The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-07-03
FACTS(?) ON JOURNALISM,
Hints to Collegians who Would
Adopt Learned Profession.

'o'tluoiC OVfl.
~ young man in North Carolina has
favored us with the following COM
munication:
81 am about to graduate from col
leec and desire to enter some learned
profession. | believe l have a talent
Tor literary composition. DO you think
that Journalism offers me Il good op-
portunity9 Are newspaper editors
well paid7 And how long would it
take me to advance from reporter TO
editor?'
We confess that the adjective en-
ployed by our correspondent in the see
ond 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 "lcarncd' has
ever been applied to the journalistic
vocation. We have heard il called al
most everything else, from "abhor-
rcd to "zymotic,' but, "lcarncd"
Is new. We thank the young gentle
man Of North Carolina and pass on
to his questions.
a talent for literary composition? (?
Is 1t useful in journalism? We be-
llcvc that it is. It will serve at the
start to make the aspirant s applca-
tion Tor job graceful, grammatical
and convincing. Tt wifi serve again
years after, when he retires from ac-
tive service and begins to write his
"reminiscences. And in between it may
prove its utility more than once We
have never encountered reporter
whose literary skill was quite equal
to Walter Pater's, but we have no
doubt that if such one ever bobbed
up his talent would do him no great
damage.
Bat good literary style is less cs-
scntial in journalism than good di-
gcStlon. The Journalist must be able
to digest anything and nothing. He
must be able to 90 three days without
food and an hour without drink.
The accidents and catastrophcs which
make up the news Of the world have
no regular Office hours. They hap
pen 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 result he must learn
to stretch The hiatus between lunch
and dinner until it attains the dig
nifty of geological epoch. One day
he dimes at 7 p. m. and the next day
he dimes the day after. One day he
is invited to twenty-five oyster roasts
and is so busy that he can't 60 to one
of them, and the next day he may
have little to do and no invitations
come his way.
Are newspaper editors well paid9
Our answer here must be both YES and
no. The average malcfactor of high
degree makes more, but the average
evangelist makes less. We have vet to
receive proof that any editor in the
United States can match the $500.000
per annnm Of John Hays Hammond,
but we know of at least twenty who
receive $125,000 year. In the $780,
600 class there arc probably sixty or
eighty, and in the $4,000 class sever
al hundred. Tn the smaller cities sal
aries are somewhat lower, but we
know of no editor who gets less than
$4,000 year. with board, lodging
and laundry. We are speaking, of
course, of cditors-in-chicf The min
or men receive somewhat less. the
average for t"lc"raph editors being
about $500 n week: for city editors.
500; for night editors. $500. and for
horse editors, &l30. Dramatic critics
cct $3.50 for every performance they
attend, besides free passes, and socic-
ty editors arc paid $3.50 a reception.
with automobile and dress suit
thrown in. Poets arc paid $15 line
and editorial writer's from So to s. a
word.
The line Of promotion in ncwspa-
per Offices, from lowest to highest, is
as follows: Dramatic critics, war cor
respondent special writer. base ball
reporter, religious editor, editorial
writer, copy reading, society editor,
detective reporter, assistant city cdi-
tor, city editor, news editor, assist
ant managing editor, managing editor,
editor-il-chicf, editor. Our cores
pondcnt wants to know how long it
will take him to reach the top Of the
ladder. Tie question has interested
us very much and we have lain awake