Evening star., 1896-10-31


- work the people Of
the United States will learn with prompt
ness whether Mr.. Mckinley or Mr.. Bryan
will occupy the White House for four years
after March next.
New wires have to be strung, loops run
into houses, instruments provided. old wires
renewed. operators assigned and hundred
and one details looked after that cannot be
put off until the last moment.
The immense volume of telegraph bust
ness taken care of during the national con-
rentions last summer by the telegraph COM
panies has warned them Of what to expect
next Tuesday night. The interest in this
years election is almost unprecedented and
every effort will be made by the dissemina-
tors of news to meet the wants os the
people.
An Evening Star reporter caught tel
egraph Official ct luncheon during the
noon hour one day the past week and Sc
cured an interesting story regarding the
details Of handling election returns.
Ihese things cannot be put off, said
the official, referring to the preparations for
the handling of election news, "as every
minute IS valuable, not only to the COM
pany, but to our customers. What the lat
Ter want Is news, no matter what the cost
and while we are striving to accommodate
them In every particular, as business Or
ganization, we are also looking out for the
money end of the string.
Big Profit for One Night,
very few people realize the enormous
pronts That come to the telegraph COM
pan1es as a result of a national election.
ato give a rough estimate, l believe the
western Union will take in fully 100000
ard that $5ooGO0 will be clean profit This
- l., pretty good profit for one night, but
,1N<,,
10 start with, every special point in a
town or city is assessed from SIS to 500
each, as the circumstances warrant For
instance, IN the west it has been a COM
mon thing on election nights for parties 10
club together, hire a hall to receive the
eiection returns. and charge % cents ad-
mission. The halls are generally packed.
anu proht OF several hundred dollars
usually results. For this service we gen
orally charge 500. On the other hand. a
party of club men will want the service in
private room of their club. and of course
S.o IS only fair price under the circum-
stances so you see, the manager that has
to handle the returns in every town or city
mtSt use considerable business tact and
diplomacy.
"a little figuring on paper will demon
strate how large a clientage the tel
egraPh companies have on election night
Take city like Washington. Every
! newspaper. every club. couple of
every hotel will want the returns. You
know how many there are, and the simple
problem of addition will show how much
money we will set out of the capital city
Then consider the many smaller cities of
say 10000 inhabitants all over the country
ana the vast number of special wires that
Will be called for in cities like New York.
Ch1cago or st. Louis. 1t Is a case where
the people want the news, but you can rest
assured we are more than willing to ac-
commodate them at so much per special
Wire.
Newspaper Specials.
"In addition to the election returns, an
other profitable source Of revenue resulting
from the election that should not be lost
sight Of are the thousands upon thousands
Of private kilograms and specials to the
newspapers There Is not a paper in the
United States of any prominence whatever
that depends solely upon the telegraph
companies for election returns. They have
special correspondents in every state in the
Union located at the headquarters of each
party, and their shreWd summing up sonIe-
times beat our returns fully an hour CIR
more. We sometimes get around this beat
by securing the news from the paper to
which 1t is sent.
1.-The way a telegraph company secures
the election news is from every one of their
agents all over the country being in close
touch with the returning boards. Counties
come nrst, then cities, congressional dis
returns are sent to the chief office In each
state and by that office quickly transmitted
to New York or Chicago, the two chief
centers of distribution.
"At the main offices numerous check
sheets are kept and each return dovetails
in as accurately as could be wished At
New York and Chicago this check-sheet
system Is enlarged to a great extent and in
this way the election battle is followed as
accurately as game of chess or foot ball
If these returns should fall short of being
able to keep the wires busy. our friends,
the newspapers, are called into use, and
their private information, although some
times biased. if properly credited, is keenly
relished by the enthusiastic crowds in front
of the bulletin Sheets
After the returns are received at the
main offices hundreds of copies are dis
tributed over the Office to the nimbIe-fin-
gered operators, who place them on wires
running through the local stations and out
into the country.
Distributing the News.
Take g. wire that will run election night
from New York to Washington. On this
wire will be placed about dozen offices,
taking in, say. Philadelphia, Baltimore. In
Washington this wire will run to the main
Office. and thence to the newspaper offices,
clubs etc. At the main office an operator
is watching this wire, and from it secures
the news. In the other two cities the ar
rangement is the same. We could place q
hundred offices on one wire If necessary,
3 Uul lIleFe Is 100 MUCH TlSk 10 run IN the
way of meeting with poor operator, who,
If he does not get the dots and dashes clear
ly,. will open the wire, thereby stranding all
the other offices on the line and causing a
delay that is almost criminal on such a
night. For this reason we generally as
sign twelve offices to one wire, but on
very important wires run as few as three or
four.
'"ro get the news to the anxious people on
the street requires an extraordinary amount
of work by the newspapers. Take The
Evening Star as an example. On election
night there will be five special wires at
work in its building. One wire will carry
the Western Union returns, another The
Associated Press bulletins, the third wire
will handle the specials from the numerous
correspondents all over the country, and
the fourth wire will carry the Postal re-
turns. and a fifth Will be run In for specials
that will come over the wires Of the latter
company. In addition there will be a long
distance telephone wire, over which mes
sages will come from sll parts of the coun-
try. Each operator will have a special
buAetin writer at his elbow and as the news
flows In 1t will be sifted and boiled down,
SO as to give the people outside the latest
returns In as small a space as possible.
These are the details In the rough that
we have to look after. and for this reason
have been hard at work for the past two
weeks. Calls are coming into the Office al