Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-14
FACTS (P) ON JOURNALISM.
Hints to Collegians Who Would
Adopt Learned Profession.

Hints to Collegians Who Would
Adopt Learned Profession.
From the Baltimore Sun.
A young man in North Carolina has
favored us with the following communi-
cation:
IT am about to graduate from college and
desire to enter some learned profession.
believe I have a talent for literary COM
position, Do you think that journalism
offers me good opportunity? Are news
paper editors well paid? And how long
would it take me to advance from reporter
TO editor?"
We confess that the adjective employed
by our correspondent in the second part OF
his preliminary sentence gives us an
agreeable thrill. for this is the first time.
so far as We are aware that the word
learned has ever been applied to the
journalistic vocation. We have heard il
called almost everything else. from alb
horred' to zymotic," but learned Is
new. We thank the young gentleman of
North Carolina and pass on to his ques-
tons.
A talent for literary composition? Is il
useful in journalism? We believe that it
is. 1t will serve at the start to make the
aspirant's application for job graceful.
grammatical and convincing. 1t will
serve again years after. when he retires
from active service and begins to write
his "reminiscences. And in between it may
prove its utility more than once We
have never encountered a reporter whose
literary skill was quite equal to Walter
PaterS. but We have no doubt that II
such a one ever bobbed up his talent
would do him no great damage.
But good literary style is less essential
in journalism than good digestion. The
journalist must be able to digest anything
and nothing. He must be able to go three
days without food and an hour without
n rfply
which make up the news Of the world
have no regular office hours. They hap
pen at any old time, day night. When
they break loose the. journalist must pro-
coed to record them and he must stick to
the task until they are recorded AS a
result he must learn to stretch the hiatus
between lunch and. dinner until it attains
! the dignity OF geological epoch. One
ne dimes the day after. One day he is
invited to twenty-five oyster roastS and is
so busy that he can't go to one of them,
and the next day he may have little to
do and no invitations come his way.
Are newspaper editors we'll paid? Our
answer here must be both yes and no.
The average malefactor of high degree
makes more but the average evangelist
makes less We have yet tn receive proof
that any editor in the United States can
match the $500 600 per annum of John
Hays Hammond but We know of at
least twenty who receive $1250 900 "a year.
In the SlOoW,o class there are probably
sixty or eighty. and in the S75UOD class
several hundred. In the smaller cities
salaries are somewhat lower, but
know of no editor who gets less than
S1oO00 year. with board. lodging and
laundry. We are speaking. of course of
editors-in-chief. The minor men receive
somewhat less. the average for telegraph
editors being about 5000 week; for city
editors. 800: for night editors. $500. and
for horse editors. S4J0 Dramatic critics
get $50 for every performance they at
tend. besides free passes. and society
editors are paid $50 a reception. with
automobile and dress suit hire thrown in.
Poets are paid x11 line and editorial
writer's from 81 to 81 word.
The line of promotion in newspaper Of
fees from lowest to highest is as follows:
Dramatic critic. war correspondent. spe-
cial writer. base ball reporter. religious
editor. editorial writer. copy reading
society editor. detective reporter. assistant
city editor. city editor news editor. as
sistant managing editor. managing editor.
editor-in-chief. editor. Our correspondent
wants to know how long il will take him
TO reach the top of the ladder The ques-
ton has interested us very much and we
have lain awake several nights figuring
upon an answer. Working it out care
fully after consulting more than 1000
journalists and with the aid of the table
of logarithms. the United States census
reports for the period 1S20-1900 and all
available dream books. we have settled
upon 265.7645364S27 years. We may be
wrong about the decimalS, but the 30,
we are sure. is reasonably correct.