The Topeka state journal., 1900-03-19


What is it to US whether Kipling wrote
this or John Smith,
His visitors, both newspaper men, were
paralyzed.
why is it," said one. ..that your paper
lacks humor?'
1T is hard to get,' said Mr. Sheldon.
to the surprise of his questioners.
DO you know" said Associate Editor
Chase. a few minutes later in the compos-
ing room, that Mr.. Sheldon has labor
iously gone over columns of humorous
paragraphs clipped from exchanges. He
examines them minuteIy, sentence by
sentence
These paragraphs the ordinary ex-
change man prepares for his paper with
four clips of the shears and the whisk of
the paste brush. All is over and a column
is filed to the delight of all humor-lov-
ing readers. And who should not like a
little nonsense now and then in even the
columns of a religious paper?
Mr.. Sheldon here made a remarkable
statement, giving his idea of gathering
and printing news. He said distinctly
and positively in so many words that he
believed the editor should give his read
ers, not what they. want, but what he
thinks they need
If that is the foundation on which Mr..
Sheldon proposes to place his Christian
daily, will any sane man give him the
million dollars necessary to start it?
@4y OOys SdlQ MI. 0nGlQQu, Wd1ltS my
razor, but I will not give it to him, of
course"
when AIR. Sheldon's boy is old enough
to read a newspaper he should be old
enough to be trusted with his fathers
razor-but not to sharpen pencils with.l
Mr.. Sheldon tonight wrote and admitted
the first paragraph which has appeared
in the columns of his editorial page. This
''squib" was to correct an error, failure
to credit the artist who produced the car
toon which appeared in the initial num-
Der of his paper. William Allen White,
who was one of the visitors, asked Mr..
Sheldon why his paper lacked literary
style. Mr.. Sheldon was inclined to evade
the query, but said that he did not regard
that as of the highest Importance, al
though high.
In referring again to the Kipling story
crumpled on the floor, Mr.. Sheldon said,
rs it worth the while of my readers to
know the condition and status of affairs
in Africa Kipling puts it?''
Stepping into the composing room the
callers met the ad. men in the same alleys
between the cases, where worked few
days ago the unfortunate of ex-
United States Senator PETER, who COM
mitted suicide this morning.
PETER said a compositor, was a
good printer and he set many of the ad-
vertisements which are appearing this
week in the Christian daily"
In the press room was discovered
rather remarkable coincidence: Sheldon is
running the press and Sheldon is running
the paper The former is from Chicago
and came to look after the machinery as
an expert to guard against unusual de-
lays and be ready in case of serious ac-
cidents to the plant To return to the
real Sheldon, he remarked tonight that
the work was extremely interesting. Said
he: 1.-The newspaper business is like the
[ raj h1fSinaSG-a
and change of scene, exciting and inspir-
iting."
That's it," said White, there are edi-
tors in the business in this state who are
in it for the action and the good they
can do They have means Independent of
the product of their minds and presses
Here White named one or two of them.
The associate editor took exceptions to
the list, but the visitors thought the state
ment was true in the main.
The anti-smoking rule works a hard
ship to the force and it is not apart
from the truth to say that this sudden
change of habit is disastrous to the quail
ity of the copy supplied. IN some of the
| Department the men take turns in going
out to enjoy such brands of cigars as the
business office will permit the employe to
buy. Pipes which should have been
thrown in the alley long ago have been
put on the shelf for the week. While
this has been a hardship to the owner of
the briar, his fellow workers have in
wardly thanked Mr.. Sheldon for this iron
clad rule.
Next week the pipes will be taken down,
the cuspidores will be cleaned and
newed for business, the old editor will
| come back, the humorous reporter will re-
| joice at the departure of the blue pencil
which has killed all of his stuff, the tele-
graph editor will again write scare heads,
the devil will continue to pull proofs,
the army of mailers will be mustered out
and the secular Capital will appear with
the morning sun to the old-time delight
| of its readers. The pulpit will again be
| graced by the man with the pen.
1.-THE above it is to be noted, was sent
before Mr.. Popenoe announced that the
| Capital would be continued as Christian
| daily and about which the row is now on
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Lord Roberts refers to Mr. Steyn as