Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1898-09-03

nual conventions in Spokane last week.
There were in the city more than 200
visiting editors and publishers, and as
many of them were accompanied by mem
bers of their families, the total attend
ance was nearly 400. In the absence of
President Scobey of the Washington AS
ISOLATION, First Vice President Brant of
Vancouver presided. President George b.
Small of Baker City presided at the meet
ing of the Oregon Association. The Ore
gon association selected Astoria as the
next place of meeting, and the Washing
ton association will meet at Seattle next
year.
The associations were entertained by a
musicale for the ladies, trolley ride and
reception for all. At the reception in the
Auditorium Thursday evening, Mayor
Olmsted of Spokane welcomed the WIS.,
itors, which was responded to by j. a. e..
Brant of Vancouver, Wash, and ID. NJ. C..
Gault of Hillsboro, Or. A. z. Tugwell of
Tacoma delivered the grafton and poem,
written for the occasion by Mrs. Ella Hig-
ginson was read. Historian Charles Prosch
reported that in Washington nine new
newspapers had been started during the
wear, and four had died. There are about
$50 papers now published in Washington.
The Excursion.
Friday was occupied by an excursion
on Occur d'Alene lake and a sumptuous
luncheon in a grove on Occur d'Alene
river. During the trip \. w, Durham, ed
itor of the Spokesman Review, made
telling address on Popular Misconcep-
tions About the Press" pointedly treating
of questions which confronted every
owner and publisher of a newspaper He
said:
The public has notion that the editor
should know everything, but does not
know anything. Every newspaper man
knows much he is never given credit for
knowing. OF chief Importance in his art
is the knack of knowing what not to
print. If the newspapers of Spokane should
publish some summer morning all the
shocking facts and secrets they had gath
cred in a single day, there would be trou
bic the next morning on the raging Spo-
kane. There would be heard what Bret
Hart has styled the "petulant pop of the
pistol"
Another mistaken notion is that Horace
Greeley was the only great American
journalist; that since his forceful hand
and great brain ceased to direct the New
York Tribune, the newspaper field has sui
fered irreparable loss. If you will take the
pains to find and examine a copy of the
New York Tribune of 80 years ago, you
will be impressed with the vast advance
made in the American daily newspaper
since Greeley died The New York 1ri-
bune of 80 years ago would not stand up
with daily papers printed now i'll cities of
10000 population or less. The Tribune
was loosely edited, poky in its news ser
vice, annoyingly opinionated, and lacked
snap and enterprise. Horace was an able
man, and he was smart. lie knew when
to die.
Another popular delusion is that the
newspaper worker has an easy and pleas
ing task; that. like the gilded youth OF
Athens, his only concern is to learn and
tell the truth. This popular concep-
ton is long cry from the
truth. The work of writing for
and editing the modern daily paper has
become a task of enormous detail. The
daily paper is put out under whip and
spur, and from one years end to another
the whip is ever singing through the all
and the spur is always in motion. In peace
and in war, in summer and winter, on
Sundays and holidays, the daily paper
must and does make its appearance with
all but unfagging regularity of the sun
Trains may run slow and Jump THEN
schedule entirely, the pastor may close
his church, the lawyer lock his office ana
go fishing, the judges take their long sum
mer vacations, and the merchant may
close his store on Sundays and holidays
but the vast machine which prints oul
daily papers-half of blood and half Of
steel, and all of driving impulse-must
never cease its grinding motion. When the
morning paper is brought in before break
fast on these cool and fragrant summer
mornings, small heed the reader takes Of
the little army that toiled through the
nighttime, working in close rooms and
straining nerve and eyesight beneath the
electric light that the worlds news might
be gathered and weighed and sifted, writ
ten out in correct form for the printer
and condensed so closely in clear-cut head
lines that the hurried business man may
even read as he runs to catch his car.
But the chief of all decisions is the
almost settled conviction that the news
paper owes something to the town which
is not owed by other business enterprises
You are struggling, all, against the cry
ing injustice of that belief.
A Fourth of July celebration, let us
say, has been settled upon by the enter