The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1891-11-10

managing editor looked over the
other papers in the morning and if he
found news not reported in his paper
an explanation was demanded. One
or two failures cost the delinquent re-
porter his place.
The great rush comes late at night,
particularly when the paper is going
TO press. Invariably large quantity
was set up, which was thrown aside
because there was no room for it. A
reporter will rush to fire, get cover
ed with ashes, water from the en-
gIneS, etc., write up fervid account
OF column or two, and then find it
condensed into three lines in the
morning.
The corresponding system is of
great importance. The correspondents
are on such footing that they can
converse with all public men, and the
public men generally wish to be on
good terms with the correspondents.
When special correspondents are sent
there is always great rivalry (The
speaker told some amusing stories of
rivalries of newspaper men and their
ingenious eXpedients to get reports.
In one case a daily report was given
of private meetings. The reporter
had concealed himself in the garnet
and bored a hole in the ceiling, to
which he applied his ear. Another
reporter got on to the trick and bored
another hole for himself, but the
mortar fell on the head of someone
below, which led to discovery.
The speaker gave a sketch of the
development of the telegraph. In
1851 the New York Associated Press
was formed. Out of this had grown
the Associated Press, which furnished
news to the whole world. It had
leased 10000 miles of wires, and over
these furnished news at an average
cost of l5c. per hundred words. 1t
handled not far from 100000 words
daily, or from 80 to 20 columns of
matter per day, nearly all of which
was used by one paper or another.
Cleveland'S nomination at the st.
Louis convention was posted on the
bulletin boards in San Francisco two
minutes after it was made; indeed,
news of this kind was generally
known in other cities before it was in
the convention, as the reporters were
skillful in tallying, and so knew the
ICSulI III lllllC w IL OClOiO IL
was announced. One of Gladstone's
great speeches few years ago closed
at 10 P. NJ. At 10 p. NJ. New York
time ten columns were set in the New
York papers.
In cases of storms when telegraph
lines were down the news travels
over one of the numerous other
Geographic circuits. Thus New
York and Boston have telegaphed
via Montreal, and Boston heard of
the great blizzard at New York via
London. In this connection the
speaker stated that if a cable were
laid from San Francisco tomorrow
newspapers here would not be able
to furnish any cable messages. This
would be too costly to be possible
with the present constituency of the
papers. OF course, in case of Presi-
Dental election or the death of Queen
Victoria there would be a short mes
sage and even that would be of great
value
The proof reader has a position of
great responsibility. He is answer
able for the typographical correctness
of the whole paper. The London
Times is famous for its accuracy, and
had offered S25 to any of its employees
who would discover any error. Yet 1T
had more than once been detected in
very bad errors.
1t had been denied that journalism
had any place in literature, yet the
two were coming closer tOgethere every
day. Literary finish could not fairly
be expected when so much had to be
written. A reporter wrote thousand
words where the au thor of a novel or
other book wrote hundred. News
paper men in Honolulu had an especi-
ally large quantity to write. Whereas
in other countries a reporter wrote
column, here he often wrote several,
and in one case he knew of eight
having been furnished in single day.
Many distinguished authors had
graduated from journalism. Bret
Harte, Mark Twain aud others began
by writing for the papers. Robert
Louis Stevenson was a constant con-
tributor, and even Howells was now
doing so, though he had formerly
considered it beneath his dignity.
VIM. Mckinley and Senator ingalls,,
as well as other statesmen, could
command almost any price as con-
tributors to the press.
He had been asked whether short
hand was necessary for a journalist.
It was not. There were long hand
reporters as we'll as short hand. But
it was very useful-though difficult to
attain proficiency in-nOt only for
reporter but for other purposes.
If any of the members of the classes
thought of selecting journalism as a
profession, the speaker stated that he
would be happy to converse privately
with them on the subject. Journal
ism did not seem to attract many
young men in Honolulu. Yet it was
a promising profession for those who
were fitted for it.
The speaker commented very brief
ly on the freedom of the Press, stating
that it was too restrained in Homo
lulu, and closed with some hum Orous
lines on that subject.
The lecture was a very interesting
and valuable one, and ELECTED warm
applause. Owing to imperfect redac-
ton of his material, which again was
due-to lack of time, Mr.. Logan was
to omit some of his most |
points, as well as some |
anecdotes.
The next lecture of the course will |
be given by Mr.. ]. n. S. Williams on |
the subject of heat. Mr.. English also |
announced that a class in chemistry |
would be formed.
w. G. Ashley is about to form a
stock company to build the new