Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MCCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 5, 1940 Pretty Flowers Fill Crocheted Baskets Pattern No. 6681. G'LOWERS in simplest stitchery * fill these easily crocheted bas ket edgings. Take your pick of pillow cases, towels or scarfs. Pattern 6681 contains a transfer pattern of 12 motifs ranging from S by 15 to 2 by 4 inches; chart and directions for crochet; illus trations of stitches; knaterials needed. Send order to: Sewtss Circle Needlecraft Dept. SS Eighth At*. New York Enclose 19 cents In coins for Pat* tern No Name Address ••••• Smiles Variation "Hois old would a person bo who mu from in 1897?” "Man or woman?” A bachelor is a man who has lost the opportunity of making some woman miserable. Not Her Debt “When are you going to pay for the vacuum-cleaner you bought from us last year?" “But you told me it would pay for itself!" An Out of It The man was a notoriously slow set- dor of accounts, and one day ho com plained: *Toe been to every shop in town, and Fm dashed if I can get what l want l” "What is it—credit?” inquired his candid friend. Fun curves usually come from square meals. Glaring Light “So your wife keeps a light burn ing until you come home at four in the morning?" “Yes, the light of battle in her eyes.” JL Vegetable [Laxative For Headache, Biliousness, and Dizziness when caused by Constipation. 15 doses for only 10 cents: Ur. Hitchcock s LAXATIVE POWDER Limited View * Who stays in the valley ne’er sees over the hilL MOR©LINE WORLD’S LAR< SELLER it 96 ■Tacts off ADVERTISING • ADVERTISING represents the leadership of a nation. It points the way. We merely follow—follow to new heights of comfort, of convenience, of happiness. As time goes on advertis ing is used more and more, and as it is used more we all profit more. It's the way advertising has— of bringing a profit to ovorybody concerned tho consumer Ineludod American Newspaperdom Joins in Honoring Johann Gutenberg, Who Gave the World the Invention of Printing From Movable Type By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Unioh.) T HE American press dur ing 1940 is paying hom age to Johann Guten berg, who 500 years ago in a little workshop in the free city of Strasbourg, now in Germany, invented the art that makes possible the mod em newspaper. Gutenberg’s invention—the discovery of a technique for casting from lead individual types bearing individual let ters, which can be arranged ihto lines for the printing of words and sentences—makes it possible for you to read what is on this page. City-wide celebrations honors ing the father of printing, in which newspapers are actively participating, are being held dur ing the year 1940 throughout the western hemisphere as the result of the outstanding promotional work of Douglas C. McMurtrie, chairman of the Invention of Printing Anniversary committee for foe International Association of Printing House Craftsmen, an organization made up of 6,000 printing foremen and superin tendents, and leaders of other graphic arts groups. The significance of Gutenberg’s invention can best be evaluated by looking backward into the world before the invention of printing. There were books be fore Gutenberg invented printing with movable types, but each of them had to be laboriously hand- lettered by a scribe or copyist. Months were required to produce a book the size of the average novel. When a scribe completed his work, he had not toe several thousand copies that make up an edition today, but only one copy to show for his efforts. The price of this single copy had to include the several years’ salary for the scribe, toe cost of parchment on which tod book was written, and other expensive materials, plus profit. A man who owned a book in toe days before Gutenberg, owned an object of curiosity to his neighbors. Bibles were so ex pensive even few churches could afford a copy. Because of the scarcity and costliness of books, there was no popular education as we know it today and many suc cessful business rpen in toe days before Gutenberg could neither read nor write. They had to call in professional scribes to perform those simple tasks for them. Inventor Born in Mainz. Johann Gutenberg, the invent or of an economical process of printing, which made possible public education and toe modern newspaper,’ was born of aristo cratic parents in the free city of Mainz about toe year 1400. During his youth he was forced to flee Mainz and seek refuge in Strasbourg, about a hundred miles down the Rhine, because of an uprising of tradesmen and craftsmen against toe aristo cratic families in his native city. There is evidence that Guten berg was engaged in his printing experiments in Strasbourg at least as early as 1436. This fact is brought to light in testimony in a lawsuit at Strasbourg in 1439 which wa$ occasioned over a part nership dispute. In this court