Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1896-01-27

tain = Place In Journalism.
Can journalism be learned BY rulesi
This question as % whether journalism
can ever become a normal career. like
other recognized careers, has always
haunted and even. may say. besieged
me. And indeed il would be strange il
this we're not the case. For the nowl-
edge requisite 70 make pair Of boots.
or hat. OF a pair Of gloves may be
taught according 20 established princi-
pies 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 III the schools the modes OF
procedure and exact precedents Of his
profession the art Of war. its rules and
precep gs-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 ont, by
slow degrees of advancement, master.
But in journalism alone among pro-
LESSONS 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 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-
coming daily more and more infiuen-
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.
They jump from grave to gay, from
the political journal to the journal OF
satire. They become at will reporters,
chroniclers, art critics, literary review
ers, not seeking in any way to study the
course of events, the drift of the times,
but, 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 journalist,
appears tragical or comic, without any
sort of regard for its 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 tho public mind condition
of uncertain kaleidoscope eclecticism
which is the negation Of all really au-
thoritative opinion and the destroyer Of
all conviction.
To obtain a place in journalism an
entire series of capacities is required, all
to be summed up, but not defined, in
the single word talent. The absolutely
ignorant, men without imagination,
without intelligence, without the gift
Of assimilation, without, let me add,
audacity and gayety. cannot obtain a
place, cannot succeed in journalism.
The man who would enter school of
journalism should feel positive "call"
to this vocation, should have in him the
unwearying vigilance which is an abso-
lutte condition of it, the love of danger
of civil danger, that is-and real peril,
a boundless curiosity and love for truth,
and a special and marked facility Of
rapid assimilation and comprehension.
Take young man possessing the first
scholarly diplomas in his country. If
he enjoys good health; if he has the
free use of all his bodily faculties; If
he sees and hears accurately and knows
how to express quickly what he hears
and sees, then, if he wishes TO be jour
nalist, take him in hand, undertake his
education, give him that general equip
ment fitted for the various forms of bat
tie which such a career implies, and if
you do not make a great journalist Of
him you will, at all events, make one
who can easily stand comparison with
any, even the most authoritative prod
uct of the utterly disorganized journal
ism Of today. But you will do more
than this You will have created type,
one of a special class, now isolated and
rare, but soon to increase and multiply
the type of the journalist-elect,
standing head and shoulders above the
common stream of contemporary jour
nalists. In other professions those who
issue from special school. with spe-
cial training. are model for those less
favored by fortune. They precede and
guide the latter, and, with the rarest
exceptions, always maintain their lead.
So it must be in journalism whenever
in any country national school of jour-
nalism shall have been created. M. De
Blowitz.
q.