Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-05-13
copyri6ht. 1909. by Joseph Medill
Patterson and Harriet Ford.
CHAPTER XII.


M leading daily paper in a big
city is not time when peace
full slumber ia In order for
those who are concerned In the bust
ness of producing the paper. 1t is the
time when trained brains and trained
hands are exerted to the extreme limit
of their capacity to get the very latest
news into shape. into type. into the
press. into the mail wagons and ION
the street"
And it is in the composing room
where the brunt of the battle is borne
in the final hours in which is complet-
ed the record of worlds dOings aud
undoings for day. Masses Of copy"
swirl upward in the tubes or are car
ried in by boys from the city editorial
room. The typesetting machines click,
click. click. in unceasfng moDotony.
and the proofreaders scan columns OF
green proofs" with rapidity. when
under pressure. that would amaze the
uninitiated observer The makeup"
men cluster around the cumbersome
tables or ''stones" on which the forms
are made up. lifting in the metal lines
of type here. making corrections or
shifting cuts there and locking th
forms to be shunted into the stereotyl
room. where the paper matrices wi
be made. When the matrix Is place.
in the casting box the molten stereo-
type metal is poured in. and within
very few minutes the cylindrical
plates. hardened quickly In the cast
ing box by the pouring OF cold water
into the jacket. are locked on the CYL
inders of the gigantic duodecuple
press and ready to whirl of over 100
copies of paper per second. all print
ed. pasted. folded and counted.
Midnight in the offices Of the Ad-
vance on the night that Judge Bartel-
my's photograph was taken with $10.-
600 of bride money in his hands found
the staff Of the paper 10 all depart
ments working as probably they had
never worked before. except on cleo
ton night. The story required con-
siderable time for preparation. The
notes OF Howard and left. the two re-
of Brand and Bartelmy. had to be
translated from shorthand into Eng
lish. Then an introduction and a
head had to be written. and the art
department had to break all previous
records in turning out a cut made
from the photograph resulting from
the flashliaht.
In the composing room men were
working like galley slaves to get the
great Bartelmy exposure story into
type and into the forms. The COM
posing room in the Advance building
was IL double decker"-i. e.. a second
story had been built in the rear part
Of the room to accommodate the proof
readers. This second story was really
but half story. extending out over
portion Of the composing room. and
the walls were partitions. the lower
half Of wood and the upper half of
glass windows.
On the lower floor the linotype ma
chimes were set in rows. A steam table
doomed on one side. On another table.
an ironbound one. rested the galleys
containing matter for the nights edi-
ton of the paper. At the extreme left
of the room wooden partition shut
off the small office that the managing
editor used at night when he superin'
tended the makeup proceedings. A
door opened into this small room from
the outer hall. close to Il door open
ing from the hall into the composing
room itself. At the opposite end OF
the compartment IL door opened into
the composing room. In his small In.
closure Brand. the managing editor.
had desk and a telephone. Adjoin-
ing the partition. which shut him OIL
from the composing room and on the
outside Of it. was desk used by the
copy cutters. who cut the pages of
they had been past
ed together-into takes A take ia
one Of the sections into which IL story
Is cut. so that several compositors can
work on different parts of the same
story simultaneously. resulting in the
saving Of considerable time in setting
It up.
The typesetting machines clicked on
rapidly the words. sentences and para
graphs Of the Bartelmy beat" and
the other stories which had to be
crowded into the mail edition" Brand
was lin his little loom at the right.
reading the proof of the introduction
Of the account of the accusation of the
United States judge. which introduce
ion he had chosen to write himself.
AicHenry. the deposed managing ed
flor and now Brands assistant. was at
the forms with the makeup men.
\ boy rushed in with cut for Nc
Henry The busy editor squinted ut
1t and waved the boy to one side.
why do they send us this baled hay
when we've got live one?' he said
Downs came in from the city room.
THAT Clinton street fire is getting
better every minute" he said to Nc
Henry. 1--WE ought to have at least
four columns on it."
AIcHenry glared at the speaker.
Are you crazy, man" lie exclaimed.
DO you think we use rubber type?
You'll have to keep it in three.
Downs was dissatisfied.
"All right. This shop is going to the
ID" he answered, shaking his head
He Went out Of the COM
posing room.
McHenry went over to one Of the
stones.
where are the cuts for the Chicago
and Bryan jump heads? can't find
them anywhere" he asked.
.Hero they are" answered one OF