The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1884-01-11
WS-GATHERE
Ths Work and Wages of the knights
of the Pencil
One Reporter Differeth From An
other In Ability to Turn Ont the
Newsy, Instructive and
Entertaining

tJOe Howard In Boston Herald
Reporters in New York city are divided
into three clAsses-hrst-class space men, reg
ular member Of u staff and hangers-on. ,
have known space men to make from 500 to
s2OO a week on The New York Herald but 1t
gosH without saying that n man whose work
IL 50 valuable that his weekly bills for any
considerable period OF time average such
figures, would soon be compelled to accept a
salary or find he must divide his service
with other papers A good space writer.
whose work is acceptable and reliable need
find no difficulty in making bills on "a great
paper like The Herald, ranging between $50
and $50 a week. OF course, IL he is very in
dustrious and personally a f~avorite, there Is
no reason why he should not make half as
much more on The Sun or The Times, but |
find, pom careful Investigation that the av
erage space man is very well contented with
a steady and certain income OF $50 a week
On any of the leading papers. There are re-
porters here who receive 500 a week, but
they are rare. probably not more than lv0
in the city. Good staff men range from $50
to 900 a week, and il il understood that staff
men are TO do no work on any other paper.
This rule does not apply TO space men, al
though there are attached to each New York
nsWpaper space men who are To all intents
and purposes on the staff. They have desks
in the offices, they are expected to look in
regularly at the hours OF assignment to
duty, and generally To be at the beck and
call Of the city or managing editor, accord
ing to the nature of their duties.
MHS OF ALL WORK
No honest, intelligent reporter need DO a
hangor-On, unless he 30 prefers. A hanger-on
is "A man who is paid by space. but Is not
recognized az a regular attache. He is II
man who makes e. or 800 a week, according
to exigencies and opportunities. Now, these
three classes OF reporters, occupying many
grades of Intelligent influence and income,
I'LL a majority Of the columns OF all tho news,
papers published in America. Thoy do the
gay and festive, the sad and solemn. They
picture with glowing pen the beauties Of a
ball, and paint with sombre brush the dirges
OF u funeral; they see incoming steamers for
earliest Intelligence; they give a sketch of the
CHASTITY morgue; they attend the president
across the Brooklyn bridge or rush with
policemen to extricate the wounded from n
collision; they make one OF the damp and dis
NAL party on the outside OF an humble vii
lnge, waiting to display in characteristic
terms the efforts Of a Sullivan and u Slade.
They spend hours in the gloomy recesses of
the conptroller's office seeking the sources OF
coupon fraudsn They watch tho acting of
an Irving or take down the utterances of a
Talmage. From the discovery Of n founding
in n basket on Mr.. Somebody's doorsteps,
through every walk of life until the closing
OF the grave upon the dead, the reporter
paints, pictures, pencils, sketches, describes
everything known to human existence
R~sPoRToRIAL VERSATILITY.
Reporters differ In many ways. Some are
purely descriptive, In some a bump of humor
is magniticently developed, some permeate a
story, short or long, with induces OF personal
fly. Others are cast iron in recital, and make
their stories AS piquhnt as an algebraic prob
lem. A good reporter, gifted with normal
spirits and health is n thing Of beauty and "a
JOY forever In any w~sll-regulated newspaper
office. Every door Is open TO him, and the
Held OF life Is spread before him with Its sun
shine aud its shadow. In the course of an
evening he talks with presidents aud walks
with princes, he sits with the sorrowful and
mourns with the humble. In church to-day.
In jail tomorrow, merrily dancing with
Arion this evening, deep down in coal pits
with striking miners some other evening.
Now he interviews u magnate of the ladn,
and now takes the dying deposition OF a
butchered thief. Part Of an evening Is spsnt
in the cathedral fair, part In a political meet
ing, part in police headquarters, part in the
debris OF a railroad collision. No place is
too sacred, none too lowly, no man is too
high, too rich, too great for him to ap-
proach. none too poor. too humble
for him to serve. He IL as much at
bone in the palace Of a millionaire
as In a hospital ward OF "A prison. lie
writes with equal readiness the glib utter
ances of IA befrilled bishop and the
narrowing confession OF u poor devil
In the Tombs. A good reporter must
he discreet How much he hears lie
cannot tell. how much he knows 1t would
not be fair for him TO reveal. He secs the
best and worst types OF society, and has his
hand more constantly upon the pulse OF at,
fairs than any minister, lawyer, doctor or
merchant. The work of the American re.
porter speaks volumes daily for itslf. Now
and then one is deceived and misled, fooled;
but by men at large, from Maine 10 Georgia,
from Now York To Oregon, the American
reporter holds his own in the interesting, the
instructive and the entertaining.
M aREAT rprTapa