St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-31
e. B. WIGHT,


ignition by the business world about them
Take the typewriter, for instance. 1t is
universally conceded to be an excellent
thing for those having much writing to do,
vet these men, who make their living
| by writing. who do nothing else from one
years end to another, and who would
| find it
A GREAT RELIEF
! after busy day in the field" where they
are compelled to write more or less by
hand, reject it. There are few who are
now beginning its use, very few who
have used and commended it for years. but
! they are, altogether, not 10 per cent. of the
whole. Take that labor saving instrument,
the telephone. Here it connects with the
White house, the home of every cabinet
officer, the desks of dozens of department
officials who are always willing to answer
any inquiry you may desire to make, the
capitol, the postoffice, the hotels, the local
newspaper offices, the telegraph offices, and
every news center, yet you can count on the
fingers of your two hands all of the news
paper correspondents who have it at resi-
dence or office. The duty OF the CORE
spOndent requires him to travel about the
city great deal. He must, if success
full and alert, visit all the departments, the
hotels, the capitol, the White house, and
often the residence of some official, besides
visiting his own home occasionally. Here
| in Washington there is no method of travel
more popular, more swift more comforta-
BILE, more inexpensive or more time and la
Dor saving than by bicycle or tricycle.. The
| asphalt streets are as smooth as a floor and
extend all over the city. You may go by
| the ''silent steed' in any direction with the
greatest ease and comfort, day or night,
ter the street cars have stopped or while
Iney run. By it you save time, labor and
money, and make that which would other
wise be drudgery pleasure. The bicycle
is sufficiently popular that the person who
rides it does not become
UNPLEAsANTLY CONSPICUOUS
thereby, for there are hundreds and hun
dreds, probably thousands, in the city and
to be seen on the streets at all hours. De-
partment officials, business men, physicians
and people of all classes ride them, and
many ladies use the tricycle. with grace and
ease, yet with all of the recommendations
and practical advantages which the machine
offers the newspaper man, it is rejected.
| There are but two OF three newspaper men
who ride the bicycle, and but one of these
who makes it of practical use in his bust
ness. 1t seems odd that these men who
are constantly seeking something new, who
may only make success by hard and con
slant work, who lead public opinion in
many things of great Importance, who
claim to be progressive in many things,
should reject the very things which would
| aid them in their own success, simply be-
cause they are comparatively new and be-
cause their fathers and grandfathers before
them did not use them. -------~-->
In their office habits most Washington
correspondents are gregarious. 1t is not
uncommon to find two or three or four OF
more correspondents occupying the same
Office.
THERE ARE ADVANTAGES
in it, and also disadvantages. There is OBJ
portunity for interchange of news, and fol-
division of expenses, but the result is not
always satisfactory in every particular.
Of course not all men who come to Wash
ington as correspondents succeed. 1t takes
one sort of talent to succeed in one place
and quite another to be successful some
where else. Often the man who was a
successful editor or reporter in some city a
thousand miles away is surprised to find
himself failure here. The man who would
be successful here must have large
amount of industry, a full modicum of COM
mon sense, a knowledge of public men and
public affairs both past and present, and a
trace" of that quality designated in the
popular and expressive slang of to-day as
''gall." But most of all he must be honest,
earnest, untiring, truthful, fearless both as
to politicians and as to the views and Opin-
ions of his fellow correspondents, and al
ways gentleman. The key to success as
Washington correspondent may be given
in one small word, work.
1t was not the intention in this letter of
entering upon personalities, and this will
not be departed from except to give the
faces of three out of the many widely known
and honored men who have made the name
of Washington correspondent an honor to
those who wear it. They are E. B. Wight,
correspondent of the Chicago Tribune
and Boston Journal, Charles Nord-
hoff. the correspondent of the New
York Herald, and D. r. Mckee, the
head of the Associated Press, who may be
properly termed successful in the field dis
cussed in this article, but not more so than
many whose faces and names, if all used,
would extend the limits of this article be-
yond even the endurance of that most pa
tient and highly revered newspaper poten-
tate, the managing editor.
A BENEDICTsS VICTORY.
Get up now, John, and build the fire,