The Minneapolis journal., 1901-03-01


the fact that the world does its work in
| the daytime and amuses itself in the even
ing. The afternoon paper amuses the
world In the evening with an account OF
what the world has done in the day. A
telegraph editor OF long experience has
| asserted that fully so per cent OF the
worlds important happenings are first
chronicled in the day report. AS an IL
lustration Mr.. Chamberlain referred to
| the Washington news at which the even
| ing papers always get the first chance The
| farther east the source of news the greater
the afternoon papers advantage--on ac-
count of the difference in time. Queen
| Victoria died at $40 p. M Greenwich
time, but Minneapolis papers announced
/ the death in their noon editions The
markets are the afternoon newspapers 6
field. The way in which the Minneapolis
evening papers covered the Hamilton trial
was commented on as evidence or the
evening papers ability to get news to
the people. Nearly all the great deliber-
ative bodies OF the world meet in the day
time. AS for sensational news--which may
occur at any time-it Is, perhaps, evenly
divided between morning and evening pa
pers. But by far the greater share of the
iworld's news originates in the daytime and
should be available for the afternoon pa
| per.
i Discussing the problem of gathering the
/ news quickly, the day OF its appearance,
Mr.. Chamberlain said that it was a con-
stantly changing problem, because the
conditions surrounding 1t are variant.
The afternoon paper solves 1t daily, but
without the cid of the inventor it could
| never have been solved at all. The tele-
phone has, perhaps, done more than any
other invention to make the afternoon pa
per possible. 1t has reduced the margin
of time in the transmission of news to the
city editors desk. At first the telephone
could not be utilized to it's fullest ex-
tent
| The Useful Telephone.
| But every year it becomes more valuable.
The city editor, with his phone close at
hand, now has the whole city within earshot,
If there is a fire, he inquiries OF the nearest
phone how serious it is, and makes his plans
| accordingly. Is prominent man seriously
| Ill? He talks with the doctor about the case.
Does dispatch come from Washington just
| a few minutes before closing time that af-
fects local industry, he interviews the man
| ager Of the leading mill before the dispatch
| is in type. A reporter whom he has assigned
| to interview all the bank presidents or all
| the jobbers, or all the ministers, or many
| prominent citizens on some topic, may sit at
| a desk and with telephone talk with fifty
! persons where he would be able to see FIVE
| personally in the same time. These are but
| instances of the enormous utility of an in
| vention at whose marvellous feats we have
| long since ceased to wonder 1t was the teIe-
phone that made it possible for MINNEAPOLIS
paper to have extras for sale on the streets
within five minutes of the time the jury in
the Hamilton case hac announced its verdict
| 1t is the telephone that makes it possible for
the Minneapolis afternoon papers to cover
| the doings OF the Legislature as fully and as
promptly as their rivals here in St. Paul. In
| short the telephone tremendously increases
! the local sphere of newspaper
| Of late 1t has begun to bring the whole sur
rounding country within reach. The north
west editor now gives his instructions to and
receives items of news from his army OF cor
respondents largely by telephone They are
almost as accessible to him as the reporters
! nre to the city editor. . The telegraph
is quick, but the telephone is instantaneous
Its sphere is constantly widening as the long
distance lines are pushed out through the
| country
Prof. Pupin's Inv ention.
The recent invention of Professor Pupin Of
Columbia University, which he has sold to
| the Bell Telephone company for small for
| tune, promises to widen the sphere Of the
| telephone so prodigously as to stagger the
imagination. This wonderful genius, who
came to America when boy from Servia
who studied mathematics while earning a
establishment, and who has achieved fame
and fortune by sheer force of intellect, has
devised simple plan for the conservation
OF electric currents AT intervals Of say
half a mile along a rrent-carrying wire
he places little secondary coils of wire en-
circling the main one. The current now
instead of leaking off into earth, air or wa
ter, is preserved and strengthened. That is
all there Is to it, but the results are miracu-
lous. New York and London will talk to-
gether as Minneapolis and st. Paul do now.
The Washington correspondent will call UP
his home Office and dictate his stuff to a
stenographer without even waiting to write
it out. The civilized world, in short will be
| contracted so that the afternoon newspaper
can cover the earth and not half try. There
will be numerous other equally valuable ap-
plications of the Pupin invention, but its
| effect on the worlds system of communca-
tion-if the scientists may be bel1eYed-wil
be revolutionary
More and More Successful.
And so, as the world moves on, the after
noon newspaper will offer a more and more
successful solution of the problem of which
have spoken. The improvement in its ia
cilties must inevitably continue. Better and
faster machinery is constantly being devised.
Transportation, both within the city and run
ming out of it to the smaller cities and towns
frequent. Minutes are being cut off here
seconds there and with every ieetng minute
that is saved in the making of the newspa-
per, something is gained in it's completeness
and newsiness.
In this hasty survey Of the causes under
lying the Rise of the Afternoon Newspaper"
/ have considered only the twin question of
getting the news and of getting it printed
and distributed. For on these, far as
afternoon newspapers are concerned, hang all
the law and the prophets. Progress in other
directions they share with other newspapers
The afternoon paper is still very far from
being perfect product even in a compare
tive sense. Probaly no one realizes its short
eomings more keenly than those most init
mately concerned in putting it together. The
hot haste with which this daily synthesis is
accomplished increases the liability to error,
and the striving for accuracy on a conscien-
tious afternoon paper is quite as strenuous
as the race against time. But believe that,
with the constant improvement in methods,
machinery and men, the afternoon newspaper
will inevitably outstrip its morning rival and
become the leader in every department OF
| journalistic activity.
MIR. WheelOcIx's Speech.
| Joseph A. Wheelock, editor of the Pio-
neer Press, was introduced as one of the
| few surviving editors of the great and in
teresting period of personal journalism in
which papers attained an important posi-
| tion as the exponents of great editors
views. The association members have
learned to read Mr.. Wheelock's paper for
his opinions and to appreciate his per-
| sonality as revealed in his paper. Mr..
| Wheelock did not make formal address,
but his brief, foreible and thoughtful ut
| terances were received with the closest
attention and consideration. He said in
! part: