The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-08-22
Cur Olio.
THE NEWS GATHERER.

-
american Journalist.
Among all the classes that make up the
down town life of city there is no class
so sointeresting to me as that of the news
gatherers. | speak of them just as they
occur to me, hoping to interest none but
those who are more or less strangers to
them Here is a class of collectors and
writer's of news, class that has sprung up
within half century, and to-day in our
own country numbers five thousand men.
How little does the great world, which they
each day epitomize, know of them. "The
local reporter" er"-how contemptuously the
rich man speaks of him as he sits at the
breakfast table and glances over the crowded
columns of the great daily. And yet the
wonderful product that lies before him is
the work of the same despised being.
Not alone the news OF his own city is
given him by the "local reporter not
alone the details of the market and trade;
but all night long the mails, the telegraph
wires and cable have been burdened with
the work of the ''local reporter" Debates
ofssenates, movements OF armies, rayages
of earthquake, desolation by pestilence and
food-kings plotting together in palaces,
peoples gathering turbulent and rebellieus
in their streets-a panorama of the world,
as wonderful as the Spaniards downward
glance into all life arrested and motionless
for inspection-and this is the work of
alocal reporters" 1t was wonderful or
ganization that impressed Webster as he
sat upon one of the great guns at Quebec
and looked at the rising sun, that power
whose drum beat as he wrote: "Rising
with the sun and keeping pace with the
hours, encircled the earth with the contin-
uous and unbroken strains of the military
music of England" But greater power
than that has been brought into puissant
being since that time. Under the direc-
tion of combined capital an army of men
actually covers the known world, and the
far-fashing of their written words outstrips
the sun in its course and distances, the
tagging hours in their fight. This army
is made up of "local reporters.
1t is not difficult to see romance and
power in this class, taking them in their
relations with the daily life of the world
and with the great organizations which are
bound into the alliances for the exchange
of news But the stranger, thinking of
them individually, might find the air of
romance gone. The average reporter is to
all appearances very commonplace indi-
vidual. He has generally rather anxious
face and wears shabby clothes. His COM
plexion is sallow and tobacco and long
hours have taken the brightness from his
eye. As rule he is not handsome man.
In respect to age he is anywhere from
twenty to thirty-fve years old. His hair
is streaked with gray, but that does not in
dicate his age. 1t indicates his work and
experiences He is usually an even-tem-
pered individual who cares too little for
the run of people to be often angered, and
knows too much of the world to give per-
sonal offense He is seldom in blues, rarely
in love, sometimes in drink, and generally
in debt. That is the "local reporter"
The majority of news gatherers are sin
gle men. Doubtless most of them feel
that their salaries will not support family.
Perhaps they are wrong in this, for as a
class they are better paid than most young
men, Moreover, considerable number of
reporters do support families, and very COM
fortably, on their salaries. Some of the
best reporters are married men. But
whether it is from the lack of the econo-
MIXING quality in the reporter, or from the
meagreness of his salary, it has grown to
be a recognized tenet of the business that
reporter can't afford to have family.
So he lives in his downtown boarding
house or hotel, accustoms himself to the
society of those he meets within dozen
blocks of his office and draws every week
his salary with which he pays his board
and washing, receiving possibly enough to
keep him in the luxuries of life through
the week.
His salary varies according to his ability
and location. IF he is in st. Louis it runs
from SIS to $50 week; in Chicago he
will be paid about the same; in Cleveland
it will hardly run above $40; in Buffalo,
Albany or Boston rarely above SIS, and
in New York there are good newspaper
men who are working for SIG and $12 a
week. Undoubtedly he is fortunate if he
has permanent situation in Chicago or
St. Louis, although his living expenses may
be heavier than they would be in the East
ern cities. On most of the papers the new
man is put down on the pay roll for some
thing like SO week, but this is soon
raised to S15 or 500, and there are few, if
any, reporters working in the city now for
less than SIS.
If it is borne in mind that the facts |
am giving are not intended for those IA
miliar with newspaper life of great city,
but that they are written for people who
know comparatively little about it, | may
be excused for going into detail The re-
porter on morning paper, who is perhaps
more over worked man than his brother
on the evening paper, appears on duty early
in the afternoon and is given an afternoon
assignment He is expected to show up
early in the evening with his work written
out and be ready to take an evening assign
ment. With this he returns as soon as he
can gather the necessary facts, takes his
desk and writes out his article. That fin
ished he remains on duty until time for
leaving in the morning This time varies
in different offices, as the time of going to
press varies. In St. Louis, reporters are
seldom kept after 2 A. NJ, although watch
is put on who remains three or four hours
after to give the alarm if anything occurs
of enough consequence to warrant an extra
edition. The work of late watch was
shown in the Globe Democrat Office the
other morning The Golden Eagle fire
occurred at 3.45, and although the paper
had already gone to press, Tom Gallagher,
who was on duty, brought in the facts for
another edition In Cleveland, Cincinnati
and some of the Eastern cities, notably
Boston, full force of reporters are kept
on duty till about o'clock.
So the morning paper reporters have
hours ranging from twelve to fourteen a
day. There are some of them who are on
duty full fourteen hours day, and still get
time for considerable reading and outside
writing. The hours for the evening paper
men are considerably shorter. Work with
them commences about eight o'clock in the
morning. and the last edition generally goes
down about four o'clock in the afternoon.
1t is probable that, taking them altogether,
they do not average half as many hours on