The morning call., 1893-08-06
Reporting in Parliament
Past and Present.
ADVANCES OF JOURNALISM.
Some of the Most Notable Men
Dropping Out of the
Ranks.
Written for THE MORNING CALL.

Two men of mark. connected for many
years most intimately with the press gal
lery of the British Parliament, have passed
away this year. Their departure. and that
of few other men whose turn" Is now
eternal sleep, constitutes severance with
a. past in journalistic history which is
greatly in oDtrast with the present pulled
out. consequential pride Of professional
status. in virtue of the recognition of
which British editor is positively a re-
spectacle man, who does not skulk in and
ont of the back doors of the great for in
formation surreptitously conveyed, and a
British reporter has not only shaken of
scurrilous traditions of humility and OBJ.
seQuiousness. but has, in the financial
aspect better prospects than most clergy
men or doctors. and may vault into fortune
as barrister.
1t was not always thus. When George
Busy and John Butler joined the press it
was still very Bohemian profession. with
precariOus rewards, certalDty of being
plnched to live on meager salary. or the
windfalls of chance penny-a-lining on
murders. trials and accidents, and nause-
Gus amount of contumely 10 encounter
from naughty ofticialdom and purse-pr0ud
wealth.
The press was not then the power it has
become. The Times and the Morning Post
and the Morning Chronicle had name.
Two of them ngnre quite frequently in
Thackeray's fiction, and Dickens had some
reason to remember the o Their. having been
for time on its parliamentary staff. But
the provincial press was OF little weight,
save locally, each paper within lis district,
and not one had London office or London
correspondent. or had a report OF proceed
Dgs in Parliament that 1t could call its
own. There was yet flavor OF Grub
street and poverty even about the press in
London, but with much clever, pungent.
ldlomatlc, courageous writing going
straight to the target. according to the
light of the time. The tide of foreign
news had rot begun to flow, and there was
little TASTE for il, either. The sheets were
small, the circulation small, the adver-
tlsementS few, postage dear, stamp duty
weighted both paper and advertisements.
and the law hung heavy as letters round
both editor and proprietor.
Those were the times that tried the
editorial zeal, and good men cams to the
front and buffeted their way 70 better
treatment and happier-well. perhaps not
happier. but other days. There is now an
institute Of journalists with a membership
If thousands and several hundred full
t1edged Fellows. Some Of The mem berS
ARE baronets and Others are knights, and
plain Mrs. Smith is Lady Smith. One
good baronet. Sir Edward Of the Daily
Telegraph, was printers devil, and by
assiduous cultivation of exalted patriot
ism may hope 10 die a peer and found
family Of hereditary legislators. Journal
ism still hauhts Fleet street. but is at home
IN the west end. Did not the clrcumspect
Mr.. Driver write all his letters on club or
House Of Commons paper? And do not
l1aro nfa al md a
belong to the great clubs and rub Shout
ders with the worlds celebrities?
In those far-off days, early ia the '50s,
when George Busy entered Parliament,
the representatives Of the press were eX-
clusiveiy connected with the London pa.
pers. The provincial press did not knock
for admission until long aiterward. and
had much d lfficulty in squeezing in four
teen years ago. Reporting was teen fire
art in judiciuus cOnden satoD, not neces-
sarily giving speakers precise words, but
preserving in pointed sequence his argu-
ment and presenting his salient facts.
Georges father had communicated to his
son some Of his own literary talent, and
he was one Of the most expert shorthand
writers who ever took notes IN the gallery.
To the last he wrote with pen. His notes
in Tayl0T'S system were marvel5 of regu-
larity, the lines filled out neatly, the pages
full. and not blot nor scrawl, no matter
what the speed of the orator or the in
tricacy of his theme.
In transcription he was equally facile.
He seemed to have three heads on his lit
tie shoulders. Those three heads kept sew
eral currents of copy flo wing for the tele-
graph-a verbatim report. half column
or column and an offhand short-dispaich
report, besides occasional special mes
sages. His notes gave him no bother TO
deripher. He could read them off as
No nd hoN honp
it was far from mechanical work. He
could give all or give the points. Without
loo ng at his notes at all he could reel OFF
to listener a judici0us summary on which
an editnrial-writer could get foundation
for his thunder and lightning.
The short meager telegraph reports of
those journalistic times were due to the
heavy cost and the comparative poverty
of the provincial press. Few papers could
afford to do more than procure COM
bined condensed service varying from
lew hundred to two or three thousand
words The London papers did not re-
quire the telegraph. Their staff reporters
took their turn" in the gallery and re-
paired to the Office to transcribe. Years
went by ere the officials had the courtesy
TO provide writing accommodation in the
houses of Parliament
The telegraph was In the hands of COM
panies who of their own initiative under
took to furnish reports both OF Parlla.
mentary proceedings and Of speeches and
other public functions outside of Parlia.
ment. Into this work of the companies
George Busy and John Butler drifted.
and they had one Bee as an associate.
They were known as the three BIS. and
very busy they were and great travellers
after the famous statesmen OF the day.
like Palmerston. Bright. Lord John Rus
sell, Roebuck. Gladstone. Beaconsheld,
Forster, Macaulay, Golden and many
others. >,
The copy" they furnished NAV be said
with truth to have gone to the ends OF the
earth even in those slow times. Their IA
miliar faces at every public gathering were
a glad sight to the statesmen, who had
begun 10 recognize the change from .Addl-
sons day OF essays and pampbleteerinng
to the present epoch of reaching the pub
lie through the daily press. Formerly
statesman appealed to thousands who
could read or hundreds who could listen to
him. Now be has an audience OF hun
dreds of millions, and the telegraph
reaches every town and city in the Uaited
Kingdom, Europe. India and Australia
well nigh simultaneously
Bussv. Butler and Bee saw the begin
ming of this progress. When the telegraph
companies were bought out compulsorlly
by the Government. who made very