The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-25

From the Metropolitan Magazine.
All the energies, vitality, ingenuity,
mental and physical strength of all
the newspaper meu of this country
have been devoted to the war with
Spain Not less intense than the SOL
dier's- desire for victory is the desire
Of the force" upon a newspaper that
that newspaper shall first tell Of the
victory and all its details. To cover
the field Of possible action in advance,
from Manila to Porto Rico; to place the
Tight men in the right places, selecting
The men through intuition: to secure
beats, arrange telegraph facilities; to
get the reWs into the Office first, into
the newspaper first, on the street and
all over the country first; to sift the
kernel Of fact from the mass of ru-
mOrs; to exercise discretion and rea-
sOnable conservatism without falling
behind in the great fight for news
priority and supremacy; to meet the
problems Of a circulation grown sud
denly to be vastly in excess Of me-
chanical facilities; and-for the weaker
neWspapers-tO meet with limited capt.
tai the problem of expense unlimited,
To make mental resource replace the
hard money sineW5 Of newspaper war
reporting. Such have been a few of
tllt DIODltIlS presented ny IulS war 10
American newspaper men, whose pro-
fessiOn as now organized has really
come into existence since the last war
ended
WAR IS NO BLESSING.
The usual citizen, kind but not keen,
knows as little Of the forces that bring
him his news each day as of that which
through other wires brings his electric
light. This citizen, Witnessing the great
sale of newspapers in war time, has
written to the editor in substance this:
Since you make such a lot Of money
out of this war, you ought to do so
and So"
1t viii interest him to learn that
Should a war reported as this has been
continue two years, it would bankrupt
the resources Of every f1rst-class news
paper in New York city. Every news
paper Of the first class has run far
behind since the outbreak of the war.
To one newspaper at least the war has
meant an added expense of more than
S., eco a day-about million dollars a
Yyear-enOugh to eliminate all the
profits Of the most profitable newspa-
per in America-Which at present is
undoubtedly the New York Herald.
Three thousand dollars per day has
been the extra cost Of gathering war
news for the New York Journal. That
sum perhaps represents a maximum
Other newspapers have spent in pro-
portion to their available capital.
For a newspaper, as for a nation, war
has no reward save glory. 1t hurts the
commercial end of the newspaper as of
the iOn-advertisements diminish
1Gg-and it adds greatly to the expense
But every good newspaper in Ameri-
ca was glad Of the chance to make a
fight for the best news; every one has
Il, !
fees.
AS every one has some good reason
for feeling proud of it's achievements,
and as each has undoubtedly at heart
a cGnsOling belief that it has been the
best all are quite happy-although
poorer.
The newspaper which tells at 4 in
the afternoon here what happened in
London at 8 o'clock that same night
has become as much a matter of course
as the thunder storm, the rainbow, the
K-ray CT anything else that has ceased
TO seem marvellous. Nevertheless, the
writer has been convinced by the edi-
tor of this magazine that the public
will be persuaded to read some plain
facts about that particular branch of
neWs-g gathering that comes with a war.
HOME OFFICE PREPARATIONS.
For weeks before the declaration
might come. One at least was sure
that it would-hopad that it would,
and said so.
No newspaper man thought of any
thing but the war, once its coming was
assured.
The first outward sign Of newspaper
feVerlshneSs was a gradual Increase in
the size Of type. The more conserva-
tive newspapers began to look as
though they recognized important news
at sight and the other newspapers grew
to be more and more like aggravated
circus posters. Before the war was
declared the regular sizes of type were
no longer satisfactory. Brass type
could not be got fast enough in GUAM
titles sufficient. Wood type would
swell, break in the steam chest and
spoil the matriX.
The artists drew the type like any
other picture and it was engraved in
any size to suit.
The largest size which won distinct
favor made it impossible to use more
than five letters in the width of a news
paper page.
Soon a new genius was in demand
the man who could think Of short
words with energy and fire in them
suitable for the construction of head
ings.
The fact that there were only three
letters in war" was the greatest bless
ing. Had we had the French "guerre,"
or even the German "Krieg" to deal
with, we should have been lost Before
the type size reached its maximum
WAR Sure" could be put in one line
across a page, and it was put in one
line and howled through the streets by