Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-05-03
HEAD OF HE A. p.
Melville &. Stone Began Newspaper
Work as Reporter.

who has risen from reporter to the
highest journalistic emenence ever at
tanned in this or any country, GIVING
him the consideration of an :tmpasSa-
dor abroad and the confidence ana sup
port of every newspaper III ms own
country, is romantic. What he has at
tanned is the product OF Industry ana
common sense. Early IN life ne got
out of newspaperwork and started an
iron foundry which was on the hlSh
road TO success when the Chicago IRE
wiped it out. Before that he was just
a fair reporter. After ire fire he re-
turned to Journalism and tried to be Il
Washington correspondent without
much success, started a news bureau
which didn't work and finally settled
down at reporting OH the Chicago III
ter Ocean and Evening Post.
Even after Stone made definite
success in journalism and acquired Il
| competence he Withdrew from all con-
necticn with it and became banker.
But somewhere in his soul there must
nave been a summons for his work,
which he 1t last recognized. and he set
himself the task of re-establishing TIE
Associated Press, aided by Victor Law
son, MS partner III the ESTABLISHMENTS
| of the Chicago Daily News.
A good many years ago when the
Chicago Times, under the editorsnip of
Wilbur F. Story, was the leading news
paper of the United States, and its
| staff included the strongest group of
newspaper men in any office of the
| country, it found itself unable to cope
with Il peculiar news condition. in Chi
] cago A man named CIlvin was May
| or, and under the existing charter of
| the city he presided over the delibera-
tons of the Board of Aldermen.
| The Times was, because of it's at
tacks upon the city government, nor
,, persona Srata, and the rival papers,
| the Tribune and Inter- Ocean, were
| beating it every day, and Mr.. Story
and his editors, Frank Wilkie Clinton
SNOW den and Horatio WinSlaW Scy-
mour, now the editor of the Chicago
Chronicle, and the whole editorial
| staff were in a state Of desperation
one DAY Mr.. story entered the city
room and said 10 Mr.. SnoWden:
Send for that man Stone I dis
| charged and put him on city Hall. SEE
| if he can't get the news, and lust clean
v
here. indicating those waiting for the
days assignments; there isn't a re-
porter among them"
An hour or two later 4 young man stood
| by SnoWden'S desk. He was thin. his
face was sharp. his dress was careless
| ms eye was clear and calmly blue and
| his pose was one of Sclf-confidence when
| ne replied to Snowden that he couldn't
| lahe me assignment because he was
| starting a daily paper of his own He
| hitd no press. no furniture. no CAPITAL no
| stan no prospect apparently: but he was
| reSolute III turning down an offer of $40 a
| start the News.
| The paper made little or no money.
| Ston. preserved the same calm front,
| nothing ever ruffled his temuer nor dis
| turbed his equanimity. Just how the ma
| per struggled along that hard winter no.
| hocy knows except Stone himself Some
| times ne got cut three editions if the
| news justified it and sometimes only one
ITS flrSt bit was made in 1876 with the
| report of the Cincinnati convention which
nominated Hayes. Stone had a relative
| IN the Cincinnati Observatory who had
| control of the telegraph wire and was
| able to rush the result of the ballots to
him as the roll was called. He had forms
made up beside the press and when the
| call reached and PENNSYLVANIA swung
| i'm for Hayes the result was in sight and
| the paper was in the street before Rhode
| Island and South Carolina had answered
| their names He made the most of this
and by this time the News had begun to
he accepted as a reality. but the edition
of 93c00 worked off for the Hayes nomi-
| nation was its first success.
| on the staff of the News came John
| Flynn, St. Louis Journalist brought
up by John Mccullough on the Globe
Democra Platt Lewis. a capable re-
| ders. from the Cincinnati Enquirer, and
! number of other brilliant men But
| ariong them none of equal Importance
| with Eugene Field, Slasson Thompson
| the only humorist by any means who
worked on the News for Stone. Harry B.
! Smith, thu libertist; George AIDE. Peter
Dunno. the McCutcheons. Phillips, the
present editor of Harper's Weekly; Bel
| lard. of the editorial staff of the New
York Evening Telegram; Paul Hull. and
Of his staff, Colonel Harvey. the head of
lIarper's. was also one of his boys, as he
delights TO call them.
Still spare and sharp of feature. Stone
has acquired the poiSe of a citizen of the
world. He speaks of his meeting the
Car and Kaiser. of King Humbert in the
same way that he referred to John Flynn
and Barron, with no sort of affectation
nor pride. But when ne said that the
Associated Press was no longer rational
but international. and that it was recog-
niZed as the responsible. reliable and I'M
censored agency of news in every court
in Europe, it was spoken with pride. lie
said:
Il have done another thing. I have
killed the special correspondent The
newspaper letter writer was in his glory
when we began this organization. He nor
she exists no longer; we report everything
by wire and the correspondents business
is a lost art The people Of the country
are vastly advanced in intelligence.
Twenty-Five years ago they would have
been content to learn that battle had
been fought in the East. now they de
mand the most exact details"
And this you can't furnish just now?
I'VE struggling with n great prob
lem and are doing our best at an appal-
ing cost. but we will be getting the news
much more satisfactorily before long"
The cost of maintaining the English
navy now amounts to So a year for every
family in Great Britain. or more than two
weeks wages for the great body of the