The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-06
THE LEADING ARTICLE.
Stories About Editors, Most of which
Are Probably Untrue.

| From Cornhill Magazine.
On the vast majority of ne~wspapers-in-
deed. 1 may say on all newspapers without
exc-eption-there Is a permanent stan OF
leader writer's. who must be prepared to
write on any possible subject at a moments
notice. A w~ell-known London jour-
naiist began his career as an ''all-round
man" on a local paper. One day an article
on the agricultural outlook was required.
The journalist protested that he knew moth
ing on farming. What books have you
at homer was the sharp inquiry of the
editor. "a Bible. Shakespeare and a die
tionary," said the leader writer. what
other sources of information do you
want?" returned the editor coolly. @
aheard with the article"
Many good stories are told Of strange
circumstances in which leading articles
AVE been written. A leader writer on an
important daily newspaper in the provinces
was directed by his editor one afternoon
to write on a certain subject. the under
standing being that his article should be
forthcoming not later than midnight. Be-
fore sitting down to his work he came
across convivial companions, and the party
van INV AOofNS AZ an h&tA
happened afterwards our journalist could
not recall when he awoke in the morning
with a painful head and a feeling Of re-
morse. On opening the paper his Jaw
dropped. He found the subject he had
undertaken to write upon the evening be-
fore treated in a very mastery fashion.
On arriving at the office in order to apollo
gize for his omission. he inquired of a sub
editor who wrote the article. why. you
wrote it yourself" was the reply. did L?
Oh, yes, TO be sure: Of course | did" re-
joined the journalist in a dazed way.~ He
subsequently learned that he had gone
back to the office after parting with his
boon companions, sat in his usual chair
and turned out his copy with his usual
facility.
Mr.. John Morley, who was a journalist
before he became a cabinet minister, de-
lighted the journalists at a Press Club
dinner in London a few years ago by max
ing the following photographed con-
fession: at was while l was writing a
leading article for a certain periodical that
/ received a letter from an illustrious
statesman. who was then forming a gov
eminent, offering me a post in his cabi-
net. Gentlemen continued Mr.. Morley, $50
strong in me was the journalistic instinct
that. after accepting the illustrious states
mans offer, | went back and finished that
4 ledQlng drtlcie. AnQ Il can assure you, lie
added, when the applause which greeted
this statement had died away, that
neither the m nor the style of the
latter half of the article fell short of my
usual standard"
Mr.. Cooper. the editor of the Scotsman,
tells, in his autobiography, a story OF how
a leader writer who 1t has been suggested
was the late James Hannay), being pressed
by the printers devil for a leading article,
and having allowed the time to go by in
which he could construct one of his own.
took the scissors, cut out a leader" from
that days Times, pasted il on a sheet of
paper. and, writing on IL the headline.
what Does the Times Mean by This"
sent the whole article as his contribution
to the leading columns of his own journal!
II was printed as a Leader exactly as he
sent 1t in-simply an article from the
Times. headed by the query: "What does
the Times mean by this?
The late Robert Wallace, NJ. p, who
edited the Scotsman before Mr.. Cooper.
was asked early in his career by the editor
of a local paper I'm the north of Scotland
If he would kindly furnish an article on a
light theological topic. Wallace responded
with one bearing the title THE Relations
Between the Presbyterian Churches and
| Modern Thought" When set up the article
made forty columns, and 1t became a puzzle
to the editor and printer how to get rid of
1t. They began by using it I'm pieces, and
whenever the printer said to the editor,
We've got no leader" the reply was, ':Eh,
mon, Just sneck off about a column and a
quarter o. Wallace" In this way the con-
tribution was being used, first working
down from the beginning, then upward
from the end. And, as the story goes,
'.they are at Ii STILL"
MIR. Labouchere INDUCED i'm some rather
disrespectful remarks about leader writer's
in Truth a couple of years age Article
writing is to a great extent trick writing"
he wrote. ITO catch on they must dog
Matte in pointed commonplace. Some per-
sons possess this trick, which is rather an
acquired than a natural gift. 1 have seen
o-ff11Ac rrriftnn w on1innnf n
never saw one which would not have been
more effectively written by a professional
journalist" The last sentence. at all
events, would be confirmed by many edi-
excellent when the eminent statesmen put
their names at the bottom. Otherwise they
are no better. but perhaps a little worse,
than other peoples effusions. Mr.. John
Bright once wrote a leader" for the old
Morning Star, of which he was part pro-
prietor, and the policy of which he con-
trolled. 1t was a very poor thing in the
opinion of the editor, but, of course, lit had
TO be published. The next day a Conserva-
tive newspaper had a reply to the article,
which began: '"The great Tribune has laid
aside his pen, and some miserable hireling
| of the Morning Star has taken 1t up" Mr..
| Bright called at the office of the Morning
Star that afternoon and said, good humor-
eddy, II dent think leader writing can be
my forte" But the suggestion that the
| leader writer's business is TO ''dogmatize
in commonplace" reminds me of another
| story. which, IL is said. the late Master of
| Balliol used to tell. There came to him
one day a great and wealthy Londo news
paper proprietor, who asked him to recon-
mend a young man as n leader writer for
his paper. DR.. Jowett mentioned one who
was a brilliant scholar, another who had
a fine taste in literature. a third who had
! remarkable gifts of style. a fourth VIC
was given TO original thinking. mo, none
of these said the great newspaper pro-
prietor, c-ontemptuously brushing them
| aside. 1.-THE man i want Is the man who
| will write good sense in highly bombastic
| language"
But that view of the composition of a
| leading article does not generally prevail
in newspaper offices. In most offices, in
deed, it is the custom of the editor to draw
his prosaic blue pencil ruthlessly through
the sentences containing the higher flights
of ~eloquence of his leader writer's. mo
dithyrambs, sill yous plait.' Mr.. Morley
would remark dryly. as he returned me my
article with all the most telling passages
struck OUT Mr.. w. L. Stead wrote in a
| character sketch of Mr.. John Morley as
| editor of the Pail Mall Gazette. He was
a great stickler for severity of style and
restraint and sobriety OF expression. He
was always down on my besetting tempta-
ton to bawl. when a word in an ordinary