Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1898 — The Chicago Papers Again. [ARTICLE]

The Chicago Papers Again.

Wednesday's Dally. After a suspension of four days the Chicago morning papers began to make their appearance again this morning. The Inter Ocean and the Tribune got out editions. The Times-Herald, Chronicle and Record are still suspended, but it is thought likely they begin publication tomorrow. The papers issued by the Tribune and Inter Ocean today are small affairs. They had only four pages, and were but little larger .than the Evening Republican. It is said that not for fifty years before has any week day passed without the appearauce of a daily paper in Chicago. Even at the time of the great fire one or two of the papers got out small sheets each day. The strike which caused the suspension of the papers was not, as most people believe, that of printers, but of stereotypers. After the printers have done their work, on these large city papers, the stereotypers take these forms of type and after making a cast or “matrix” as it is called, of the type out of paper pulp, they cast from that, in metal, a solid duplicate of the type form. This while still hot, is bent into a curved shape, so that several such forms fit around a large cylinder, and. from these the large editions of the city papers are printed. It is this discovery and developement of the art of stereotyping that makes possible the fast presses and great editions of the metropolitan newspapers of today.

As to the merits of the present strike, we can not judge positively until both sides are heard. It certainly looks very tyrannical on the part of the stereotypers to seize just the time they did for their strike, just as the great war news from Santiago was on the way. The newspapers also . state they have stood ready at all times to submit the claims of the stereotypers to arbitration, hut the latter will not agree to that. The stereotypers on morning papers, whose work is at night, were getting $3.25 per day of 8 hours. They struck for $4.00 per day of 7 hours, with 75 cents per hour or fraction thereof, overtime. The stereotypers on the evening papers get somewhat less wages, theirs being day. Stereotyping is said to be very hot, hard and uni healthy work. The Chicago people have been bad off for newspapers during the strike, having to depend on the papers- of other cities for their news.