Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1885-08-22
SOMETHING ABOUT NEWS.
PAPERS AND EDITORS


to reflect the prevailing sentiment of
their constituencies and sections. As a
rule the editor expresses not only his own
feelings and impulses but those Of the
community in which he lives. He is I'M
consciously, perhaps. imbued with the
spirit OF his n~eighbors, among whom his
daily life is spent. And in turn a still
broader field is opened to him through
the medium OF his exchange list. In
this manner he gets an idea and can form
a correct estimate of the popular feeling
even in a national sense. He must Of
course be a careful reader and student.
A small interior journal cannot exchange
with all OF its contemporaries In every
part of the country; but it can, and will,
secure the leading papers of every Sec
ton of the Union. which practically
amounts to the same thing, because the
great journals are made up largely of ex-
tracts from the local press. To illustrate:
The SENTINEL carries on its exchange
list approximately n hundred news
papers. Besides all Of the Nevada and
many Of the Coast papers, it receives
from three to ten of the leading journals
Of each Of the principal cities of the East.
Other local journals, we presume, carry
substantially the same list. When these
are faithfully scanned daily the interior
editor ought to know something of the
feeling abroad and what is going on in
the world at large. And right here APP
pears an obstacle that all country editors
will appreciate. None of us have the
time to devote to a painstaking perusal
of our exchanges. 1t involves more time
than we can spare, for in all the field of
journalism the interior editor is the
hardest worked. He is required to fill
every department of the paper, from the
writing of an advertisement for a lost
dog to the dishing up Of the political
crushers. One moment he is called upon
to write a feeling obituary for somebody
he knows nothing about, and the next to
indite a good joke for Jones on Smith
that is as pointless as a Civil Service
order, until by racking his brain for an
hour, if he "a snatch the time, he man.
ages to inject into it a faint semblance of
alleged humor. But Jones is pleased,
and the world is happy. The interior
editor is, also. lucky if he does not have
to keep his w books and accounts, and
look after the collections for the paper
in addition to his other manifold duties.
In 8 word, his life is n Of drudgery and
perplexities not known to any other call.
ing or profession on the earth. And the
worst of it all is, there is no money in the
business, and he usually wears himself
out and dies young 1.-THE gods to take an
early liking to him), unmourned and un-
sung. We are speaking now of con.
scientious. ~hardworking journalists.
There are plenty of ~loafers, of course, on
the interior press who do nothing but
scissor the brains of the good boys.
Without doubt a peculiar kind of talent,
and a good deal Of it, is required in one
nan to make a good, readable local paper.
It is the fewest number that possess it.
Few men are strong all along the line.
Some are good in one department and
dismal failures in all the others. With
the metropolitan press it is all different.
There it is every man to his trade; it
is all departmental work; every writer
has q special classified duty to perform
and he keeps religiously within the
limits. The editorial writer pays no at.
tention whatever to any other depart.
ment of the paper; SO with the telegraph
editor, the art critic, the Police Court
reporter and so on to the end Of the
chapter. Not one in q hundred of these
writers for the city press do q twenti-
eth part as much work as the single
writer on an %up-countrv daily. Nor do
they do it any better. as a rule. 1t
would be strange if twenty writers,
preparing about one column each, failed
to give to a leading daily an air Of
sprightliness and enterprise not seen
from the single pen engaged in the pre-
paration Of the small country sheet of
six to ten columns. Then there is a
marked difference in the respective fields,
to say nothing of t~elegraphic
and other advantages Of location. The
twenty are located in a great, bustling
metropolis, instinct with life and energy.
Boards, Exchanges, shipping,
courts. theaters. clubs. etc.. etc., and q
world of daily incident while the one.
perhaps, hangs out in a dull and decay.
ing mining camp, "where not q leaf
The small local daily is never
half appreciated; its cost in worriment
Of brain and heart and tissue, never