Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-03-28
YANKEE EDITOR IN PARIS.
DRAWBACKS TO RUNNING A NEWS
PAPER IN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

PAPER IN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.
Experiences in Editing The News-Pecu.
liar Difficulties Of Bill Posting-The
Law of Libel in France-Difiicu,ties Of
Interviewing-A Long Law Suit.
Before the debut of the new paper an un-
expected hitch occurred The forthcoming
Journal must have a gerant. A gerant Is
defined by Spiers and Surenne as "a manager,
person ct the head of an establishment
found that the French law forbade my coz
tenlplatiug myself or permitting myself to be
publicly contemplated as a gerant. Ne
foreigner whatsoever may lay that fattering
JUNCTION to his soul The gerant must be q
French person, actually Of native birth, or
anoInted with the divine Unguent of naturali-
zation Accordingly. had to hunt up
properly qualified gerant. After some search
l learned Of a worthy individual named
Malabouche, who fulfilled all legal require
ments. Maiabouche was a gentleman Of
humble station, who dwelt somewhere in the
suburbs He was described to me as being q
hopeless cripple from paralysis, who, for the
stipend of $50 monthly, would act as figure
head for any aspiring editor OF foreign ex-
traction. His responsibility comprised the
shoulderlng OF legal actions. appearance in
cases OF libel, infringement of the press lars
and SO forth. IL. Malabouche was engaged
forthwith Whether or not he justified the
description had OF him l am unable to say.
never set eyes upon the good man, and for
aught know he may have been q journal
Istic Mrs. Harris with a gift Of regularly
drawing $50 month and receipting therefor
In Frenchy chirography.
STRUCK ANOTHER sNAG.
Before the first issue we Il use the plural as
referring not to Malabouche, but to my able
associate, Mr.. Albert C. Ives, formerly of Tie
New York Times struck another snag. To
properly herald the coming birth a quantity
OF posters had been prepared for placarding
the vacant walls of Paris. 1t was our ur-
tutored American idea that to order and pay
for few thousand flaming bills, and to hire
men to stick them to the walls, comprised all
the process necessary Tor this pleasing form
Of attracting public attention. Ingenious
b1rbarians that We were we had fallen into
new errors. First, we narrowly escaped ar
rest for afil1ing one of the placarls to cur
own premises without previously having it
stamped with the Official stamp. Every bill
must, under penalty of the law bear The gov
eminent stamp as conspicuously as though it
were going to be sent by mail. The stamps
vary IN price according to the size Of the
poster, but the rule is rigid and the penalty
Tor It's infringement severe. Further than
this, good part of our stock OF placards were
seized because, forsooth, tie announcements
had been printed upon white paperl The use
of white paper is reserved by the French re-
public to itself for such proclarnations or
other announcements SIS it finds necessary to
piacard about the capital Red we could rse
or blue or peagreen or any shade of color
whatsoever that might please our aesthetic
fancy, but the posters which we had pre-
sunlod TO order printed in black and white
must be destroyed, and destroyed they were,
ruthessly.
When the paper had been running about
two months we made the announcement,
based on a careful canvass of the lios!ls, OF.
news stands, that our circulation in the city
OF Paris WIS six times as large as that of our
venerable rival. The said rival had meantime
reduced its price from eight to four cents q
copy, applied for a special wire to London,
and actually taken to printing sporadic items
Of news. Our statement of comparative cir
culation was printed in tabular form, based
upon the actual sales Of the kiosks. The
figures were carefully verified before publica-
ton. Thcy showed conclusively that the
Paris sale of The Morning News versus that of
Ga9lignani YVES six against one. But though
this statement was true, it was, according to
French law, illegal. We were promptly sued
by the enemy, who estimated his damages at
20,0G0 francs ga Goo.
4 LONG LAW SUIT
Tho law under which our behavior had be-
como actio2ablc was that of concurrence de-
loyalo or unfair competition We might
say whatever we chose with regard to our
own circulation. but we must not make COM
parsons derogatory to our neighbors. A long
lawsuit followed. The truth Of our statement
was not questioned--did not, in fact, enter
into consideration at all The only point at
issue was that We had made comparisons
odious and presumably damaging to our rival
Accordingly the tribunal decided against Us,
and We were mulcted.
Another litigation was that with II. Glenn
enceau. had sent reporter to interview
the great Radical leader and had satisfied
myself of the genuineness of the interview.
In it occurred the expression ''cliques tap
accuses NOISY cliques), applied by NJ. Glenn
enceau TO q section of his own political fol-
lowing. The anti Clemenceau papers got
hold of this phrase and used it with decided
effect. A few days afterward / received
word from Clemenceau that we must deny
the whole interview. l replied that 1 would
modify am part of it upon II. Clemenceau's
authority, but that to stultify ourselves by
swallowing the entire story, even to the fact
that On interview had taken place, was quite
out OF the question. Thereupon suit was
brought against NE, damages being laid at
100, 900 francs. The French courts decided
in Clemenceau,s favor Il did not appear TO
be at all a question Of fact as based upon the
evidence. The undisputed testimony as to
the occurrence of an interview did not ap-
parently come within the purview Of the
court. 1t was simply assumed TO be the
right of II. Clemenceau to insist upon any
retraction be wished Had he chosen to ask
US to deny not only the fact that he had been
interviewed but even that such paper as
The Morning News existed, ] am inclined to
think the law would have sustained him.
St Louis Dispatch
Tricks in New York BarTooms.
''Sorne of the saloon tricks are very inge-
NOUS and amusing" said Broadway bar
tender. Most people practice them merely