not
siSe shS daily newspaper Of our time would be impos
The first practical attempt in machine typeset-
III ting I was made a by William Mitchill in the office
expert compositor could set two thousand ems
an an. hour As Mtehill could not invent good type
lost by slow distribution. Other machines followed
years of experiments in what seemed a HOPELESS
task came the Linotype, now the preferred form
makes type and justifes It, and does the work so
economically that there is no need for of
About the year 1S47 R. Hoe & Co. made a rotary
from 5000 to 1900 impressions in an hour but ii
af no dn hnd d aGo buyers T 1 until @ The machine
ers as impression cylinders. Then Bullock invented
press with impression cylinders which printed
both sides of the sheet by one operation on an
endless roll Hoe followed with a more complete
so e called because the paper is praSttcay endless
description of other machines made by Hoe. Scott
Cottrell. Goss and others.
one OF the latest achievements is the multi-coor
press, which will print from four to six colors
large sheet at the rate of six thousand an hour.
By making duplicate papier-mache stereotype plates
OF the form. and by the of enormously large
presses great daily newspapers can print 80 900
to 10000 copies in hour.
The machinery for book printing has been
made more IN the direction OF accuracy than of
speed. Woodcuts and fine half process en-
cravings are now printed from curved plates on
rotary machines with more neatness than was done
thirty years ago on fiat bed presses.
ELIMINATION OF ENGRAVING ON WOOD.
One invention. and one only. seems to have de-
stroyed the livelihood of a meritorious class Of
workmen. Photo-engraving has driven of en-
poyment the ordinary engraver wood. A few
of extraordinary artistic ability like Cole and
Johnson unaffected by this invention but the
art of ordinary engraving wood is dead the
old art of alchemy. By this of photo
engraving the design of artist can be reproduced
in high relief without the intervention OF any en-
graver. and at about tenth of the old cost in
time and money, but the work done, while faith
fully executed. is nsipdly weak. To bring it's
best points the old engraver wood now finds some
employment in retouching and developing the
monotonous work. Notwithstanding all the great
improvements by machinery. the old trulsm holds
as good now as it ever did. THE man is more than
the machine
No words can give an adequate description of the
advantages OF photo-engraVinS. 1t may be mechan-
ical and inartistic but II is great teacher for the
picture conveys ideas quicker and faster and puts
form and light and shade on the memory more firm
ly, than can be done by words.
In 1880 all preSsWork whether of newspapers or
books. done dampened paper. This com
paper and in the subsequent drying ard smoothing
of the printed sheets The introduction of caien
dering rolls by paper makers which smoothed the
pa per required degree evenness and gloss-
ness made it possible for book and job printers to