The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-07

shortly, vastly improves the already
good working conditions in this news
paper plant. Itmakes the labor easier
and more comfortable. 1t may reduce
slightly the number of people required.
out of employment. There Is de-
mand for every skilled workman in
every department of a newspaper.
There is no trouble for such man or
woman getting employment. The men
who have gone from this office to the
war, when they return will find their
places, or equally good ones, in readi-
ness for them.
The new machinery concerned and
the changes in methods involve the
work in the stereotyping department,
in the composing room and in the
mailing room.
Fortunately for the conduct Of this
newspaper. the owner of the paper has
worked in and about every depart
ment, mechanical, reportorial, editor
ial and business. There is one excep-
ton to this broad statement and that
involves the stereotyping room. In his
youth there was no such department.
in a newspaper as stereotyping; it was
an unknown process and, of course,
not practiced.
Stereotyping Is a modern invention;
that is to say, it was not in practice
say thirty years ago. Papers in those
day and earlier were printed direct
from the type. Printing from the
type, be it known, is no longer prac-
ticed in printing offices, except of the
smaller sort
There is fascination about stereo-
typing that for years has attracted the
writer almost daily into the stereotyp-
ing foundry, SO he is not unfamiliar
with the art from an observers stand
point.
the stereotypers room is one of the
hottest places on earth; in many Of
fices it is dreadfully hot and can be
compared in a sense with the boiler
room of q steamship. In the State
Journals modern office however. the
light and ventilation are far superior TO
such facilities in the average newspa-
per office; but even then it has been
hot because Of what is known as a
steam table. a large hollow cast iron
reservoir with a flat top and into
which is forced steam at a pressure of
eighty pounds to the square inch. This
steam table is hotter than a flat iron
and radiates heat in great Quantities
Until this week there has not been
day on which the State journal was
printed in the last twenty-five years
when the steam table has not been 60
ing full blast. 1t was thought to be
absolutely necessary to the stereotype
ing process and many newspapers still
think it is. This daily paper is the
only one in Kansas that is now oper-
ating by what is called the cold, or
dry mat, process, requiring no steam
table.
Since Monday the steam table has
been cold, down and out, useless. The
expensive piece of machinery is now
out of commission. This is due to
the Wood dry mat and the appliances
that ge with it. Until last week in
this office. as at present in all of the
other daily offices of the state, the
matrices were made in a stereotyping
room and producing the wet mat"
They are pressed moist into the type
form of each page and then dried out
under blankets and pressure and hot
steam.
The dry mat is now purchased in
New York and is shipped to Topeka
ready for use. few years ago, when
the dry mat was considered in the
experimental stage. the matrix was
made in Germany. imported to this
country and cost from twenty-five to
thirty-five cents each The State
Journal uses an average of aboui thir-
ty a day. one for each page and one
for each time the page is changed or
made over for the various editions.
Now these mats are made in this coun-
try, are better than they ever were be-
fore and cheaper. They cost now
about sixteen cents each. delivered in
Topeka
| while a little more expensive than
what Is known as the wet mat. there
are various savings. gas for steam
table. better plates are made from the
dry mat and thus better printing re-
i suits. There is a saving of from eleven
to fifteen minutes in time. The type il
! not heated and thereby the life of il
heightened. In making over the metal
page for the different editions the
metal IS cold instead of hot and much
more easily handled. There is a slight
saving in white paper for the reason
that the matrix shrinks a quarter OF
an inch to the page sidewise; it does