The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-15

suffer- and his compensation is in many
 cases much more liberal, and certainly
 more regular than that of the writer.
 To-day, at the age of thirty, I find
 that can make poor living, grinding
 out "copy" for the first and second-class
 publications. There is bare possibili- ty, but not probability, of some day producing work that will command fan cy prices. But the realization of that hope seems nearly as far off to-day as it did ten wears ago. In order to be sure of the two thousand dollars year, and to relieve the mind of anxiety, it is ne- | cessary to conduct several depart ments'' in newspapers. In this way, I am sure of one thousand dollars year. This work is the poorest sort of ha ck writing. It is drudge to write 1t. There is nothing in it that appeals to | the imagination or fancy; it is little more than mechanical execution of SO l many letters per hour on the typewri- 1 ter. But it must be produced, readers want. it, I suppose, and want the money paid for it. Four mornings out l of the week must be partly sacrificed 70 l this drudgery- just long enough to take I the keen edge off the active, fruitful mind. A syndicate letter must then be ! ground out mere gossipy rehearsal 1 of events that have happened in New I York during the past week. But one l cannot approach this work when Tagged l out; it requires genius of a certain or ] der to produce a readable letter of this character that will oi1tbid others. In I tense rivalry keeps one up to a stand
 ard, below which, if he falls. dismissal
 and an empty pocketbook are the re- wards.
 l This confession is not written for any
 other purpose than to present the life of the average journalist hack" in the l true light If 1t will warn others from I undertaking journalism or literature as a profession, it will not have been writ l ten in vain. The general impression is ! that 1t is easy to write for periodicals,
 and that any cultivated person can thus
 make a thousand or two dollars for pin 1 money. Said minister of my ac- ] quaintance to a fellow-clergyma in my hearing: Tt will pay to employ a ste
 nographer to take down your sermons 1 anu IuueA yuul SlipplHSS. ! ou IeiI
 write for the papers, sand easily make
 enough to pay his salary" In other
 words, You can easily make eight l hundred to one thousand dollars out
 side of your regular professional du- l ties without any experience in hack writing." That minister tried 1t later, and he has not made one hundred dol l lars in two years. A college youth re- marked recently: My ambition is to l become a lawyer, and spend my spare l moments in writing. I ought to make l two thousand dollars a year very east l ly writing, and that will keep me while
 I am working up a practice" Deluded soul! If he makes three hundred dol l lars a year while working up a prac- l tice, he may feel encouraged.
 I In conclusion, I wish to say that l writing for a living is the worst paid l of all professional work, and that the l chances of making more than fifteen l hundred of two thousand dollars a
 year are poor. And to make this l amount you must devote all of your l energies to 1t. It cannot be made a l side issue The side issue in journal l ism and literature does not pay Il ] you have a good income from other | sources, let literature alone except for
 fame and glory. Do not depend upon
 it for money.