Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-05-23
THE REPORTER.
A More Important Parsonage Than
Many Persons Seem to Think.

A More Important Parsonage Than
Many Persons Seem to Think.
One Of the features Of civil and mill
tary life Is the unpreparedness Of men
In the presence Of the newspaper re-
porter. Without the reporter, there
might be papers, but not newspapers.
He Is a necessary evil, If he be any
kind Of evil. Those who fight hard
est against him and oppose his mis-
sion are the very ones who, at some
future day, need him most, and 1t Is
they who will work most strenuously
to use him for their purposes. 1t gives
me pleasure to say that we OF the
Fourth Estate are gradually educat-
ing the public In the art Of receiving
newspaper men and treating them with
that courtesy and frankness which the
exigencies Of the hour demand. We
are here to stay. We are friends Of all
good and enemies Of all guile.
One Of the leading reporters in this
city was introduced to a Wall street
broker, man Of no considerable con-
sequence, but much puffed up with
his success as an eighths- nd-quarters
go-between. The introducer had neg
lected to mention that he was report
er, and the conversation was general
Later on the identity Of the gentle
man was exposed, whereupon the bro
ker threw up his hands. exclaiming:
Good, God! A reporter? I'm ruined.
Why didn't you say 80 before you in
troduced him?" The situation was
slightly strained The reporter said
quietly. Don't let that worry you.
In the first place, am not here for
news, ideas or suggestions. In the
second, what you know is not worth
publishing. In the third, nobody out
side Of this Office ever heard Of you,
therefore, what you might say would
be Of no newspaper interest. In the
fourth, carry more Wall street Sc
crets in my memory than you ever
dreamed of-secrets Of big men and
great institutions. You are perfectly.
safe. Good morning"
I'm less than two months, that bro
ker, Enlightened so badly, sent friend
to the reporter begging him to men:
ton an affair in which he personally
was deeply interested. He Is one Of
a numerous class affecting to be holier
than reporters until needing write
up, then groveling. Successful men
in public life, almost without excep-
ton, rely upon the reporter as step
ping stone to high Office. They will
take him into their confidence, steer
him safely between the devil and the
deep sea, help him to earn his salary
by loading him up with news and in
cidentally prosper their own cause. A
combination Of reporters could ruin
any man in the country. Owners of
papers, editors in chief, managing ed
itors and city editors cannot possibly
get in 80 close touch with the average
man as can the reporter; the Office rep
resentative, whom they send out to
hunt for facts in the market place, the
palace, the hovel, the prison, the
church, the wide, wide world.
should like to propose a high
school for the education Of all men on
the subject Of How to Treat a Re-
porter" It would end all friction. Let
the public first understand that the re-
porter. is bound 'tes4av the news at
all risks. If he cannot get 1t at first
hand, he will take it at second or third
or tenth. He is not going back and say
he has failed. Never! He will fake
first-and take the chances Of being
caught or vindicated. On reputable pa
pers, IL caught taking, he loses his job.
No reporter in his right senses wants
to fake. He wants the truth every
time. Then why hide it? Why insult
him? Why increase his labors thou
sandfold? Why keep him out on the
still hunt all night, when, by treating
him in a common sensible manner, you
could set him right in a second and
have early copy for the composing
room?
Many persons look down on report
ers as If they were inferior creatures.
They forget that ninety-nine times in
one hundred the news-gatherers are OF
higher caste than those from whom
seeking information. Reporters are not
looking for anything good about peo-
pie, for the public would never stop to
read it. They want all the bad about
men and women they can dig out, and
| it is the bad things about bad peo-
pie that make. the newspapers inter-
esting. Through long mingling with
the evil classes reporters become con-
taminated, and it must not be Won
dered at If there should be an occa-
sional fall from grace. I do not know
any reporters who are angels, and l
do know some persons who are devils
with painted wings. but take them all
In all they are the best set Of fellows
ir the world, working like mad for
their employers. spending literally,
living merrily and ever eager to do a
favor and forget it.-New York Press.
Incomprehensible Kentucky Feudists.
Senator Joe" Blackburn, Of Ken
lucky, talked freely one day last
week to a Washington newspaper
man regarding the situation in
Breathitt county. He said that Ken
lucky lawlessness was confined to the
mountains of the state, where the most
"incomprehensible people in the world
live"
"They are nearly all illiterate, half
starved and almost naked" said the
senator, yet they are the most hos
pitable people to be found anywhere.
They are dirt -eaters and uuarrelSome,