New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-04-02

testing against bureaucracy, the journalist may
argue with admirable wisdom that the Gar is
frOnted by revolt of the Premier Etat.' The
recent riots in ST. Petersburg much more to
the student of democracy than mobs in the streets,
o barrcadeS Surmounted by red flags.
However only intended to indicate the working
value of historical information AS have stated,
such a course of reading would include the most in
tereSting account of the progress OF the United
States l say the most interesting because what
most charms IS remembered longest. news
paper man, of all classes of writers cannot work
with his nose in a book. He must carry his equip
ment in his head, to be drawn upon unexpectedly,
with reasonable confidence, and under every
ceivable physical or mental condition. Often when
he suffers the utmost fatigue, after day spent in
quest of information the best work is expected of
correspondent reporter The more difficulties
he has met in securing his material, the waltz
able his article is likely to be, and the promi-
nently will it be featured in the morning news
paper.
'Biographyis unexceed aid to the observa-
ton of our fellow-men. Sketches like Froude's
Caesar or Macaulays Warren Hastings to
name only two examples, should be familiar to
every correspondent watching important debates
in Congress. Imagine how much better a student
of the British essayist would have COmprehended
the episode of ex-Presdent Andrew Johnson's en-
trance to the Senate chamber, where he sent
by the Legislature of Tennessee to take seat in
the very court before which he had been tried
for high crimes and misdemeanOrS ! When
Warren Hastings reentered the House of Commons,
its members took off their hats in the Senate of the
United States, it is doubtful if a single even
rose to his feet to greet Andrew Johnson. But
am not contemplating such article merely
suggesting that memory of MaCaulays handiwork
would have been worth much to a reporter in the
Senate gallery, in February, 1873. The point to
be made is that the correspondent had to have the
historic parallel in his mental storehOuse There
wasn't time to search for and find what he wanted.
In other words, he had to be equipped.
"a general knowledge of political economy highly
desirable. Without it the journalist Is unfit to
report labor meeting; incapable of understanding
Henry George, intelligenty following many of
the important political agtations in various parts
of this country. Don't understand me to advise
a course of Wayland or John Stuart Mill Thomas
B. Reeds book of thirty pages IS adequate mere
pamphlet, but useful to the working newspaper
man than many volumes of exquisite learning to
be encountered elsewhere OF course, / assume
that every American boy who is preparing himself
for commercial professional career has read
Adam Smith. There is much in The Wealth of
Nations that might be and ought to be eliminated,
under the changed conditions of to-day; but that
book is mine of suggestion and contemplation.
Speaker Reed sometimes treated his pamphlet as a
criticism of it offered by other people.
The stars Of the American newspaper galaxy are
Continued on page I0)