The San Francisco call., 1904-03-05
IFar Correspondents.


The man behind the gun fights the
battle in these days Of Iong-range arms
Of precision. The man at the end Of the
cable tells the world about IL. And his
task IS altogether as strenuous as that
Of the other The war correspondent,
in fact. puts the glory of the soldier
and the sailor on record He makes
il imperish3b,e. lie makes history, as
The people Of his day and Of a future
day read H. And he works for small
glory. and no pension a. the end of his
service.
Perhaps II is proof Of the innate sense
OF justice Of the American reading pub
lie that il is as much interested almost
in the personality and in the field trials
Of the correspondent as in those Of the
generals and admirals who hold the
center Of the stage. Almost, but not
altogether. This is an interest, OF
course. that is not catered TO by the
conscientious correspondent in the dis
charge OF his duty. The correspondent,
intent upon his work, never puts him
self in the imelight-althOugh the busi-
ness Office Of the newspaper sending
him to the front does sometimes, when
he is a man who has made a big repu-
tation. The correspondent is too busy
throwing the limelght upon other peo-
pie.
And his task has elements OF heart
break king in it. Get one Of the tribe to
talk 10 you after campaign. as some
OF them viii talk when the mood is on,
and you VIII perhaps be astonished to
learn that the life they lead is as peril
Gus as the soldiers life. and as ardu-
Gus as the life OF the lowest soldier in
the ranks. There is nothing in the
world more arduOus than that
To begin with. the war correspondent
is not, as a rule. selected by the editor
Of a great newspaper from the bright
young men OF his staff and sent to the
front ct a good salary and all expenses
paid as a step in advance in his pro-
fession and kind Of reward for faith
ful service to his newspaper. That is
sometimes done. but more often il is
not. It is not always even men who
have graduated out OF the ranks OF the
working newspaper men who go to the
front. The element Of luck enters into
the thing largely. I have known a
small diplomat who chanced TO be on
the scene at the outbreak Of hostilities
10 become a great war correspondent.
I have known private soldiers in the
ranks Of the American army TO gradu
ate into IL. 1t often happens that local
correspondents Of big newspapers find
their opportunity by being on the spot.
But a very large class Of the special
correspondents are those men who,
with the news instinct and some news
paper training perhaps. find them
selves at the outbreak Of war with in
dependent means and a thirst for
adventurous career. The career Of
the special correspondent is adventur-
Gus. The man al the theater OF a
great or a little war, free TO go and
come as he likes and not held in disci-
pline as the soldiers are. must meet
adventures. He cannot help it. Ad-
ventures are always going about there
looking for q chance TO be met
A man Of this class, ambitious to
90 70 the scene of war as the repre-
sentative OF a newspaper finds it not
i difficult, in the beginning, to secure
credentials, II he is a man of known
standing. He finds it easier the more
often he goes to the front, naturally.
Being a bright nan. with the trained
habit of observation. his letters and
cablegrsms become steadily more val
liable and presently he becomes
known as one Of the guild Of war cor
respondents. Then when war breaks
. out editors send for him and he makes
his own terms. The investment he
had made OF his means in the first
instance becomes profitable, yielding
him a livelihood.
Still another class embraces those
men Of letters who have made a rep
utation in the field Of literature and
who are sent out by great journals
and great syndicates and paid high
salaries because Of the value Of their
names attached to newspaper articles
Rudyard Kipling, for instance, went
to the front in South Africa in this
way. John Fox Jr. is now at the
front somewhere in Asia. Richard
Harding Davis is always at the front
These men write high class stuff, Of
course. They are not the worse re-
porters because they are great And
the investment in them pays. And yet
IL may happen that Pete Smith, who
began as a police reporter and did not
get much higher until a stroke Of luck
came his way. will give more vivid de-
tails OF battle. His name neverthe-
less, viii not command so much at
tention in black letters at the top Of
a page
Every great newspaper does not
send q representative TO the war, al
though every great newsps per is rep
resented in every engagement. A war
is covered, in America at least, by the
syndicate system One great news
paper, for instance. purposes to cover
an impending war at all points. send
ing out the best men available, and
then arranges to sell the stories of
these men to number of newspa-
pers making uD what is called the
syndicate" All these papers get the
same reports. Being published at
widely separated points. they do not
interfere with each other. And all
share the expense in proportion to
their circulation. the syndicate mat
ter being sold at a fixed rate accord
ing TO the size of the newspaper pur-
chasing IT, II may even happen that the