The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete


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Anybody can set type on it who can read--and can do it after only 15  
minutes' instruction. The operator does not need to leave his seat at  
the keyboard; for the reason that he is not required to do anything  
but strike the keys and set type--merely one function; the spacing,  
justifying, emptying into the galley, and distributing of dead matter is  
all done by the machine without anybody's help--four functions.  
The ease with which a cub can learn is surprising. Day before yesterday  
I saw our newest cub set, perfectly space and perfectly justify 2,150  
ems of solid nonpareil in an hour and distribute the like amount in the  
same hour--and six hours previously he had never seen the machine or  
its keyboard. It was a good hour's work for 3-year veterans on the other  
type-setting machines to do. We have 3 cubs. The dean of the trio is a  
school youth of 18. Yesterday morning he had been an apprentice on the  
machine 16 working days (8-hour days); and we speeded him to see what he  
could do in an hour. In the hour he set 5,900 ems solid nonpareil, and  
the machine perfectly spaced and justified it, and of course distributed  
the like amount in the same hour. Considering that a good fair  
compositor sets 700 and distributes 700 in the one hour, this boy did  
the work of about 8 x a compositors in that hour. This fact sends all  
other type-setting machines a thousand miles to the rear, and the best  
of them will never be heard of again after we publicly exhibit in New  
York.  
We shall put on 3 more cubs. We have one school boy and two compositors,  
752  


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750 751 752 753 754

Quick Jump
1 314 629 943 1257