Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-09-03
NEWSPAPER MAKERS
THE MAGNETISM THAT THERE IS IN
THE PRoFEssIoN.>


De,ew and His "JslIics--A Tired Lot
Of Reposss,..
I like 10 brag about newspaper men
vhe have done good work, because the
mo- themselves don't like it. For one
Newspaper man to chant the praises of
otsers.of his craft is considered taboo"
aud the very fact of its being tahooed
makes it exceptionally tempting at
times, 80 fyail are We all. The proper
Professional attitude for . newspaper
nan-aesCrding to ccnventiou-is that
Of being always slightly bored and Of
hating sbevs all things to see his own
CT another newspaper mans name in
pxiut. A. to being in love with his pro-
fsssiol-well, that's all right for new
hand inst from college, but now-rats!
Doa't yoa believe word about news
paper work making genuine newspaper
men sirsd. They couldn't keep away
from it ii they tried: If Robinson Cru
zoe lad been a newspaper man, he
wcsld have printed daily edition Of
the Juan Fernandez Castaway in blunt
stick type on the sand in frrnt of his
hut every morning and got eut an extra
vhsn he captured Friday.
And itnust be that age and rank and
station dent serve to benumb this feel
ing. When Sir Edwin Arnold happened
No be i'll ST. Louis few years ago,
sudden Crisis in NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and
Lpgkshnen slaring at each other across
the rugged crests Of the Pamirs, the
"Rcof Of the WorId"-made an inter
view with him of especially timely
vaEs.. 1t eanre into nv days work to
Gee him. and az the Close of the inter-
view he fell to talking about the Incl
dental phases Of 4 possible Russo-Eng-
lish wax
Should such war be declared"
said Sir Edwin, II would instantly 90
to the front for my paper'-the Lon
aen Telesraph-'ands serve as a special
correspondent. 1t is the most fascinat-
ing work i'll the profession, and there is
noIe mere fascinating outsice.''
And a moment later the English poet
and newspaper editor was telling me
that he considered James WhicenIb
Riisy Ae most distinctively national of
living American poets, and that in his
mind Riley ewed much of this 10 the
fact that he was newspaper poet"
instead u q magazine peet.
If l only had DR.. Cbaunoey NJ: De
Pew here to join in this talk about
newspaper men, then you'd begin to
realize what fine fellows they really
are. DR.. Depew coaldn't live without
newspaper men. They visit him in his
private Office in the New York head
quarters Of the New York Central rail-
road, apd they laugh at the1okes in his
afts4 di1ner speeches and boom him for
the presidency of the United States and
for anything else he may desire simply
because they like him and he Fixes
then. The first and only time ever
saw DR. Depew was at the Republican
NATIONAL convention Of 1899 III Mime.
aPoais. whittier DIR. Depew repaired as
enc Of the Big -Four" Of that very
lively convention. Ne was surrounded
sTx'Geep by newspaper correspondents
facing them, tall and irreproachably
sroomed, looking for all the world like
the swell old heavy father in 1.-THE
Bankers Daughter, and giving cat all
the news he consistently could, sup
posc. And when he had exhausted his
budget FOR the time being he turned in
and gave them ''Depew jolly" of the
Pfessvhich was really a daisy in its
line. OF coarse I'm not going to tell
you what he said, because, honestly. il
was bit steep. hut just want to give
yen an idea that would be greatly re-
TnfNrSpG ry.t this t..1l d, 7 II.
Derew here to take hand in it.
Talking of conventions and bearing
N mind my already expressed disbelief
Ill the possibility of newspaper mans
svsr getting tired of newspaper verk,
L want to make kind Of exception.
Ibe tiradest let of newspaper men
eyer saw was at the close of the famous
all night session of the Democratic ma
tIenai convention of that same year.
fs92-in Chicago 1t was the night Of
the great anti-Cleveland fight made BY
TaBmanF in the last ditch; the night
when BouFke Cochran made the great
90 speech OF his life; the night when
such an orator as Daniel of Virginia
was booted from the platform because
the convention was actually too ex-
hausssd to Listen; the night when Cleye.
land was nominated. With one recess,
II l am rot mistaken. the convention
remained in session from 10 o'clock one
morning Until o'clock the next. It
was crucial session.. too, apd kept
correspondents on the alert every mo-
menf. Bonrke Cockran's speech against
Clevelasd was made about $3.50 in the
morning, and a dying man would have
been forced to listen and THRILL at its
eloquent inveotive and mastery sar-
c-asn. Bat after that came the awful
slump of utter WEAKNESS. When the
convention adjourned, day had broken
over Chicago and the streets were gray
IN its early light. White faced and
Imp. the corps Of special correspond
sats almost staggered out. and made
their slsep blind way to their respect
i've hots3s. Fired. Yes, but it was an a
soldier is tired in the trenches. A few
hsurs' sleep and the fight would be re-
sunsd as galfantly as ever.-R. D.
Saunders in 81 Louis Republic.
woodeock Eggs.