case, settled in favor of Guten berg, a witness for the inventor testified that three years previous he had been paid a sum of money “solely for what had to do with printing." When the inventor stated his printing experiments at Stras bourg, he had many principles and ideas at his disposal which helped assure the success of his endeavors. He had a counter part of the printing press in the presses that had been used for centuries in vineyards for the pressing of grapes to make wine. Oil paints, which were being used by toe artists of the period, would adhere to metal, and with slight adaptation, serve as printer’s ink. In toe year 105 A. D., toe Chinese, Ts’ai Lun, invented pa per, and although it took a thou sand years for the secret of pa per making to reach Europe, there were paper mills in all parts of Europe by the time of Guten berg. Paper gave the inventor an inexpensive material on which to print and did away with the expensive parchment on which had been printed toe costly man uscript books. The Chinese had also invented toe process of wood block print ing which was known in Europe by the time of Gutenberg. By this slow and cumbersome proc ess the portions of a wooden block bearing text or pictures or both, which were to appear on a page Were cut away. The carved face of this block was inked with water-color ink, a sheet of paper was placed atop the inked sur face and the text or pictures we t o imprinted upon the paper bv i il bing the back of the sheet ' =4 • • . • vS Mfe 'v ■ ■■■■■«• m The first printing press, such as the one used by Johann Gutenberg who 500 years ago invented printing as we know it today. Constructed almost entirely of wood, the inked form was placed on the drawer-board of the press in the foreground, a sheet of paper was placed over the types and the form pushed under the press. Pressure was applied by the turn ing of the iron bar and screwing the platen, or suspended fiat surface, against the paper and types. Only 300 single-page impressions a day could be printed with this press. Modern newspaper presses can turn out 38,000 complete newspapers every hoar. with a padded block. It was much more practical for the Chinese, because of the thousands of symbols in their written lan guage, to carve out an entire page and then dispose of it after using it, than to work out a sys tem for the use of movable types. There is evidence that toe Chinese had experimented with movable or individual types before the time of Gutenberg, but they had to abandon them because of the multiplicity of symbols in their language. There is no evidence that knowledge of these Chinese experiments with movable types reached Europe before the time of Gutenberg. The Latin Donatos. It is interesting to note that among toe very first products of Gutenberg’s printing press were 17 successive editions of toe “Donatus," a Latin grammar, so called from toe name of its au thor. This inexpensive printed book enabled schoolboys of the early Renaissance to speak and : write the language which was \ then the universal language among educated people in every country in Europe. Contrary to popular opinion, he completed toe printing of these editions of the Latin “Donatus" before he attempted to start work on his Earliest known portrait of Gutenberg, from a copperplate engraving published in Paris in 1584. (Courtesy Ludlow Typo- graph company.) first famous Gutenberg Bible, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as toe first printed book. What is believed to be toe earliest still existent specimen of printing produced by Guten berg is the fragment of a German poem on the last judgment. It was printed about 1445 and of it there is preserved for posterity only two sides of one leaf measur ing about three and one-half by five inches.* Because of its sub ject matter, it is known to stu dents of printing as the “Frag ment of the World Judgment." After Gutenberg had developed his experiments with printing to a stage of practicable perfection around 1440, he returned to his native city of Mainz. Following his return to Mainz, Gutenberg started making plans for produc tion of his first Bible. All of the wealth left him by his aristo cratic father had been used up on his earlier experiments and in order to carry out production of this Bible, Gutenberg was forced to make two large loans from Johann Fust, a capitalist of Mainz. In 1455, the same year in which is believed to have been complet ed the famous Bible, Fust de manded repayment of his loans. plus interest. Gutenberg was un able to meet Fust’s demands and as the result of a lawsuit which followed, Gutenberg was dispos sessed of his work shop and print ing equipment and the exclusive right to his invention. Following the tragic court battle with Fust, Gutenberg is known to have set up another smaller printing shop and to have printed a Latin dictionary and at least one other edition