The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-07-17
FACTS (D ON JOURNALISM
Hints to colIegians Who Would Adopt
Learned Profession

Learned Profession
A young man in North Carolina
has favored us with the following
communication
Il am about to graduate from col.
lege and desire 10 enter some learned
profession. | believe / have a talent
for literary composition. Do you
think that journalism offers me a
good opportunity? Are newspaper
editors well paid? And how long
would II take me TO advance from re-
porter to editor!"
We confess that the adjective EN-.
ployed by our correspondent In the
second part Of his preliminary SEN
tence 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 1t called
almost everything else. from "ab
horred" to "zymotic." bu; learned"
lis new. We thank the young gentle
man of North Carolina and pass on TO
his questions.
A talent for literary composition?
lis 1t useful in Journalism? We be-
lieve that 1t is. Ii will serve at The
start 10 make the aspirants applica-
tioE for a job graceful. grammatical
and convincing, says the Baltimore
Sun. 1t will serve again years after,
when he retires from active service
and begins to write his "reminiscences
and In between 1t may prove its util.
ity more than once. We have never
encountered reporter whose liter
airy skill was quite equal 10 Walter
Paters, but we have no doubt that
II such an one ever bobbed up his
talent would do him no great damage.
But good literary style is less es-
sential in journalism that is good di.
gestion The journalist must be able
TO digest anything and nothing. He
must be able to go three days without
rood and an hour without drink.
The accidents and eatastrophes
which make up the news of the world
have no regular office hours. They
happen at any old time, day or night.
When they break loose the journalist
must proceed TO record them and he
must stick to the task until they are
recorded. As a result he must learn
10 stretch the hiatus between lunch
and dinner until IL attains the dignity
of a geological epoch. One day he
dimes ut p. m, and the next day he
dimes the day after. One day he is
invited TO % 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 newspapers editors well paid?
Our answer here must be both yes
and no. The average malefactor of
high degree makes more. but the av.
erage evangelist makes less. We have
yet TO receive proof that any editor
in the United States can match the
SoOO,O0O per annum of John Hays who
receives $l25,000 year. In the $780,.
900 class there are probably 90 or so
and in the $4,000 class several hun
dred. In the smaller cities salaries
are somewhat lower but we know of
no editor who gets less than SOC, 900 a
year, with board, lodging and laun-
dry. We are speaking of course of
editors-in-chief: The minor men re-
ceive somewhat less, the average for
telegraph editors being about 5000
a week; for city editors, $3.50; for
night editors, $500, and for horse ed.
itors, $3.50 Dramatic critics get $3.50
for every performance they attend,
besides free passes, and society edi.
tors are paid $3.50 a reception, with
and dress suit thrown in.
Poets are paid SIS line and editorial
writer's from SO to SIS a word.
The line of promotion in newspaper
from lowest to highest, is as
follows: Dramatic critics, war CORE
spondent, special writer, baseball re-
porter, religious editor, editorial writ.
err copy reading, society editor, detec-
tive reporter, assistant city editor,
editor, editor-in chief, edi-
tor.
Our correspondent wants to know
how long 1t will take him to reach
the top of the ladder. The question
has interested us very much and we
have lain awake several nights figur-
ing upon an answer. Working It out
after consulting more than
2O0O journalists and with the aid of
the table of logarithms, the United
States census reports for the period
1S2O-19OO and all available dream
books, We have settled upon 1857
God ,364S27 years, We may be wrong
about the decimals but the 265, we