The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1913-10-25

Convention Of American Printers.
The editorial in the N. o. Plea
vune of the 22nd instant, under
the head of "Convention OF
American Printers" is SO interest.
| ing and instructive, and withal.
80 true, that we have taken the
privilege of publishing it in full
in this issue Of the BANNER. The
art of printing is not only the cart
Preservative of Arts" but more
than that, 1t lead the way from
mental darkness to light, and af'
forded the means for the coming
of the splendid civilization that
now gladdens the earth:
1.-THE Twenty-Seventh Annual Con-
vention of the American Typothetae,
literally type settlers or printers,
which commenced its session in this
city on Tuesday, is an interesting and
imnortant event. Skilled practitioners
of the 'Art Preservative of Arts"
from all parts OF the country, nave
arrived or will be present, and II IS
believed that every effort will be
made by our people to give the visit
ors an enjoyable time, as we'll as every
proper facility for the successful tran
saction of their business.
1.-THE invention of printing was one
| of the most important events in the
history of the world. For 9 thousand
years from the fall OF the Roman
Empire there was period of ignor-
ance, barbarism and general gloom
known az the Ozark Ages" With
the dawn OF the fifteenth century con-
ditions in the world began to tighten
up. Gunpowder, q great civilizer,
had already been invented, changing
| the mode Of warfare from the brutal
methods of winning fight by sheer
bodily strength and vigor, which
enabled the big men to beat the
smaller and weaker, and making all
men, whether big or small, equal be-
fore the trigger. 1t is difficult for the
people Of this age to understand how
| ia the earlier times the weaker were
dominated by the stronger.
"Men being put upon q sort OF
equality physically, there was de-
mand for an intellectual step forward,
and this was given in the invention of
printing. Up to that time all records
were in manuscript, and the pains
and labor required to commit book
| to writing were so great that there
were very few books. and they were
sold at enormously high prices.
"AbOut the year 144O A. D., Faust
and Gutenberg set up printing
press at Mentz, Germany. The first
Of their productions was q Latin
Bible; and the letters OF this impress.
sion were such an exact imitation OF
the works of the amanuensis that they
passed it of as an exquisite specimen
of the copyists art. Faust sold copy
to the king of France for 700 crowns
and another to the archbishop OF
Paris for 400. The prelate. enchanted
with his bargain (for the usual price
was several hundred crowns above
what he had given) showed it in
triumph to the king. The king COM
pared the two, and was filled with
establishment. They we're identical
in every stroke and dot. How was it
possible for any two scribes, or even
for the same scribe, to produce SO
undeniable facsimile OF his work?
THE capital letters Of the edition
were of red ink. They inquired still
further, and found that many other
copies had been sold, all precisely
alike in form and pressure. They
came to the conclusion that Faust was
q wizard and had sold himself to the
devil, and that the initials were of
blood. The church and state, in this
case united in the persons of king
and archbishop, had the magician
apprshended. f. save himself from
the flames the unhappy Faust had to
confess the deceit, and also to dis
cover the secret of the art. The
whole mystery consisted in cutting
letters upon movable metal types,
and, after rubbing them with ink when
they were correctly set, imprinting
them upon paper by means of q screw.
Formerly all manuscripts we're
written on dressed skins known as
parchment, but paper from rags had
been invented and greatly promoted
the printers art The multiplication
and cheapening of books vastly facili.
tated the spread of knowledge, and
the era was crowned in l492 by the
discovery of America by Columbus
Thus the world was intellectually en-.
lightened and the Dark Ages were
brought to q close.
I'm the four centuries in which
printing has been in use there have
been wonderful improvements, among
which is the Introduction of mocha.
nisms for setting the types. casting
them in metallic plates and printing
from them with machines of marvel.
Gus ingenuity, but these are merely
expressions of progress. It was the
first change from manuscript to print
ing which marked the end of the
worlds thousand years of intellectual
darkness and started the illumination
Of q new era.''
Canon Newbolt, of ST. Paul's
Cath o1Pa1 ~ r nuAor &,