Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-01

WHICH Is tlb SuDJeCt VI IlS pdl dSi dpI l.
report. With him ~terseness is a crime,
and the maxim that "brevity is the soul
of wit" is line-killing and penny-de-
.stroying. He has gone to that bourn
whence no traveller returns" in
stead of "he died. terrific conflagra-
for bad fire." or desperate
struggle" for fight will often turn
a line, and therefore bring an additional
penny or tw~opence.
1t is to the liner" we owe such purple
patches as the devouring element"
the Watery a mo motive can be
for rash act" the n~eighboring
religious edifices,' which were always
brought into prominent relief by the
and the "neighborhood' which
used to be thrown into a state of the
utmost co~nsternatiOn," 1.-The vital spark
which was always fleeing, and the "lurid
flames shot up and licked the doomed
edifice with malignant glee." These loud
sounding words and phrases are now
ruthlessly suppressed by the blu pench
of the sub-editor. Yet, owing to the bad
example of the liner" the people that
'partake of refreshments instead of eat
ing and drinking, and the young lady OF
"prepOssessing appearance but-the
liner is always great with his puts
"fashionably attired"-never dressed
still live in the columns of the daily
press.
occasionally lue liz PiotoNCS u
gem of unconscious humor. A report of
the murder of a man named Ducan once
came under my notice in a sub-edltor's
room. THE murderer" wrote the
liner was evidently in quest Of
money, but. luckily, Mr.. Ducan had de-
posted all his funds in the bank the day
before. so that he lost nothing but his
life" Another "liner," describing a street
accident. wrote: The unfortunate vic
tim was taken to Guys hospital, where
he now lies, progressing faVorably, al
though he is sedulously attended by DR..
j. r. Robertson, the resident surgeon,
and some of the leading members of the
medical staff What he meant to con-
vey was that, though the man had been
so dreadfully injured as to require the
services of several doctors, he was pro-
crossing toward recovery. l have also
seen this in a report in a Glasgow news
paper of a shipWreck off the coast of Ayr:
The captain swan ashore, and succeed
ed in also saving the life of his wife. She
vas insured in the Northern Marine In
Surance company for 35,OOO, ana carried
a full cargo of cement
There is one amusing phase of lining"
in vogue in London during the parlia-
mentary recess. It consists in obtaining
expressions of opinion, through the post,
from eminent politicians or other public
men on veXed points of current politics
OF OlleI lldlleIS VI NlutSpIcdu SSl'
Newspaper readers must often notice
in the press letters from men eminent in
politics, science, art and literature, in
reply to anonymous correspondence. Our
leading politicians figure in these COM
munications most frequently. We read
that Lord Salisbury or Mr.. Balfour or
Lord Rosebery or the Duke of Argyll or
the Duke of Devonshire, as the case may
be, has written a letter in reply to a
correspondent" who called his nj
to a statement made in some speech or
letter or newspaper, and requested MS
views on the subject. "A correspondent
is, in almost every instance, a journalist,
whose sole object in a~scertaining the
opinions of our leading politicians on cur
rent events in this manner is to turn an
homes penny.
A liner sits down., and, assuming the
role of an ardent radical, we win say, for
the sake of illustration. writes an epistle.
something like the following, to, say,
Lord Kimberly, Lord Rosebery or Sir
William Harcourt:
"Honored Sir: I am an humble work.
ingman. 1 am a liberal and a home ruler.
Imagine, then, my surprise and indigna-
ton to read in my Sunday paper a speech
made by Mr.. BalfOur, in which ne de-
clares that you,' etc.
The reader will guess the nature or
| what follows. The letter concludes with
a request to the great man to whom 1t is
| addressed to senr the writer a reply, and
ease his mind on this important topic
at the earliest moment. He gets an an
sWer to his letter in two cases u OF
three, and forthwith dispatches copies
of it. with a few Introductory lines or an
explanatory nature, to a large NUMBER
of newspapers A dozen copies OF the
letter are easily made in one writing
with the aid of 'flilnsies' and "black'
and a stylus. If the reply of the eadln
politician is of interest or Importance
if it deals with a phase of the polltlca
question occupying the public mind a
published by all the newspapers to which
it is sent. The general rate of pay 10
matter of the kind is three halfpenc
per line. Some neWspa pers pay only
penny a line, or Is. Cd. or 3s. cd. for tn
~naragraph but Others pay I'd. a line, o
give 5s. Cd. for the paragraph. Thre
]halfpence per line is, however, the aver
age rate of pay, and at that rate GU
friend, the ingenious and enterprlslhi
journalist. often obtains So for the cople
of the letter. OF course, if there be httl
or nothing of interest in the letter, no us
is made of it in the newspaper offices
and II is consigned to the Wastepape
basket. But the production must D
very flat and unimportant to receive ina
fate. The correspondent rarely rams |
, get his copy accepted by some news
papers. especially at the season OF IN
wear which is known in press clrcies d
"the duh season." the big gooSeperf
> season. or 1.-The sea-serpent season.
when there is little news, ana particu
larly political news, going
PAPA MADE HIS POINT.
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