of the Bible. The inventor, however, never prospered in this enter prise and in his last days he was dependent on a> financial pension granted him by the Archbishop of Mainz, presumably for his work in pioneering printing. After wresting the printing shop and equipment from Gutenberg, Fust took with him into partner ship a lad named Peter Schoeffer, who had been one of the scribes of toe manuscript books and later one of Gutenberg’s helpers. The % firm of Fust and Schoeffer was an outstanding financial success and went on to produce some of the most beautiful books of the Fif teenth century. Friend Claims Press. Following Gutenberg’s death early in 1468, the press and equip ment in his possession at that time were claimed by a friend, Dr. Konrad Humery, who had bought them for him. No one knows where toe father of printing is buried. There was a story that his body had been interred in the Church of St. Fran cis at Mainz, but a search for it several years ago proved unavail ing. Gutenberg’s claim to the honor of being the inventor of printing with movable types has been questioned in the past and the claims of some rival contenders, Ttesed largely on legend, have been advanced. However, no • competent historian today ques tions the specific documentary evidence on which rests the fame of Johann Gutenberg. Although Gutenberg never re ceived toe financial rewards of the Edisons and the Fords and many other inventors of this mod ern era, he undoubtedly had the .satisfaction in his last days of seeing mankind carrying on the work he had so successfully pio neered. In the twilight of his life he saw printers he had trained go into Italy and Switzerland to establish the first presses there. The Seventeenth century saw the rise of the most powerful mod ern manifestation of Gutenberg’s invention in the form of the print ed newspaper. The very first printed newspaper in the world was started in Germany in 1612. A newspaper began publication in England in the year 1622. America’s first printed news paper to go beyond one date of publication was the weekly Bos ton News Letter which first saw the light of day on April 24, 1704. The 24th day of the month ap pears to be a good one on which to start a newspaper for on Jan uary 24, 1775, there appeared Benjamin Towne’s Philadelphia Evening Post, America’s first daily newspaper. Towne’s paper had previously been a weekly publication. From these pioneers have de scended the thousands of Ameri can newspapers, including this one, which have had and are daily exerting such a profound influ ence on the lives of everyone. Every word printed in these mod ern newspapers during printing’s 500th anniversary year of 1940, is a monument to the inventiv* genius of Johann Gutenberg. FIRST-AID AILIN§:IHOUSE by RogeiiiB. Whitman (© Roger B. Whitman—WNU Service.) Coal Gas. Q UESTION: I have a hot air fur nace. For the past five years.we have frequently had coal gas in the house, which comes from the reg isters. Once or twice every year the furnace has been looked over by heating men who have cemented all joints and done everything they could think of to stop the gas, but sa for without success. Can you make any suggestions? Answer: It is unhealthful to breathe coal gas, and if it is strong, it may even be fatal. When coal gas comes through registers, it is clear proof of leakage from the fur nace into the surrounding air jack et. The leakage is apparently in some obscure part that can be lo cated only by removing the jacket so that toe furnace can be closely examined. The fault may be in small cracks in the metal, but what ever it is, you should locate it and make toe necessary repairs without delay. You may even find it neces sary to replace the furnace. You will be justified in taking so extreme a step by the danger of toe present condition. With the heating season over, you can take plenty of time to make the thorough examination that may be necessary. Oil Burners. Question: What are the three best oil burners, in your opinion? Answer: Success with any burner depends entirely on the skill with which it is installed. Any burner will work well when installed by a man who knows his business, and the best of burners will be a flat failure when wrongly installed. In quire among your friends who burn oil, as to their opinions of toe local agent and installers, and select the one on whom you get toe best re ports to recommend a burner suit able to your requirements. Be sure the man you pick is going to remain in business. If he puts in your burner, and then disappears, you will have a “Little Orphan Annie" on your hands. Aluminum Paint. Question: Do you recommend alu minum paint for a primer in paint ing a house? There will be one coat of paint on the primer. Answer: Aluminum paint is excel lent as a primer, but for best re sults the liquid part should be what is biown as a “long oil" varnish; that is, a