Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-03
IN A DUAL ROLE.
THE INTERESTING TALK OF AN
OLD BROOKLYN SCIENTIST.

Once. While Journalist, He Edited Two
Opposing Daily Papers in Holland-The
Amusing Story of His Experience-A
Huge Journalistic Joke.
sit was in Zierikzee," DR. P H. Van der
Weyde began, after a prolonged paroxysm
of as merry laughter as ever was heard. Il |
tell you when | was a young man | had |
plenty of fun, but my journalistic career was
the rarest and mellowest experience of my |
life, | was the simultaneous editor not only |
of a scientific magazine, but of two daily |
papers, one published in the morning and the |
other in the evening. The fun of 1t was that
the morning paper was a Conservative or
Royalist journal, while the one printed in
the evening was extremely, extravagantly
Liberal Thus | enjoyed the peculiar felicity
of abusing myself impersonally to my hearts
content, and retaiiatius impersonally in the
following issue Of the opposition journal
Sometimes when the king visited the city
would palaver him in the Conservative paper,
describe his passage along the canals as a
sort of Venetian pageant glorify his retinue,
and set portion of the populace wild with
patriotic fervor On the same evening per-
haps through the Liberal journal, will have
the town by the ears with my ridiculous de
scription of the kings visit, painting the
alleged gondolas as Old mud scows, the ex-
IRENE patriots as fawning ours, the retinue
as uproarious dfunkards, the trappingS as
rinsel and gewgaws and the enthusiasm of
the populace as venting itself in jeers and the
casting of rotten apples and decayed vegeta-
bles at the royal procession. At night, when
| went to my club | would be saluted with
good natured taunts from my friends, such
as 'Ah, hal you caught it this evening, didn't
your Of course | was nearly bursting with
suppressed laughter during all those years,
which formed the happieSt period of my life"
81 infer that Your connection with this
Liberal journal was secret. How did you
manage to preserve your incoguitoi"
''The huge joke was the result f an acct
dental combination of circumstanc, for
which was in no wise responsible While
editing The Tydschrift voor de Wis-en Ma
tuurkunde journal of Mathematics and
Physics, the printer one day suggested that
it was pity the type should be used only
once month, and offered to print daily
paper if would edit it. | consented on con-
dition that my connection with the new
paper should remain secret In this way
The Nieusbode News CARRIER was founded
The only other daily paper in the city, go--
eminent organ subsistlng on patronage,
whose editor dared not maintain that his
soul was his own, was edited with almost
utter imbecility. At that time Qs42 almost
everything was taxed in Holland, and there
was stamp tax of one cent per sheet on
printing paper. This tax was graded accord
ing to the size of the paper, but fragments of
eight inches or less square were not taxed
Therefore we avoided the tax by making The
Nieusbode a sheet lOx6 inches, printed on
both sides. After we had made success
| of the paper-which we sold at about
| two-fifths of cent per copy-the
Conservatives succeeded in having the
legislature pass a bill repeating the
law exempting this small sized paper from
taxation. On the last day OF grace The
| Nieusbode appeared with a cut of skull
and crossbones on one side and weeping
willow over grave on the other. Every
body thought the paper WIS dead and there
was great rejoicing among the municipal
| politicians But We were very much alive.
| On the next evening The Nieusbode, unan-
nounced and unexpected, appeared, greatly
enlarged, paying the full stamp tax, and
selling for 2 cents a copy. The populace
greeted our new appearance rapturously,
and We received great accessions of subscrip
tions and advertising patronage. The gov
eminent officials were thrown .lto a state of
frenzied desperation
But you haven't told me how you were
able to preserve your secret and how you
came to be, chosen editor of the government
paper"
M wife, who is a French lady, was then
teaching a select school in my house. The
daughter of my partner, the printer, who
was one Of the pupils, brought proofs to the
schoolroom twice a dsr, and they were
secretly transferred to Ule. On her return
she carried away the marked slips and fresh
COPY. It thus happened that was known as
the editor OF The Tydschrift voor de Wis-en
| Natuurkunde, but nay connection with The
NieusbOde was not discovered until long after
had come to America.
''Soon after enlargiGZ our paper / received
visit from the secre- AIRY OF tho mayor. He
informed me that he had been authorized by
the common council 10 offer me the position
of editor Of The Courant, the government
organ. The paper was 50 much enfeebied by
the opposition Journal, be said, that Some
thing had to be done TO improve its standing
ana fortunes. | was asJOuuded at the propo-
sition, but, as the salary mentioned was quite
large asked time for reflection. On the ad.
vice of a learned medical friend, who had an
acute relish for joke, l accepted the prof
fered position, without, however, relnquish-
ing my secret labor On The Nieusbode. 1t
thus happened that maintained the dual
role until | was deDosed from the editorship
| of the government ORGAN