Photograph of linotype operators, circa 1925-30.

Interior of 619 McDermot.(Source: Provincial Archives of Manitoba)

The linotype represented the new technology that replaced the labour-intensive compositor skills of handsetting type.
The process was faster with letters being typed on a keyboard, and immediately set in hot lead. The type would come out in lines of lead type, which would be placed on forms for the presses.
Because of the capital expenditure required to obtain a linotype, many shops did not immediately embrace the new technology, and it took decades to become the industry norm. Many displaced compositors opened up their own shops. By the 1930s, the lino was an integral part of most large publishing enterprises, and certainly in the newspaper sector.