Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-09
KEEPING THE NEWS GOING.
"Uncle Sam" Story, Copied From Die
tionary, Made Reporter Famous.

tlonary, made Reporter Famous.
1t has long been a subject OF dis
cussion and controversy among the
corps Of newspaper correspondents at
Washington, whether they accurately
judge the nature of the appetite of the
people outside of the capital for news
matter; that is, whether they write
| about the things in which the people
are most interested, or whether they
have not fallen into the rut of report
ing too freely what Is said and done
with regard to some men and meas
ures, and ignoring others that might
be of more popular interest.
A few evenings ago, at a dinner, at
which Frank G. Carpenter, the globe
trotting syndicate letter. writer, was
host, and some of the older members
of the newspaper professionalism is,
the veterans" those whom the kiddos
Of the business recently come to town
are in the habit of speaking Of as "old
man so-and- d-so"-were arguing this
matter, when the conversation got
around to the subject of writing
'chestnuts."
Some of those present contended
that every story renewed its youth
once or twice year, and that the
proper thing for an up-to-date CORES
pondent is to write a good story ev-
cry time 1t appears new to him, no
matter whether he knows that 1t has
already appeared in print or not.
Thereupon Mr.. Carpenter, who has
made both fame and fortune in his
business, and who was called Chest
nuts when he first came to Washing
ton a quarter Of a century ago to do
newspaper work, told story that went
far toward getting verdict in favor
of the contention that everything that
interests a large. portion of the people
is new enough to be started on the
rounds again.
Mr.. Carpenter originated In Mans
| field, Ohio, and came to Washington
by way Of Toledo, Ohio, as the cor
respondent of a paper there, but made
his reputation on the Cleveland Lead
er. He says that when he first came
to town he was so green that the cows
on Pennsylvania avenue took him for
bale of hay, and followed him ac-
cordingly. He (Carpenter) brought
letters of introduction to some Of the
Nestors of the press at that time, in
Guiding E. G. Dunnell Of the New York
Times, and Gen. Boynton Of the Gin
cinnati Commercial Gazette, but found
that every time he got hold Of story
that looked good to him and asked
their advice about 1t, they would say:
"Oh, don't print that; it's a chestnut.
Get something new"
But the more he legged 1t about
town and nosed his way here and
there, the older were the stories that
he got hold of, and finally he de-
SPARED of finding anything good
enough to send to his paper. One
evening he encountered on newspaper
row Charles" Towle Of the Boston
Advertiser, and Perry s. Heath, then
the correspondent of string Of west
ern papers, and, telling them that he
was on the LOOKOUT Ior StoryI .Iney
agreed to give him one.
So they told him In circumstantial
and detailed language how 1t happened
that Uncle Sam" came to be the ac-
cepted cognomen of the entity rep
resenting the power of the United
States government. Word for word,
Carpenter took down the narrative,
and word for word he telegraphed 1t
to his paper. To his astonishment 1t
was copied more widely than anything
he ever wrote, after having been print
ed over his signature, and under black
headlines. Practically every newspa-
per of the country that came under
his eye, and he took a look at nearly
all of them at that time, reprinted the
story, giving credit either to him or to
the paper.
Going down to "the row" to thank
his benefactors for his lucky strike,
they chuckled and winked, and, taking
him into the rear office, showed him
the story word for word, as he had
printed it, in the back Of a stand
ard dictionary, whence they had