The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-22
GETTING THE NEWS.
About thu Beats" Obtained by Wash
ington Correspondents.

lngtOn correspondents
From Hdrpsr's Weekly.
A prolific source of fame to Washing
ton correspondent is the beat" Tn
"beat" may be obtained in a variety of
ways. The most important beat" to the
average editors mind, are usually OF the
least consequence The correspondent who
keeps himself familiar with large questions
and with leading men is able to anticipate
the happening of important eSAnts; but the
striking glory that brings forth the prac-
tical commendation of increased salaries or
golden gifts is the securing Of news that has
been concealed, the unearthing Of scandals
of which nobody knows, the obtaining Of
papers that are supposed TO be confidential,
the pulling forth of secrets of life and states
manship into the light Of publicity.
Some OF the methods by which the glitter
ing beats of the profession have been OBJ
tanned are very interesting. There is re-
membered the man who picked the sermon
from the pocket of the preacher while he
was offering the opening prayer, putting it
at once on the wire, so that the newspaper
readers were satisfied, but the congregation
was disappointed. Correspondents have
done a good many things that are not much
| nicer than this; in other words, they have
been quick to respond to the demands Of
| the home Office.
There was only one correspondent Invited
| TO the wedding of Miss Nellie Grant aud he
was asked as an intimate friend of the fam.
! lily. He did not go, but in some way his
| card got into the possession of an active
shrewd and ambitious young man, who
went to the reception, to the establishment
OF the Presidents family, and described it
| most accurately for his newspaper. His list
| of the presents was feat of memory, and
| he has since said that he visited
! the room where they were displayed
so frequently that he finally excited the sus-
picions of the policeman, who evidently re-
| garded him as one who was bent on thievery.
1t has never been definitely known how
the Tribune correspondents obtained their
advance copy of the Washington treaty I'M
der which the Alabama claims commission
was established, but two Of them, H. j.
Ramsdel and q. l.. White, suffered luxuri-
| GUS imprisonment for 1t In one of the COM
mittee rooms. 1t is supposed that one of
the underlings OF Senator Oliver P. Morton
gave away the copy of the treaty.
The subordinates of the Senate and of the
executive departments, however. are not
the people who always or generally give
away treaties or other diplomatic aud state
secrets. The modification of the Chinese
treaty, recognizing our exclusion laws, was
| negotiated by commission of which Mr..
! Prescott of South Carolina was a member.
| The labors of the commission were known
| to be completed, but, so far as the eager
! correspondents knew, the new treaty had
| not been sent to the Senate for ratification.
| One day a correspondent was walking
| through the Senate chamber and passed Mr.
| Evarts, then Secretary Of State, who was
was talking with Senator Wade Hampton.
| Mr.. Evarts held out his hand in greeting to
the correspondent. who was thus detained
| long enough TO overhear the secretary say to
| the senator:
"Mr. Prescott has certainly not disap-
! pointed u.s."
Instantly the mind of the newspaper man
responded TO the involuntary suggestion,
| and he at once made his ways to the seat of
a senator on whose desk lay the printed
! copy of the Chinese treaty and the ac-
companying correspondence. The pam-
| phlet was marked in PLAIN type, "Con-
| fldentialn
Il want your copy of the Chinese treaty."
said the bold youth.
You can't have it" quoth the senator.
| "But | must
" But you must 90 away now. Come to
| my room this evening"
The young man went, and the senator
told him that he might have anything he
could find on his writing table. He found
the treaty and in less than half an hour it
was on its way to New York and to several
other cities; for the correspondent was gen.
erous, and gave away the treaty to his less
| fortunate brethren, provided, however, that
their papers were not local competitors of
| his own.