Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-30
COLLEGE, A HELP
Its Training Valuable for
Newspaper Work.
JOURNALISTS TEACHERS
The More knowledge They Have the
More They Give.
PECULIAR TRAITS NECESSARY
For Success in Journalism a Man
Must Be Born With Certain
Talents.
PECULIAR TRAITS NECESSARY

Talents.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
| Herald.
About this time of year 1 always re.
| ceive a large number of inquiries from
various parts Of the country, and espe-
cially from high school teachers and pu-
| pills, asking whether a college education
is necessary for success in Journalism.
| and inquiring as to the comparative ad-
| vantages of different schools of Journal
| ism and whether the newspaper business
can be learned by correspondence. AS
| an example of the most intelligent OF
| such inquiries, Mr.. Stewart NJ. Camf1eld
| of the high school at kenOsha, Wis.
| asks:
| Ftrst-Is the newspaper business very
| desirable one?
| Seconds it very difficult profession?
Thrd-Are the chances for advancement
good?
Fourth-Is high school education nee
| essary?
Fifth-Is college education necessary?
Rev. w. B. Wilson Of Delta. Iowa,
asks: do you regard a college educa-
ton as necessary preparation for the at
| taainment of an ideal?'
Peculiar Traits Necessary.
Before answering these questions, it is
necessary to say that to be a successful
| reporter, correspondent or editor, requires
peculiar traits and talents; especially the
faculty of acquiring Information, and the
| ability to communicate it in an interest
4 These
and cannot be acquired by any amount
of education 1t is the same with an ar
fist. or an orator. or musician. or an
| engineer: each of them must have natural
| gifts which distinguish one from another;
and the cultivation of those gifts is neces-
/ sary for success in the PROFESSIONS they
represent. In other words a man or
| woman with beautiful voice and re-
| fined taste for music. will undoubtedly
| make partial success II Self-educated,
| but If the talents God has given them
| are developed and expanded by the In
| struction of master their success will
| be correspondingly greater. A child with
an inventive genius may do some wonder
full things without education, but the
| training to be obtained at well-conducted
| technical institution will give the same
! talents a wider usefulness and enable
/ them to contribute to the happiness and
welfare of the world to greater degree
| than an ordinary common school educa-
| Ion.
|
oelphia Times. one of the most successful
newspaper men of his generation, once
declared that: Journalists are the
| greatest of teachers, and there is every rea-
son why special education should specially
| tit them for such duties.'' He might have
| added that the value of all teachers can
De enhanced by increasing their knowl-
| edge. cultivating their intelligence and
training them to use both to the greatest
advantage.
The More knowledge the Better.
| One cannot get too much information of
the right sort, and all training is valuable
which improves the ability to apply to
| useful purposes knowledge obtained from
| books or teachers. knowledge is power
| The more man knows the more useful
he can be if he is able to apply his fund
of information. 1t is impossible for some
| people to do that because of natural de-
| fects. which command sympathy.
know several learned men who are unable
to communicate their thoughts and ideas
| because they were never trained to do SO
or lack the faculty. No school of jour-
nalism can make up for natural defects,
out sensible, practical training can i'm
prove the usefulness of everybody. No
school of journalism, no college nor uni
versty can make silk purse out of a
sow's ear. but even the most stupid ano
awkward Of us can be improved by proper
training.
| Practical instruction in the work of
editors. correspondents, reporters. pub
fishers. advertisement writer's and other
branches of the newspaper profession can
prepare a person for actual experience,
and while practice does not always make
perfect, it should be improving. Further
more, the principles that should actual,
every writer and publisher, the basis OF
dignity, power and influence, can be drill
ed into a young man at school better thar
after he gets out into actual work. when
he will have little time to study and
think of such things.
| Answering Mr.. Camfields questions in
order: Journalism is a very desirable
profession, there is none more desirable,
from every point of view. and It is at
tracing the ablest and brightest young
men to its ranks. The opportunities for
public service and for usefulness are
wider than in any other profession, and
at the same time the opportunities for
mischief and vicious influence are gu te as
! great. The destinations of newspaper
work do not appear in any other profess
sion. The greatest satisfaction enjoyed
by a farmer is to see the plant ow from
the seed and the harvest that represents
his labor; and the same sensation is en-
joyed by a newspaper man who sees the
lines he has written in print every morn
ing.
| Chances for Advancement.