, 1889-02-15

You must visit tho Offices Of the great New
York papers in the evening If you would get
nm idea Of tho colossal enterprises There you
sec about fifty reporters with their news all
ready for print in their hands. Each one In
turn passes before tho heads OF the various
departments, political, literary, dramatic, etc.
what have your asks an editor to tho
first reporter who presents himself
AN Interview with Sarah B~ernhardt."
Every good Half a column. And What
have your he says, turning to the second.
"a report Of John Smith the bankers
case"
Right One column And your
81 have IN account of the presidents forth
coming journey to the south"
"What have you for us this e~veningTn says
the editor to his correspondent in Berlin
Bismarck threatens to send in his ~resignh-
tom
"One column"
"Boulanger has just received an ovation at
Lille. a riot is feared in Paris" wires the
Paris correspondent
"Capitall Send two columns"
"A scandal in Rome. Tho Marchioness OF
n. has run away with her husbands secre-
tary."
Good. Where are they gonef
mo ono knows"
mo matter. Send n good stirring column
all the same"
"Whnt's-his-name, the ~lnancier, has made
of, - ticks the wire from Chicago.
"a column Send report and start on
scent of the fugitive"
When the telegraph has censed ticking and
the crowd Of reporters have departed, the
chief editor, like a ships captain, tho last to
leave the desk, works On. He reads over
everything, sits, corrects, cuts down, adds
to, puts all In order, and towards Q O'Clock in
the morning gives the order to print, and
goes home.
But, once more, all this is nothing. 1t is in
the Sundays issue hal you have tho crown
ing feat of journalistic enterprise-thirty or
thirty-two pages Of kilograms, articles, essays
on politics, the drama, literature, pictures,
the fashions; anecdotes, bons mots, inter
views, stories for children, poetry, biogra-
phlcs, chats on science-the whole illustrated
with portraits, sketches of interesting places
mentioned in tho text, caricatures, etc, etc
All this for the sum Of three cents.
Every little town Of n thousand to fifteen
hundred inhabitants has its two newspapers,
ono Democratic, the other Republican. For
lively reading, take up these papers during
tho electoral struggle that terminates with
tho installation Of a new president at the
White House. The names of some Of them
will suffice TO give you an idea OF tho style of
tho contents; very favorite names are The
Paralyzcr, Tho Rustler, The Cyclone, The
Prairie Dog, The Bazoo, Tho Lucifer, The
Bundle of Sticks, Tho Thunderer, Tho Earth
quake. saw and read a copy of tho sheet
which rojoiced in tho name of Bundle of
Sticks. The first article contained advice to
a certain Joseph Muller, who, instead OF
working, had taken up street preaching and
house to house prayer; ave give Joseph
Muller a fortnight to find some honorable
employment. II at the end of that time he
is stin leading III idle life, we will find an ex-
allied position for him. Tho joke makes one
shudder when one thinks that, If Joseph
should turn n deaf ear to the warning, he is
quite sure to DO hung by his townsmen to the
highest branch of some tree In the town.
Tn characteristic of now societies is freedom
of speech as well as of action. l read In some
Thundorer the following lines about the edi-
tor OF Tho Lightning, the other newspaper of
the town: wish to Use moderation and
to keep within tho limits of good breeding.
We will only go so far us to say that person
ally he is II sneak, and that as a journalist he
is a liar and a scoundrol." The Lightning
replies in the same strain, and tho public gets
amusement for tho moderate sum of one or
two cents.
During the whole time / was in America
Mr.. Pulitzer, proprietor of The New York
World, and Mr.. Charles A Dana, editor of
The Sun, ono of the most accomplished jour
~nalists, were day after day calling each other
such names Us 'robber,n "liar,n mort
gagged" dirty jew"
Do not, however, draw hasty conclusions
from this do not know Mr.. Pulitzer per
sonally, but have tho pleasure of knowing
Col Cockerill, chief editor of The World,
and Mr.. Dana, OF The Sun In private life
they are perfect gentlemen and men of great
talent Mr. Dana is ono of the greatest schol-
airs in America). In public life they are in
the swim, they go with the tide. As a study
of English the polemic of The World and
The Sun was most interesting.
The American press was divided into two
camps, the partisans of Pulitzer and the par
tisans Of Dana Whenever the combatants
were driven up for want OF fresh epithets OF
the requisite strength, their supporters sug-
ested some to them. Here arc some congrat-
u~lations, addressed to Mr.. Dana, which l
read in The st. Louis Globe:
at was from beginning to end The Suns
stiletto against Tho Worlds meat ak, and, as
is always the case, tho meat AK camo out sec.
ond best. The literature of invective con-
tains nothing finer than some of The Suns
attacks on Tho World, and tho literature of
tho gutter contains nothing moro feeble than
Tho Worlds defense. The Sun dealt out
prussic acid by tho drop, and The World re
piled with rough ON rats by the pound. The
f~latulent anger of Pulitzer was completely
overwhelmed by the concentrated venom of
Dana"
II l were asked TO namo the most amusing
papers published in the United States, /
should not hesitate to award the palm to The
Detroit Free Press and The Omaha World;
in these two, American humor reveals itself
in all its spontaneous gayety, and their drol
lories are reproduced from New York to San