The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-12-29
Party Lite
Some More Tips
On AIimeographing
And Printing

ID. kegs. 1t is black, news ink (the
technical name is 39ND. A so ID.
key of this ink costs only about
/ $3.50 FOB. LA. (this is for West
COAST. This brings the price down
to about l3 cents a h., and a pound
of this ink thins down to nearly
twice as much! Our first key pro-
duoed 100000 leaflets and we still
have about Is lbs. left! When we
are planning on buying key of
this ink, we start collecting cans
(5-lb. capacity with air and water
tight lids (thiS ink is messy and a
tight receptacle is needed for it,
into which the ink is transferred,
where it can more easily be handled,
safeguarded and hid in reserve.
TO THIN INK FOR MIETEO-
GRAPHS. We use plain gasoline
without anti-knock dope, etc. to
thin this back, news ink to creamy
consistency. The gasoline eventu-
ally evaporateS, so we never fill the
ink fountain in the drum, but drop
the ink right into the drum with
teaspoon. Two teaspoons will
make about 100 to $50 leaflets. If
on cold mornings or nights the in
side Of the drum, the brush and
the ink are stiff, we drop little
gasoline into the drum and briskly
use the brush. When the stencil
gets Unity and soiled, we wash it
off with a rag soaked in gasoline.
Our experience is that a gallon can
Of gasoline consistently kept with
the technical apparatus so as to be
always at hand, is one of the most
helpful aids to mimeographing.
Gasoline, when compared to turpen-
tine, paint thinner, ETC., is much
cheaper, since it costs from 15c
to Csc a gallon.
Leaflets in two or more colored
inks mean lot of hard work, care
and time. In illegal periods we
hardly believe they would be prac-
tical because of this. However, we
found out that they do not cost
much more than ordinary leaflets
In our section we began to use
combination of red and black ink
on some of our leaflets, last June
and July. These leaflets were very
attractive. However, since then, we
have discontinued colored inks.
The brief period of fascist police
terror on the Coast in the latter
part of July, taught us the lesson
that the reactionary forces and po-
lice, first of all attack our leaders
and headquarters, and that second
ly, they attack our distribution and
production of literature. This les
son was also taught us in Germany.
During this period when all our ef-
forts were needed in an intensified
production of leaflets, we fooled an
entire day and much of that night,
producing leaflet in red and black
ink. If we had followed the regu-
lar procedure and turned it out in
black ink alone, it could have been
done in two hours
When we have to depend on
homes of sympathizers and friends
in which to operate our miineo-
graphs, it is not safe to use these
places longer than the time abso-
lutely essential to the production
of a readable leaflet. In Germany
the technical production of our lit
erature is one of the most serious
offenses, in many cases punished
by death. If our Party ever be-
comes illegal in the U.S.A,, there
is no reason to doubt that the same
conditions for production of litera-
ture will face us as faces our Ger
man comrades. We must begin i'm
mediately to plan our technical pro-
duction of literature with a serious
consideration of these factors.
LEAFLETS IN TWO COLORED
INKS. We used colored printers
poster or news ink, thinned with
gasoline. Colored Monograph inks
are too expensive, costing from $3.50
to 81 a pound. This colored print
ers' poster ink costs on a. range of
rs cents and up per pound, and
less in quantities.
TO DO TWO-COLOR WORK ON
A MIMEOGRAPH. ID Remove
black ink pad from drum and place
between two sheets of wallpaper,
which will keep it fresh. "a Cut
piece of stout wallpaper to width
of drum, place it on drum (Which
| does not have to be cleaned of
the black ink, tuck ends into the
drum. 80 Place new cloth pad
over wallpaper, just as you would
if renewing pad; then use small
hand brush to put colored ink de-
sired on pad, from the outside of
the drum; when leaflets get dim,
/ the stencil will have to be lifted
and more ink brushed on to the
pad from the outside of the drum.
(4 Follow the same procedure for
the different colored inks you want
to use, but always use new pad
for a new color (the colored pads
when not in use can be stored be-
tween wax-papers). 80 When ready
to use black ink again, remove the
wallpaper cover from the drum and
! replace the black ink pad on drum;
now you can resume linking the pad
! from inside the drum.
I CUTTING STENCILS FOR TWO
OR MORE COLORED WORK. A
/ different stencil must be cut for
each color used. For example if the
/ main title and all SI1htitlas are tn
be in red, the balance of the text
in black, and at the bottom box
calling to a meeting. in green
three stencils will have to be cut.
ID For the main title and the sub
titles. CD For the balance of the
text. 90 For the box calling to
the meeting. Extreme care must
be taken to have the three stencils
fit together as whole. Spaces and