Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-07-29

IL was a certain Mr.. Black. an En-
glish resident In Yokohama, who In the
late sixties published the Nlsshin Shin
gisha, the first newspaper issued In
Japan that was at all worthy Of the
name. IL was modest sheet. con-
tanning Leading article and a number
OF crisp paragraphs commenting In
chatty way on the news OF the day. |
Now there Is regular issue OF over |
1900 dailies, weeklies and monthly |
magazines, about thirty dailies being |
published In Tokyo alone.
Before Mr.. Blacks time. writes a
correspondent OF the London Globe.
small sheets had been issued from time
to time as the occasion arose. Mr..
Blacks venture having met with fair
success, he was soon followed by an
enterprising japanese, a Mr.. KIDD, who
started the Shimbun Zasshi, or News
Budget, in Tokyo, an enterprise In
which he was financially assisted by
the empress. Other and smaller papers
soon after made their appearance. But
for years japanese Journalism was a
most risky business and one full OF
vicissitudes.
The ranks Of the press writers were
mostly filed from the families OF the
ancient feudal NOTES.-The samurai
class-and these carried the holiness
and dash that had characterized their
actions in the days when. armed with
two huge swords. they staggered
about among the people, Into their new
career. The time was not yet ripe for
their audacious outspokenness, and the
result was that more than 80 per cent
of the journa lists were constantly Ian
gushing in jail But the journalists
rose to the occasion, and rather than
abandon their criticism Of the govern
ment the newspaper men included on
their stats persons who became known
as prison editors. These became the
scapegoats for all transgressions of the
stringent press laws, and for con-
sideration they would readily serve
their time in Jail, thus giving the ac-
tual writer's free field to indulge In
their attacks on the authorities. Now
adays all this is changed, and the
japanese press at present enjoys a con-
siderable freedom, much more so, in
deed, than is the case In certain Euro
pean countries.
To the western mind Japanese
paper, both in style and preparation,
must appear a veritable curiosity Of
literature. To begin with, what would
be the last page in an English journal
IL the first in japanese one, and the
headlines and titles of articles instead
Of appearing at the top of column,
are run alongside Of It, Now let us
take a glance at the composing room
of japanese newspaper. An English
or American typesetter should thank
his stars that his lines have fallen in
pleasant places, for see what his
brothers in craft in the Land Of the
Rising Sun have to put up with.
The Japanese, like the Chinese. EN-
plOy a written language, a kind Of lit
erary dialect, that Is considerably re-
moved from the colloQuial. They do
not as we do, write as they speak
! This necessitates the papers being
printed to an extent in two languages.
the Kama" and the square characters,
one acting as key to the other. The
square characters are modelled on the
Chinese ideographs, terrible tumble
| Of geometrical figures, crosses and zig
zags the whole effect presenting the
appearance of the trail Of innumerab BILE
inky footprints Of drunken flies. or
these ideOgraphs at least 1900 to 5000
positor must needs be scholarly man
to recognize these characters at sight,
the strain on the eyes being terrible.
In order to facilitate the typesetter's
task as much as possible the composing
room is arranged in the following man
table, ON which is spread forty-seven
Kama" characters. On receiving his
copy he cuts it into small strips and
hands each strip to boy. The latter
marches along the room with this strip
until finally he has been able to collect
from number Of cases the different
ideographs. Half a dozen boys are
thus running hither and thither search
Ing for ideographs, all the time keeping
up a dirgelike chant. In which they
sing the name of the characters they
want, as In order to recognize it he has
to hear its sound first, no Japanese of
the lower classes being even able to
read a paper or book unless he reads it
aloud.
| The writer Of this article recalls to
mind his first nights engagement on a
newspaper in Tokyo Hearing con-
tinual babel Of voices and sounds of
melancholy attempts to rehabilitation
rising upward from the room below
his, he, at loss to account for the
queer noises, asked the Japanese man.
ager whether he conducted singing
class for his compositors. He was at
once informed that such was the in.
dispensable accompaniment to Japa-
nese compOsitor's work.
When the boys have collected all
their ideographs, they place them be.
fore the compositor, who then has to
have recourse to a pair Of goggles in
order to decipher the characters, fish
out the corresponding types in the
"Kana" character and finally set up
the whole In proof. The proofs, again
are sung out aloud by one proofreader
to another adding more noise to the
hustle and confusion Of weird sounds
already reigning in the room.
DR.. GilmOre's Queen of the World
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