Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-29

ment, the last named a newspaper man
OF considerable ability, who was excused
from guard n other military duty in
order to work for the newspaper. He
wrote the editorials, edited telegraph,
was city editor Inc read the proofs.
The telegraph serice was a pony"
service from Hongkong, and the editing
of the two or three cablegrams daily
was merely an incident of the days work.
The telegraph service was far from sat
isfactory. The newspaper constituency
at Hongkong was altogether English.
ana the cablegrams persistently ignored
the news Of peculiar interest to the
Americans and dispatches were received
concerning England's colonial policy.
1t was not until the first of the year
that the paper attained the dignity of
having a city editor. The editor be-
lbnged to one of the volunteer regiments,
and by the grace of his commanding Of
'hcer, now General Funston, he worked six
lays in the week on the newspaper and
dld his regular tour of guard duty on
Sunday until the outbreak, when he sum-
marily resigned.
At the Office Of the captain of the port
n along the water front the news of
the arrival and departure Of vessels was
gathered. Then a visit to the various di-
vision and regimental headquarters, pro-
AN ACNS CCIIclos W1lGIc volunteer CORE.
spondence came thick and fast with I'M
publishable stuff reminiscent Of life on
the ocean wave or descriptive of home in
the barracks. The city editor usually
closed his daily round at the palace
now occupied as the headquarters Of the
american army. 1t vas here that Cen
eral Otis welded he sceptre of abso-
lutte authority, and the ear ~newsgath-
erer made his daily report to the press
censor, and listened to the emphatic or
der not to publish h best news item
during the day. There was no
appeal from the decision Of the press
censor.
An incident occurred which effectually
demonstrated the absolute power of a
military Dictatorship. One Sunday MORN
ing the interesting item appeared in the
local columns Of h American to the
effect that the German merchants had
closed their stores On Saturday afternoon
on a tip from Aguinaldo that the city
was to be attacked. The Germans were
aroused and boycotted the paper, and
within twenty-four hours FIVE of the lead
ing merchants had abruptly terminated
their advertising contracts. With COM
mendable enterprise the paper announced
the boycott and boosted .'still we pub
lish." This further aroused the ire of
the Germans and they appealed to their
home government, with the result that
an order came to General Otis from
Washington demanding that the Ameri-
can make suitable retraction or cease
publication. AS the paper was going to
press Provost General Hughes appeared
n stopped the paper. General Otis
was slhOwn a copy of the order sent out
by the German consul to the merchants
advising them to close, and while Gen.
eral Otis admitted his belief in the state
ment published insisted that an apology
,o,fof no r,n1a ~o<ro ot;o, r,,o. 49,
pared which merely stated that the pa
per had published information not ap-
proved by the military authorities and
that there would be no more transgres-
sions Of that kind. 81
q The foreman of the newsroom was a
with a perpetual grievance. He was
the only American in the room. The
typesetters were Filipinos, and, while
possessed of more than ordinary intelli-
.gence, they did not know a word Of
the English language and could follow
h manuscript.Only by the letters, thus
making it necessary for the plainest writ
ihg. To aid the intelligent, compositor
It was the habit to distinguish 'n'' from
~ by understanding the latter letter.
The p~rOOfreader was a man of nan
troubles. There was no proof press in
the composing room. The proof was IL
terally taken by hand. The damp proof
sheet was spread over the ink smeared
galley and by pressure of the hands the
Impression was made.
The edict of the military authorities
required all residents to vacate the streets
at 1880 o'clock, and the sentinels had or
ders to shoot unwary night providers and
imprison all persons found out on the
street after the legal hours. The eur
few aw made it necessary for the Ameri-
can to go to press the evening before
the paper was delivered. 1t was publish
ed as a morning newspaper.
With all Of it's trials and tribulations
the American commanded good price for
it's advertising. With the outbreak of
February 4 came an end to ~listless life
in the barracks, and with the transfer
of the various regiments to the field and
the firing line came a more active de-
mand for local news. With commendable
enterprise the American maintained cor
respondents with the various army di-
visions and each day the papers were
delivered On the firing line, containing
a full and complete account of the
previous days fighting. Following in the
of the American other newspa-
pers have been established, and still
there is a crying demand for telegraph
news from the states, which will not be
obtained until the establishment of a
competitive cable service.
STATE OF MONTANA, COUNTY OF
Silver Bow-ss:
We the undersigned, do hereby certify