The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30
THE MOST READ OF AUTHORS.
TREY ARE TEE BUILDERS OF
NEWSPAPER HEADLINES.

Compared with Them as 60 Readers
-Fashions IN tho Art Of Putting Much
Matter Into Little space In q Hurry.
The authors whose writings are read by
the greatest number Of persons are the head
line writer's for the daily newspapers. Tho
writers OF the best sellers among books do
not compare with them.
For advertising purposes IL Ia customary
to assume that every copy Of a newspaper
Is seen by five readers. II this assumption
IL correct every copy Of a newspaper Of a
quarter OF a million daily circulation is seen
by a million inc a quarter of readers. II
anything In a newspaper 10 read IL is the
headlines.
Writer'S OF books, of magazine articles, Of
much Of the matter in the weekly and daily
papers write at their leisure. The news re-
ports for the daily press are, part Of them.
written hurriedly. The news headlines are
put on with little time for thought.
Nearly every newspaper has its w style
Of headlines, permitting the use Of only a
certain number Of letters, or within a few
letters OF that number, in q line. This re-
auirement engages the attention Of the head
line writer and occupies part Of the brief
time In which he has 20 do his work.
Yet much depends Upon the ready skill
and ability OF the headline man. No matter
how newsy and bright a paper may be, 10
can be made to appear uninteresting and
dull IL the headlines do not come up to the
level Of the text.
And, too, the conscientious headline
writer does not make heads that the text
does not bear out. In the brief time at his
disposal, in the limited space at his COM
msnd and within the restrictions imposed
by the headline style and tyrograp by Of
his paper he must make the most Of the
material which he Is to introduce.
Within the memory of newsra ar er workers
and readers not yet old there nave been
great changes in headline methods. A style
Of headline that was 80 common half a
century ago as TO be almost universal may
be characterized as the wooden head, for
example; COMMON COUNCIL PRO-
CEEDINGS; Resolutions Ador ted, Motions
Carried and Ordinances Pessed."
A radical departure from this was the
oatch word title. a heading that was in
tended to catch the attention Of the reader
by setting forth in a word, usually in large
black letters followed by one or more scare
marks, the nub Of the story beneath it, as.
for instance: "SMASHUPi' followed by
lines in smaller type explaining that there
had been q collision Of railway trains some
where. This style Of head is still used by
some newspapers, in an aggravated form
and sometimes with oolored inks.
Another sort Of headline that was in use
some twenty years ago much more than
now may, for want Of a more accurately
descriptive word, be termed the ingenious
head. The making Of It required some
ingenuity In combining words, 50 that by
sight or sound or by both they would attract
attention to the text, and q little wit in the
An example Of this sort Of headline which
will fairly illustrate the meaning was written
over q story from q New Jersey town telling
OF q ghost scare that proved TO b the work
Of some mischievous individuals. The top
line was: -Hocuspocus In Hohokus-'
The latest scheme Of newspaper headlines
which has been generally adopted is to
set forth the most interesting feature OF
the story in The top line, nj in the subse-
space devoted to the heading win permit.
This gives the rim II the new to the reader
who only glances at the hel1,ines.
With this style OF Saad USUALLY goes .
summary Of the story in L..s opening para
graph the reader gets the story in brief
from beginning to end, m In what follows
he gets the details, IL he In sufficiently in
terested to read on.
mere 10 q tOrm OF n~SW8pap1r Qeaulnx
known as the display head which breaks
away from the newspapers style Of head
lines and is used only for matter Of q very
startling or important character. In these
headlines the writer, with few restrictions
to set forth the news as stri2insiy as pos
sible. A few newspapers use display heads
every day in every edition on every pags
n in almost every column so indiscrimi-
nately that when they have news really
-A~xL . 1s..l.x k-.I 49, 49, ~>->~IA-A
to indicate its importance.
The force OF the newspaper headline
has often been exemplified. A headline
brought the word mugwump into common
use in this ceuntTy' not. hosever. at f5ss
ferring to some act Of the former autocras
Of Asbury Park, a headline writer wrote
-Mugwump. Bradley did so and 90. Then
arose a newspaper discussion as TO the
meaning Of the word, and IL was threshed
out OF the chat Of Indian lore.
Later, when Theodore Roosevelt. as Q
representative OF his district at the State
capital, was active in ar oleomargarine
,nsosTgaS0h him S ss - tSsh s S.y VA q re porng
mugwump OF REFORM Still later the word
turned up in its well understood political
significance.
A headline gave to Thomas A. Edison
Park When Hayes was President OF
the United States and Wheeler was Vice.
President the latter had little to do with
affairs OF State and was often reported
as being OH a fishing trip in northern New
York. A headline spoke Of him as The
Lone Fisherman Of Malone" and the desig-
nation of the Lone Fisherman chung to him
with considerable persistence.
When Jerry Simpson OF Kansas was q
figure in Washington as a member Of Con-
gross a headline writer called him Tho
Sockless Socrates Of Medicine Lodge and
the appellation, wholly or In part, stuck
IL IL were worth while a lot Of instances
could be recalled Of the readiness OF head
line writer's while working under the stress
OF h moment One night there came
by wire the announcement OF the death Of
an ossitied man who had toured the world
with circuses The busy copy editor headed
It II Died Hard"
A headline to be remembered for it's
combination OF pathos and matter
OF fact was printed over a paragraph telling
OF the burial at sea OF O little Russian child
OF immigrant parents from an incoming
The ships log told in nautical
terms the place where the body wa cast
into the water and the headline read:
Latitude and Longitude Of a Little Fell
Grave"
A small daily in New England dis
with tha aarviraa ~ headline Rrifaras