Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-05-03
HOW the JAPANESE
NEWSPAPER IS MADE
Some OF the Difficulties of Set
ting Type With $4,000
Characters.
watkins coMPosIroRs
n Production OF an EXTRA Which,
IN This Country Requires But 4
Few Minutes. Takes from
One to Two Hours.
From the london Express.

t.f '.JTlOu t.NpT'SSt
In the matter of circulation the iiewSA
papers of Japan canno, compare with
those OF London. There are. however,
quite "a number OF daily journals pub
llshed In Toxic aui Osaka which boast
or daily issues running we'll into six
figures. The journal with the best cir
culatioi In Japan IL the Osaka Main.
ichi. which sells L" the extent of 30. 0E
copies II day. The Asahi. published In
the same town. has nearly as large y
circulation.
In Toxic tie mos; widely
read Is the Hochi Shimbun Uhe Bulle.
tin News). which sells 20O.0 600 copies
daily. The Hochi Is the great opposi.
ton journal. the organ OF Count Oku.
ma. eX-preimer. and the most infiuen.
tlal journal OF the elder statesmen
Then there Is the Jill Shimpo, the Mich
Nichi. the koxuinin and the Asahi OF
Toxic. all with calculations OF between,
5O.OW and $50. 900. The KOkumin IL the
government organ. and 1t will he re.
meInber-d when peace was signed the
angry inhabitants OF Toxic. enraged AZ
Its attitude and acVuiescence with the
peace treaty. attacked the offices and
nearly caused u serious outbreak.
When l say that the Hochi IL the ops
position organ. 1t must not he under.
stood that my paper showed any op-
position To the government during ths
war with Russia. In point Of fact, FROM
the time when our relations with Rus.
STA were broken Off the la
Japan. without n exception. sup.
ported the government and the nation,
The jill ShtmpO Is owned and edited
by the sOn-in-laW of ViscOunt HayashL
the Japanese minister I'm London. while
the Mich! Nichi IL now the property OF
Mr.. KatO. formerly minister to Lon.
don. and it's editor IL a Christian. Mr..
Yoke who IL II member of the Japa.
ieSe parliament.
YhA .Inutr
much cheaper than those of London.
even IN these days OF the uscendency
OF the half penny press. Most sub.
scrtbers pay for their favor:te newspa-
ler monthly. and their subscriptions
work out In some cases at a fraction
under "A farthing IA day, and in none
mt more than a half-pcnny Il day. This
notwithstanding that advertisement
rates In our papers are considerably
lower than they are here. For small
advertisements the highest rate 1 have
heard of is n shilling per line; while
for large advertisements | have never
heard OF more than $125 u page being
paid for one insertion.
Cn occasions when we receive he Ns
of very great Importance. il ia Gus
tornary To issue special editions. but
these are not cas- they are here) COM
ilete copies of the paper. They are. on
the contrary. merely leaflets. contain
ing nothing. but the particular item OF
important news. These are sold on the
streets by newsboys at prices varying
from one To one and nne-half cents.
The recent Introduction OF the serial
story Into f;nglisl, papers has been q
feature OF thu" Japanese press for thir-
~ years past. 1t will doubtless aimuse
English people to know that the seria,
system is. In our press. frequently ap-
Piled to the publication Of leading ar
ticleS and important political subjects
fOr Instance wa luI y,.,tIt.t, xt
umn OF a s~tatesman's speech today
mark 1t i be continued" give it an
other column tomorrow, and keep this
up unit! it is finished IL week later.
Similarly with leading articles the sauna
practice is frequently adopted.
The production Of a newspaper com
plicated though 1t is In England. IL
nue. more so in Japan. We cannot
use the linotype machines for Setting
up articles. This must be done by
hand. and when l tell you that in the
Japanese language there are soma
10000 different characters. of which 28.-
900 are In common daily use. you will
understand that the conlpositor has to
be u man Of no small skill and ability.
lhe typer"om of II Japanese newspa
per is "A large compartment. with
shelves all around the four walls. and
In setting" copy the counpositor mas
u run around and round the room,
pickinS out from the thousands of lit
tie receptacles the type he requires. II
- at one and the same time both mon.
tal and physical exercise of Il pretty
strenuous description.
AS an instance Of the upDney in
Which "A Japanese cWSpa3 per is ON
Quoted. may state thai thu. staff Of
.he HOchi consists of siXty-three edi-
tors. sub-edit"rs and reporters. The
StaH IS divided into some seven or
light departments. viz. army. navy
political. financial. economical. cit,. ar
tistir and translating. Work begin.
much earlier ihan II does on tn. Lon
don papers. We cannol. as YOU do in
England. print news within 4 few min
ites OF its arrival in The office. I,ro,u
the time of an item OF news being vrj,-
Ten To It's appearance IN print we re-
lii're one or two hours. while you san
W IL in a feW minutes.