Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-24

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morning and run continuously till night.
It was out of the question to get pages
ready before the day had fairly begun.
so he hoped to use two of the presses
OF his neighbors, but then 1t occurred to.
him that using four tons of paper every
week 1T would hardly be possible to find
Eenough fiat paper in town to run one
days issue, SO he rolled over in bed and
groaned while some one else kept the
fire away from the ell too necessary
perfecting press.
The Mailing Departments.
When the papers are printed and
folded the process is nearly done, but
not quite. Uncle Sam is now going to
! lend a hand with his admirable postal
system. The small boys who have been
clamoring and scuffling about for the
! last hour are quickly given heavy bum
| dies of papers and sent forth, each to
| his regular route or to the streets Of
the business district to sell them, and,
perhaps. lay the Foundation of a busi-
ness career that shall some day place
him at the head of great publishing
house or railway company. The inter-
esting sight Is to watch the matters
who stamp each mans name
upon a paper, roll and wrap them into
bundles for each town, sack them into
the United States mail pouches
and take them in wagons direct to-
the mail trains. The mailers are, per-
haps the most dexterous men about
newspaper shop. They are at the last
end Of the line in the organization. II
anyone has Jagged, he has showed the
responsibility of making up the lost
time onto the next fellow, and likely he
in turn has passed 1t on to another.
but there is nothing left for the eilef
to do but make the mails. With mus
,cles and nerves at a tension. and eyes
flashing, he lights into the work. DUR
ing the day he and his helpers have
printed the names OF the thousands OF
subscribers upon a long, narrow slip
of yellow paper and wound 1t around
a spool in his mailing machine. Now,
as he approaches a pile of papers, with
a downward stroke and a quick, dex-
ferrous stroke of the thumb, one name
is cut from the list, pasted onto the
paper at the same stroke, and as his
left hand raises for a second stroke
the right slides the first paper off the
pile. So swift and so expert can
man become that he can keep UP with
the press which piles three papers onto
him every second. The clerks who
wrap and paste acquire the same ter
rifle speed, and one will wrap a dozen
bundles while novice is getting a
single wrapper in place. A clerk in the
T.-R. mailing room has repeatedly low
cred the American record for fast mail
ing and his successor has set his neart
upon smashing the record of his pre-
decesSor, with every promise of acc0m-
plishing his purpose before long.
The head mailer in a large newspaper
must be an authorized
postal clerk, sworn in by the depart.
ment, for he must weigh and throw
the mail. The work of the postofdce in
routing the mail into the proper sacks
and the dispatching In various direc-
lions to make the best time, Is all done
IN the mailing room of the newspaper,
ind then sent by wagon, with the
horses on the run, direct to the train.
The IRIS single horse and wagon
will make three trips to the trains with
In average edition. Uncle Sam makes
newspaper publishers deliver their
,wn papers, except weeklies, in their
Tome towns. if their town has free de-
livery of mail, but he will carry the pa
,ers to any other part of the country
rec, and to points outside of the cOun-
ry he carries them for one cent per
,ound, altho it costs him several mile
on dollars a year more than he gets
ut of it to do 1t. Even at this rate
he T.-R. pays him $500 per month.