Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-12-12
HOW rHEY GOT 1T.

lishing the text Of the proposed new Spanish /
Treaty days ahead of its transmission to .
Congress. Perhaps the following taken
from the Times will give REGISTER readers
some idea Of how newspapers work:
1T has occurred to the Times that Its
readers and the public may be interested to
know how it got the Spanish treaty and
published il to the world in advance OF IT'S
submission to the Senate and while the pre-
cious document was still jeRlously guarded
behind the great doors Of the State Depart
ment. Possibly some Of our esteemed cou-
temporsries who have so gracefully comPll-
mented the Times for Its enterprise may
Ike 10 know how this newspaper sets about
such n matter: and the merchants OF New
York who have bestowed unstinted praise
ppon the Times for the public service 1t has
performed may be pleased to have the bust
ness details of the transaction put before
them. The Times is willing to CRAFTY this
legitimate curiosity, and will tell the story
fully and frankly.
The hunt for the trtaty began in Wash
ington. Its great Importance as newspaper
game was early recognized IN this ONCE
All the sugar men and tobacco men and eX-
porters and importers Of every KIND OF goods
we're talking about 1t and thinking about IT,
ard all were eager to learn It's provisions.
To publish it would be to publish the So
irene news Of the day; and to publish 1t
brst and exclusively would be to gain Tor
the Times another of those triumPhs OF
which il has had rather more than
It's share during the past year. a
few DAYS exploration of the Washington
field showed that the tresty could not be
had in that city. But trail was struck
which lad direct to Madrid, and the Times
was informed that certain gentleman In
that capital could probably supply it with u
CODY Of the document. This was on Thurs
day night. Congress had adjourned until
Monday, and there was no possibility OF the
treaty being given out before Tuesday
morning. At IL o'clock Thursday night
the following cable message was sent by the
Times to the Madrid gentleman.
Telegraph whether you can obtain full
COPY Of commercial treaty and what are
your charges.
To Madrid is a far cry, and it was late the
following night before the reply to this mes
sage was received. 1t ran thus;
"Haye obtained COPY. Wire If extensive
extracts will DO; otherwise immensely long
Name banker pay cable. My charges two
thousand dollars
The reference to the banker and the ca
bic meant that il would be necessary to pre-
paw the cable tolls on the treaty. Madrid l.
not a city from which many press dispatches
are sent to this country. and the charge TO
cabling the treaty at sixty-SiX cents worl
made q sum of money so considerable tina
the telegraph officials could take no RISK
about its collection. The necessary arrange
ments having been made with August Bel
mont & Co, whose correspondents IN Mad
rid are well known bankers, the following
message was sent Saturday noon to h
Madrid gentlemen:
"Send all essential parts Of treaty up t
eight thousand words. Weisswille ( Baue
will pay you two thousand dollars and cabl
tolls. Utmost urgency that matter be sen
to night. Must'nOt be fled later than Sun
day noon.
At 3:45 o'clock on Sunday afternoon III
FIRST page Of the cable message trsnsmittin
the mueh-desired treaty was received in thi
Office. 1t was in the Spanish language. /
happens that the Times has upon its sta
men skilled in the tongues, and q corp
of translators was at once set q
work, Page BY page, as the loni
message was received from the Contra
Cable Office, Il was translated into English
aSSS The translation carefully revised befor
being put in type. Once there was brea
Of three-quarters Of an hour in the tran;
mission, caused BY delay in Paris, whlcl
was one Of the points at which the messag
was repeated The operatorsat the Centra
Cable office in this city were not familla
with Spanish, bat they received and trsr
scribed the message for the most part wit
surprising correctness, though the proces
was necessarily slow and protrseted.
At midnight the Times received th
ninety-sixth and last page OF the treat
proper, making ,2s4 words in the SPANS
text. simultaneously it received the mr.
sheets of q message sent under snoth'
number containing the schedules annexe
10 The treaty. OF this second message
was stated at the cable Office that theE
would be 2,407 words. At the hour whe
the first edition Of the paper went to pres
only ~ pages Of this dispatch had been II
oeiysa. For the second edition, an hov