El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-29
GEORGE ABE ON
THE NEWSPAPER
CAME
Continued From Page One.)

skin gloves and saunter over to the
Auditorium hotel
In these days If a young man from
somewhere out in the corn belt came
to the office and applied for a job he
was asked if he had attended first
class western college. If he replied
yes and could produce letter from
the professor of English showing that
he had written articles for the col
lege paper, he was put into the edit
orial department at SIS a week If he
could prove absolutely that he had not
attended any college. he was assigned
20 the business department at $40
week.
The Peoples Idea.
Everybody wants TO help the editor.
Not as regards cheaper wood pulp or
keeping down the payroll, but with
suggestions for filing up the paper.
Most people still believe that every
newspaper man must hustle every
night to get enough copy to separate
the advertisements.
TN the first place the city news
paper of today as compared with the
Indiana newspaper of the '70s is tame.
invertebrate, cOIorless and apologize.
The first newspaper with which I was
associated came out every Thursday
from a room over a hardware store.
THE fires of civil war were still
smouldering, Indianas chief occupa-
ton was politics. nearly every man
was voting as he shot, and some of
them a good deal oftener. Our office
equipment consisted of a Washington
hand press. a footpower job press, a
perennial towel and a few fonts of
type-most italics. All, but we had an
editor.
JOurRaIlsm's PaImy Days.
These were the palmy days of jour
nalism of which We hear so much at
present. No faint of commercialism. no
subservience 10 the counting room (be-
cause there was not any counting
rOOm), no cog wheels or card indexes
simply a majestic figurehead of an ed
itor who was animated by high and
patriotic resolve TO promote man
slaughter as often as possible When
he opened up on man, the mans only
escape was TO walk outside of our
circulation. which he could do in about
10 minutes
If you hear man raving about the
golden age of American journalism,
when each editor exercised an individ-
ual influence and led the way through
darkness with a flaming torch above
his head-let IL so at that. Don't take
the trouble 10 examine the files OF
that wonderful period or you may be
discouraged over your present efforts
L plead for a return OF those days
when every editorial was a trumpet
blast and every paragraph was a fire
cracker. We used 10 go to press at
o'clock. and by 4 o'clock the whole
population would be out on the streets
waiting for the sounds Of assault and
battery.
Some "Eiind Language"
The old time editor. the one We ali
read about, VINO stamped his inJi-
viduality on every issue of his paper
and did not bother about the press
work, do you remember what he called
a man if he did not care much for
him? He did not call him a molly
coddle or an insurgent or d malefactor
or an undesirable citizen. He said
that the man was 'poltroon. a liar,
a pusilanimous liar. an unmitigated
horsethief. a jackal, marplot a cal
tiff, a reptile a viper, a cur and a
whelp.'
pressive words that are gradually be-
today. STEPPED in commercialism we
have abandoned the methods of VIII
bur F. Storey and accepted the lead
ership of Edward W. Box.
The Big Advertiser.
Also the newspapers of today are
criticised because they are kind to
the big advertiser. I think newspapers
are somewhat under the domination of
the big advertiser. In -act the big
advertiser has got them so worked up