University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1911-10-25
Missouridns as Press Pioneers

+. what lack of standard means. With
i out the standard a man does not
know how much money he has; one
day he may change his dollar into
,, small change and get $1.10 for it.;
at some other time he may get only
los cents. Greenbacks and the IA
miliar silver dollar change in value
fl ON day to day. necessitating pub
lication of bulletins so that a man
can know what he is worth. All this
the paper will endeavor in time to
change.
To understand why this progress
sive American papeS should cause a
stir, the other papers in Shanghai
and the Orient must be considered.
The papers in China treat general
n ews and that from the court at
Pekin. They are in the usual Chi
nese backward ST lie. The reader
must begin to reaG them at the top
right-hand corner and finish at the
lower left corner. for the news is
continuous narrative. A person
subscribes for. a Chi nese paper for a
year, and when tile carrier comes
each day he collects the paper from
the preceding day which is sent
ur the river or inland where the de-
mand for the lates news is not so
urgent. When this is done the cost
OF the paper ior a y'iar is very small.
The Sin Wan Pao, or Daily News,
and the Tung Pan. or Shanghai
Times, are the two oldest papers in
Shanghai.
Most of the equipr ent for the Chi
nese papers comes from Japan,
where the American patents have
been cheaply copied. Human power
is cheaper than an other, SO this
is employed to turIi the machinery
a: 81 a month. Tie Chinese have
nc alphabet, but every word is rep
resented by separate telegraph
which has to be lear iled. The system
however. is not as complicated as
suggested by Mark twain, who said
it took forty years TO sort ''pi'
of Chinese type. rhe paper is of
the poorest quality that will hold
ink; it. too, comes from Japan.
OF the English papers of the ORR
ent. the North China Daily News of
Shanghai is typical. The English
style of paper is Sen, for the four
first pages are advertisements. then
on the inside pages is the news, free
fl ON headlines. is a twelve-page
paper, all the news coming ON pages
seven and eight. The type is large
and the lines are not close together
as in the big city papers here. One
long editorial Nrecedes the tele-
graphic intelligence. which has kept
much of the bre ity of a telegram.
Local news is scarce, most of the in
formation in the papers being from
ports, inland ties. London, Paris
and other worLi news centers. The
active reporting on this paper is not
what the Ame 'ican newspaper man
is used to. ST rries that require fer
reting out are never seen, but dig
nified reports of meetings. taken
dcwn in Shorthand, are there in
great detail.
In contrast to this paper that has
been appearing for many years the
citizens of Shanghai will have a real
American piper thrown on their
frcnt yeran'ias every morning. Half
tones will se printed, an innovation
IN the jOu nalism of the East A
sport page will give news not only
o. Shanghai events but of American
and English sports. There is a fl
neLcial AID commercial page devot-
ed to bus ness over the Empire, es-
pecially railways, which have been
the CHIEF means of opening up the
country.
The final touch will be added, per-
haps, ia the introduction of the
leather-iunged newsboy.
e. r. A. F.