Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-09-21
SPIRIT THAT WON
FOR TAvenNER
AT WASHINGTON
How Hard Work and Determin.
alton Triumphed Over
Hardships,
STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT
Young Newspaper Man Found His Lot
Difficult One at the National
Capital.
BY ARTHUR WEST.

BY AK HOh WEols
CEG..or's Note-The author Of this
article has been associated for 10 years
with Mr. TayenneT in newspaper work
IN Chicago and W4shington).
1t required the hardest kind Of q
struggle for Clyde H. Tavenner to
establish himself in Washington. The
national capital is the mecca of free
lance" newspaper writers-young
men and women who go there with
the idea of corresponding for out.
side newspapers-Rnd while hundreds
have sought to obtain a foothold in
this fed. TRvennsr Is one of the
very few who met success.
Back OF that success lies = story Of
fight that was as pathetic as it was
relentless. TRvenner knew that the
paths Of hundreds Of Washington
newspaper men, save only those who
were regularly attached to the larger
outside papers. and whose salaries
were assured before they went TO
Washington. were strewn with thoras.
He knew that practically every edi-
tor and publisher IN the country was
deeply suspicious OF the correspond.
ence sent out by the host Of writer's
at Washington, and he knew that
the reason for this suspicion lay in
the fact that the majority of these
writer's had axes to grind; that they
were by stealth and iHdireotion i'm.
posing on editors whose papers they
wished TO use to advance the cause
of questionable mad even criminal en-
terprises.
A SEVERE HANDICAP.
For years and years the big law
breaking trusts kept regularly paid
press agents at Washington, and
these press agents flooded the couh-
try papers, daily and weekly, with
free news letters" purporting to be
d review OF events at Washington.
These news letters" contained hid
den jokers, in the form of sly thrusts
al proposed legislation which the
trusts did not want, or subtle words
OF praise for men or measures they
favored.
So bold did these press agents
become, AID SO eager were they to in
fluence. public opinion through the
newspapers, that the editors of this
country, almost without exception, are
today convinced that every Washing
ton newspaper correspondent not
regularly attached TO some individual
newspaper is in the business of dis
pehsing tainted news for a selfish In
terest. So set is this convictioh, and
SO ample the basis for II, that prac-
tical.y every line of the vast volume
of correspondence which daily finds
its way into the country newspaper
offices, is at ohce consigned to the
waste basket.
This situation obtained when Tav-
/ enner went to Washington four years
ago, with the firm resolve to build I'D
a syndicate of democratic newspa.
pers, for which he proposed to write
democratic letters
STARTED WITH NOTHING.
When he arrived in Washington ne
had an old typewriter, a duplicating
machine, a $40 bill, ald a large con
signment of the kind of spirit you
read about in the Biographies of self
uiahN AlEli ~ IN NIol " dS lN1t vi
the so bill after he had paid d
weeks rent on the smallest attic
room in Washington, Tavenner bought
postage stamps. Then he borrowed
some paper of Congressman James T
. McDeTmott of Chicago, whom ht
knew, Sald then he wrote the first OF
what was destined TO be the most re
lentless series of onsiaughts against
vested wrongs ever undertaken in
this country.
He made 500 copies OF his first let
tvr, and sent Gle c-py u each OF
900 newspapers. !ne result WAS, al
Increase in the burdens of 499 vast,
baskets, as only one ,newspaper-Ths
Rock Island Argus accepted his proU
ositioE The editor of The Argu:
knew TayeRner personally. haYiE,
made his acquaintance when TaYen
ner was al his home ia Cordova. ans
he also knew Of Tavenner's work a.
a newspaper man in Chicago. Tit
letters were accepted By The Argu.
from the start, and have appeared
regularly in this newspaper ever
since
Tavenner waited 4 week for othel
replies, in the meantime cooking hit
. own meals over the gas Jet ia hi
doliar-a-week attic room. But 10 re
PLY came, and the "Tavenler News
Service might have perished forever
after its' first brief gasp for life haC
not a friend OF Tavanner's tod hin
that the Des Moines Daily News wal
looking for telegraph correspondent
IA Job that offered SO per week.
A LIFE SAVER.
This was bis life saver, for gu
CT the $40 he was able 20 send ou
two patches OF sample letters weekly
saving only S. per week for living eI
peases-sI for room rent; $3.50 20
groceries. and so cents for laundry.
IL Is almost ineoReeiYa able that AM
nap could work - Clyde TaysHHe
worked for tbs siz months after b,
.ahdsa IN WsshiHgteP, Former Con
sfsssmaR Klmbal OF Kentucky, wht
rss coon attracted by The HeYeF-say
die spirit OF tbs CsFdova boy, Ofere,
tbs free use of his Office for TaY
eRf-sF TO carry on his work, which
etisF Sss gladly accepted, 4 few day