Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-06-12
THE HABITS or rJOuRSalIsr,
The Cause OF Temperance Makes Headway 3,
Editorial and Composing Rooms

Editorial and Composing Rooms
From the Printers Circular.
There was a time when an active worker
on the press was regarded by most people "a
being particularly fit subject for the exhor-
tations OF the temperance orator. No one
could enter an editorial or reportoral room
without finding able men who imp paired their
usefulness and lowered their standing by
reason of their excessive indulgence in strong
drink. Some of them seemed to consider
that there was some necessary connection
between intellectual labor and alcoholic stim.
ulus. Old Horace Gre, lev used often To in
weigh against this propensity and to mourn
the fate of the many journalists whom he
had seen cut down Ivy their surrender to it.
But an able drinker and an able news
paper man are no longer synonymous terms.
The time has gone by when any well.regula.
ted newspaper office in our larger cities will
take upon its staff any man, however fine
his attaiuments, who cannot use liquor with
discretion. The work on the newspaper OF
today has become so eNacting that ii has be-
come necessary To establish something like
discipline and share of responsibility which
were quite unknown ten or twenty years
ago Methodical and diligent service, not
the hap-hszard, happy-go-lucky ways of the
earlier race OF Journalists, is now absolutely
necessary to success in the eager conflicts of
journalistic rivalry. Every one who has ac-
cess to any responsible Department OF a daily
paper knows that ne must keep his head
clear at all times, aud that he must main tain
reputation, not for sporadic displays of
brillisncy, hut for steadiuess, accuracy and
general trustworthness.
This sense Of dignity and accountability
has gradually spread itself among editors
and reporters, aud is continually growing
greater. 1t is frequently a subject of remark
by old journalists The young man entering
the profession has no longer TO maintain a
certain social standing among his fellows by
showing that his bibulous capacity is on a
par with his mental attainments. 1t is not
difficult To point out scores of men on the
press, in cities like New York and Philsdel-
phia, who abstain altogether from the use OF
liquor, while those who can he charged " ith
grossly Incorporate habits now form a very
decided minority. The Buffers have become
the exception rather than the rule.
1t il well that this fact should become
more generally known to the public which
| is not familiar with the profession, and
which is too apt in its thoughtless moods, to
| charge il with more than an ordinaryaddictinn
| to this vice. We believe that it does not pre-
| vail among journalists At the present time to
| anv greater degree than it does among
| doctors, lawyers merchants, or almost any
| other of what we may call the responsible
| classes. If it did the public would not have
had before 1t every day the splendid sPeci-
| mems of modern newspapers, teeming with
| news and comment, and showing on every
| page evidence of the highest thought, culture
| and care. They could not be produced by
| brains that indulgence had befuddled.
The influence of this gradual change in the
habits ot the writers for the press has also
been felt to some degree in the composing
room. The printer of to-day is stead ier
worker than he has ever been. Most OF the
men who participated in the recent contest
In this city, for the type-setting champion
| ship, are temperate, and Alexander Duguid,
who carried oil the first prize, abstains, we
believe, altogether from the use of liquor.
| There are few large composing rooms in
| which considerable number of such men
| may not be found. 1t is true that there are
| still many-too many-printers who keep uI
| the old traditions OF the craft in this res pect,
| but they are not so many as they once " ere
| The composing room, like the editorial
room, has become place of strcter discipline
and responsibility.