The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-04-08
NEW YORK JoURNALIsM.
Information Concerning Who is Whc

Information Concerning Who Is Who.
From tho New York Correspondence OF the
Springfield Republican.
What then arc the qualifications Of a
successful Journalistic To answer this
question we need only sketch tho leading
features Of some Of our leading editors,
It will be noticed, in the first place, that
there Is hardly single journalist OF note
in New York who Is q native Of the city.
Horace Greeley, Manton Marble, Gerard
Hallock, W. @. Bryant, George w. Curtis,
G. A. Dana and George Ripley, are oil Of
New England extraction. H. ]. Raymond
and ThUrlow Weed were bornin New
York State, Park Goodwin In New Jersey,
]. G. Bennett in Scotland, E. L. Godkin
In Ireland and Louis Jennings in England;
while Whitelaw Reid, Charles Nordhoti,
Major Bundy, and Junius Henri Browne
are from the West. Theodore Tilton, Joe
Howard and J. G. Bennett, Jr., are the
only native Gothamites that I can recall
as being at all eminent as Journalists. In
the second place, most OF our leading
editors arc educated men. Mr.. Greeley
and Thurlow Weed being notable excep.
tons, their only university being print.
ing Office.
The pay of our journalists is greater at
the outset than Is given to beginners in
any other calling. A mere novice would
get as reporter twelve or fifteen dollars
per week, which Is as much as many com.
petent business clerks get, and as high as
the average salary OF clefgymcn. Good
reporters and stenographers are paid from
twenty to twenty-five dollars per week.
The Times pays It's reporters better than
any other paper, 1t having been one Of
Mr.. Raymond's pet notions that they
should DO paid as well, If not better, than
any other class Of workers on tho press.
A sub.editor will receive from thirty to
forty dollars q week; and editorial writers
from that amount up 10 fifty dollars. Few
men get more than that sum Us q salary
except in exceptional cases, such as resi-.
dent foreign correspondents, Managing
editors upon our leading papers, receive
from 5000 to $4,000 q year, which is
the extreme limit Of salaries. In addition
to tho men Just mentioned, there are the
Job workers and the stockholders. The
first include the resident correspondents
Of out Of town papers, who are employed
to telegraph news, as well as write Oc.
casional letters. Some Of these, like Juni-
us II. Browne, Col. Knox, and Others, rep
resent several papers, 10 whom they send
duplicate dispatches, and earn handsome
incomes, ranging from 5000 to $1,000.
The holders Of stock, including the large
proprietors, cannot complain Of the un-
protitableness OF their investment. The
Eeening Post, Journal of Commerce, Sun,
Tines, Tribune, Herald and World, have
oil yielded large returns to their owners,
and the pecuniary success Of tho Epeninl
Mail, the Star, and Christian Union, shows
that there Is room for others TO make
money in tho same way. The newest
venture in weekly journalism, the Golden
Ago, has paid It's expenses from the start,
and though, according to the statistics,
only one newspaper in thirteen succeeds,
1t Is usually on account OF lack OF funds,
or some other inheTeht fault, and not for
want Of approximation the part OF the
public. , D..
Just now the newspaper press Is In o
transition stage. The editors Of strong
individuality, like James G. Bennett and
Horace Greeley, who have come down to
US like vast boulders on the glaciers Of
time, stand solitary and alone, and belong
to q different era from our own. The
men who are now taking tho lead, aud
who will succeed to their places, have
more culture and clevernesS, and arc bet
ter trained than their predecessors, while
they are no less earnest and animated by
lofty aims. The Bohemian class has been
eliminated, and however We may admire
their brilliant talent, their fate was well
deserved. Tho representative editor is
now a gentleman and n family man. He
does not haunt saloons or indulge in dlssi.
patton. He pays his way, asks no lavors,
"is not paged up" neither does lie puff up
others; works regularly and not spasmod-
ically, and has some idea Of the dignity
and responsibility, as well as the license
Of his calling.
With this improved typo Of journalist
has begun a new style Of writing. Bonn
bast, stilted rhetoric, ALTERATION and con-
slant straining for effect, arc being re-
placed by simplicity and vigor Of Ian
guage, logic, genuine wit and humor and
courtesy Of tone. We hear less personal
abuse, invective and malicious satire, and
more sound reasoning In discussion. The
most culpable Of tue elder journalists in
this respect seem 10 have lost their asper-
ity, and have adopted a milder tone Of
late years. Henry ]. Raymond began the
practice Of treating his opponents In dis
cussiOn with courtesy, and rarely broke
the rules Of good taste In this respect. His
example has been followed BY the editors
of the Nation, the Erening Mail, and other
journals, and 1t Is now growing feature
ofiournalism in New York.
PA great Improvement has taken place
in the literary and critical departments Of
our metropolitan journals. 1t was once
thought that any newspaper 6edgllng was
competent to write reviews, and book
noticing was often farned out to anyone
who was content to get nothing but the
volumes themselves In pay. The "criu-
cism" Of that time varied from fulsome
laudation to ruthless dissection. Per-
haps in view of the ephemeral character
Of most Of our literature this kind oftreat-
ment was the best that could be expected.
Now, however, criticism has become q
profession, and,is pursued only by adopts.
Margaret Fuller and George Ripley be-
gan new cru as reviewers, and the latter
In particular Is credited with having revo-
luttonized literary criticism In American
Journalism, by his labors on the Tribune.
Tho good example thus Get was followed
by Bryant and, Parke Goodwin in the
Fleming RoSt, and in time by other jour
mails. The Roattd Table and Nation have
also exerted great influences In this depart
ment of periodical writing, and tho latter
inMrnnl fhrnhnhlv rnnrnaanta the hiph.Mn.