Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-06
TALKS SHOP AWHILE
Veteran Newspaper Man on
Qualifications for Success.
SCHOOLS OF JOURNALISM
Says Their Diplomas Are Not Factors
in Actual Work.
ALWAYS ROOM FOR GOOD MEN
Mental Alertness and Physical Activ-
ity, Joined With Reliability, the
Main Requisites.
SCHOOLS OF JOURNALISM
ALWAYS ROOM FOR GOOD MEN

Several OF the corps OF Washington news
paper correspondents were discussing tho
proposed establishing of a college of jour
nalism by the University of Missouri.
While things have changed greatly in
the newspaper world since /. a half scared
to-death kid-they call 'em cubs nova
days, you know-left the local room of
large city paper my first assignment"
remarked one Of the veterans of the party.
yet the underlying principles pre-
cisely the same then as now-if the man
has In him the right sort OF stuff that
goes in the makeup OF successful re-
porter, writer or editor he will make good
when 1t comes to doing the actual work.
and IL he hasn't, collegiate journalistic
training, or the training he receives in a
local room for that matter won't raise him
above medlocrity.
He may peg along for years. developing
Into what is termed a good man., but he
doesn't reach the position on the salary
list which others do. and perhaps he often
wonders why, this Is So The answer is
simple; he lacks adaptabilty.
washington may be said to be a uni
versity city, and there are thousands OF
students In its various excellent educa-
tional institutions who are always with u.s.
and perhaps to many the leaning toward
career In journalism is uppermost. Nat
urally, to the student mind the idea of
studying to be a journalist, and the re-
ceiv1ng of a diploma at the completion OF
specified course appeals strongly, pre-
clsely as does the possession of diploma
appeal to the classes in law and medicine.
Merit Cordially Welcomed
Il doubt, however. whether the produc-
ton of diploma resultant upon such a
course as is rnCer discussion would have
any effect upon the average practical editor
beyond a sensation of mild surprise to note
to observe whether the graduating faculty
signed their names in the usually accepted
and unintelligible style. Editors are a sui
generis class Of men who are prone not to
take things for granted. they are a dis
couraglng lot to the embryonic reporting
genius as they are apparently hard hearted
to the buddin,5 or the full-blown aspiring
poet; they are like the celebrated Mis-
sourian axiom of you'll have to show me-
but once they are shown a mans skill
adaptability and perspicuity in seeing
Things through the rght-focused lenses
they are like other mortal clay in that they
will eagerly take what they want and the
kind of man who can rightly see things in
the great news world and likewise rightly
transpose the reflex action of the retina
into the right sort of newspaper English.
and get the copy in at the right time and
do 1t right along, day after day, and not
systematically, well, that is the sort of
man that the editor never worries about
and he Is the man who makes the success
in our calling, and whose name is usually
near the top of the salary list.
Result of Training and Work.
But no course in journalism brings about
this desirable qualification; it is attained
only after years of hard. ofttmes discour-
aging. continuous efforts, in which perse-
verance, concentration and unremitting
diligence stand out recording milestones.
Yes, indeed, it is work and work all the
time The world is a ceaSeless
m rad with ! ich
the sea of fiction is millpond The fiction
writer takes his time. elaborates. condenses
or otherwise changes his ideas and text.
perhaps, consuming weeks in the prepara-
ton of a single story. With the expert
local-room man. and even with the feature
writer, 1t Is generally question of minu-
tes and seldom one of hours. Yet a good
feature-writer in handling his subject by
the ticking of the seconds takes compre-
henSive grasp of il, and rounds II out from
the first line to the last, much the fic-
tion-writer constructs and unfoldS his plot
Value of Activity.
perhaps it will surprise some to be told
that man will make a good newspaper
man. irrespective of his educational quail
ications, unless he has aan underpinning
of active legs in addition to>an active mind,
a slow-moving man had better adopt somS
other calling.
IAN active mentality and physical alert
ness are necessary prerequisites to success
in newspaper life; in other callngs the
slow moving may win out in the end
against the fast
But in the makeup Of a daily paper
events multiply with such swiftness that a
man of the mollosk mold would find the
paper printed and out the street while
he making up his mind what to say
upon given subject.
Plenty of Room
Those whose aptitude for journalism
and other writing is natural should not be
scared off b. those who talk about the
occupations being overcrowded' L heard
the same cry in my youth, but the times
go on just the same. and there is plenty
of room for the man who will make the
calling he chooses studied one, and the
field of newspaper writing is as open to-
day to the determined and progressive
young man as 1t was in the past and as it
will be in the future.
The main difficulty with which the be-
ginner contends is an inability to over
come his natural disappointment on fail
ing to find his initial efforts recognized:
he is usually too hasty and impatient for
results. This is a natural impulse, but
1t must be overcome.
.'One of the principal points for the
young man to remember, as well as for
the old man to practice, is to be reliable.
1t is a genuine asset, and might be termed
the good will of business. first-claSs
writer whose matter is always reliable has
a half Nelson hold upon the field he es-
says to cover, and it is a difficult matter
to dislodge him. And let all young Wash
ingtonians who aspire to ooprnanst,c
at the outset of their bound-to-be-ro rough
Journey and never deviate inch from
the fundamental principles it implies
Matilda's Choice.
From London Tit-Bits.