New-York tribune., 1908-11-15
A ROMANCE In KEYS
Development Of the Writing Ma
chine IN n Generation

nearly every part Of the habtable globe had oc-
casion 10 make y summer excursion to far-away
Iceland. He looked for few. if any, reminders OF
his native country. Imagine mis- surprise as he
walked down the main street of the little town OF
Reykjavk. the capital of the island. to see on one
O the buildings q circular brass sign bearing the
well known red seal trademark of one Of the great
typewriter companies He knew at once the mean
ing of that sign. 1t proclaimed the fact that in this
building here in remote Iceland, was an up-to-date
saIesroom of American writing machine.
That red seal sign appealed TO the traveller as
the universal fact IN his varied experience He
had that sign in Broad way in Chicago. in
San Francisco and in every American city He had
seen II in Manila, In Hongkong, in Samoa, in
Singapore. in Batavia, in johannesburg, in Cairo
in Vladivostok and in every country OF the world
where his paths had led. Yet. with all of these
reminders Of the worldwide Of the typewriter
he hardly looked for this familiar emblem of com
merce and progress within the bleak confines Of
the Arctic Circle. Here he felt. the final evi-
dence OF the complete conquest Of the whole earth
by the writing machine
Modern business has been described as the great
est OF all romances yet in all its annals II presents
equal the short history OF the type
writer. The record of achievement IN itself IS
wonderful and the wonder Increases when one
considers that It is all the work Of q single
generation. Men who hardly y7t Of middle
age remember when the typewriter
existent; when the very idea non-exstent save
in the minds of few toiIng inventors. The pub
lie knew nothing Of the work OF these inventors
and had It known would have cared less. The fly
ing machine, which is only approaching the
practical stage. has been foreseen and discussed
for ages but the typewriter appeared in the world
unheraldcd by any previous discussion interest.
The world needed it II had always needed II. but
It had never known its need. The advent Of the
first writing machine not announced in cable
dispatches and newspaper headlines. II slipped
into existence quietly, tnidly unobtrusively. with
Indifferent world to face.
The year 1873 the birtl Of the writing machine.
for II in that year that the first Remington
typewriter offered for sale. Its early years
gave little forecast OF its great future the age ot
ten II still commercially compromising child"
In 1875 It had been exhibited at tho Centennial
Exhibition at Philadelphia. but had attracted little
attention. The sales from the first had been slow
and unsatisfactory and had been attended by the
greatest expense and labor. After years OF
struggle 1t still fighting the seemingly hope
less battle against inappreciation and neglect.
Then a last the period of probation over
and the great change came. New men took charge
OF the sale OF the Remington. new measures We're
introduced TO further its sale the machine itself
improved. It's early faults were corrected. and
in It's new form the public could no longer question
its merit as a time and labor saver Then the pub
lie woke up. The writing machine had arrived. and
from that time its career became one Of such
triumph that the early struggles OF the past were
forgotten The typewriter. first regarded an
ingenious toy. then as a luxury. finally won recoE-
milton useful time saver. With this recoGHl-
ton its became general Even this, however.
did not represent the last and greatest Of It's vic
tories It's final triumph when If OBJ
taIned recognition not simply as A utility, but as
4 necessity Then It's use became not merely gen
eral but UnircrsGI in every department Of business
life.
A few facts about the present day status Of the
writing machine VIII Illustrate the magnitude OF
its achievements To-day the Remington Type
writer Company alone has four hundred and sixty
salesrcoms in four hundred and sixty different
cities throughout the world each bearing It's
Of hp
ore cities in every country earth which plays
part however small in general business. The
triur2phs won first in America were repeated in
the Old World countries and finally In every coun-
try on every continent. The conservative countries
f I-,rrone were naturally slower to adopt the new
invention but its time saving merits We're so evil
dent that they finally overcame every prejudice
and the same experience was repeated eferyWhre
To-day the ''unchanging East is no longer un-
changing. for it, too, IS a"d"eils ~ 'i'e 'a'Ne u
the writing machine.
An evidence of the worldwide use OF the writing
machine even more remarkable than the extent
Of the Remington organization is the number OF
different kinds OF Remington typewriiers nov
,,,aruroctllred and sold 4 walk through the as
senabIng room Of the great Remington Typewriter
Works at Hon y. Y. is like visit TO vertable
museum of tongues Here at one table one sees an
insractor testing machine which has just come
from the assemblers. 1t writes a strange and to
r,ost neope unfamiliar character, which suggests
complex Of half dozen different systems of
shorthand This" explains the guide 'is one OF
the Arabic Remingtons and It's successful perfect
ing was one Of the greatest tests OF Remington
skin and resource It writes from right to left /
instead Of from left to right; It writes the line
above the line and below the line; 1t spaces once |
for some letters, twice for others and not at all
for others In fact the Arabic language presented
bout every difficulty is possible to imagine to
the makers Of a typewriter and II took US long /
wears of labor before the first Arabic Remington /
was ready for sale" And was such labor worth |
while?" we moved 10 ask. Yes" replies the /
guide "for there is hardly limit 10 the field Of |
this machine. The Arabic character Is used for /
writing twenty-five different languages; fact. all /
the languages Of the Mohammedan world. From /
Morocco to Sulu. I'm the Philippines; from Vadi- |
vostok, in the extreme esst Of Siberia, to Cape !
Town in South Africa ii is everywhere in common |
use. 1t is not too much to say that this Arabic |
Remington has extended the field Of the writing
machine to one-qusrter of the human race"
While one wonders this the guide shows
a entirely different machine. 1t writes a Ian
guage equally strange, but altogether unlike the
other. The characters seem to be made up Of
a succession of circles and half circles piled to-
gether in every conceivable fashion. This. the
guide explains is the Burmese Remington But
this machine has such field the other" one
remarks Indeed, no. says the guide. But Il
illustrates even better than the other the thor
ouRhness with which the Remington output covers
every need of every user Of the typewriter The
Burmese are a small people and an obscure people
DweIlers in the great world seldom hear of them.
But few as they are. they neither few
nor too obscure have special Remington type
writer for their very own"
And SO the wonders grow. one is next intro
duced to the Armenian Remington This language
also is written in It's peculiar character This
Armenian Remington, the guide explains has had
a singular history. Armenian merchants are found
everywhere, and Armenian ReminKtons have heen
sold about every country except until recently,
IN not he soId