The record-union., 1893-11-06
DEPRWs IDEA OF NEWS.
Chauncey Holds That n Railroad Man
Must Read .JudiciouSIy.


Chauncey NJ. Depew was asked the
other day by a New York jF0rtd man
what news in his opinion should be given
to the daily papers and how 1t should be
treated. Speaking as railroad man, Dr..
DepeW replied as follows:
The railroad man looks first at the
freight movement of the country and its
distribution over the various lines. The
crops, with the acreage and probable
yield, attract his attention. The finan-
cial news is important because he knows
that ii there is plenty of money to move
the crops and the banks can afford to be
easy with their customers it means a free
shipment Of freight at goOd rates. He
will naturally cast his eye over the stock
quotations to see how the pubic values
the shares of his company. Some rail-
road men are said to be interested from
time to time in the value of the shares of
other companies, but that is nero rumor
The prospect of agricultural fairs and the
condition OF summer watering places,
together with events Of all kinds which
will cause masses of people to travel are
matters Of daily importance.
Having read and absorbed the news
that belongs particularly TO his business,
the railroad man is conscious OF the fact
that he is expected to know as much
about the business Of everybody else as
ne does about his own. | do not mean
this in tho Paul Pry sense, but a general
knowledge of the Woolen the iron, the
cotton, the coal, the coke. the oil, the
wood and other industries. Above all
other vOcations he is a farmer, and can
deliver an agricultural address with much
more profit to his hearers than he can
cultivate farm with profit to himself.
The railroad man must necessarily be a
politician. Politicians i'll the Legislature,
in Congress, in railway commissions and
in municipal offices have the most extern
Sive powers over the corporation. They
can curtail its operations, limit its earn
ings and wreck it. But beyond the field
OF practical politics it is hardly possible
for any legislation to be had which does
not directly or indirectly affect the rail
roads. Legislation win open mines or
close them. will keep factories and fur
naces busy or otherwise, and these are
the main factors in the gross earnings of
a railway company. Legislation may
embark the State or Government upon
great schemes OF internal improvement
or stop those which are already in exist
ence. Here is another large field for rev.
enue, or the reverse, to transportation
corporations.
The railway manager needs also to be
we'll versed in the laws of the several
States and OF the United States, so far us
Cucy dilStb tOI iJOl dLlOilo, anu W hSGp CIIS
run OF the changes which are made at the
recurring annual sessions. The railway
manager in looking after the health of
bis depOts and offices reads the articles
upon drainage and sanitation. In study
ing the comfort aud physical and moral
health Of his employees he reads every
thing which will post him for his adj
dresses at the railroad mems meetings
when the occasion requiI es. Inventions
of every kind, from new motor to a
spike, from an improvement in a lathe to
a ventilator in a car window, may or may
not be important to his company, and he
reads about it to see.
The sum of the whole matter is that
the railroad man as a rule takes all the
newspapers, reads about everything there
is in each of them, acquires faculty Tor
doing it very rapidly, and then peruses
the leading editorial in the paper of OPP
posite political faith to tone him up, and
the one in the journal OF his own faith to
tone him down. No practical journalist
knows more OF what is in newspaper
than practical railroad man."