The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-19

tints Of age with more certainty and
CELEBRITY?
Sometimes a proprietor OF the com
pany' INDUCES rashly In hard woods
for trimmings, new desks, new branch
lights. The editors Immediately get
hairc1rts. the assistants change their
collars more frequently. the office boy
has a clean shirt, the doorman washes
his face. A month seems enough to
wear of the e~fusively welcomed new
ness Of the surroundings; a fortnight
Is quite enough to see all that IL hu-
Ia in the business throw of the
hated air of %spruceness and allow the
old CRIME TO take Possession with an
easy smile.
IL Is Just the same in Japan. Jour
nalsm is opposed to the SNUG. An
American newspaperman gets the
home feeling at once on visiting a big
daily in Toxic or Osaka Tho some
what austere editors inhabtt the same
little dusty dens; the reporters 40 and
come and work at . without the
fine regard for appearances that dis
~tingukhes the bank clerk. for instance,
In all countries. and they regard all
men outside their craft from court
mobiles and Cabinet Ministers down to
matters with the same amused con-
sideration. the same air of good hu-
mored superiority that Just falls shor
OF being o~btrusive.
Journalism breeds democracy. II
treats Of all things and all men n
IL comes ultimately TO deal with the
s~acrosanct among mankind or their
habitat with the same level air that "A
guardian Of the temple exhibits when
he brushes the nose of the carven god
with q feather duster. The journalist
Is the man behind the scenes and en-
joys e.. II Is all in the way OF BUSH
ness and implies neither the spirit
purely ironic nor h coarse article q.
dsrespect. found the spirit in Toxic
very like the spirit in New York or
London or Paris.
The ofhces OF the MotnAch In Osaka
were no exception to che journalistic
! rule. The big presses numbering and
grinding way IN the grtmy basement,
the stereotypers stripped to the waist
and steaming over the caldrors OF
molten typ metal. the patterinR of the
mold makers. They did not then have
the latest stereo machinery. The cir
! culation department was piled with
papers coming wet from the presses
and going abroad In heaps and bundles
and sheets.
The city department vas q familiar
sight. ave that no typewr!ting ma
chine has yet got, and maybe none
ever will get. the hang OF the baffling
ideOgraphs Of japanese. Instead the
reporters. their bahamas of. their XII
monos punched UP and their arms
bare, were painting at railroad speed
their characters In perpendicular lines
on long strips OF paper and beginning
at the right hand OF the roll.
They ran their left hand fingers
through their generally short hair just
like Peoria reporters pausins for n
word, while they dipped their brush
in the India Ink Just rubbed down in
water on their right. Some Of them,
however, used pencils and a few foun-
tain pens. The makeup editor wss
just as gruf and p%eremptory about
his work u any American tyrant of
! the galleys. "stone" and turtles.
The courteous editor with the
stately gestures who took our little
party over the premises explained the
writing hierarchy. The editor In chief
does most Of the editorial writing. The
| political editor combines attention ( o
political matters and meetings at night
with doing the makeup In the af-
%ternoons. Tho foreign editor looks
after cable and foreign news and
sometimes writes editorials.
The domestic editor attends to Japa-
nese Geographic news, Tho economic
editor does financial and commercial
news. Tho social editor Is really
city editor and handles city news--po-
lice reports, meetings. The science
and art editor prepares the Sunday
supplement,
Including its branches at Kobe and
Kioto the Mdintchi has a stan of 100
editors and reporters. It issues ten to
fourteen pages daily. the newsstand
price being two sen--one cent of our
money. They use French Marinoni
presses, Of which they complain. The
daily star make their appearance
about moor and the bulk Of the copy
must he handed in by $3.50 p. NJ. The
frst edition COT next days paper)
must be ready by $3.50 II. NJ. for trans.
mission to distant parts.
1t was familiar ground everywhers
until You reached the composing room,
Herr you had a sensation, and the
enormous difficulty Of dealing with q
language expressed usually in ideo.
graphs instead Of In letters Of an al.
phabet mashed upon you. The train.