IMMEDIATELY after the Goss web printing was installed, I hired a young man to operate the machine. Experienced with the small sheet-fed press, he was overwhelmed by the big web press, which he called a “monster.”

In fact, he had much difficulty making the new machine function correctly and properly. We were publishing the Chinese newspaper only once a week, and every time we had all the plates and film ready, printing was always delayed because the inexperienced pressman encountered problems, such as balancing water and ink to get the desired output. A lot of newsprint was being wasted. And I spent a lot of time with the pressman, often staying until early morning.

I saw the need for a more experienced machine operator, but I did not know where to find one. After two weeks, I called one of my friends, Sam Marino, who worked with one of the biggest web press companies in Houston. I told him about my predicament and my need for an experienced web pressman.

Sam was so nice to give me a name, Rudy Castillo. He used to work for Sam but was laid off as a result of the company’s downsizing. I called up Rudy right away, and he was at my office the next day.

An American-born Mexican, Rudy spoke English and Spanish. He had been operating a Goss commercial printing press for 15 years. I knew he was the right man for the job, but could I afford him? He was asking for 12 dollars an hour plus medical insurance, and he wanted to work full time, with at least 40 hours a week. He would not settle for less than these amounts.

What Rudy wanted was equivalent to what I spent for having my weekly newspaper printed elsewhere. It was a lot of money, and I couldn’t seem to afford it, but the printing press had to start working. Besides, the whole Asian community already knew about the new web press, and they had high expectations from us. Finally, I told Rudy to start working that night.

Rudy made the machine work. For the first time, the newspaper was being printed by our own printing press, which had a capacity of doing 12 pages per section.

It was almost five o’clock in the morning when the first edition of the 24-page Southern Chinese Weekly News was printed. I realized I haven’t slept for 24 hours. My eyes were red. I felt tired and hungry for missing dinner. But when the driver was picking up the paper for distribution, I felt so great. Tears were almost falling from my eyes because of joy. I was exhausted, but my spirits were high. That same day I wrote an article expressing my gratitude to the community for its support to the paper.

With the new machine came new and bigger expenses. Rudy had to be paid a full-time salary even if we were printing only once a week. Then we had to buy our own newsprint and ink. The company’s overhead rose dramatically. Unless we got outside printing jobs, we couldn’t survive.

So I decided to become a salesman—to sell my printing services. Every morning, I was the first person at the pressroom. I made a list of the city’s publications, and started calling them up one by one. I made at least 10 calls a day. I had tough times. I had disappointments. Many publishers did not know about my printing press. Many more did not want to change printers, saying they already have good relationship with their existing printers.

But I was determined to sell my printing services. After all, I was competitive. I had one of the best web printing presses in town!

 (To be continued)