The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-12-05
4 sAN FRANCLsCO CMINEsE NEWsrArER.

door a mystical sign. and beneath II
! the words Chung sal Yat-Po, the daily
newspaper; and. If curious he may as-
cend the narrow stair and reach the
editorial and other rooms Of one Of the
| several Chinese papers published IN
this Chinesc-Amcrican city. Little Can
ton, as Ii Is sometimes called. This pa
per was first started as weekly, but
was changed to a daily, ana Is now
an influential organ of what might
be termed the Amcricanizcd Chinese.
or the New Chinaman, as the editor
Is Chinese minister OF the Prcsby-
tcrian Church. man Of high cultiva-
tiOn from the American standpoint.
He Is the Rev. Ng Poon Chew, and one
OF his literary advisers ana aids Is
John Fryer, LID. who fills the chair
OF Chinese literature at the University
Of California; but the typcscttcrs, the
clerks, In fact all the employees, are
Cinnamon, some OF whom are gradu-
atcs Of American schools. In the busi-
ness office and editorial room there Is
little 10 attract the attention. Amer
lean desks and chairs and telephone
are the appliances OF 'hc workers; but
when the visitor enters the composing
room. high, cherries brlck-wall-in-
closed room. he Is confronted with the
fact that here as well ms elsewhere In
China things are upside down. In n
word. the typescttcr is quite ms i'm
pOrtant factor ms the editor; at least
such is the impression gained by the
observer who faces the extraordinary
cases Of the Chinese composltor.
The American typescttcr Is obliged
10 be familiar with twenty-slx letters,
ten figures and few signs ana sym
bols. ms periods. dollar marks. etc, but
the Chinese compositor must bc ia
miliar with 1000 characters of this
archaic language. about which Profcs-
sor X. Is. Douglas says: Every root
is n word. every word is n root. II Is
without lnhcXion or even agglutination;
its substantivcs are indccllnablc, and
It's verbs are not to be corrugated; II
is destitute of an alphabet, and finds
its expression on paper In thousands
of distinct symbols"
1t is needless To 90 into n description
of this marvellous language to explain
the difficulties of the Chinese COmpOs-
itor; but one illustration is sufficient,
Certain sounds often stand for several
hundred words. the difference, often
vital to an intelligent presentation of
nm idea, depending on certain diacrit-
ical marks accompanying each word.
There are thousands of these symbols
which are engraved, each one repre-
senting a type, but wcllrcgulatcd
newspaper will require but 1000 char
RctCrs; IL others are needed they are
made I'm the office. \ font of type In
the Chinese language requires ll,O0O
spaces, and In the large and spacious
racks here shown zach word instead
of each letter. rs in English. has a
place for itself. There is also pc
cuiar grouping or classification of
symbols into groups TO further facili-
tate the mental labors of the typcsc,-
ters. Thus I'm the immediate vicinity
of the symbol for nsn would be found
the symbols for scales, net, fins, tail,
gills. This simpltcs the labor. which
In any event must he SO strenuous that
II Is evident that the compositor'S end
of the Chinese newspaper should. II
perfect justice ruled, be the highest
paid.
The compositor is n staid and dig
nihed individual. and as he slowly
walks from symbol To symbol, picking
up those ~hich ne requires with pro-
voking calmncsS. the American COM
positor might well wonder when the
work would be completed; and to set
up the limited type required for a