The San Francisco call., 1904-12-25
PRINTING Done
IN PHILIPPINES
Large Number of Natives Are
Employed as Typesetters
and PreSSmen by UncleSam
SOON BECOME EXPERTS
Operate Linotype Machines
in One of the Most Modern
Offices in Whole World

An interesting statement. descriptive
of the Government printing Office at
Manila and Of the Filipino typos en-
4 ployed there by Uncle Sam, was made
to-day to a Star reporter by Arthur
P. Ferl, recent empIoye Of that far
away institution. but who is now set
ting type In the Government printing
office in this city:
THE Government printing ONCE at
| Manila" said Mr. Ferl, employs near
ly 300 people, fifty OF whom are Amert-
cans, the balance being Tagalogs. Vi
sayans, BicOls, Igorctes and represent
attves from various other tribes from
one end Of the archipelago to the other.
1t is no uncommon thing to find two OF
three boys working side by side who
cannot converse in their native tongue
and these generally resort to Spanish,
which nearly all understand They are
nearly all students and readily acquire
a knowledge OF the English language.
The employees Of this ONCE are required
to attend night school. so that now
every native who has been In the ONCE
any length OF time speaks English
1T should be borne in mind that the
Manila printing Office is one Of the most
modern Institutions in the world. hav-
ing all the latest and most improved
machinery for printing. folding, bind
ing, electrotyping, photo-engraving.
ETC. Many OF the machines would
puzzle an American unless he was up
to-date and yet the natives are ham
ding all these machines with such sue
cess that very few OF the American
employees are required to do more than
oversee the work.
NATIVE STAFF.
I'm the front Office may be seen na-
tive clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers
and typewriters and messengers. The
work in the proofroom Is done by
Americans with lady copyholders and a
few native readers and copyholders,
who handle the dialects and most Of
the Spanish. In the composing room
there is an American foreman, two or
three linotype operators and several
others in such positions as makeup,
imposer. etc. all Of whom are fnstruc-
tors while the fifty or more natives in
the room do the work Here may be
seen a native operating a double-deck
Mergenthaler with such ease and COM
fort as would make an anti-machine
mans eyes pop out Of his head, and,
while the average native cares even
less than we do for hard work, they
take to the machine as il they were
made for each other
LINOTYPE OPERATORS.
"Of the twelve linotype machines in
the Office ten are operated by our lit
tie brown brothers and with very fair
success. All Job work and blank work
is done by natives. The copy must be
carefully prepared, of course, and as
everything is printed IN English and
Spanish on the same sheet this is quite
a task. About the same proportion Of
printers make good Job printers as is
found among the Americans.
There is an American Printers
Union in Manila, to which the natives
do not belong, but they have a society
among themselves which takes the
place of a union, as evidenced by an
incident that happened about a year
ago. We were very busy In the Office,
and did not propose to recognize a GER
tain church holiday. so a number OF the
employees (natives) sent a note TO the
Public Printer. which, while 1t was
hardly English, meant: We under
stand that we have to work tomorrow,
but as it is a holiday we do not intend
to do So And they didn't.
LONG FINGER-NAmS.
"All Filipinos who do no work have
three long fingernails-the thumb and
fore finger on the left hand. which the
printers use as tweezers. and the little
finger on the right hand.
1T looks quite picturesque to see zoo
or 500 natives coming to work IN thS
morning, all dressed In white; but go
through the building fifteen minutes
after the whistle blows and what DO we
see? The white suits have disappeared
and we behold a motley collection OF
skinny brown arms and bony legs clad
in a scanty suit Of underwear.
While the Office hours In the Manila
office are from to IL a. m and to
5 D. M, which would seem easy enough
for any one, it is hard to keep the ma
tive at work. He must take rest
of two or three days every few weeks,
and on this account it Is almost i'm
possible to put native in any position
where there is any responsibility or
where he has charge Of a number OF
men. When they want to stay away
from the Office they are required to
furnish an excuse, and / recall ons
man in particular who buried seven
children. his mother and father and
several brothers and sisters In one
year. They are like a lot Of children
Washington Star.