Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1912-06-20
GREAT TASK AHEAD
Newspaper Men Preparing For
Two Conventions.
TO MOVE ON CHICAGO SOON
Then They Must Make Quick Jump
to 8altimore-How Tickets Are
Assigned and Quarters Provid-
ed for the correspon-
dents.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

MISUNDERSTANDING day is immi-
nent in Washington. Very soon scores
Of members of congress, the cam
Paign managers of three Republican
candidates and hundreds of persons
who are to be merely onIookers will
take trains, regular and special, to
move on Chicago for the great Re
publican national convention.
While the Republican convention IS
at It's height other scores OF congress
men and campaign managers of at
least four Democratic candidates and
more onloOkers than are numbered
among the hosts Of Chicago specta-
-ors, vii lmoYe on Baltimore. The
conventions this year are regarded by
everybody in Washington as certain
to be of unusual interest. The de
mand for tickets to both great affairs
has been greater than ever before and
the committeeman are being put to it
not simply to meet the demand, but
to discover ways and means of de-
Ginning demands so automatically as
not to give offense. 1t is a case of
being asked to put at least a hundred
pegs in one hole and this is the thing
which not even the sagacious and re
sourceful national committeeman of the
two parties are able to do.
Army of Correspondents
Congressman, political managers
and onlookers will not be the only
ones to leave Washington for the Chi
cago event. At least $50 newspaper
correspondents will desert the gal
leries of congress some days in ad-
vance of the Republican convention
to go to the Lake city, to report not
only the convention itself, but the
Notwithstanding preliminaries.
There will be 500 newspaper men in
attendance at both conventions
Prior to the conventions, the ma
tional committeeman of both parties
are extremely busy men, but there are
others who have to work also The
correspondents in Washington have
what is called a standing committee
whose duties it is to regulate the press
galleries, to decide on who is entitled
to admission and who is not, to in
vestigate in the rare cases where some
correspondent is charged with unpro-
fessional conduct, and to do many 9TH
er things in the way of regulation
and good government"
Mr.. AIbert's Large Task.
The chairman Of the standing CON-
Of &c Q
Albert. To Mr.. Albert have come the
applications from all the managing
editors of the daily papers of the coun-
try asking for assignments of seats
on the press platforms Of the two COL
ventions. 1t is also the duty of the
chairman to confer with the other
members of the standing committee
and to determine whether or not the
demands of the different newspapers
have been out of keeping with the
real news necessities in the case 1t
is rather a difficult and delicate Job
to determine just how many seats the
newspapers are entitled to. When all
the applications are in, the requests
for newspaper seats are turned over
by the standing committee to the
chairman of the national committees
on the management of the two conven-
tons, and the seats are assigned.
In the house press gallery acting
as it's superintendent is a government
employee who has been for something
like thirty years at his post of duty.
He is Charles H. Mann, a Marylander.
He is not only a veteran of the Wash
ington service. but a veteran of the
convention service.
In the senate press gallery as super
intendent is James D. Preston, young
and extraordinarily active. He has
been travelling back and forth between
Baltimore and Washington several
times a week ever since the Demo
cratic national committeeman fixed on
Baltimore as the place for the con-
vention. It is not too much to say
that Mr.. Preston probably knows just
what kind of quarters have been as
signed each individual correspondent.
1t has been one of his duties to see to
it that the writer's have places to
which they can go to pound out for
themselves, or to dictate, instant copy.
Department Press Agents Accused.
Members of the house rules commit
tee recently have been investigating
the use of press agents by the de-
partments of government" In many
of the departments men are employed
to put out information concerning the
work which the government intends to
do along certain lines. Much of this
material is sent to Washington CORE
spondents and a good deal of it is use
full, for it contains facts which are OF
service in writing articles concerning
the activities Of the government.
The charge has been made that
some of the publicity agents Of the
departments have gone beyond the
bounds of propriety and have put out
matter intended not only to defend
officials from attack, but to bring dis
credit upon people who have criti-
cised the workings Of the depart
ments. The direct charge made con
corning 'the pernicious publicity
activity" considered by the house
rules committee had to do with mate
rial furnished by the department OF
agriculture which, it is said, was sent
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R0SE Tn TIE OPPORTUNITY