, 1891-11-28
A REPORTERS UNION.
ONE OF THE CRAFT THINKS THEY
SHOULD BE ORGANIZED.

As 1t Now Is, the News Gatherer Ha
to Stand All Kinds of Treatment.
The management of one of the creates
newspapers in New York city recent,
discharged twenty of its reporters at a.
time without u or previous notice
This arbitrary action calls attention t,
the fact that there is no class Of labor il
the market today more completely in tn
power of capital than the industry ant
brains required to collect news and pre-
sent it to the public in a readable shape
In case a capable reporter is discharged
for no fault of his own he has no redress
He cannot, like a printer, call a meeting
of his chapel" and demand that he shall
be reinstated. because he has no organi.
Zation to flee TO in case disaster overtakes
him. There are several reasons why the
reporter is 30 thorough and abject a
slave. In the first place, his ayocation
has no well defined status either as a
trade or a profession. No special train
ing is required to become a reporter.
Almost every young man who has had a
decent elementary education is fitted
after a few weeks training to become q
news gatherer. There are exceptions to
this rule, of course, but in the main it
holds good. The truth of this statement
is proved by the number of men who,
having failed in other professions, seek
refuge in the reportorial ranks.
Besides this there is a glamor about
the reportorial career which leads many
moths to flutter around the candle until
their wings are singed. Then, too, no
avocation pays as much to its apprentices.
The newspaper which has the best regu-
lated system in the country pays its be-
ginners fifteen dollars per week. If the
same young men went into a bank they
would not receive more than half that
sum. AT the end of ten years, however,
all things being equal, their incomes
would be twice that of the newspaper
men. For, contrary to popular belief,
the average income of the ordinary every
day reporter in New York city is not
$1,000 per year. When he has attained
to those figures he has reached his limit
n cannot look forward to any increase
in the future. Nor can he save money
because of the incidental expense he is
subject to in the discharge of his duty.
The question naturally arises in view
of the facts stated above, How Is this
state Of things to be remedied? Several
attempts have been made during the
past ten year; to organize the reporters
into q union, but each of these has fail
ed, mainly through the Indifference of
the men whose interests would be con
served by such an organization. That
there is a need for a reportorial frater-
nifty there can be no question, and that
1t would prove to be of great benefit to
the craft is assured. The very knowl-
edge of the existence of such a union
would be a check upon the abuses now
existing. So long as the reporters stand
isolated from one another and are gov
erned solely by the individual idea, so
long will they be the footballs of those
autocrats who choose to kick them.
In many of the newspaper offices of
New York city the reporters are sub
jected to wrongs which could be easily
rectified if the matters were brought to
the attention Of the proprietors by an or
ganized body instead Of an individual.
There is q moral force in a document
signed by thirty men which is lacking
in the influence of one man. The en-
croachments of capital upon labor are
continual and persistent and must be
AANb Abh boAAoAbO nv
At the present time there Is a society
in existence in New York city called the
Horace Greeley club. 1t was organized
in 1888 and at hat time some of the best
known and most capable reporters and
editors in New York were members of
the society. AT the height of its pros
perity the Horace Greeley club had
thirty members, which was a very fair
nucleus for a large and powerful organi-
zation. But like many similar efforts in
other trades it was allowed to dwindle
away until it has become to all practical
intents and purposes as dead as the
statue of him after whom it was named.
There was some difficulty at the time
when the Horace Greeley club was in
existence regarding its utilization with
other labor organizations. This feeling
was not felt 8 strongly among the
printers as among other artizans, but it
no doubt helped to disintegrate the So
ciety. Opposition such as this from one
class of laboring men to another class of
workers is deeply to be regretted. 1t
undoubtedly grows ont of the foolish
idea SO prevalent that a reporter is a
man who dimes at Delmonico's and
spends his abundant leisure" in the
pursuit of pleasure.
A day with al active reporter would
convince any reasonable man of the alb
surdity of this notion. The reporter
works when other men are asleep. II
employed on a morning paper, as the
majority of them are, he comes in the
house at 2 o'clock in the morning when
his children are asleep, and when he
goes away in the morning they are at
school, SO that often q week will pass
away during which he has had no chance
to see his offspring awake. AS to his
calling or pursuit, it is just as much
labor as carrying bricks. 1t calls for the
highest degree of physical and mental
activity. While the hodcarrier is work
ing only with his muscles, the reporter
is doing his double work with his legs
and his brains.
While it is undoubtedly true OF the
reporter as of other individuals that the
ittest win survive, this principle is brutal
enough without helping it along by
sitting down and coolly watching Its
memorable cruelty. And so, if the re-
porters of the rank and file will come to-
gether and build up the Horace Greeley
club and create similar organizations in