New-York tribune., 1902-12-31
PUBLISHERS ACTIVE.
RECORD YEAR CLOSING.
Great 4dUances Due to Mechnn'c0t
Tmpr0Uements.

The publishing business has made vast strloes
in the last two decades by reason OF mechahioai
! improvements in the art. Twenty years as'
| there was not a typesetting machine in exist
| ence For four hundred years the pruning
business had been at a standstill IN TINS respect
To set up page it was necessary for the colii-
nositors to pick each individual letter from the
| case of metal type. Now nearly every large
| establishment has a number of what are popu-
| IarIv called .tvpesetting' machines, but which
| rea1ly mould solid line of matter and 90 not
| .'set tvpe" at all in the manner familiar 1e"
! wears ago The Tribune was the pioneer IN this
! movement and had the first equipment VI
| linotype" machines introduced in a newspaper
| composing room. This has made it possiole 70
| Go the work of composition much more rapioly
| than under the old method. Important news
which comes to a newspaper office late at night
or early in the morning, can be inserted IN d
| much detailed and satisfactory manner
than it could be under the old-fashioned method.
| The invention has been an important factor also
in the later development Of newspapers gener-
| ally, both as to size and general typographical
| appearance.
A stereotyping device known as the autoplate
was invented in 1900, by means of which the
time required for casting plates was consider
| ably reduced In electrotyping the value ana
| efficiency of the foundry were enormously IN
creased by the use of a strong current Of cleo
tricity to fasten the deposit Of copper, so that
| the time required by the process may now be
controlled by the electrotyper to suit his GUS
| toner
The greatest advances in press building since
| 1880 have been made in perfecting presses.
| These machines are constructed OF such
| enormous size and with such great capacity
| that it is possible to obtain at short notice q
| newspaper press which will produce 100000 1m-
| pressons per hour. printed in twelve colors.
The greatest advance in printing presses OF all,
| however was the construction of perfecting
| presses capable of producing the finest type and
cut work rapidly though printing news
papers Such machines, which were an impossl-
| bility in 1880, and experiment in lo9o. are
now in general use and are necessary to the
| production of the large number of inexpensive
| magazines and newspaper special supplements
! profusely illustrated which have become an I'M
| portant feature of current literature.
| The great advance in the direction OF printing
| in colors from plates, by means OF which the
| printer has invaded the business of the hthog-
rapher, created q demand which the press
maker met with machine capable of printing
the three primary colors and producing several
| more by combination at one impression. so that
a complete picture in many colors may De the
product of one impression.
In the field of illustration the decade has Wit
| messed advances second only to the invention
and commercial success of composing Tachines
The art of steel engraving, carried TO great
perfection about the middle of the century. has
| become practically a lost art and by 1900 wood
| engraving was neglected and Improbable. being
replaced by the line cut and the "haiftone.
These two classes of illustration are obtained
| by a combination of photography and etching
| In producing the line cut the drawing is pho
| tographed and the negative printed upon zinc
plate. The lines of the photograph are then
protected and acid is permitted to eat away the
exposed portions, producing RELIEF. The me-
chanical details of the halftone resemble TO
some extent those of the line cut but the process
| is much more delicate. and the element of indi-
vidual skill plays a more important part The
relief upon the plate is secured by small dots
obtained by photographing the drawing through n
two glass plates which have been closely ruled.
The negative is then printed upon a copper
| plate, which is subsequently etched
| According to the last census, there were 22ol2
| publishing establishments in the United states.
OF these II, ,305 were engaged in printing news
| papers and periodicals: 6,920 were book and JOB
| printers, and 81 were engaged in printing
music. In these various enterprises a capital
| of a little less than S300.0O0,OOO was invested
| in actual assets, exclusive Of the capital
stock of the corporations. The value OF the
| nroduct for the year was St41, ,035 050 to pro-
duce which there was paid the sum Of S3boSO-
| 7l9 in salaries of officials and clerks. and
| SS4. .249 $50 in wages
The business is in a prosperous condition at
the present time, the announcements or the
| srious publishers indicate, and the two years
| inst closed are undoubtedly record years in the
| trade.