Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1883-08-07
what Becomes q JournaIi.ts ,

and its inhabitants, whose purpose in
life is charity, and who goes to the
newspaper men to help her in her phi |
lanthropy, asked me All odd question:
did you ever think" she said, that |
journalists drop out Of the business az |
they get on in years?" II did not
well, look around you. Most Of the
editors and reporters are young men.
Some Of the editors in chief may be
old fellows, but most Of the workers
are young. 1t has been 30 far back as
| can remember. What becomes of
the journalists who have got old? All
we know is that they are not 10 jour
nalism. Is your business such a ter
rible one that it kills you off like chol-
era? No doubt there are old journal
lists working elsewhere, but you never
hear Of them. They gave the best
part Of their lives to journalism, and
wherever they may be, they have not
enough energy left to make noise.
Journalism took all their vim and
dash, and after that it did not want
them any more. 1t captured new life
and new blood, and threw the old,
worn-out material away, not thinking
or caring what became Of it. / tell
you journalism is heartless, migrate
fnl business for its followers. 1t makes
me sorry to see a brilliant young fell
low go into it. In any other profess
sion, | believe journalism is profess
sion, the older he got the more power
and the higher standing he would have,
but in journalism he just uses himself
up before be has reached middle age,
and then drops out of sight. The
proportion of journalists who get to
be owners of papers OF editors in chief
at salaries their abilities warrant, is
SO small that it is scarcely worth con-
sidering. Mr.. Ringwalt in his lecture
said that you could count the number #
rich journalists on your fingers, mean
ing journalists who had built up sue
cessful newspaper establishments that
they owned, but that no man could im-
agine the vast number of failures CT
the vast number of editor-owners who
were struggling through an existence
of half starvation. There are some
rich journalists but the majority o.
: rich journalists are not journalists a.
/, all. They are capitalists, who have
} bought into journalism, just as they
would buy into foundry, or any othe
) business enterprise. They can not d.
: the work of journalism, and they bu,
the brains for it as they would buy
pound of butter in market. You jour
nalists are all enthusiasts in your Pre-
! fession, but it's money rewards ar
q seldom for you. You may have lot
4 of talents, but you lack the common
J.. sense of knowing how to make none
v or to keep it if your business manage
n makes it for you. Journalism ma
give you fame. But you can do moth
ing but starve on fame. You are tn
o most impractical of men. l neve
knew an editor-in- chief who was nc
at war with his business manage
-, while the business manager, who ma
be unable to write two line para
graph kept him from going to tt
poor-house. Five or six years ago
:. met very able young journalist, an
" | gave him my opinion of what he we
doing. told him to get out of jou
nalism, before it was too late, befol
" he was all used up. He took my al
- vice, went into another profession b;
now as much honor as he could ha,
~ had had he remained a journalist, ar
has besides big bank account, whit
a thousand to one, he would not ba,