The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1910-06-04
WATTERS0h talks SHOP
MARSE HENRY Is DINED
BY the Press Club of New
York.
What A NEWSPAPER SHOULD Re

Proud of His Profession and Although
Old Believes He Could still Hold
His Own in Competition With
New York Reporter.
New York.-Henry Watterson, ed
itor of the Louisyille Courier-Jour-
nal, was the guest of the New York
Press club at dinner in his honor.
10 bis rishk an left sat othsesnewss
paper men Of enatl6nar -psominenee
and some others not of the craft
were there as guests. Among these
were Brig. Gen. Walter Howe, COM
mander of the department of the
east, and Representative William
Sulzer.
The cover of the menu was a re-
production of Col. Watterson's pa
per, reproduced, the Courier-Jour-
nal. A cut of Col. Watterson adorn-
ed the inside.
In Watterson's talk he said:
Il was born next door to a print
shop and grew up In a newspaper
office. First and last l have filled
every newspaper function from gal
ley boy to leader-writer. l am proud
of my calling and Jealous of its good
name. Until l gave up all-round, all
night work, was never SO happy as
tow$d the wee sma' hours when the
boys about me, wires we're flashing
q
presses were beginning to thunder
below.
mot one of you has walked these
streets in search of work more visit
fully and more despairingly than I
have. 1 remember once seeing young
James Gordon Bennett through al
window Of the old Herald Office
down about the corner Of Broadway
and Fulton streets, and Of murmur-
ing, with John Leech's ragged ur-
chin, looking upon little boy In a
London home, eating plum-pudding.
wouldn't 1t be bully to be him?"
Just fifty-two years ago Mr.. Dana,
then on the Tribune paid me IS
for a bit of what would be called
space writing now, and ten years
later, when we had come to be
as it were, professional colleagues,
he was pleased to be reminded of the
circumstance, and from that hour to
the day of his death was my most
excellent friend and comrade.
Il think l know what news is and
how to prepare it. Like victuals 1t
may be served hot and savory or
raw and unsavory, be brought on
plain, or be dressed and decorated,
to suit the ever varying public
tastes. There is in this, as in cook
ing, an art.
"a fine, ruddy murder, like fair
round of beef, may be ruined In the
roasting, and scandal, fat and JUL
cy, blonde and frowsy, wholly spoil
ed by a figurative excess of oil and
garlic. A skillful chef can take few
scraps and fabricate dish to de-
light a gourmet. So deft reporter
can put this and that together and
piece a story to set the town a-talk-
ing. In both cases, however, there
must be a basis of essential facts.
1t is given to no man to make a silk
purse out of sow's ear; to no cook
to render suate out of saw-dust
and boot-heels; to no reporter to
turn scoop into a lie.
II draw the line at straight lying
and the station house. The city edi-
tor should never consider himself
brevet chief of police, the reporter a
semi-professional detective. The
with the law, should as
sumo the accused innocent until
proven guilty; should be the friend,
not the enemy Of the general public,
the defender, not the invader, OF pri-
vate life and the assailer of personal
character. @...
"The newspaper Is not commodi-
ty to be sold over the counter like
dry goods and groceries. 1t should
be as 1t we're, keeper OF the public
conscience, its rating professional,
like the ministry and the law, not
like the department
store and bucket shop. It's workers
should be gentlemen, not eve drop
pers and scavengers developing
spy system peculiarly their own, not
caring for the popular respect and
esteem.
I'm short, my dear young friends,
stand for the manhood, the gentle
of our guild, profession
md not trade, and I believe that In
he long run, the owners of newspa-
ger properties will learn that integ-
.ity and cleanliness pay the best
1ividends and that good faith and
yood humor are positive assets.
whenever one of you finds him
self in a position Of authority, let
1im carry out these few precepts
n Is mind and in his heart; to print
,othing of a man which he would
lot say to ris face; to print nothing
If a man in malice; to look well and
hink twice before consigning sus-
,ect to the ruin of printers ink; to
the old and defend the weak;
BRIDE-ELECT KILLED.
Columbus, Ohio.-Miss Lillian ,
,,d s1;eo EIossia Herman