Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE PRODUCTION of expert writers of all kinds are responsible for the “ matter ” which the paper contains, but after the written sheet leaves their hands it must be set in type in the composing room, must be made up into pages, these must be cast into plates in the stereotyping depart- ment, and finally the printing must be done in the machine room, in the half-dark- ness of which are huge machines each bearing its great rolls of paper, and fitted OF A NEWSPAPER. 205 and column printing telegraphs are installed in the principal offices. A whole room will be devoted to these, and all day long they continue ticking out information gathered from every part of the world by the various news agencies. For the sporting services, wires are laid from the racecourses to the General Post Office, and from there to the newspaper offices, so that frequently within twenty seconds of the winning horse passing Photo: Cassell & Co.t Ltd, THE LINOTYPE ROOM, “ DAILY TELEGRAPH ” OFFICE. with all the devices for inking, cutting, folding, counting and delivering which make the modern printing press at once one of the most wonderful and intricate pieces of mechanism that we have. In evening news- paper offices, where every minute is of moment, and where ten seconds may mean the loss of a train or the earlier appearance of a rival sheet with an important item of news, all these departments are arranged so that every process goes forward in the most orderly and rapid sequence. The first department of a newspaper to be busy is that in which the copy is prepared. News comes pouring in from every part of the globe. Many offices are completely equipped with private telegraph wires, worked by their own operators. In London, and one or two of the great towns, tape machines the post the result will be in the hands of the type-setter. From the tape machines, by post, by rail, and by every available means of communication the happenings of the world are gathered into the sub-editors’ room, where an experienced staff quickly prepares the vast, confused mass of intelligence for the hands of the compositor, whose task it is to set up the news in type. Within the last few years a far-reaching revolution has taken place in type-setting. Some of the great newspapers still cling to the old method in which everything is done by hand, the compositor picking up the types, each a separate letter, from cases before him, and arranging them in a small metal frame he holds in his hand. But the machine has displaced the man in most ■offices, although the finest work is still done