varnish made with an ex ceptionally large quantity of oil. Alu minum paint of this kind, known as aluminum house paint, is available in many parts ©f toe country. Where it cannot be had, aluminum paint as a primer on wood should be made with a varnish with the greatest pro portion of oil that is available. At a paint store ask for a “long oil" varnish. Add 2 pounds aluminum powder to each gallon. Broken Porcelain. Question: An art object of fine porcelain has been broken. A mar ble figure has also suffered the loss of a hand. What kind of cement or adhesive can be used that would successfully repair the pieces? Have tried the transparent cement with out success. Answer: The cement you have used is satisfactory, but toe broken pieces have to be bound together while toe cement is hardening. Bind ing can be done with cord or adhe sive tape. Remove the old cement with lacquer thinner, then coat both surfaces, immediately pressing toe two pieces together. Washtubs in Cellar. Question: I want to install wash- tubs in a basement. The soil pipe leaves toe house through the base ment wall about four feet above toe floor. As I cannot see any way to connect the tubs to the soil line, I would like to know if a cesspool un der toe basement floor would be ad visable. Can you suggest anything else? Answer: A cesspool so far below grade may not be satisfactory be cause of the ground water level. You may not get any drainage. A small sewage ejector pump may be more practical for your purpose. A good plumber can do toe job. Asphalt Driveway. Question: Do you know of a road material similar to asphalt that could be applied to a garage drive way by an amateur? I understand there is a preparation which is laid on to a depth of two or three inches and rolled with a garden roller. Answer: There are several types of asphaltic compounds used for driveways. This work can be done by an amateur with good results. Inquire of your local road commis sioner. Sandstone Stoop. Question: Can you tell me what one can do for a red sandstone stoop which is peeling? Is there any way of cementing over it? Answer: Brownstone stoops are repaired by covering with cement colored to match toe stone. This work should be done by a profes sional. You will find a list of firms doing this kind of work in toe classi fied telephone directory, under the heading of “Stone Renovating." Finish for Gilt. Question: Should shellac or var nish be used over gilt for protec tion and for holding gloss? Answer: Real gilding does not require any protection. The liquid part of gilt paint is usually a variety of varnish that requires no further finishing. Appearmut Ask for NESCO Kerosene Range BUILT TO l/fftfi SPECIFICATIONS “I suggested a moM beautiful range, one I could be proud of, a modern range for my modem kitchen.** F **1 demanded a range which uses the cheap est of all fuels ... ker osene ... end usee it efficiently!’* 9 "l wanted positive, ac curate temperature control so necessary in the preparation of or- cry meaL” 9 ' “I desired convenience features such as • • . reliable oven heat in dicator . . . ample stor age space ... and ac cessible fuel tanks and burners.” 9 *T suggested porcelain and white finishes ... burner trays... smooth edges, rounded corners . . . no bolts and hinges to accumulate dirt.” Economy Operation Performance Ctaammg THESE FEATURES ARE YOURS IN A NESCO NESCO A complete now One off portable kerosene round NATIONAL ENAMELING AND STAMPING COMPANY 311 N. 12th Street, Milwaukee, Wis. Man’s Achievements Five thousand years have added \ no improvement to the hive of , the bee, nor to toe house of tho beaver; but look at toe habitations ! and the achievements of men.—- Colton. ' 100* IN THE SHAVE BUT COMFORT IN YOUR SHOES WITH FAMOUS . MEXICAN HEAT POWDER.] Always the Future When all else is lost the future still remains.—Bovee. coo 0 »u •TOMS RHEUMATISM LUMBAGO TTUUJJJSUIT We Can AH Bo EXPERT BUYERS • In bringing vs buying lnfonnaHon,a* to prices that om' > b*lng ashed for what we Intend to bay, and as to Ae quality wo can expect, the advertising columns of this newspaper perform a worth wbllo service which saves irs many dollars a year. • It Is o good habit to form, tho hob* of consulting tho advertisements every time we make a purchase, though we have already decided |ust what we want and where we are going to bay It. It gives vs the most priceless feeling In the worldi the'feeling of being adequately prepared. • When we go Into a store, prepared beforehand with knowledge of what b offered and at what price, we go as an expert buyer, filled with self-confi dence. It Is a pleasant feeling to have, tho feeling of adequacy. Most of the unhappiness in the world can be traced to a lack of this feeling. Thus adver tising shows another of Its manifold facets—shows ftseiff as an aid toward making all our business relationships more secure and pleasant. uiusmiuiiu