The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-01

the clock and the other on his work. and
his mind on the concluding sentence, he has
not time to translate pothookS. His notes,
on the other hand, suggest the entire thread
of the story, and he can sit down to his ma
chine and rattle away, turning out, if nee
esSary, column of matter in from twenty
to twenty-five minutes If he is very expert.
THE man who writes column in twenty
minutes must not imagine that he will turn
out two in forty minutes. man with
strong physique. with clear brain, with
his story well in hand and expert at the
typewriter, will find that his ability to
grind out newspaper literature at top speed
decreases at almost arithmetical progress
sion. If the first column takes twenty min
uteS the second will take at least twenty
five minutes, the third thirty minutes, and
so on UP TO seven columns as one nights
work-an entire page of report-which was
made during the first MolIneux trial, and
stands, | think, as record
AS to writing by hand, OF course, the
work is both more laborious and more time
consuming. Most New York reporters can
turn out column by hand within an hour.
Many can turn out two columns in two
hours, but the fellows that can write four
columns in four hours you can count on
the fingers of one hand. You see, there is
where the limit of human endurance comes
in, point which probably never even oc-
CURED 10 you in connection with writing.
PHYSICAL STRENGTH REQUIRED.
ut is this strain which requires that
reporter be clear, no. only In the upper
story. but as we'll physically AT that
many OF the men break down from time TO
time and disappear from the Row to build
up again. Altogether pardonable when you
come TO consider that frequently a reporter
works anywhere from twelve to fifteen
hours, and even to eighteen and twenty
hours a day-depending upon the size o.
the thing that has broken loose.
only through practice can a man gain
that confidence in himself which enables
him to sit down without getting ratified to
dash of a story without ever seeing a line
until IL is in the paper next morning.
have known men to write under high pres
sure, trying to catch the last edition with
an important story, when everybody in the
shop seemed to be up in the air except the
man at the keys OF the machine. have
seen night city editor himself stand over
a man like that, and hurry and urge him
along and clip off The copy as fast as it
appeared over the roll OF his typewriter,
and still the writer sat calm and ratified on
his machine To make your head swim with
out seeming To see the crazy man alongside
But there are other conditions, equally
distressing. which the reporter must learn
to face. and which he does face so often
that from time To time he suffers his peri
odical breakdown. For instance. the men
who followed Jerome through his campaign
speeches had OF the hardest jobs on
record. From place to place they followed
the strenuous campaiener. riding In an es-
pecial automobile, trailing behind him
through crowds at political meetings. writ
against squirming. cheering crowds, and
picking words between applause and writ
ing out their speeches while the brass
bands droned noises preparatory 10 the
next speaker.
Its lively game from end to end. and