The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-12
MELVILLE E. STONE.

From Harper's Weekly.
 The city editor of a newspaper is re- sponsible for the accurate and attractive chronicling of every noteworthy oc- currence in town, the managing editor for all that goes on in the entire country; but this man, the head and front of the "A. P."-the very spirit of the "A. P" itself-is charged with the reporting of the activities of all mankind. To be perfectly accurate, then, let us note that his breakfast is made up of soft-boiled egg, a bit of toast, pot of tea and eight New York newspapers. These are the staples of the meal, and the eve devours by far the greater part of the repast. By way of hors-d' aeuvres we shall find near at hand the morning news papers of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Denver. Omaha, Og- den, San Francisco-in a word, of the whole country-As soon as they arrive. All of these are studied, compared, scu- tinized, as to their treatment of the news the "A. F." has sent them. also as to their treatment of the news they have dug out and displayed by the hands
 
 dents. For the editor who purveys to them all can often find helpful sugges- tion by noting the details that are at- tractive to each, striking an average, and supplying that average to all
 By nine o'clock Mir. Stone is in his of- flee at the heart of the Associated Press hive in the main building of the Vest ern Union Telegraph Company, at 195 Broadway Here is the building that con- tains more live news than any other in America: its electric antennae reach out to every extremity of the known world. In the spacious office whose principal equipments are newspaper files, books of reference, and charts of every part of the earth's surface, the general man. ager of the Associated Press sits for four hours in Judgment upon the doings of subordinates and the direction of their activities for the next day or the next week. His secretary has read all his mail, classified it, and digested the longest of the letters for speedy consideration. An swering the letters and issuing orders to the scores of department chiefs in every part of the world occupy their share of the four hours of the morning.
 Then A,r. Stone goes pack to the Lo- tos club for luncheon and the considera- tion of further matters that have to do with the benefit of the service.
 MT. Stone was on the way to Atlantic City on the afternoon of September G., 1901, for few days rest. Too long a period of all work and no play had ex- hausted him. When he arrived at the Broad street station in Philadelphia he was startled to hear several policemen call ing his name. When he spoke to one of them the policeman pointed out a mes- senger boy, who handed MT. Stone a telegram notifying him that President Mckinley had been shot. The message was first addressed to Trenton, but it missed the train there by few minutes. MT Stone hurried to the Philadelphia office of the Associated Press and re- mained there all night, ordering and di- recting by telegraph the work of his corps of editors, reporters, and telegra ph operators at Buffalo, and hastening others to their aid from Washington New York, Albany and Boston.
 Atlantic City was forgotten.