The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-05-16
How the Faber Pusher of To.
Day Sizes Up, Compared
With Editor Moses"
P. G Ferguson's Contribution
at the Meeting of the Mis-
souri, Press Asso-
citation,
AID Read by Capt. j. II. Turner,
at st. Joseph, Wednesday,
May 10, 1882.

At the meeting of the Missouri Press
association, held at St. Joe on Nav 9th and
10Th, 1882, the following contribution from
p. q. Ferguson, president of the st. Loui.
Press club, was read:
THE LOCAL REPORTER"
And God said let there he light, and there WAS
hsLt"-t ist Genesis
These eleven words of one syllable con-
stitste the entire description of the grand
est event in the worlds historv-the
creation of light by the command of the
OmnipOtent. Contrast this brief account
of she manner of Illuminating the universe
with the description of patent kerosene
lamp, occupying two columns of man.
moth city daily, and We have an idea OF
the difference between editor Moses and a
modern newspaper reporter.
Another important event In the history
cd the human race was the trial of Jesus
Christ before Pontious Plate. This thrill
ing and tragic story il told in some dozens
81 words. The report of the trial of Gui-
teaa for the assassination of President
Garfield makes several million words Here
again mark how the modern reporter casts
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the
shade.
Aside from this prolixity, the ways of
the local reporter are strange and incOm-
psehensible. His ubiquity is almost uni
'enal. His ability TO appear in a dozen
places at the same time is we'll known. His
knowledge Of all the languages, sciences,
srts, fashions and PHILOSOPHERS is mirac-
elSuS.
HIS MIND Is SIMPLY sTUPErDoUS
10 n,,f O ~irIl> ornupI &h> cath
nall q second, and In ten minutes he can
strsddle the whole planetary system. As
Al interviewer he is bOundless, and can ex-
tract responses from anything animate or
iaanimate, from the smallest infusion to
The Omnipotent Being. He not only finds
Nb0oks in the running brooks, tongues in
srees, sermons in stones" but candor in a
politician, truth in an alderman, and hon.
esty in q government contractor. He is a
mind reader, q mesmerizer, and q spiritual
medium. He has but to glance at the
shape Of . mans shoulders to be able to
read oil the thoughts revolving in his
mind, and when occasion requires he can
DO this without seeing him at all.
Like the orator, the local reporter is
born, not made. No amount of training
can make local reporter, and no lack of
haining can mar the efficiency of born
reporter. The best scholars in the land
nave, after years of patient effort, utterly
failed to become passable reporters, while
the most ignorant and uneducated strip
iings have, in the space of a few weeks,
seaped
INTO THE FRONT RANKS
II journalistic geniuses. The best local
reporters in America are those who never
saw the inside of q college, and whose
book learning was derived from the primer
and first reader The balance is acquired
BY absorption.
As illustrating the manner In which the
genius OF reporter is developed, few in
cidents in the career of one OF the tribe are
here given. He was nineteen years old
and had spent all the days of his life in a
small village in the west. Becoming am
bilious to make q name in the world he
went to the city on free pass and obtained
situation on a morning paper as a local
reporter. His first assignment was TO
write up menagerie. His report
vas rejected BY the city editor and he
WAS discharged. He fshed his copy out OF
his waste basket and offered it to q rival
journal as the composition OF kind.rgar.
zen pupil, the youngest in the school. Ii
was published and the
WRITER WAS EMPLOYED AS POLICE RE-
He soon developed as q wit, and in the
course OF a year was promoted to the posi-
ton of city editor He wrote several re-
ports that we're copied into other paper.
and by the time he was twenty-on he wal
at the head of his profession. He re
moved to . larger city in the east, contin
led to improve and is now regarded as the
best newspaper man in the land.
One time this enterprising Bohemian
was sent to report the funeral sermon of ar
eminent divine over the remains of dis
tinguished statesman. Several reporters
Of other journals we're present on the sam,
errapd. While the minister was kneelin,
near the coffin and Offering up q prelimi
nary prayer to the throne of grace, our ne
porter espied the corner of q roll of man
uscript protruding from the preacher
pocket. With the steslthliness of a ca
he crept behind the man of God and deftl,
distracted the document, slipped out un-
observed and FASTENED to the Office with
the coveted manuscript. The discourse
was published the next morning in the en-
terprising journal and the reporter wa
credited with q scoop" The preacher
Was greatly surprised At seeing his sermon
In print, but not more 90 than the audi
tors who heard the bri<t and disjointet
discourse that was orally delivered ant
which was no more like the written ont
than the second chapter of Deuteronomy il
like the Song of Solomon.
As no THE WORD SCOOP"
it is unnecessary to explain to any cit,
newspaper man its meaning but as Their
may be present to-day some unsophisti
Gated country editors, or non-professiona
spectators, / will say that SCOOP" is to
reporter what bonanza is to q miner,
corner" to an option dealer, first pai
OF trousers to boy, or marriage engage
ment to village belle. When q reporte
succeeds in getting hold of an item o
local news of universal interest, and n
other paper has the startling intelligence