The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-28
EDITING IS 1
 STRENUOUS JOB News May Be Dull But Life Is
 Never So ESPECIALLY IN A CAMP In Mining District He Must Not Only Be a Fine Diplomat, But Must Have Unlimited Nerve
 as Well.
ESPECIALLY IN A CAMP

An editor of a country newspaper is 1 successful in so far as he adapts not only his journalistic policy, but his bus mess and social being to the requirements of his environments. Mark Twain and Bret Harte are perhaps the most dis tfnguished exemplars of failure in this regard, according to Mark Twain, and in truth the story of the trials and tribula- tions of an editor of a newspaper in a Colorado mining camp which follows is strongly reminiscent of pages from MT. Clemens.
 T perceived at the beginning" said a veteran editor, that success would de- l pend less upon my ability to collect and write the news of the camp than upon my versatility in other lines-in the field of diplomacy for instance: in the science of geology, in the activities of politics, in the arts of horsemanship and snow shoeing. in the capacity of an authority upon all subjects in dispute, and in inn pressing the community with the belief if not the fact. that the editor could not be bullied or bluffed.
 aThe prime requisite of a mining camp editor. however, is imagination, and if he be not possessed of it as a natal gift, it will develop as a result of environment and association There is a sound psy- chological 1tason for the exaggeration of statement characteristic of dwellers in mountainous country. The rarif1ed atmosphere constantly plays tricks with 1 the eye. The actual height of a moun- 1 tain is always greater than appears from visual survey. One approaches a gulch or detle, with the intention of leaping across 1t, only to find when on the brink that it is hundreds of feet in width. Thus it is that the mountaineer, constantly de- ceived by nature, always enlarges upon or expands a statement in order to ap- proXlmate the truth.
 "There is another reason more con crete. A mine has been defined as hole in the ground. owned by a liar, and there seems to be some foundation in the fact for this definition. The mining camp editor is the publicity agent, the spokesman and sometimes the partner of the man that owns the mine.
 Imagination Aroused.
 "It does not take long for the influence of altitude and association to enable the newspaper man of the mining camp to see great possibilities in a prospect hole nor readily to recognize a we'll dressed stranger as a visiting eastern capitalist with millions of dollars behind him. His conscience soon ceases to rebel when he refers editorially to his camp as the greatest mining camp In the world-as he always does. A mining camp newspaper man who cannot make a visual survey of the shafts and tunnels penetrating the giant hills in a new camp and not have graphic visions of
 
 CTS, and then boldly prophecy their speedy erection, had better be back in the 'effete east (mining camp term) doing leg assignments on city daily or routine for the city press association.
 q believe 1t was my training as an ed itor in a mining camp that enables me now to write fiction that I can sell" continued the veteran parenthetically.
 "The most cheerful thing about run ming a newspaper in a mining camp is that you catch the spirit of optimism that permeates everybody and everything, and when the editor is not chasing rainbows of his own manufacture he is chasing the rainbows of the prospector and the miner.
 mism of the camp and the idlosyncrasies developed by environment and associa- tion, the mining camp editor does much sane, serious and important work under difficult and trying conditions.
 Editors Difficulties.
 '"rhe collection of news in a mining camp is attended with hardships and dan gers unknown to the newsgatherer in the towns and cities outside of the mining regions. The most important news, like the other products of the camp, comes out of the ground, and subterranean re- porting has it's disadvantages and it's Jfoa.a .41.z the camp cannot get his mining news in the same way he gets the ordinary local happenings In the matter of a birth, a wedding. a personal item or any affair relating to social or domestic life the editor is sought out and voluntarily in- formed, but the mining news he must literally dig out for himself. The pros- pector or miner who has a property of value is, as rule, secretve by the very nature of his calling, except when he has some purpose to serve through publicity. The fellow who has struck pay ore and doesn't need money for de- velopment and doesn't wish to sell is about as uncommunicative as a ma,e- factor of great wealth before an investl- gating committee. If he is looking for financial assistance or trying to make sale, he is eager that you shall lave full information. So Is the fellow who has good showing is just about 10 strike it, but neither of them is willing to tell you about it. They wish you 10 see 1t; they are afraid you might doubt their statements. How absurd! They will give you a kind of an idea about 1t, but they wouldn't dare to tell you how good it is; they wish to be ultra conservative about 1t. You are advised that you will find it very much better than they have stated And, being a good editor. whose judgment must necessarily be infallible, you go.
 Mines Widely Scattered.
 '"The mines are scattered over wide area. The particular mine you are to view may be miles from the town, in which case you will go on horseback. provided the sure-footed little cayuse doesn't object and refrains from 'bucking you off.' You may draw a prize as I once did in a horse rode over a trail of slide rock. where chipmunk wouldn't be sure of its footing, In an altitude of 12, 100 feet.
 "Once I visited a big working tunnel with the superintendent. The dump at the portal was 100 feet high. When we came out he mounted his horse, rode out calmly to the edge of the dump, touched the horse with his quirt, whereupon the animal squatted upon it's launches and slid to the bottom, arriving on all four legs. I heard the superintendent call | Come on as he disappeared over the brow of the dump. Would I expose my self as a tenderfoot editor by riding down the trail? Not I. My life was de- voted to newspaper work, and this was i, part of the game. I was not acquainted with the horse I was riding; did not | even know his name, but l rode out to ], the edge of the dump. hit him with the !xr,hf,