Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-08-16
SCISSORS AND PASTE.
Newspaper Clippings Made by order
Rs n Legitimate business


Newspaper Clippings Made by order
Rs n Legitimate Businesa
As a general thing the patrons OF the
clippings bureau are only those who
think they are likely to get compli-
mentary press notices says the New
York San. People whose notoriety is
Of an unpleasant nature de not care 10
see what the papers say about them.
Nobody involved in scandal, divorce
suit or similar affair has yet asked
for clippings, aud one of the liveliest
letters one concern has ever received
was in reply to a suggestion that per-
maps "Baby Bunting" would like to
see what the papers were saying abou.
him and ''Bunnie. One order. aud
from n we'll. known man. too. is for
Himself AMI all jokes about Boston
and New York society" What he
wants of the Jokes rs conundrum, but
no gets them regularly, and at last &C.
counts was still alive.
The growth OF the business has ne
cessitated the PRODUCTION into it
of q complicated system. and has de-
veloped it in several novel directions.
The leading topics of newspaper COM
ment, such AS art literature the
drama. politics and similar subjects,
are made seperate divisions of the bust
ness, and every thing pertaining to
each is clipped by the first readers.
These clippings are then gone over by
the men in charge of zach department,
and those which may fit the orders of
any patron are sorted out at the close
of each days work and mailed to him
at once. He has paid in advance S.
for hundred clips" or at decreasing
rates up to $40 dollars for a thousand,
and when he has received the number
paid for the service stops until new
payment is made. A mans account
may run along for months without his
getting over forty or fifty OF the thous-
and paragraphs he has paid for. and
then he may kill his mother-in- or
do some other famous thing and get
the balance of his "clips" in less than
week. Then again man may make
"a speech on 1.-The Issues Of the hour"
at u public banquet. and leave an order
the next morning for all that the papers
have to say about it paying for the
first hundred items in advance. He
gets in two weeks three casual refer
ences to the fact that "Mr. So-and so
also spoke" and one humorous allu.
sion to the disparity between the
calibre of his mouth and the size OF his
brain. Then he comes around wanting
his money back. and swearing that the
business is u fraud.
Clippings are also made on specula-
ton. If well-known man dies. all
the obituaries are collected and after
ward offered to some sorrowng rela-
tive for certain amount of cash.
Notices of weddings and other events
are collected and pcddled in the same
way, and it is said that the instances
arc comparatively rare in which a
sale is not effected.
The latest development OF the bust
ness is really Il going back to first
principles. according to Mr.. Romeike's
story of how he first got the idea.
He was good deal of Bohemian.
and ut ono time in Par il came to be
a serious question with him whether
he should work or starve. Buying a
paper of an old woman ut street
stand one morning. anxious not to
wards. pending starvation. no saw an
artist whom he knew take several
papers from her and pa; her II frame
apiece for them. He asked why the
man paid her so much, and was told
that he had made nm arrangement
with her bY which every morning
when she got her papers she looked
them over. and il there was any thing
in any of them in reference to mat
ter in which the artist was interested
she marked it and laid those papers
as de for him. He paid her franc
for every paper in which she had
found any thing he wanted Ii struck
the young Bohemian that If one man
was so anx Gus to know what the
papers said. others would so, too and
thereafter he bought all the papers
and clipped from them every thing in
reference to art and artists. He took
the clippings about among the studios
where he had large acquaintance,
and peddled them for what he could
get. In time he added literature as
we'll rs art to his field, and did so
well that over-prosper broke down
his health. aud he had to go to the
south of France to recuperate. Thence
he went TO London. aud started to
make Il living in the same way there.
The idea developed, however, and he
soon settled down into II regular busi-
ness, which was the model for the two
concerns in this city.