The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-15
nY MILL .. sHEEHAN.

So small circle have interest and concern in this particular subject, that writing on 1t is hardly worth while. It is significant only to that class. and 1t is not a large one, whose members write for newspapers in Alabama and who neither own nor control the pa- pers in which they print their thoughts. F. A man can write for . newspaper to make a living and yet be a respectable member of society. He really can. For the benedeent consideration of that small class in Alabama. made up of men who work for wages at the writ ing trade. l propose to turn the sub ject over once or twice, and if can persuade them that they should have just as much seIf-respeet as the next man and even though man Is nothing but a newspaper writer he has no need to take another mans dust, or hold his head less high than any other man in the community. He may remain honest and self-respeeting and yet be news paper man
 All of which is drawn out by a re- cent publication in The Editor and Publisher in which the old-time pro- fessiouai sheer at the word "journalist'' is voiced and all the humor that a foolish youth ever aroused by so dub- ping himself, Is drawn out to make fun Of the other man who would break into the business in any other way than as a newspaper man.
 What the Business Needs.
 As 6 matter of fact. the newspaper profession would be better off if there were more journalists and fewer news paper men. The profession would be infinitely better on if the worker in 1t looked as seriously and earnestly upon his labor, as French journalists do. and did not view 1t with the cyni- cal contempt. of the American news paper man. If there were more washed and shaven journalists and fewer un- shaven Bohemians doing the writing and thinking on American papers. the profession would be better paid and stand as high in the community as 1t should.
 The crying need of the profession to- day is more character and less Bril- lance. The profession needs today more men with force to take the place of the brilliant Bohemians who make a virtue of their financial inefficiency.
 The affected pose of the American newspaper man, and 1t Is the general pose, too, is to laugh at the man, who is proud of his profession. to wear fiippancy as an honor. and to put himself away from the conventional and hCSOScAAy Y .NAaAukd III guE 1OGAreAs
 What fun they have out of tn French journalist with his frpci coat, his whlskers. his cane. and his silk hatI There Is nothing funuier than some brilliant Americans newspaper mans scintillating sketch of theS French journalist and his ways Ana yet the Frenchinan works not half as hard as the American. the work is not halt so good and he is probably as weil If not better paid than the'Araa aRkeAR M The American newspaper man might profitahly study the French journalist and the conditions which give a stand ing among the learned professions, something the American newspaper man has not enjoyed and will not enjoy, until he ceases to view the world In sneering contempt from half closed eyes out of an unshaven face. The pessimistic suhartness of the American newspaper man, his cynical brilliance. brings him but small retnrns in honor and profit when they are compared with the re- turns that come to the French jour nalist who never as long as he lives, will be able to do the work of an American newspaper man and do 1t half so well.
 The Alfred Jingle View.
 The one thing that illustrates the American newspaper mans Alfred Jim gle view of life is his aggressive con tempt for term which might uplift