The San Francisco call., 1904-03-05
INSTRUCTIVE CTUDIEnc
By YlNOIEDAlEsN AND
<As51EN


newspaper sending out the men may
make a profit by ii.
Having selected its corps Of corre-
spondents, the newspaper heading the
syndicate assigns each to the part of
the field Of hostilities he is to cover
and then makes application to the
War Office of each belligerent power
for permission for the men assigned
to accompany it's armed force to the
place OF his assignment. This permits
SION is usually given, although not al
ways Lord Kitchener, for instance,
would not tolerate the presence of war
correspondents with his force in the
Sudan campaign. In cases of that kind
the work becomes harder but must
still be done. II the commander Of
any feet or warship does not desire
the presence Of special correspondents
his Government will not force them
upon him. Every correspondent on an
American ship during the Spanish war
was there by courtesy of the COM
manding officer OF the ship.
Having obtained permission tc ac-
company the fleet or the land COM
mand to which he has been assigned,
! the special correspondent is told where
to report and to whom and when. He
must give his word, on his part, to
conform 10 the rules of the service,
and to send nothing to his newspaper
without first submitting it to the CEN
sor. il he is with the army, or TO the
captain OF the ship he is assigned to
if he is with the navy.
So long as he observes this pledge
he is allowed 10 come and go as he
likes. within reasonable limits. He is
furnishes passes through the lines
upon application and he has a recog-
nized status as a non-combatant. He
is in no danger, so long as he sticks
TO his trade, of being shot if he falls
into the hands Of the enemy.
On the other hand he is in very
grave danger all the time, as will
readily be seen. II he is on board a
warship-where, as a matter Of FORM
he is generally assigned to staff duty
so that he viii find his place and go to
it quietly when the men are called to
quarters-he must of course share
the fortune OF the ship when she goes
into action. If he is with a land force
he must get as close TO the front as he
can. The front is where things hap
pen, and he is there TO chronicle hap
penings. If there ever was time
when a war correspondent could sit in
hotel a thousand miles from the
scene Of action and write a description
Of a battle comfortably to be cabled
at his leisure, that time is not now.
The march of events is rapid. The
7 urhn would he In, he
middle Of things.
After a battle has been won or lost
the special correspondent must hurry
to the cable station to get his report
Of the action filed, writing the report
if he can. on the way. He has been
working all the time the others were
/ fighting, but in reality his work only
/ begins in earnest when they leave off
! Whether the action he has seen be one
mile away from a telegraph office or
/ a thousand, whether he finds himself
facing q desert or a stormy sea, he
must spare neither steam nor money,
nor man nor horsefesh to get into
/ touch with the home Office OF course,
! he must not spare himself. If he did
he would soon find his managing edi-
tor sparing him.
great man may witness a great
action and write Of it most vividly, and
yet see himself beaten by a SIS a week
local correspondent Of the North China
! Gazette il he be lacking in the talent TO
move on the cable Office at the psyche
/ logical moment. A successful war cor
! respondent, in word, must be always
and at all times the man who is on the
/ spot As the spot may have a habit
1 Of shifting over a thousand square
/ miles Of plane surface it will be seen
that he must be well nigh ubiquitous.
He must be impervious to fatigue, able
10 do without sleep, careless of hun
ger. reckless of danger. yet warily alert
against it in the interest of the news
paper that has sent him to the front at
| enormous expense.