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

Shanghai, China, was considerably
excited over the appearance of a
new paper that was issued for the
first time. The fact that a newspa-
per was issued was of no great mo.
ment: 1t was the particular kind OF
paper that caused comment. Since
$50 A. d. papers have been pub
lished in that country, and by this
fact China lays claim to having the
first newspaper. For some time, too
have papers been appearing in Ian
guages other than Chinese. but onthis
date an American paper came out in
English. To say this, means many
other things, and especially in the
realm of newspaper publishing. All
the qualities that are connected with
the word American are to be found
in this paper.
Chinese newspapers are common
the newspapers in the old cOnserva-
tive style that was brought over
from England by the men who start
ed them are common, too, but when
the American got in and said that
his was "a live newspaper devoted to
progress in China" the people sat
ur and took notice. And really the
paper is what one might find in a
town of $4,000 people in America in
regard to physical appearance. On
the editorial page, for example,
there are syndicated articles by Dor
othy Dix and Ella Wheeler Wilcox
with other matter that goes to make
up a magazine page as Americans
understand it.
| MissOurians are the men handling
the ak in entering the forest of the
conservative press. Thomas F. Mil
lard and Carl Crow, from the Univer-
sity of Missouri, with Herbert Webb,
another Missourian, are the men at
the head of the paper. Millard was
one of the famous war correspond
ents during the Spanish War for the
New York Herald and Scribner's. He
was also a reporter in the Boer up
rising in South Africa and in the
Russian-Japanese War. To help
these men there are Chinese who can
translate into English from the Chi
nese.
The type for the paper is set by
Chinese who cannot read line of
English, but follow the copy letter
by letter. These men get $4.20 a
month and sleep in the composing
room where they work. The whole
paper is set by hand, as no linotype
machines have reached China yet.
When the machinery and equipment
for the paper came from America it
was in such bad condition that a
month had to be spent in setting it
in working order. The half-tones
that illustrate the paper are done by
Chinese who never made a cut for
newspaper before, but the imita-
tive nature of the Chinese overcame
the difficulty.
The paper is established largely
as a commercial wedge to open up
the interests in the Orient. The pos
sibilities that await there are to be
made known by the newspaper.
Shanghai has been called the paris
OF the Orient" but it might also be
called the London and New York of
the Orient rolled into one. 1t is said
that the Standard Oil Company sells
more oil in the north of China than
in any other district of the world
The American Tobacco Trust has a
dozen factories in the empire. one
of them, at Hankow, turning out
100000 cigarettes day, working
"a hours every day in the year.
The editors of the paper have
called attention to the fact that st.
Louis shoes might be worn by many
OF the natives of China Another
thing that the paper will work for is
standard silver currency. Those
who have been acquainted with this
from infancy can hardly appreciate