The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-10
WANDERERS PRIZE
viii Give Ten Dollars for Best
Story on TOOthpicks.
Congressman Victor MurdOck to
Be the Judge.
GOOD SOUND ADVICE.
Tells Kansas journalistic
Students How to Work.
Points Out Pitfalls Along the
Way.
GOOD SOUND ADVICE.

gently before inc CEA4OOA VI 49,
at the state university The paper y
a good one; full of common sense ana
Vandeeriftisms. Mr.. Vandegrltt STANDS
up for the pessimtst in the newspaper
world and admits that the only thlng
which makes him feel bashful IS the
imposing and imperious presence OF
the society editor
Then Mr.. Vandegrift turns his at
tention to the actual preparation OF
stuff to print and as this part is OF in
terest to many people who like to peep
behind the curtain which shrouds the
machinery of the reporters life. II is
herewith reproduced:
I'm preparing your stuff for print,
begin with the fact. State in the first
line the subject OF your story. If 1t
be a marriage, a birth, a death, fire,
flood. a famine, a murder-~hatever
st may be. put the word in the first
line. In the succeeding sentences OF
the introduction, state briefly skele-
ton of the story, and in subsequent
paragraphs go into details. You owe
this to the sreader. He may not be
interested in the story, and 1t is your
duty to give him in the beginning q
brief index of what is to follow
More than this. the index enables him
to follow you more intelligently If he
be Interested
Don't try to put it all in the first
sentence. II it be a murder for in
stance, don't crowd into the statement
of fact the exact hour, the victim S
business. street number, his family re
lations, the name of the murderer. the
means of death, and all that. These
viii come in proper order, and, If you
have thought out your story in ad-
vance, the reader Will not confuse
yOlve their sentences and SO confuse
the mind of the reader that he must
go back and diagram the story. More
often, he throws the rot away.
Worse than all, is the reporter who
INDUCES in high flown rhetoric. This
is objectionable and especially if he
puts it in his introduction, and lead
ing UP to the fact makes it a climax.
There is no excuse for fine writing"
in the first place the average reporter
is not equal to it, and in the second
the reader has no time for it. Some
times if your story possesses the quail
ity of an essay, it is all right to use
some color in the Introduction; but
even then adhere to the rule. Begin
with the fact.
L give you an example of rotten
work, names and street numbers
changed taken from a western daily,
recently. as follows;
y Ohm Jones, a plumber. whose
home was at 1928 Maple street, where
he lived with his wife and three child
rem and his aged father and his Wife's
mother, and had been employed by
Peel brothers. plumbers and gas-fit-
ters, at us Main street, was shot to
death at exactly 1921 o'clock last
night without provocation or warning,
in Bill Black notorious saloon. 178
Front street. where he was playing
cards, by Boots Abbott, a negro an
old offender in crime, who recently
was discharged from the penitentiaTy,
where he was sent ten years ago for
the murder of Sam Stone. wood
worker, who lived al 1909 Olive street,
where his family still lives"
Here is an involved and long sus-
pended sentence of nearly one hundred
words. The reader holds his breath
in Impotence for a period, and he
reads the sentence a second, or a third,
time to rescue from the confusion OF
names the identity OF the several per
sons mentioned. Such work is COM
mon usage even in some of the big pa
pers Of the west How much better to
tell the names of the victim and the
murderer, the time without eXactness,
and the scene of the crime in the first
sentence, and in subsequent sentences
the other details necessary for a prop
er Introduction of the story.
Don't forget the fun. Whenever
you ind it, put it in Respect only
the dead and a. bride in the use Of
ST, and even then save it. For without
the leaven of humoT, this life would
not be worth the game, and the news
paper chronicler of the worlds Incl
dents, if he be faithful to his job, in
fects his work with it. Some men live
without it, but these are fitted only
to grub the earth for the comfort of
their intellectual betters. Therefore.
along with the serious and the prac-
teal side, cultivate the funny side of
yourself. Learn where the laugh
comes in, if you would be a good news
paper writer.
And it is not necessary for US to
carry a lantern, or a joke book, in
search for 1t. Wherever you find two
or more men, there you find fun.
Then need not be assembled together;
even if they be in sight for each other,
they VIII perform for the delecta-
ton of the spectator who possesses q
sense Of humOr. A man alone, in soil
tude, where no other human is look
ing ON. is a pathetic spectacle. as
Robinson CrusOe, for instance. But YOU
remember RObinsCn's ridiculous fright
when he discovered the solitary foot
prints i'm the sandi And then how he
began TO show off when Friday came
to be his compartment
What fools these mortals be-
To mebucolic politicians always are
q source Of amusement-these impos-
sibles of statecraft, who cause US TO
go behind the barn and laugh. Bien-
nially we have n crop of them, who.
baited 10y the newspapers jokers hit
only the high places in their sky
dreams. Kansas is streWn with this
NVreCkage, but still they come. Some
times they last one session of the leg
islature and get out of it. only lxnowI-
edge of poker, but they continue to
have dreams just the same Some
times they lodge in brief authority and
get a. following" and then they begir
10 perform" The presidency and
United states senator are Offices which
require the highest order of ability
and statccraft, bat once start the
average American in politics and the
stories of Thomas Jefferson and Abra-
ham Lincoln. or the careers of DAME
webster and Henry Clay, begin to I'll
his mind He is serious, but there i.
a laugh coming to the rest OF us.
Hut # is not necessary FOR us tC
look only to the ton for our fun. II