Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-01-08
Miseellaneous Readins.
Modern journalism Has Reduced X to
a Fine Art.

The authors whose writings are reac
by the greatest number Of persons are
the headline writer's for the daily
newspapers. The writers Of the best
sellers among books do not compare
with them.
For advertising purposes 1t Is GUS
tomary to assume that every copy OF
newspaper Is seen by five readers
II this assumption is correct every
copy OF newspaper Of quarter Of @
million daily circulation Is seen by q
million and a quarter Of readers. II
anything in a newspaper Is read II is
the headlines.
Writers of books Of magazine arti-
cles, Of much Of the matter in the
weekly and daily papers write at their
leisure. The news reports 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 own
style Of headlines. permitting the use
'of only a certain number Of letters,
or within a few letters Of that number,
In line. This requirement engages
the attention Of the headline writer
and occupies part Of the brief time In
which he has to 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, it can be made to ap-
pear uninteresting and dull II 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 command and within the
restrictions imposed, by the headline
style and Typography Of his paper he
must make the most of the material
which he is to introduce.
Within the memory Of newspaper
workers and readers not yet old, there
have been great changes in the head
line methods. A style Of headline that
was so common half century ago as
to be almost universal may be char
acterized as the wooden head, for ex-
ample: COMMON COUNCIL PRO-
CEEDINGS: Resolutions Adopted,
Motions Carried and Ordinances Pass
ed"
,,odioal dapartpra from this was
the catch word title. a heading that
was intended to catch the attention of
the reader by setting forth In a word,
usually in large black letters followed
by one or more score marks, the nub of
the story beneath 1t, as. for instance:
"SMASHUP." followed by lines of
smaller type explaining that there
had been a collision of railway trains
somewhere. This style Of head is still
used by some newspapers, in an ag-
gravated form and sometimes with
colored 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 max
ing Of 1t required some ingenuity in
combining words. so that by sight or
sound or by both they would attract
attention to the text, and little wit
in the head Of the writer was a help
to him.
An example Of this sort Of headline
which will fairly illustrate the mean
ing was written over a story from a
New Jersey town telling Of a ghost
scare that proved to be the work of
some mischievous individuals. The
top line was: "Hocuspocus in Hobo
kus."
The latest scheme Of newspaper
headlines which has been generally
adopted is to set forth the most inter-
esting feature Of the story in the top
line, and in the subsequent lines to tell
the story as fully as the space devoted
to the heading will permit. This gives
the pith Of the news to the reader who
only glances at the headlines.
With this style Of head usually goes
a summary Of the story in the opening
paragraph. With the headlines and
this paragraph the reader gets the
story in brief from beginning to end.
and in what follows he gets the de-
tails. II he is sufficiently interested to
read on.
There Is a form Of newspaper head
ing known as the display head which
breaks away from the newspapers
style OF headlines and is used only for
matter Of a very startling or impor-
tant character In these headlines the
writer, with few restrictions as to the
papers customary style, endeavors to
set forth the news as strikingly as
possible A few newspapers use dis
play heads every day in every edition
on every page and in almost every
column so unfortunately that when
they have news really worth a display
head they are pOwerless to indicate Its
Importance.
The force Of the newspaper head
line has often been exemplified. A
headline brought the word mugwump
into common use in this country, not,
however. at first as a word Of political
significance. Referring to some act
Of the former autocrat of Asbury
Park, a headline writer wrote Mug
wump Bradley" did so and so. Then
arose a newspaper discussion as to the
meaning of the word. and it was
threshed out of the chaff Of Indian
lore.
Later, when Theodore Roosevelt, as
u representative of his district at the
state capital, was active in an oleomar-
garine investigation in New York city,
Il reporter mentioned him as "the stall
wart young mugwump OF reform"
Still later the word turned up in It's
well understood political significance.
A headline gave to Thomas A. Edi-
son the designation THE Wizard OF
MenlO Park" When Hayes was pres
ident of the United States and Wheeler