Evening star., 1912-11-06
G|VEELEcT|ON THR0B
But Excitement Is Lost to
Newspaper Men.
ONE SAW 1T 28 YEARS AGO
Veteran Witnessed It Again Last
Night First Time Since Then.
CUB REPORTERS IN A DAZE
How the Results Were Gathered and
Given Out Inside The Stars
News Room.
CUB REPORTERS IN A DAzI

In newspaper Offices. where time is
reckoned by references to election
nights for the last thirty years, there
are scores of men who have helped
feed the awaiting crowd on the streets
with excitement; and yet who have
never seen the crowd itself. That's
fact. The inside OF big newspaper
office on election night is a sanctum
in reality. 1t is g. wizards cabinet
from which the storm of figures and
facts is twisted and turned into little
black and white lines on white paper
and white screens; and the men in the
office are people apart from ordinary
humanity on an occasion like last
night.
There is a man in The Stars news
room who arose from his desk when
the oyerjoyous democrats paraded,
with band, along 1lth street. He
looked out the window and saw the
marvellous sight from the seventh floor.
He Saw Excitement Once.
That's the first election excitement l
have actually seen with my own eyes
since Clevelands first time, he said.
And that man probably knows more
about elections, from actual contact with
the facts as they shoot off the wires,
than any other man in big circle Of
men.
But, take it from the cub reporters.
who, for the first time in their lives, saw
a country turning over and millions or
votes being counted from the inside of
news room, there isn't anything quite
so dazedly fascinating as watching the
stuff as it drips in from every conceiv-
able quarter. From special wires, from
telephones, from pneumatic tubes 1t
seems as If the returns We're raining 1t
at open windows; and these chaps who
have never seen an election crowd, but
who have heard it yell, were charting,
adding. tabling, tabulating and forecast
ing for the benefit of the extra additions
and the crowds waiting for the returns
on the screen.
Keeping Tabled Information.
Of course, hundreds of people wanted
to know about specific points last night
Most of the inquiries on the telephone
were How is the election going,' but
the number of people who wanted news
from the various towns and election dis
tricts was greater than ever before Men
in The Stars news room kept tabled in
formation oil every sort as fast as it
could be made up from the returns as
telegraphed. The janSle of the telephones
showed that hundreds of people in the
residence district depended on The Star
for just that sort of information.
1t required a diplomatic sort of person
to satisfy all who telephOned. OF course
1t was very easy when some interested
but unbiased, seeker of information was
on the wire, but some insisted on i'm
parting the startling information that
Wilson's election was a great calamity,
or great blessing, the choice between
the two resting on the color of individual
political views.
Blamed It on The Star.
One woman, when informed that Will
son had polled an enormous vote and
ton. generously gave The Star entire
credit for the expression Of the politi-
cal views of the whole country.
Hes elected, is he?' she demanded
We'll l hope you're satisfied now. The
country is going to the dogs
Madam. we did not elect him. We are
merely"
You're glad of it. though. and you
can't help yourselves by trying to ex-
plain.
Bang. The receiver was hung up
Another woman, less yengeful. but
more garrulous. when informed that Will
Son was practically elected, treated the
member of the staff who had given her
the information to long dissertation
on the evils the country was about to
experience. but she. more considerate of
the feelings of the listener, placed the
blame on the shoulders of the bull
moose" and expressed the revolutionary
hope that the next President will be a
king