WOMAN OUTCLASSES FRIEND HUSBAND AS OPERATOR OF LINOTYPE
WHEN Will J. Hayner, editor of the Sutherlin Sun, purchased a No. 15 Mergenthaler linotype last summer, he did so with the idea' that it would not only prove a big labor-saving proposition over hand composition, but would also save time in the preparation of copy, for Mr. Hayner had grabbed hold of the idea that he could sit down at the key board and by working his brains and fin gers at the same time, grind out stuff at
the rate of a column an hour without any “copy” in sight. But Mr. Hayner had set type so many years at the case that he could not get away from that one-hand motion—pick ing the type out of their respective boxes
by the nape of the neck and aligning them in a “stick.” He used only his right hand in manipulating the key-board on the linotype while his left did nothing but occasionally tap the space bar.
At the
end of two days he had managed to set about a half column. On the third day Mrs. Hayner came into the office to watch her husband oper ate the linotype. Aware of her husband’s slowness she suggested that he allow her to
set a line, and after a quick astonished look at his wife he complied with her re quest. Mrs. Hayner, who is an expert on a typewriter, was not long in getting “next” to the keyboard on the linotype, and at the end of an hour Mr. Hayner was astonished to find. that his wife had set more lines than he had in three hours. She used both hands on the keyboard, and the machine and work had a fascination for her which she enjoyed. At the end of five hours she had set nearly a column. The next day she was on the job again, and the result was that Mr. Hayner never set another line on the machine. He is still writing his copy as formerly, and Mrs. Hayner is setting it on the machine at the rate of five columns in seven or eight hours; not only this, but she is at
tending to cleaning the spaoebands, straightening the bent mats, oiling the ma chine, looking after the temperature of metal and handling other matters neces sary to keep the machine running smoothly. Hayner remarked the other day that a linotype and a woman who could
handle the “critter” were a great help in getting out a newspaper.
OREGON EXCHANGES BOOK REVIEW
THE W G N, by members of the staff of the Chicago Tribune.
THE AUTHORS of “The WGN” have demonstrated their journalistic ability by cramming into one volume more than the average writer could cram into three. In the first part of the book they have given the history of the Chicago Tribune, concisely and probably completely, from 1847 until the present day. In the rest of the book there is an account of every detail of the publication of the paper; every department; and every phase of the entire situation.
Throughout the book there is the same spirit of “Babbittism,” exemplified by the adoption of the title “WGN” by the Chicago Tribune (World’s Greatest News paper!). There is very little to indicate that the authors of the book think that
