, 1888-10-24

III u ihitItSis vi ~ LUCY
ton of Crime and Traud-work of Re-
portcrs and Editors.
The American press is the most incom-
p~rehcnsible Of American institutions to
strangers. Day after day its columns are
freighted with astounding crimes, with
marvellous adventures, with social scan
dals, with political programmes and re-
ligious heresies. One wonders how it is
possible such surprises should be con-
stantly happening, and how their details
should be so eXhaustively wrought out.
But the establishment subsidies when it is
known that the American press in orgaui-
cation, in enterprise, in talent leads the
world; that it deals not with one country,
as in the Old World, but represents a whole
continent; that the population it controls
and informs is drawn from every Euro
pean and several Asiatic nations; hat
among these are crowds of dangerous and
lawless emigrants, some of whom have
escaped from European jails and many
from the European police. And whatever
contempt for law and order the native
American may inherit is dcepeued by con-
tact with the frenz!ed men driven to
American shores by the regimes of Bis
marck and Salisbury.
DETECTION OF IN
IblCtu upon II ny Sucn
the American press has accepted func-
tions which no other nations newspapers
have had delegated to them. The fore
most of these has been the detection of
crime and the defeat of fraud, and in the
performance Of both S American press
men have won the admiration of the
American people, and oughtto be a source
OF pride and surprise 10 press men every
where. American criminals may tamper
with American Judges; they may evade
the police; they may defy the law; they
are never safe from the press. Again and
again rave assassins been hung or the
gallows wholly through the astuteness
and amazing ability Of American press
reporters. Again and again have scan
da!qu5 swindles been exploded through
the single handed efforts of press men.
The great Tweed ring was burst up by
the presidency of newspaper men, The
Prciitr murder was cleared up through
the acutcness Of press inquiries but illus
t~ratious are endless.
Why such services are seldom at
tempted by the British press is easily ex-
planned. The British press man is u short
EHad writer, whose work is mainly to re
produce the speeches OF the people who
would hardly BE- listened to on this side Of
the Atlantic. In America verbatim re-
porting is hardly wanted; it IT, reckoncd Il
very secondary accomplishment. The
American press man aus have require
mCuis the British reporter may do with
ont. The American ..uat he Il born de-
tCs.ive, have au iutu.ligc faculty Of fol-
lowing NJ the course criminals, advent
urcrs and dc!inquCuts pursue in planning
crimes and cvaGing their conviction. He
must have an address which fits all sorts
Of people On al sorts Cf occasions. He
t,,r,.t IN. ogtr111-- f,.1,s ., e-,,1- ~, 1,,.I
terms with Il statesman or Confab with n
thiel; and it is his business to get at the
intentions Of both. The American press
man must be an educated man of the
world, who can represent his journal
under any circumstances and this is Mt
once apparent to any stranger who has OPP
pOrtunities of coming in contact with the
leading representatives of the New York
journals.
A + CONTRAST.
To any one who has seen the position
old country press men have to bend to the
contrast is great. The American who for
gets hat an American press man is an
American gentleman would find himself
rebuked in n way he never would forget.
But such rudcuess is hardly ever risked.
The high position taken by the staff of
the American newspapers is too widely
ANN'-'A6NNf uAlh illNl VI Nllo IlOllNlCSl DOSl-
ton are pleased to meet the American
interviewer, treat him graciously and
give him whatever assistance is wanted.
To be polite, frank and afIable is the
Americans prerogative. The Old World
snob who affects airs meets with supreme
ridicule in the United States. / have
met one or two in the hotels utterly horri-
fled at American familiarity; even the
negro walters laugh at their comical pre-
tensions.
There is none If the rivalry and shop
Jealousy between the staff of one Ameri-
can paper and the staff of another so alb
surdly fostered in the old country. The
American press men treat each other as
gentlemen simply because they are SO.
Bad manners n stupidity go together,
and l have not come across II STUPID
press men in America. Editors and city
editors make no distinction of persons in
their staff, and they ave no reason to do
so. a clever reporter knows he will get a
good situation sooner than either editor
or city editor, and, If anything, the re.
porter is master of the situation. As may
be inferred, talent of the highest order is
the only passport to a position on the
American press. A canny ScotChman
without brains could not keep a berth on
the New York press for twenty-four
hours. With such racking work of brain
and body, it may DC surmised, the strain
is tremendous, and in proof the American
press mans professional life is n shor.
one. Among the many American news.
paper men l cannot r~ecollect seeing one
white haired man. No doubt some of the
more brilliant press men find their way
into congress and into public life, and not
II few fall into other and more lucrative
pursuits. Many Of the American million
aires have started life as intcrviewcrs and
W their success to the training so OBJ
tanned. And no other point can better IL
lustrate the ability so essentially inter-
laced with the American press. To grasp
the salient points of Il public question, to
intercept whatever enlightenment n fit eN-
ponent may throw upon these, requires no
ordinary acumen, and 10 place before the
public in attractive form whatever insight
has been obtained calls for subtle and in
c.s!ye faculties, which, displayed in any
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