The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-27

two columns or so devoted to sports
This means. principally, horseracing
and bicycling. The latter is n craze,
increasing rather than diminishing,
and the former has developed within
i've or six years to be very serious
business. There is horseraclng in the
neighborhood of Paris throughout the
year. and there are probably more
punters who make slim living at it
than in any other country.
SERIAL STORIES.
There are several features Of French
papers common to all. First is the
running of continued stories. Each
paper has at least two of these in prog
ress all the time, and some have four;
generally speaking, these stories form
the ground floor of three of the four
pages, and so occpy about one-fourth
of the entire space. Another peculiar
ity is that each paper prints a second
edition, in which it reprints all the
news matter in the first edition of the
others which 1t did not have itself. In
consequence the second edition of
Paris paper Is hodge-podge Of all the
papers. The third popularity is that
nearly all the important political news,
concerning France itself, is received by
the French paper from it's correspond
ent in London, who takes 1t from the
English papers. The London Times,
for instance, has sources of informa-
ton wholly inaccessible to the most
prominent and influential French jour-
nal. Foreign correspondence, too, Is a
| feature comparatively unknown to
| French journalism. All the foreign
news it receives from other than Eng
! lish papers is the half column or so of
| meaEre notes sent out by the news
| agencies. No French paper was ever
| known to receive a special dispatch
from any country outside Of Europe, no
matter how important the news.
Foreign news, however, excites in the
Frenchman very mild interest at best.
Perhaps in no other country is so little
known about other lands and other
| people. Whenever the journalist there
! fore, ventures beyond the national
| boundary there is a mess. Hence,
! French readers are more than likely to
| be furnished with careful information
about the city Of Missouri and the
| state Of San Francisco. The politics
! and photography entering into the
! question are like the geography. The
! ordinary editors knowledge Of the
| United States is easily summed up: 1t
! is a free country; Washington was the
| father Of it, and Lafayette thrashed
| the English for him; Lincoln emancl-
| pated the negroes, who form three
! fourths of the population; it is the land
! of Barnum, the great humbug; all Am
| ericans worship the dollar, and say "All
] ri crht Dh dc
under their chins, chew tobacco while
! sitting in rocking chairs and spit on
the carpet, and dress in black broad
! cloth frocli coats; the girls are fright
| fully free in their ways and want TO
marry French noblemen, and Clara
Ward is the national type: the married
| women are prudes; all Americans are
rich, and the millionaires spend their
spare time either in killing pigs or
| driving railway trains against time;
the great men of the land are Buffalo
| Bill, Edison and Richard Harding Da-
| vis--because Paul Bourget told them
so. Opinions are divided as to the
American government according to the
| politics of the paper, the Republicans
affirming that it is a model govern
ment and the Monarchists that it is
badly organized and short-lived; but
they all believe that Spain could whip
us if she would half try.
ORGANIZATION OF STAFF.
The editorial department of a French
paper is very peculiarly organized
| While the editorial and reportorial
staff Of an American paper of the first
class will contain from so to 100 men
that of a representative Paris paper
will rarely exceed ten. First comes the
editor-in-chief, who is often the prin-
cipal owner, and looks after the policy
Of the paper, and may sometimes write
an editorial-although that is rare, eX,
cept in the case of a man like Roche
fort or Cassagnac, without whom the
papers they edit would have no eX-