Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-17
DEPENDS ON HIS MEMORY
No Better Place for the interviewer
Than Washington.
VARIOUS WAYS OF WORKING
Some Correspondents Get Their Grist
at the Capitol, Others at the
Big Hotels.

ness, and of its many diverse features that
of interviewing is one of the interesting
and at the same time most difficult" re-
marked veteran Washington correspond
ent secently In discussing newsgatherine
in the capital and its many sidelights.
ITO the outsider and the novice inter-
viewing would seem the easiest of the
many ramified features of journalism, but
the latter quickly learns that 1t is one
thing to see a man for the purpose of get
ting him to talk upon some news subject,
and It is quite another to get the right kind
of talk out of him. On the stage the typ
ical reporter jumps around with notebook
and pencil In manner which causes the
real article in the audience to groan in
spirit during the play and to say things
afterward; in real newspaper work 1t Is
seldom that an expert interviewer produces
even pencil. / have been in the bust
ness actively for over a dozen years, and
If reporters use notebooks at all l have
never seen one in their hands, unless they
regular shorthand men reporting q
trial or b public meeting.
interviewing is largely a matter OF
adaptability and personality, while train
ed memory takes the place Of the stage
notebook. There is no city in this coun-
try where man who is strictly first class
at this work has a finer field for opera
lions than in Washington, and in the cor
respondents corps here many of its shin
ing lights owe their success and their lucra-
tive positions to that natural, or in some
instances acquired, faculty of getting from
public men the right expressions at the
right time for their papers.
THE hardest class of men to interview
are business men men in the large cor
poration Offices such as railroad offices;
the latter are particularly vexatious to the
interviewer. as they all seem afraid to
speak, and the officer who usually does the
talking for the company generally hands
out a prepared statement of one kind or
another. Business men are often suspf-
cious. are reluctant to talk at times, and
when they do go into a subject are in
clined to be discursive.
professional men make more satisfac-
tory subjects especially lawyers. but the
easiest approached and the best Of all
from the interviewer's standpoint are
politicians and men in Office, such as SEN
ators, representatives and the officials in
authority in the executive departments.
interviewing as a Speciality.
THE expressions of this latter class have
at all times more or less news value, de-
pending upon the man and Office or posi-
ton which he holds. Association in pub
lie life has thrown them In contact with
newspaper men from the outset of their
careers and they appreciate that the in
reviewers questions are not prompted by
curiosity, as the average business man and
corporation official would seem to think.
AS a rule, they will talk freely and. espe-
cially in Washington. they rely upon the
newspaper mans sense Of propriety and
understanding or the situation as to what
to say and not to say. and it is seldom. If
ever, that this confidence is abused and
1t never is Intentionally.
They are familiar with their subject.
and so is the interviewer, and when 1t
comes to a question of information they
know just where to put their hands upon
it. This is especially true with govern
ment officials. and the result is that as a
rule the reporter quickly obtains the neces-
sary material for his story writes 1t and
gets it out very often in less time than it
takes for him to explain what he wanted
from some manager of a business house
or a man who possessed certain technical
information which the story called for.
Work in the government offices is SO sys-
tematized that II the chief Is not in the
sired. the pressing of an electric button
summons the subchief or clerk who has
what is wanted at his fingers tips.
How Some Journalists Work.
1T is Astonishing what an active man
and a good interviewer can accomplish in
a few hours spent daily mingling with pub
lie men at the Capitol exchanging a word
here and another there. but 1t is all lifetime
business with the newspaper man; other
men who have not this peculiar adaptability
and are less active with their feet and
their minds do not fare well when the
day Is ended Still others make a speciality
of spending their evenings around the no.
tells mngling with public men and guests
of prominence whose views are Of value to
the local press, or to their own home pa
pers the case may be, and seldom 10
to the Capitol.
"Of this latter class of the capitals in
reviewers. who are thrown constantly in
contact with strangers from all parts of the
globe who are men OF prominence in their
respective communities and from whom a
STORY ranging from the home political sit
uation to an elephant hunt in far India may
be obtained. there are some specialists in
this line of newspaper work who do little
else This class Of interviewing requires
not only natural aptitude, easy and pleas
ant address, but good general groundwork
jects and a good knowledge of localities
and worldly happenings. Under these Cir
cumstances when the stranger is ap-
preached he Is at once placed at his ease
and the desired story perhaps sometimes
a short but good one for the paper is OBJ
tanned.
What Training Will Accomplish.
'In these latter instances the expert in
terviewer must quickly make the others
acquaintance, and as quickly break it for
the time being without appearing to do so,
as there may be half dozen other men
whom he desires that evening to see. Here
is where the specialists tact comes in, and
1t is here that some men have made them
selves successful in this line of journalistic
work where others fail at It, An inter-
viewer who makes a speciality Of this class
of matter will get satisfactory talk from
a railroad president from Canada, an NJ P.
from England, big fruit shipper from the
Pacific coast, government official from
Alaska, a prominent banker from the me-
tropolis, the mayor OF a western city and
others, all Of whom may be utter strangers
to him, in a single evening and without
apparent effort. with one or two talks as
we'll with incoming statesmen whom he
may personally know. But IL any one
thinks this is an easy task to do, 1t should
be tried to be undeceived; the tax upon the
memory is great. though one becomes ac-
customed to 1t in time, as notes are never
| made during the talks by the specialist,
even 80 much as q name.
Other correspondents, and especially
! those of the smaller papers, rely very large
| ly for much Of the news which they wire
home upon the representative of the dis
trict in which their home town is situated,
any they may frequently be seen around
the hotels at night. Still others find that
the hotel Hobbies after dinner are the best
places to mingle with public men, and thew