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


Creelman, Scovel, Bonsal, Davis, with
dozens as good whom the public never
heard Of
But not mere news alone will do to-
day. First. what happened? second.
how did it impress this or the other
man with a name? Thus comes the
problem: What names can you get to
add to your news forces?
Fifty, q hundred newspapers cabled
to Rudyard Kipling: Want you to re-
port the war. Will you?" Three or
four were able to add to their cable:
How much you can have it, however
much" But Kipling would not report
this war. He will wait for the English
war, to tell his tale of Victories. A
good idea-unless England happens to
fight this nation, in which case he
would have to revive Fuzzy WuZZy on
a big scale.
There We're other good names and
valuable men to please the great pub
lie. The World" got Stephen Crane;
the Herald" Richard Harding Davis,
literary name as we'll as a good re-
porter; the Journal" which first sent
Davis to Cuba, got Frederic Rening-
ton and Julian Hawthorne. Nightly in
demand were the great with pen or
pencil.
At first-this secret is told for the
first time-the editor had little hope of
name was handed over to the care of
a trusted reporter to whom was said:
See that this literary Cor artistic) cele-
brity gets near the fighting, see that he
works in hurry. Take what he writes
Cor draWs) away from him and rush IT,
home"
But 10 and behold! all the celebrities
turned out to be natural-bOr repor-
tiers, as eager as any to get near the
lighting and as quick to get their work
ready. That was a blessed revelation
for the sad editor whose time and
money had been often devoted to buy
ing what was not deliVered-the fruit
of genius.
With the destruction of the Maine"
the censorship became a factor. Dis
patch boats were necessary to carry
from Havana news that could no long
er be sent by wire.
Then came the blockade of Havana
more dispatch boats and many plans
for secret landings on Cuban soil near
Havana to inspect the Notifications.
The best work of this kind was done by
Sylvester ScOvel
Suddenly Porto Rico became a CEN
ter of activity. Our fleet started there,
and newspaper dispatch boats must fol-
low to be present at the bombardment
of San Juan
These things must be foreseen and
newspaper. No time to coal or provis-
ion ship for the long trip to Porto
Rico or st. Thomas after the govern
ment starts its fleet. Boats and men
must he ready in advance.
st. Thomas, nearest port to San Juan
not Spanish-is garrisoned with re-
pOrters as soon as the war is declared.
The Hayttan ports are similarly pro-
tected
Santiago replaced Havana as the
probable point Of a naval battle. ia.
maica and Mole ST. Nicholas must be
supplied with very good men, as news
IS bound TO come in there.
When the army began to organize at
Tampa, correspondents of unusual abil-
ity We're needed ready at any moment
to start with the troops, and dispatch
boats kept ready to accompany the
transports.
THE COST OF REPORTING A WAR
The reader may not have gathered
that to report war thoroughly i'm
plies necessarily the command of mon
ey in abundance. For the guidance OF
ambitious capitalists or others who
may think they would like to own
and manage "a great newspaper" a
few figures may he desirable.
The Journal-Which probably Gov
1870 N-A1o w al as COlI pISIGIY ana 0laD-
orately as any othe- newspaper-had
IN commission ten sea-going craft. as
follows: The yachts Anita and BUc-
cancer Ghe Buccaneer was given nv
Mr.. Hearst to the government, armed
and equipped), the steamers Amrum.
Baracoa, Ely, Sylvia, Diamante, and
the tu@boats Echo, Simpson and Bis
cGyne Bay.
The charter of these boats alone
amounted to over $1,000 per day.
The item of cable tolls is able alone
to chill the ardOr Of the would be-news-
paper-creator 1t cost from so cents
to 20 cents per word TO send press mat
ter from such points as st. Thomas,
the Haytian points or Jamaica.
1t cost S1.45 to $3.50 per word for press
cables from Hong Kong. 1t was neces-
sary to keep correspondents posted as
to the principal events Of the war. On
such ages-nOt for publication
no press rate was allOwed.-They cost
sou per word from New York to West
Indian points.
1T IS pleasing to announce that the
war is beneficial in a tinanciai
way to at leas: onc class of
deserving citizens. Day after dav
the little newsboys sold their bundles
o. newspapers as fast as they could
scatter them through the crowds. All
newspapers increased greatly in circu-
a.
ment. The Evening Journal, on one
occasion, printed LOSS geo copies in a
day, and on the same day fell short of
the advance demand by more than 300
OOo copies, despite the possession of the
biggest newspaper printing plant in the
world The profit of the neWshoys on
THIS days sale was just 100 per cent.
amounting for the day to $3.50, a sum
winch must have help settle the home
problems of many naWsboys. 1t must
be said that as factors in the report
ing OF war these newsboys were very
big. Without them and their instan-
taneous distributing power. all the
work would have gone for nothing
MEN IN THE FIELD.
OF the correspondents ashore in Gu
ba, each had his particular branch of
work to look out for. and all were
equipped with horses and commissary
supplies. The more important news
dispatches were not intrusted to cOur-
iers where so much depended on a
message getting through ahead The
correspondent, if possible, carried his
own message to the port where a dis
patch boat awaited to transmit it 10
the cable station. The government has
established a cable office at Playa del
Este. That fortunately is the nearest
point to get a message through. hut
the press Of matter there was so great
that often dispatch boat would go TO
Kingston, 140 miles, really to save time.
Kingston was not even the nearest
cable station, but experience had shown
that matter filed there was better and
more quickly handled than if the land
Wire at Cape Antonio were depended
on, or the French cabla at Mole ST