Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1881-09-17
eureka Dailp Sentinel.
SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER II. 1881
ABOUT p

The hardest worker ana pOorest pai"
man in the world is the editor OF the
country daily. He is expected to do, and
does do, a little of everything that goes
to make up the paper. The country
daily is always short of an adequate edi-
torial force, simply on account of its
restricted field. 1t won't justify the
keeping of an ample force for the labor
required. Not u~nfrequently the ostensi-
BILE editor is a dolt. Some one man, who
seldom gets the credit, usually performs
all OF the work. There are any number
of men connected with newspapers as
publishers who gain enviable regulations
as journalists, while in reality they are
incapable of wording an advertisement
for a lost. dog. And the journalistic
fraud herein described is the meanest OF
all the mean men in Christendom. If a
chance good thing appears in his paper
from the overworked author, he is always
willing, with an assumed air of modesty,
TO appropriate the compliments Of AK
grinding outsiders, who know nothing
about the true inwardness of the bust
ness. He not only thrives on the brains
of his superior, but he steals, at least i'm
pliedly, the little reputation which the
real editor might otherwise build up for
himself. We are led to these reflections
by reading an address recently delivered
by Charles Dudley Warner Of the Hart
ford Courant, before the Social Science
Association at Saratoga, on the "Ameri-
can. Newspaper" Mr.. Warner takes the
position, in general terms, that the
American newspaper rs too carelessly and
loosely thrown together. This is a cor
rect, but unfortunately impracticable,
view of the case. He forgets that a
brain burning from over e~xertion cannot
prepare matter day after day of a stand
ard that will escape criticism. He for
gets, too, that we live in a driving age,
and that every community of 5000 in
habitants must have its daily paper. If
the income of the venture will not, and
it never does, Justify the employment OF
a strong corps of writers, the public
must be content with such inferior
''slushn as the unaided scribe is able to.
give them under the running fire of about
Is hours a day. This is precisely why a
vast number Of American newspapers
are considered inferior in their general
tone and make up. Every mar to his
trade. Department work is the true
rule IN newspapers. In the preparation
Of the matter for a metropolitan journal
each man has a special duty assigned
him and he sticks to it. On the country
daily n man is expected to cover the
entire field, including the political thun-
der, general and local news. obituary
notices, wet nurses wanted, marriage GER
emonies, good and bad jokes, and the ten
thousand other odds and ends, from
grave to gay, which are daily laid before
the unappreciative reader. Can it then
be any wonder that the daily press is
liable to criticism? Let us hope that
the editorial hell is no worse in the here
after thar on this earth. Judge Good
win, in the Salt Lake Tribune, devotes
an article to Mr.. Warmers address. He
says Mr.. Warner omits one important
feature of journalism, and then adds:
Almost all the newspapers in this coun-
try are carried along by too small a force.
1t Is a frightful exaction to expect of one
mar that he can every day Of his life pre-
pare q large amount OF matter which will
be bright enough and thoughtful enough
to command the sympathy and respect Of
thousands of readers. Then to compel
him TO furnish the material which will
bear the criticism OF the learned and at the
same time to couch it in language which
will be terse and strong, and simple enough
for the not overlearned to comprehend,
and to repeat the performance day after
day as the weeks and months and years
recede. is something which is expected
daily Of the journalist, but of no other
man on earth. On the London Times
they limit an editorial writer to an article
q day, or sometimes two q week, and at the
end OF hve years pension and retire him
on the supposition that his best efforts
have been expended. Then a great mis- |
take is often made in the idea of what o
reporter should do. He should be brighter |
and quicker than the editor; he should be
young and full OF youthful energy; but
before entering upon his duties he should
be educated. An uneducated man never |
makes a good regular reporter. In our
judgment the weak place in American
newspapers is that they are produced by
minds; that there is a sameness
them and that their faults in style
aud matter come simply from fatigue.
Behind all this the mind which can carry
on a newspaper without favoring friends
and furnishing enemies is a very rare one;
and still the only one fit to preside. The
perfect newspaper has not yet been printed,
but the course of journalism, say what the
world may, is upward, and the newspaper
OF the future is going to supply about all
the reading that will be INDUCED in. ex-
cept by members of the learned professions. 4