Rock Island Argus., 1895-12-02
. REAL JOURNALIST.
LIKE ,ae POET he IS BORN, NOT
MANUFACTURED.

LIKE ,He POET he IS BORN, NOT
MANUFACTURED.
Ne Set Rules % Govern His PSctarssq1s
Career, Yet He II the Man VINO Controls
the worid-Capscities Required to OBJ
taln . Plsee In JournalisD.
Can journalism be learned by rules?
This question as to whether journalism
can ever become a normal career, like
other recognized careers, has always
haunted and even, I may say, besieged
me. And indeed it would be strange If
this were not the case. For the knowl-
edge requisite to make q pair of boots,
or q hat, or pair Of gloves may be
taught according to established princi.
Piles and fixed rules; by dissection Of
the dead human body may be discover
ed the laws Of medicine and the best
methods Of curing the living; a lawyer
may learn in the schools the modes Of
procedure and exact precedents Of his
profession /; the art Of war, its rules and
precepts-indeed throughout the entire
list of human professions there is for
each a special series Of laws and condi-
tions by knowledge Of which he who
enters as an apprentice may go out, by
slow degrees of advahcement, a master.
But in journalism alone among pro-
fessions this is not the case. In this
career there is no body of doctrine, no
series of fixed rules, apparently no pos
sible method Of instruction.
Nowhere has there been an attempt
to establish such laws, nowhere has
there as yet been q school for journal
ist apprentices, where they might learn
precise rules for their profession or OBJ
tain recognized basis Of preliminary
and Indispensable knowledge, and yet
journalism governs the world and is be-
coRing daily more and more inf1uen-
tial power. The problem is really press
ing. and even because Of its very diff
Guilty fascinating to the mind.
Men who cannot make up their minds
to follow another's lead along path to
be traced slowly, step by step, often
leave the slower and more regular pro-
fessions to enter journalism, much as
formerly mercenaries engaged them
selves to this and that foreign army,
quite willing to fight at random on the
morrow against an enemy whose very
existence the night before was unknown
to them. Once become journalists, they
change their newspaper, ,as formerly they
changed their profession or career.
| S~,v 10
the political journal to the journal Of
satire. They become ut will reporters,
chrOniclers, art critics, literary review
ers, not seeking in any way to study the
course of events, the drift of the times
buf, ON the other hand, fitting all con
temporary ideas and events to the meas
ure of their own personal temperament
SO that an event or problem, thus treated
according to the fancy of q journalist
sort of regard for it's real character. In
stead of describing it as it is, establish
ing the principle which it illustrates
they scatter abroad confusion and pro
duce in the public mind q conditio,
Of uncertain kalei5loecopic eclecticisn
which is the negation Of all really au
thoritative opinion and the destroyer o
all conviction.
To obtain q place in journalism al
entire series Of capacities is required, al
to be summed up, but not defined, il
the single word talent. The absolutel
ignorant, men without imagination
without intelligence, without the gif
of assimilation, without, let me add
audacity and gayety, cannot obtain
place, cannot succeed in journalism.
The man who would enter school Q
journalism should feel h positive "call
to this vocation, should have in him th
unwearying vigilance which is an absc
lutte condition Of it, the love Of DANCE
-of civil danger, that is-and real peri
o boundless curiosity and love for truth
and a special and marked facility {
rapid assimilatio and comprehension.
Take a young man possessing the fir
scholarly diplomas in his country.
he enjoys good health; IL he has til
free use of all his bodily faculties;
he sees and hears accurately and know
how to express quickly what he heal
and sees. then, if he Sishes to be joul
| uauSt, TAKE MIN III LVIu. undertake III
education, give him that general equil
ment fitted FOR the various forms of ba
tie which such q career implies, and
you do not make a great journalist Z
him you will, at all events, make Oh
who can easily stand comparison wit
= any, even the most authoritative prot
!. uct Of the utterly disorganized journa
ism Of today. But you will do MOI
than this. Ycu will have created typ
one Of a special class, now isolated an
rare, but soon to increase and multipl
7 the type of the journalist-elec
standing head and shoulders above Il
Il common stream of contemporary jou
! nalists. In other professions those WI
issue from a special school, with a sp
!. cial training, are a model for those le
|: favored by fortune. They precede al
!. guide the latter, and, with the rare
q exceptions. always maintain their lea
8 So it must be in journalism whenev