The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-30

printing presses, and in 1914 he con- scented to try the power press of F. Konig, a German. Fearing the wrath of the pressmen, Walter caused the new press to be set up an adjoining building, and there, on Nov. 29, 1874, the Times was first printed by steam power. The result was highly satis- factory, for not only did Konig and his assistant, Pauer, run off the edi- tion in a. fraction of the time required by the hand process, but the paper was much cleaner in appearance and more legible than the issue of the preceding day.
 Since then the printing press has been so improved that even a coun- try newspaper publisher would deride the speed of KOnigs press, which was about HOO per hour. The great doub1e-octuple newspaper perfecting presses of today could run off half million such papers as the London Times of Nov. 29, 1914, in an hour. The type-setting machine and the tel egraph, and other modern inventions, make 1t possible for the newspaper of today to provide almost instan- taneous1y the latest news of the whole world, in a newspaper many times larger than those of a century ago, in gigantic editions, for the merest fraction of what the old pa pers cost A multitude of inventors, beginning with the Saxon, Konig, have placed the greatest agency of education and civilization within the reach of the humb1est-
 And democracy is no longer dumb! Through the printing press it speaks in a clarion voice, so that all may l hear, and not even the roar of a. Krupp engine of destruction may 1 drown it's loud vociferation.
 A century ago the newspapers of the world were numbered by hun dreds, and St. Louis marked the ex- l treme western outpost in America Of 1 the press's civilizing influence Now I there are more than 60s000 publica,- ttons regularly printed throughout l the world. Of these, many more than half are printed in the English tongue, the United States having about 24,000, and the British empire l12,00O. The French lead in the cir cnlation attained by single papers, two Rarisian daily journals having 1 printed before the war, over million copies day each. London gl has three I daily, papers with circu1auons which are near the million mark, and sew l eral American papers are not so very far behind.
 The birth of the power press was an occasion for fear and trembling. 3 The night on which this curious machine was first brought into uses T t says a writer in the London Times of July 2e 1847, Twas one of great al1x- I iety and even alarm. The suspicious prassmen had threatened destruction to any one whose inventions might suspend their employment-sdes destruc- ton to him and his traps 7 That night the operators of the hand presses were told to await impo1-t ta,n1
 news from the continent. They re-
 mained idle all night, and at six
 o'clock in the morning MT. Walter ap- I peared and informed them that the
 Times was already printed by steam l power. He added that if they at
 tempted any violence it would be
 the worse for them, but that if they
 maintained a peaceful attitude theil
 wages would be continued until theS
 found other employment. Thus molli fled, they went away without seeking l to execute their threats.
 The leading editorial of the Times
 on that day began with this state
 rnent:
 Our Journal of this, day presents
 to the public the practical result o1
 the greatest Improvement connected
 with printing, since ths discovery o'
 the art itself''
 The Times never contained a truel
 statement. And it is probable ina
 neither John Waiter, nor Dr. IStod,
 dart the editor, nor the delighted
 readers. nor the indignant pressmen Fl realized a tfthe of what the great in,
 veution really involved.