Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-12-12
GETTING WAR NEWS.
WHAT 1T COSTS TO GET TO THE
FRONT.
How Dispatches Are Sent Home-The
Correspondent Must Learn to
Rough It-Many Narrow
Escapes.

or less realistic accounts WHICH dpptdi Ill
their morning papers have perhaps never
given much thought as to how such in
telligence is collated and meted out to the
public: and it probably never occurs to
them that while they read the paper in
comfort, the writer may be In dire danger
under shot and shell, seeking a moments
rest after thirty hours of ceaseless excite
ment, or hunting for a meal to satisfy the
%gnawing pangs of hunger.
But such experiences are common to the
war correspondent, who carries his life
in his hands and braves dangers daily such
as few men are ever called upon to face.
Newspaper readers who complain of late
ness of news in time of war can have no
idea of the difficulties under which it is
sent home. The correspondent, after re-
ceivins his Impressions of a battle with
the aid Of the telescope, must frequently
ride 50 or 1O miles before he can put mis-
letter on the wires, and must write as he
rides. Sometimes. if he is fortunate enough
TO get hold of a sensational piece of eX-
elusive news, he will charter a special train
or steamer at immense cost. and pay heavy
special rates for transmission.
But even when this is done. he has no
guarantee that his letter will reach home
for some days. The telegraph is a slow in
strument in war time. and the wires are
nearly always either blocked or engaged.
grams are detained in the postoftice two
or three days. though their
is a matter of the utmost Importance, and
everybody at home is waiting anXiously
for the intelligence contained in them
When at last the telegram is dispatched,
! supposing it is an important one, it rarely
bears much resemblance to the original
copy. The censor does not hesitate to mutt
late the report at his pleasure, and in this
way facts are often entirely reversed.
In the recent war between Greece and
Turkey. for instance, a correspondent
wrote:
1.-The prince this morning rode through
l tho ctrnnfo ,,naHanraI - hut m ranahinu
England the message read: THE prince
this morning rode through the streets loud
ly cheered:" Similarly. in the news of the
it appear that the defeated side had become
victorious.
A war correspondents expenses are. of
course, very heavy. The bicycle will prob
ably be largely used in future wars, but
hitherto the correspondent has depended on
houres and carriages, which can seldom be
! hired under 80 for Il single journey. Then
an interpreter is usually engaged by cor
respondents Of f1rst-class papers. which
brings the bill up considerably. 1t is a fact
that the incidental expenses of one cor
respondentin the recent Eastern war reach
ed $3.50 before fighting had actually COM
menced.
Altogether there were some twenty cor
respondents engaged in wiring their i'm
pressiOnS to all parts of the world. and te!e-
graphic. travelling and living expenses must
have run into the tens Of thousands of
pounds.
The American correspondents spent an
almost unlimited amount, chartering special
steamers with the utmost freedom. The
Times correspondents were paid at the rate
of G1.0O a year. and in addition received
(! n day for expenses.
Or: one occasion Reuters correspondent
| sent home a telegraphic message some 5000
words long. which. as the Geographic rate
was ID a word. must nave cost about go.
ply meant without long delay-was Is Cd
per word.
quite a quarter Of a million words must
| avg haen faInprnnhnd from Athens and
Constantinople during the war, and the
probability is that the total number would
be near half q million. Reckoning it at
only a quarter of a million. however. the
cost of the dispatches. directly and indi-
rectly. could hardly have been less than
Eo2. 900.
1t was not always necessary to travel
eighty miles to send off n telegram. local
stations being sometimes within ten or
twenty miles: but messages could never he
left at local stations with confidence. The
correspondent of Il London paper on ono
occasion. sent off an urgent telegram from
a local postoffice. whence 1t had to he for
warded to Athens on its way to London.
The news was important and exclusive.
and the correspondent pridsd himself on
days later. however. he was breakfastins
with the superintendent of telegraphs in an
Athens hotel. when his copy was brought
to the superintendent for transmission!
The war correspondent must be prepared
to rough it. No downy bed awaits him at
the end of a weary day. He must turn In.
III OH titStIt'u u ltili VI
the front and sleep as lightly as he can.
with a loaded gun at hand. BY the time
the war is over he has almost forgotten to
| undress at night time. His shoes are
scarcely ever off his feet and he sleeps in
his clothes for weeks together. He must
be content with one course for dinner. or
with no dinner at all, perchance. unless he
can shoot something and prepare it himself.
In Thessaly We lived IN lambs which the
soldiers killed. or which we could buy for
5 shillings. 1t was not usually diff
cult to get under cover at night. The peas
ants invariably fled before the advance Of
the troops, leaving their little homes al
most intact. What became of the poor
fugitives heaven only knows. but their
stranger in that strange and troubled land.
/ have never met anybody after returning
from the seat of war who has not been
curious to know what war is like. With
the recent war fresh in my mind. 1t seems
to me that as a spectacle the best COM
opera, viewed through the reverse end of
an opera glass. War is like that.
IT is sublime-as n specialization a dis
lance. 1t Is when you get nearer the fight
ing that you realize the sickening horror
of it all. One mani Greek officer-fell
dead within three feet of me I brought
away the piece of shell which killed him.
His fellow officers picked him up and kissed
him. and he was carried away.
1t is a terrible thing to see a man killed
in war. I saw the light fade out of the SOL
dier's face, and he looked like a wax figure.
rather than Il man VINO lad been leading
men a moment before.
when passing through a ravine I suddenly
heard firing. and on charging from the
narrow pass I discovered that ! was the