8
THE CHEMA W A
AM ERICAN
a sky-scraper th a t com plies w ith the law s of equilibrium .
Men are draw n on iron rails at a rapid rate across the co n tin ent, but
they give little heed to the m iraculous perform ance or th in k of the slow
stages th ro u g h w hich travel by rail reached speed and safety.
Men sit at ease on the deck of a floating palace and cross the ocean
regardless of the labor, m ental and physical, th a t enables them to m ake
a com fortable vox age in a m odern vessel instead of in the cum bersom e
ships of long ago.
Men to u r E g y p t, visiting the pyram ids, and never realize th a t it took
tw o h u n d red -th o u san d men tw en ty years to build one alone of those
everlasting m onum ents. E veryw here men go th a t men have been be
fore they are accom panied by or come in contact w ith herculanean
hum an attain m en ts achieved by hum an pow er, guided by hum an in
tellect.
Men sit at hom e and read the daily paper and do not appreciate the
com plication of processes th at en ter into its co n stru ctio n . In a lesser
way, the sam e is tru e of th e job I am ex h ib itin g . It seems sim ple, but
if you should u n d ertak e to do it, you would find difficulties, and many
of them .
T he first th in g to do in p u ttin g out a job like th e sam ple I am d istri
b uting is to endeavor to get a m ental picture of w hat the job is to be
like w hen com pleted—a m ental sum m ing np, as it w eie. H aving d e
term ined the size of the job, w hat it is to look like, etc., I take my
stick and set it at a given m easure. A stick, by th e way, is a c o n tri
vance w hich is held in the left hand and in w hich type may be set in a
perfect line. F o r th is job the stick was set at fifteen e ns. I t may be
of in terest to learn th a t an em is the stan d ard of m easurem ent in the
p rin t shop. Six ems m ake one inch. A fter having determ ined the
m easure to set my stick, I then tu rn ed my atten tio n to th e borders. I
set up two borders, one inside the o th er, w ith a six point re g ltt be
tw een. At first I set the top and one side of th e border of an a p p ro x i
m ate length and w idth. T h en , follow ing my m ental picture, I pro
ceeded to set the te x t in type called Caslon 24 point, w hich is equal to
2 ems pica. A fter placing th e ty p e w ithin the partial square formed by
th e sides of th e border already set, I proceed to com plete th e setting of
borders along th e rem aining sides of the job. I th en m ade it all fit
sn u g ly , a process called justification. H av in g bv th is tim e reached a
point w here I could determ ine the exact size th a t my stock w ould have
to be cu t, I proceeded to cut it, leaving a m argin ot half an inch. As
it was my desire to run it in three colors, I n ex t skeletonized the job,
m aking th ree form s of w hat had been one form —a form from each of
th e borders, and one from the type m atter. I then locked my outer
border form in a chase, after which I m ade th e press ready and p u t it