Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-12-21
NEWSPAPER WORKERS.
The Washington Correspondents and
Their Luxurious Quarters.
washington Cor. clca,land Ieador,l

| fairs to sheer at the Washington cor
respondents as Bohemians, but the
fact is there is scarcely any avocatlon
so conservative in its tendencies and 50
little subject to change. Most OF the
| correspondents of frst-class papers are
settled men of family, who pay their
| debts. live in comfortable style and
| bear better personal characters than
| the average congressman. In the past
ten years very few noticeable changes
have taken place in the correspond
ents corps. Men come and go, repre-
senting unimportant papers or trying
to get a footing in the profession, BUT
the men who succeed in gaining a
reputation and securing the confidence
of their papers and the public remain
year after year, or, if in rare cases
they leave, it is to take better posi-
tions elsewhere. At the risk of dip
ping into personalities too much, let
me cite a few illustrations to show
how stable is this business of keeping
the public informed of what is going
on at the national capital, and how
well it compares with other avo-
cations demanding brains and
character. Major Ben Perley
Poore-he is a colonel, but no.
body remembers his new title-has
been here representing the Boston
Journal for more than the space of an
average lifetime. He has a pleasant
home in Georgetown, a summer place
in Newburyport and has enjoyed for a
generation the friendship of the states
men who have shaped the affairs of the
nation. Mr.. George Adams, of the
New York World, first took up the
correspondent pencil nearly twenty
years ago. He is well off, lives in a
handsome house of his own on X
street, and is a worthy citizen. Mr..
White, of the Tribune, came here in
1869. He owns a comfortable home
on Capital Hill, and is on terms Of
friendship with the foremost men in
public life in almost every State of the
Union. There are few doors in Wash
ington to which the card of q. l..
White is not an open sesame. Mr..
Ramsdell, of the Philadelphia Times,
began his career in Washington in
1865, as a correspondent of the Gin
cinnati Commercial, and is one of the
most substantial men in the profess
sion. There is nothing Bohemian
about his robust, we'll clad person, OIL
the excellent letters or dispatches he
writes. Mr.. Wright, Of the Chicago
Tribune, might be taken for a bank
director-an honest one | ought per.
haps to add. Mr.. Gobright, of the
Associated Press - Father Go.
bright" the younger men cal
him-has grown gray in the ser.
vice, and dates back to some remote
and ante bellum period whereuntC
the memory of none of his colleagues
runs, unless it be Major Poore. H,
has much literary talent, and haI
written many literary lectures anC
charming little poems. Charles Nord
hoff, of the New York Herald, had
wide reputation as a writer of book
and magazine articles before he en-
tered the service of that paper, and i
one of the strongest editorial writer
and correspondents in the country
For close observation of politica
movements and clear analysis of politi
cal force he has few equals, and hi
forecast of a campaign or Of the con
hicts of a session of congress is wortl
that of a dozen senators. The lis
might be heightened indefinitely b,
the mention Of such men as Genera
Boyton, of the Cincinnati Gazette
H. V. Redfeld, of the Cincinnati
Commercial Mr.. Hudson, Of tn.
Boston Herald Mr.. Scott Smith, o
the Evening Press Association; MI
Mckee, of the Associated Press; MI
Fishback, of the Courier journal
Mr.. Carson of the New York Times
and many others-all men of middl,
age, of established regulations, and o
comfortable incomes. To be a sue
cessful Washington correspondent re
quires untiring industry, good habits
good Judgment, a wide knowledge 0
men, good manners, and a head capa
BILE of carrying the complex threads 0
legislation and politics without get
ting them into a snarl. Few mel
make a success in the profession, an,
those that do have as reliable an oc
cupatiOn as most successful lawyers
and a much wider personal influence
Newspaper Row-the short squar
on Fourteenth Street, between ]
street and the avenue, where the cor
respondents Offices we're all once lo
cated-has passed into history. TIL
gregarious impulse that brought ther
| together in close proximity exists n
, longer. Perhaps it was an impulse {
, self-protection and mutual assistanC
that gathered these men in a doze
, contiguous Offices, and that survive
. from the time when the press wa
E weak and the politicians strong. b.
, however this may be, it is felt no lonl
err, and the correspondents have, or
, by one, left the row and found quarter
elsewhere, and the old signs that sti
adorn the buildings Of the row al
= those of the New York World, ii
j., Cincinnati Gazette and the Bostc
. Herald, The corner of and Fou.
teenth streets is still thescentral poin
e however, and none Of the offices a
more than two squarse distant. 70
h merly it was thought necessary that
It correspondents office should be G
n the ground floor, but the Now Yor
Herald violated this tradition fl,
years ago, aud other papers followed
Q example from motives of econom
\ Now nearly a dozen have quarters u
stairs in Corcoran's fine new buildin
facing the treasury. The Lead
"ehums'' there with the Cinciuna
Enquirer, The Herald is eutertainC
by the New York Tribune in its han.
some new Offices at 1922 Vi street.