The San Francisco call., 1906-07-01
WASHINGTON IN SUMNER TINE
By James S. Tyler.

cart was: entirely lost track of. He
was among the missing for three
weeks.
h: GATHERING NEWS.
Some of the news bureaus gather
statistics Of important measures before
Con gress. and frequently make extracts
from the reports of experts on matters
Such. as the Panama canal the rebate
cases. etc These compilations are in
tended TO more or less guide. or in
fuence. editorial writer's and are usu-
ally inspired by personal interests or
ose of corporations. Frequent Wv hat
-aPpeitr to be excellent news stories
are: found in the, slips and new cor
4lous situations BY. "rehashing" these
slips A suni1ller-time substitute for a
Mfddfe West newspaper got hold of a
slip at a. time when the Panama canal
question. was a t: it's greatest height
of interest,", when: Wallace and the adj
-.mihfstratien. were at outs and Shouts
was out of town. But the correspond
ent wanted story, and not being able
Ito get one from. Colonel Edwards, in
temporary charge: of the canal office.
he went back to his Office; and rehashed
a long interview with German. expert
who had been. a. guest OF some of the
Panama efl & ineers.
The news bureau had. given out the
slip without any. date on it end the
context of: the article would lead one
to suppose that it was something new
and that the expert was. spending his
summer In Washington. The fact of
the, matter WAS he had intended to do
so that he might study the actual situa-
tion. The. correspondent sent a thou
sand word special to his paper; in
which he was supposed to have. inter
- ~
he. :boasted of his beat lin the canal
Office.
'%Who did: you say gave you the
stery?" asked the chief clerk:
Why. yon X It's the. best. summary
of. the work that has yet been pub
lished.''.
+ Sorry for you. my boy" replied the
clerk with a smile When YOU are
doing newspaper business in. Washing
ton you must never jump at conclu-
sions. Won K: died two: months ago
and his body. has been shipped to Ger
many"
There was a. new summer substitute
on his way from the Middle West the
next day.
DETAILING THE "CnaBINE.''
:. By the end Of July Washington is
dead. But all the departments are
running in full blast and there is al
ways. some news Of interest to be had
Pennsylvania avenue and other prin-
cipal streets on Saturday night are al
most deserted. by 10 O'Clock. About
one, hundred, newspaper men remain on
duty during the summer, but it is diff
cult to get any Information from de-
partment officials after o'clock at
night; they often: resent being called
UP at their houses. The correspon6l-
ents gather in their Offices, the hotel
items. Frequently the various news
paper combinations" appoint ii sort of
city editer and give out the details for
the day. A good deal of tramping
around over hot streets is avoided by
dividing the work of the day among
a, half dozen men.
1t would be practically Impossible
for any one man to make rounds of
all the departments of government
during. a hot summer day. There is
very seldom much news In any partic-
ular one OF. these departments that has
not been covered: by the Associated
Press, which throughout the summer
months maintains IL staff of fourteen
men. In it's Washington bureau. How
ever, news. of extreme Importance to-
certain sections of the. country is some
times on the. tapis and some one must
make the rounds to cover" these Sec
tlonal interests. A. combine" man Will
have TO ask for news for all of the
in his combination and get
sufficient details to make. up. some
times. dozen different stories He
gives his notes to the other com bine
men In the. order in which the corre-
spondents are interested, and thus "a
vast. amount of. work is accomplished
without much physical suffering.
One; of the old.tinle correspondents
once replied in answer to a new cor
respondents question. You've got to
get in with some combination or you
will die of sunstroke." And he was
telling the truth.
KAHN's LITTLE JOKE.
Congressman Julius Kahn has sworn
off stopping In Washington in the sum-
mer time He made little longer stay
than usual the first year of his term
and got in. on one of the hottest sea-
sons in ten years Congressman Kahn
lis given to perspirations and smiles
even when It's only So degrees in San
Francisco and the as degrees of Wa sh-
ington made him fairly glitter. One
OF his old friends says that one hot
day the Congressman was in his Office
leaning back in chair and all but ex-
hausted. He was, in his agony, chew