The herald., 1897-11-21
THE LAST MAN
And the Part He Plays in Making a
Newspaper

1t is o:15 a. m. A man steps into the
street from big downtown building.
The stars are burning cheerily with old
Jupiter the brightest of all. Luna sheds
her effulgent rays over all the sleeping
city. The man moves toward a light in
the avenue two blocks away. In big
letters of white with red stained glass
background appears a sign which reads
Beer on Draught." AS the man passes
a newspaper building, his attention is at
tracted to two men in the street. One,
with elbow fexed and first digit point
ing to a window in the building. says:
There he is. There he sits all night
long. Wonderful man; wonderful in
tellect. He's the last man to bed "
Indeed! l must beg to differ from you,
my friend. The man who has been read
ing the Beer on Draught' sign is the
last man to bed. He is even now out
skirmishing for lunch and must get
back in a quarter of an hour to start the
report that will enlighten the readers of
the afternoon papers of the doings
sayings, etc. of the world at large. 1t
is 2:30 now; $50 a. m. in New York and
1880 a. m. in London. Do you know.
good people, how the news you read
daily is obtained and disseminated? No.
You have an idea. of course, but you
don't know all about it. To begin with,
there's Mr. Walter Neef in London who
Is the representative of the Associated
Press He having access to the London
Times and other metropolitan journals,
cables that which he considers will be
of interest to American readers.
In New York is Mr. Frank Mack-who,
some say. is none other than CLARA
Belle" whose delightful stories you
have all read. He starts the matter
west and it is kept going until it
reaches Los Angeles. Gen C. A. Boyn-
ton. the noted G. A. II. man who has just
made the excellent address at Chicka-
mauga, delivering the monuments
reared in honor Of the Pennsylvania
regiments to the national battlefield
committee, supplies you with all the
Washington news. Legislative and other
wise.
At Chicago Mr.. Addison c. Thomas
who is known from New York to San
Francisco as Trs. tells you all about the
doings of the Windy city, the pigs at the
stockyards, etc.
At San Francisco Mr. Paul Cowes,
son of Tod Cowles. the veteran journal
list, keeps you informed of all that is
good. bad and Indifferent in the
"metrolopus" of the slope. and last but
not least, is the handsome and genial
Mr.. Fred Truett of your own beautiful
city, who looks after your interest and
booms your delightful climate, fruit, etc,
in the east.
What part in it all does the "last man
play? Why, he's the whole thing. He's
the first on duty and the last to leave.
Without him you would still be in the
dark. Therefore you must appreciate
him. He's the man O. the wire. True
he doesn't cut a very wide sWath in the
social world, or in the financial world
Still he is a necessity without whom
there would not be any daily papers.
He sits in his little corner twelve long
hours every night punching the mill"
in the parlance of the Craft-picking
out sentences from contractions known
as the Phillips code, of which the fol-
lowing is a sample: "Cp opt ap en-.
mix it ncy tt men INST be agd w code" "
What is it you ask? Why, of course,
you don't know, Yet the telegraph man
is supposed to pick it out, whether he
knows what it is or not. Still, there are
those who think the operator must be
infallibe and have every letter right.
while the copy he turns in to the lino-
typer is read and reread before ii goes
to the public
The way news is gathered for use
throughout the country is this For tn.
Pacific coast, San Francisco is the
headquarters. a piece of news that will
be of interest to other papers of the as
sociation is scheduled to San Francisco.
thus:
NO. !. Los A. 100 wds.-Tclegraph
editor falls heir to a million gX at the
Boston oyster house"
Should the management at San Fran
cisco deem it of sufficient importance
he orders the matter sent. As the words
Associated Press imply, the priss as
sociated news is exchanged all over the
United States, unless through its enter
prise some paper has a clean SCOOP
then it very wisely holds back its first
and second editions so that others can
not get the matter until too late for
morning papers.
While all this is taking place the man