The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1883-03-28
Editing a Newspaper.

1T requires more science to edit q news
naDer than it does to govern a nation.
Not one mar out of a thousand can
| steer his literary craft without cutting
across the track of some cole subscriber"
and then he finds himself on q lee shore
in short order.
Everybody criticises newspapers. We
do not know a single man who does not
cherish the idea that If he had a chance
he could edit the London Times, or any
other thunderer, with much more abill-
ty than it is edited. a
Nothing in the paper now! So utter
ly stupid.o
We hear the complaint at every turn,
and the mar who could not spell cat
without putting a G in it, will turn up
his nose and fling aside his paper, which
very likely he has borrowed, and tells
his friends that he wishes he had the
control of that sheet; he'd see it he could
not turn over a new leaf!
An editor is supposed to know what
every individual who reads his paper
wants. He must be careful not to bear
down on any of the beliefs of his old
subscribers.
Ifsome of them are Universallsts, he
must steer clear of mentioning the local
ity signiied in the new version as
Hades; and if some Baptists and Meth
odists are included in his list, he bad
better be careful how he insinuates that
any ma dare hope for heaven unless he
has been gathered in under the banner.
He mustn't go in for temperance be-
cause there are many good people taking
his paper who drink, and who sell Ia
ger beer. And on the other hand he
ought to be very cautious how he indor-
ses inebriation for there are many young
people among his readers who might be
infunced for bad.
The editor must be "a mitten for
either hand.' He must please every
body. He must always print anything
an "old subscriber" wants him to, for
the messages of all the presidents down
to a receipt of grease and molases for the
gapes in chickens.
He must not say anything about the.
pay. He ought to be thankful thatany-
body will take the paper. 10 send a
subscriber a bill is the height OF impu-
dence. o @ ga
To expect pay for extra copies to send
to absent friends is a monstrOsity.
What can he want to keep these old pa
pers for.
If the paper fails to reach a mail sub
SCIIUGl w ItltU q INV Liz 10.
should be more careful. They should
see that the mails attended to their bus
mess. The man who pays n dollar a
year for a paper does not want to be
swindled by the publisher keeping back
a number. And he generally writes
| him to that effect, and the publisher, as
innocent of any intended swindling as a
| child unborn, mails him another paper,
| and possesses his soul in silence.
If the editor inserts an article in his
periodical which offends an irascible
subscriber, he is liable to receive a call
from that NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. he
gets a cow-hiding, unless he has the
presence of mind to kick the irate visitor
down stairs before he can begin aggres-
sive operations; and very often editors
are brought into courts and indicted for
libel, when they have been guilty of tell
ing the truth.
So, young man, if you are going to be
an editor, part your hair in the middle
that your brains may be evenly balanced
and with your life ia one hand and your
paste-pot and scissors in the other, wade
in; but go slow, young mango sloW!j