University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-10-21
The Magazine and
The Newspaper

Two manuscripts met in the post
mans sack. and were laid together on
the editors desk Both were wise
in their generation, one from a life
of travel-it boasted of visits to sew
enteen magazine offices-and the other
of having been born in a newspaper
office, amid the adventure, the humor,
the pathos, the scepticism of life.
And which magazine office is this
we are in now" inquired the first by
way of starting conversation.
"Magazine!" exclaimed the other
This is none of your creeping maga-
zines that must begin work on a
Christmas story in July. This is a
newspaper office" And he drew him
self UP with nn air of superiority.
How stupid you are" retorted the
travel-worn veteran impatiently. Just
look about you and see what company
we are in Have we not here special
articles. verse. pictures of actresses
and-yes. / was sure Of it-fction
See there il is right behind you-those
proof sheets of that Misunderstanding
Davis short story. The Other Woman
.,e name of it. Since when did
newspapers begin printing short sto-
ies?"
Z: ey do it all the time" said the
other Il saw that same story, Tie
Other Woman, in the Kansas City Star
last Sunday And it is not only In the
sunday editions that they do it, either
Suppose you look around a bit
yourself" he continued. I'm positive
this is newspaper office. Just see
those editorials there-and those book
reviews. And if that does not con-
vince you, just cast your eyes on
those proofs. That's a report of the
| first national convention of women
voters-news if ever l saw any I'll
bet hat that we end up in a news
paper before we get through here:
at least | shall, although you may be
turned down again"
IF l were so narrow minded as not
to be open to conviction" began the
veteran spitefully.
And so these two, the aged traveller
and the youngster born in the newspa-
per office, argued and wrangled all
the rest of the day. Their growth was
communicated to the man who read
them, for they were in no humor to be
agreeable. In the end they both
went into the waste basket; so neither
ever found out which was right.
Still one could hardly blame the
manuscripts for not knowing better
The question would have puzzled wiser
heads than theirs. For in truth, judg-
ing merely by literary content, there
is little difference between the modern
newspaper and the magazine
THE Kansas City Star aims to sup
ply its readers with good reading
matter" said its city editor, George
B. Longan, one Journalism Week.
I'VE consider the publication of high
lciass criticism of the American opera
as much scoop as an exclusive story
on the latest political developments. -
A survey of the Stars pages bears
him out.
Few metropolitan papers carry out
this idea to such an extent as the Star.
but many do to less extent And
the Sunday papers, those surprising
hybrid creations, fairly bristle with
stories that may be anything but news.
4 In newspaper the ordinary reader
expects to find reports of happenings
that have current interest, together
with editorial comment on these hap
peninss. In a magazine, on the other
hand, many persons think the purpose
accomplished if they find within its
picturesque covers an assortment of
good fiction, with plenty of pictures
mad little verse.
Yet what publications of any stand
ing confine themselves to these fields
now? Even in recent years the two
classes of periodicals have moved to-
ward each other and the boundaries
between them have grown indistinct
Economic, sociological and political