Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1892-02-20
THE PRESS GALLERY.
One Of the Most Interesting Spots
in the Capitol Building.
B0w the Washington Correspondents Of
the Metropolitan Papera Gather News
Reciprocity between States-
men 0Ed Scribos.

Especial Washington Letter.1
The press gallery ut this season OF
the year is o kodak camera. The gal
lcry is an automatic machine, and its pho
tographs OF public men and events upon
the door OF the senate and house are
not only instantaneous, but artistic.
The gallery is not only perfect, but
complex machine, containing the most
delicate organism ever invented. Near
ly two hundred men now have the priv
ilcge of the press galleries of the house
and senate and every one OF them Is be.
lieved to.be in a general sense the most
competent man connected with the staff
of the paper which he represents. BE-
cause of this conceded superiority in
the newspaper field these men are Sc
lected above their fellows and sent to
the national capitol to become parts OF
the complex kodak. the gallery.
One ct the popular fallacies In the
newspaper Offices throughout the coun-
try is that all the news Of the day is
gathered by the correspondents from
their seats in the gallery, from which
perch they behold aud portray all the
procee iings of the national Legislature.
As matter of fact the ablest. most ex-
perienccd and most successful CORE
spondents at the national capital are
seldom seen in the press gallery, be-
cause that is not good place to ascer
tain bottom facts concerning current
events. OF course upon great occasions,
such as the obsequies Of a deceased SEN
ator or member Of the supreme court,
the galleries are crowded with the gen
tlemen having seats there, because
only from that vantage ground can
good descriptive articles be written. But
probably only once or twice during an
entire session of congress does such an
event occur.
These privileged newspaper charac'
tiers not only represent the Leading
papers Of the United States, but their
constituencies are worldwide. Sena-
tors represent, in part, great sovereign
states; the representatives represent
congressional districts whose bounda-
ries are circumscribed by a few county
lines; the correspondents represent IN
no small degree not only the 65.oOo,0 GOO
people in the republic, but number OF
them send forth their statements OF
facts and their opinions concerning af,
fairs TO England. France and Canada.
OF course for the purpose of having the
privilege of the gallery, if for no other
sent one of the leading papers of this
country; but in addition to that repre-
scntation he has the privilege, and usu'
ally avails himself of it, of doing for
eign work, whereby an income may bc
| increased or possibly doubled.
None but the most reliable, accurate
| conservative and honorable men can
| represent leading newspapers in the ma
tional capitol. The managing editor in
| San Francisco, New Orleans, St. Paul
| Chicago, New York, Toronto or London
| must be able to feel that his representa-
| tive at the city of Washington is con
| stantly alert, dilirent and careful in his
| representation of the paper; must fee
| that it is not necessary to prod and spul
| him on to do Ibis duty; must feel ant
know that the paper is in the fulles
sense of the term represented wit!
fidelity and skill. Scholastic training
extraordinary talents and ability as dc
scriptive writer's or word weavers. vii
never suffice for a lack of painstalIint
care and constant feeling of persona
responsibility on the part OF CORE
spondcnt. These representatives in thu
press gallery sometimes spend whole
DAYS or even weeks doing almost NJ
work whatever; but that is in all case:
because there is nothing to do and thu
news market is exceedingly dull. Thi
sometimes happens in every city on The
globe No matter whether the CORE
spondent is heard from every day by
wire or not, he must be maintained a
the national capital and his salary goe'
on Just the same. The intelligent ant
dis Eliminating managing editor knows
that when the occasion arrives for ;
tremendous amount of work involving
the ascertainment of facts and the com
pilation of statements involving twent,
thousand words day or more his cor
respondent will represent the pape
with sleepless determination to succeed
at every point. 1t is this quality OF re
liability that makes successful Wash