The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-11-05

une composing room miscoiiaheous oopy
and election dispatches other than returns,
and the typesetting machines transform 10
into glittering lines OF type. iater these
metal lines help to I'LL the columns ana
pages Of the great day after election paper.
Down stairs in the local room they have
already received number Of complete
ward, precinct and country town tables.
The totals are taken off for the presiden-
tiaI. gubornatorial and other tables, and
the s'fiimsy'' copy rushed up stairs TO be
put in type. s
1t Is tho next thing to impossible cleo
tion night TO get total votes from all over
the country outside OF the large cities,
where the methods OF counting ana of
transmitting results are much more rapid
than In rural communities. In fact, SO
largely do tho first nights returns consist
of more or less accurate estimates OF piu-
ralities that the best newspaper can do,
at least In its first edition, Is to print piu-
rality tables IL not In it's second edition,
then in its first edition OF the following
day the reader will get uniformly the
showing of total votes received by the op-
posing candidates, with the pluralities as
figured out.
The editorial writer's go home even some
what earlier than usual the afternoon or
election day, but they make up for 1t at
night. when their presence Is required at
the Office TO comment on the all absorbing
news as it finally crystallizes into aseer-
tained facts. Generally an extra plate OF
the editorial page Is required in che second
edition TO correct some of the earlier hg-
ures and make them agree with those re.
ceived later and which will appear in the
news columns
The composing room Is fairly lively
place any night, but election night sees IL
at it's liveliest, especially after or 10
o'clock. When election "copy" begins to
come up, II comes in almost an uninter-
rupted rush until the finish. Never Is the
composing room system OF classification
and expedition put to soverer test, ana
never are the "make up" men more thank
full for the invention Of machine set In
stead of hand set type, especially when It
comes TO putting tabular matter into the
forms. The press and mailing rooms-al-
ways busy plnccs-are buster than usual
election night, for the demand for extra
papers is always enormous and nccessi-
tates an increased force In both depart
ments to meet it,
The liveljest part of election night Is the
period between the first and second edi-
tions, or from to a. IN. After the force
of editors, reporters and statisticians have
snatched hssty lunch Of sandwiches and
coffee brought in from down town res
taurant they resume work on the returns
still piling up before them. Consulting
the proofs of the matter sent out and put
In type earlier, they strike out here, insert
new figures there, kill heading and write
new one, change totals TO conform ia
changes in the tables, cut down articles 70
fit them TO required spaces and continue To
send out new matter in the shape of later
dispatches or new tables Meanwhile tn.
night editor Is scheming out the arrange
ment of his 'open" pages for the second
edition, seeking to improve the old order
and to present the newest and most i'm
portant Developments In the most conspic=
uous way While in the midst of making
up'' he shuts of the supply copy to be
set for the second edition and orders what
ever is to come marked extra" II II
proves of sufficient Importance to warrant
another edition. Finally, about o'clock,
| after pinching an article here, adding O
| piece of election matter there, to fill n col
| umn and using his miscellaneous shorI
nows pieces to fill holes, he sends the pa
| per TO press 1t is IA tradition that the aver
age night editor "sweats blood" on divers
| and sundry occasions and that his temper
at least during working hours, Is not ex
actly angelic. If there is anything tina,
might justify this impression, IL would bt
his exasperating experiences on election
night Chicago Tribune.