The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-05-15
THE MORNING PAPER.
How the Worlds News is Prepared for
the American Brea kfast Table.


Writer:
Pass but one night in the office Of q
metropolitan daily, and your apprecia'
ton OF your breakfast paper will be
| heightened tenfold. Say it is o'clock
The night editor and his assistants have
| begun their labors. There is the list oil
the city editor, showing where the local
men are assigned. He has covered every
available spot for neWs,-the theatres,
/ bathrooms, meetings, weddings. His
| scouts are at the hotels, lying in wait for
! notable arrivals; his detective reporters
! are out among the police and inspectors,
watching for the latest criminal news.
| The water front is covered, the hospitals
! are looked after, and he is ready for the
night. The general directions from the
managing editor are also there. He ex.
| poets ''stories" from correspondents the
world over, who have been instructed to
send in their matter. He wishes such
local event to be well placed, and to be
'given good show" Other general
instructions are given, and the night
editor is left to his fate. All night long
he receives "queries" from COrrespOn-
dents offering the best news in their
localities. He must get all the news
into his paper, advertisements, and other
matter, such as editorials, to the con-
trary Notwithstanding. He governs him
self accordingly.
GA steamer has arrived here with the
latest news from Samoa. l can give you
1000 words" wires the San Francisco
correspondent.
Boil it into 200, and rush it," is the
night editors answer.
"There are negro troubles. with sew
eral dead ,-graphic story, lis flashed
from the New Orleans man.
mo, thank you the Associated Press
will cover it for us, - is wired back.
Now the st. Louis man has walked up.
He has the story of an unknown Boston
ian who was found dead in the street.
Immediately he is told to wire full par
ticulars, with any facts that may assist
at Identification, and the detective re-
pOrters in Boston are put at work.
So all night long the editor in charge
is kept informed of the dOings Of the
world, and at a moments notice he may
reach thousands OF miles for tempting
bit of news. At midnight the office is at
it's busiest. At that hour news is pour
ing in from all quarters, local, New
England, foreign, Washington, and gen
eral. Every "stOry' must be watched.
Untruths must be eradicated, doubtful
facts verified, libellOus utterances avoid
ed, badly-WTitten matter rewritten, and
comprehensive headlines placed over
every article.
Great pieces of news, as a general
thing, come most unexpectedly. A
modest despatch was received from
Savannah, on a night that was unusually
quiet, from a news editors point of view,
saving that all the country there had
been shaken by an earthquake, and that
Charleston, South Carolina, seemed to !
no lost oil annnnptinT with hnr nnItPh- |
boring cities. 1t was after midnight
when the despatch arrived, and set the
night editors of all the dailies at work. |
Something must be the matter at Char |
lesion, and they would not quit until J
they found out what it WAS. Before !
many hours the country knew that that |
great city had been almost totally |
wrecked by the now famous earthquake. |
So it was with the great blizzard in !
New York last March. Every night |
editor knew that there was great storm |
raging in New York City when he left !
his desk that Monday morning. Monday |
night he came back and heard that the |
city might have been totally destroyed |
as far as was known in Boston, for the !
storm had cut off all communication. I
Last Christmas night was an unusually
quiet news night in Boston, until shortly
before II o'clock word came that the
town of MarbIehead was being destroyed
by fire. Reporters were sent immedi-
ately on a special engine, and the Globe
got the news.
Such are some of the incidents of
night at the news desk III the office of
big Boston daily. In the composing
room fifty or sixty men must be supplied !
with copy. Say it is getting toward 40 !
O'Clock a. M, time for the first edition. |
Galley after galley of pen pictures has
passed from the hands of the devil to |
the proof reader, thence to the correct |
men, thence to the form. Page after
page has been made up, pushed to the |
and then the plates rushed |
to the press room. 1t is 2 40 O'Clock, |
and the last page of the country edition |
has left the room. There is still the city !
edition, which contains the very latest !
news, and which must 90 to press at |
3 80. The forms of the first and second |
pages are generally changed for this edi- /
ton. Those matters of especial interest |
to the country reader, and of but little |
interest in the city, are removed, and |
the latest news is substituted. 1t is near !
closing time. Good night has come |
from the Associated Press the hundreds |
of special correspondents have sent in |
their "no more; the local men have |
passed III IuSlE ldSI SnC0lSJ IilG copy /
cutter in the compOsing-room has heard !
the welcome ring OF three bells; the last |
form has been locked; the last page !
Good night" has passed through the |
upper stories. In the basement, where |
the presses are, all is hustle and excite
ment. The pressmen are in and out |
under their giant pets, oiling the wheels |
and preparing for the last run. They |
climb up on the side, and, fitting on the !
cylindrical stereotype plates, they seem |
like careful hostlers saddling a mighty
steed for a battle of life and death. The |
great endless rolls of paper, still blank
and meaningless, are slung to the sliding
cranes, and rolled with ponderous slow
ness to their proper stations at the ends
OF the presses. AT last the signal comes.
Slowly at FIRST, and with frequent stops
to make the delicate adjustments that
will add the last finishing touches to the
accuracy of the work, the machinery be-
gins it's tremendous task, and soon the
whole building is filled with the clatter,
and the very earth is shaken with the
effort of the great steam presses. The
IT,, Of 10 har II tho waiting