Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-10-09
EDITORS TO ORDER.

For the second or third time certain stu
dents OF Cornell College ask that q course
OF journalism be established III that seat of
learning. Commendabie In the extreme is
it for a young man or set of young men to
be DESTROYS of becoming editors. There. is
not any other way by which they could
possibly do more work for less money than
by entering the profession of journalism.
There is no denying that an editors calling
looks altogether lovely from without, just
as does an actors. There is the great and
glorious privilege of pitching into every
body and everything, under the cloak
of the mystic editorial "we;" never
failing supply OF free tickets to operas.
theaters, concerts, circuses, balls
ceaseless stream of invitations to big
dinners. That the hard worked and
poorly-paid journalist sits in his seat at
the theater more intent upon what he is
going to write an hour or two afterward
than what he is looking upon, never Ell ser
the minds of the young student at the,
University. If they were to come to any
one of the great cities and see the editors
at the theaters-quiet, solemn, weary
looking-they would not ask for course
of journalism. Apart from tbs supposed
plSdHulC anu dHN vi tiiG CtAltoA . Cdlk-
ing, the hard and indlsputabIe fact remains
that editors do not come from colleges. No
successful journalist has ever been trained
outside of the dull routine and ceaseless
drudgery OF the newspaper offices. The great
majority of the editors come from the CON-
posing rooms; the balance have COM
menced at the bottom round of the ladder
reporting Horace Greeley was com
- -.
brought to and maintained in journalism,
he always made room for the college stu
dents that annually swooped down on the
Tribune editorial rooms with the ayowed
purpose of reforming and elevating the
journalistic profession. Mr.. Greeley on
being questioned as to the fate of his col
legians, replied in his half-droll, half
mournful way !: ''The enthusiastic boys
come by the hundreds to make the TTib-
ane better paper, but not enc of them has
yet stopped here long enough to finish the
JOB. lndeed, the most persistent among
them don't stay over three months. One
OF Mr. Greeley's rivals, if not superiors,
was Henry j. Raymond, who hsd toiled
hard on paltry pay as a reporter on the
Tribune. The other was James Gordon
Bennett, who came to this country from
MS natlve Scotland, with classical educa-
ton. He learned the art and mystery of
journalism in hard schools he failed often
as an editor for othes.; snd when he
set up for himself In y Blocker street
cellar where he issued ~ penny Ney
YORK Herald, writing every word it con-
tanned except some of the few advertise
ments he was favored with, even directing
the wrappers with the editorial pen, he was
laughed at by the established editors as
fool. james Gordon Bennett persevered,
and rose as many have since, as many
more are going to do in the future; but
the coming great journalists must, like
their predecessors, learn the calling where
alone it can be learned. A chair Of jour
nalism in college will never make editors,
for the editor must be by nature man of
great comprehension, good memory, sound
Judgment, fearless, aggressive, and have
robust health. Lacking these, not all the
universities in the land can tit him for the
proper discharge of editors duties having
them, he will need the practical training
that the newspaper Office alone can give.