Evening star., 1908-01-19
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

- -
IN THE STAR
Washington was dee ply interested half
century ago in its various Indian
visitors as they came to the
Indian capital on business. In The
Star Of January H. 1853. is a
news paragraph which tells
the story of an unusual meeting OF
braves:
'"The Indian tribes, the Pawnees and
Sioux, have long been Oh unfriendiy terms
and some most sanguinary engagements
have taken place between them. Dele
cations from each of these tribes are
now in Washington on business with the
government, and they have been ADVERSE
to meeting amicably, though several at
tempts have been made to that end. yes
terday, however, the Sioux went to the
quarters of the Pawnees, and they met
for friendly talk. One of the sioux.
addressing the council. said that at the
request Of the Great Father. the Presi-
dent, they had come to offer the Pawnees
the hand of frie endship; not the right
hand for that had done the bloody work.
but to be on good terms with them here.
and though the chiefs here could not be
responsible for what was done during
their absence from home. still they
and hoped that peace would result and
the hatchet be laid aside.
Another of the Sioux said he had a
nephew killed by the Pawnees. That
nephew had gone to war without his
consent and contrary to orders. If the
warrior who killed him was present he
would not only forgive him, but take
him to his bosom as his own nephew.
1.-THE peace pipe was passed around,
whiffs were taken with gravity becoming
the occasion, and they sat together for
some time. apparently on the most friend
ly terms, detailing to each other the
fights in which they had been engaged.
conbats. After the talk was over the
Sioux. at the invitation of Mrs. Maher,
the kind landlady of the Pawnees. par
took of dinner provided for them."
X
There we're no me chanical aids to typog-
rraphy in the fifties and composition was
entlreIy by hand. Compar1-
Rapid sons between the speed OF
w newspaper composing
room force then and now,
therefore, are not exactly fair, save as
a suggestion of the remarkable changes
that have taken place in the ''art pre-
servative." In The Star of January II
1853, is the following paragraph:
"In the office of the Chicago Tribune,
on the evening that the Presidents MES
sage was received, fourteen compositors
set up and corrected sc. 800 ems In two
hours and five minutes. ten of them
working upon the message and four on
local. commercial and advertising matter
ION the morning after the arrival OF
the message in Philadelphia the North
American of that city not only published
the entire message In its regular edi-
tion but issued with 1t half-sheet sup
plement, containing the reports in full OF
the Postmaster General, filing nine col
umns, Secretary of War, three columns
Secretary of the Treasury, four columns,
and Secretary of the Navy, four columns
twenty heavy columns in ALL set up in
small type, equal to some 300 or 400 pages
of book print"
These unquestionably were notable
achievements for those days. long be-
fecting web press. Just to note the enor-
nous gain In speed in the composing
room 1t may be mentioned that at a
moderate pace-somewhat below average
fourteen machine operators in The Star
Office nowadays would in two hours sc
some 125.OOO ems of type, taking all kinds
Of copy as 1t runs "off the hook while
on such special matter as President s
message, which Is usually In printed form
and exceptionally "clean," the same force
t. ~ fr I0
l45, COO ems.
President Buchanan held his first even
ing levee January II. 1858, and the next
day The Star described it
Presidents as one of the most brilliant
social occasions ever known
ee' in Washington. The fol-
lowing extract from the report affords
panoramic view Of the personages OF the
hour as they appeared on the scene:
I'm the elliptical promenade was pre-
sented at every revolution succession
of notables. There we're all the cabinet
ministers; there was tall Sam Houston.
towering at a height that displayed full
three-quarters of a stupendous vest pat
tern above the heads of his fellow NOR
tails; and there was Gen. s ptt over
topping even the altitudinous i KAN; there
was the plump blond free-soiler Hale,
and the plumb brunette free-soilers Ham,
lin and Wilson: there was the white
neck-clothed Lord Napier, SO quiet in
dress SO unassuming in manner as not
to half come up to fast young America S
idea of a nobleman; there was Emmons
(populist) the poet, with Byronic collar
and eye in fine phrenzy rolling there
was the triQ of artists. Healy, King and
Bessau, each of whom cultivates the pic
turesque and lets his hair grow; there
was Marshall Wilder the veteran agri-
culturalist. with his eagle eye; there was
Mrs. Southworth. the novelist, surrounded d
by q circle of the literati; there was SEN
ator Douglas witt us beautiful Wash
ington bride on his arm; there were other
sucn prominent political stagers as Gwin,
Mason, Hunter, Keitt, Clingman Flor
ence Collamer, Kennedy and Pearce;
there were Judges Wayne and CatrOn of
the Supreme Court and Commodore Lava
let tie of the navy; there was DIR. Parker,
fresh from his mission to the celestials,
and there was Train, the merchant Bos-
tonian. who has visited everywhere; there
were hundreds of other personages whose
names are as familiar to the public as
household words but which we lack the
space here to chronicle
COUNT WHATSHISNAME.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
1t is true that We now have pretty fair
authority for pronOuncing the name