The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-07-24


; paper men was how to get the stor
before the world They had learnel
J by experience the apparently insur
mountablc difficulty which existed II
inducing any Eastern newspaper maj
ito take any interest himesf, or Il
believe that the readers OF his new j.
i paper would take any interest, Il
gold discoveries made In such an iso
lated region as Alaska
The bunch" around the Post Intel
lligcncer all worked In harmony. The,
always helped each other in ever,
possible way. They suggested various
forms In which query" should bt
! framed. to catch the attention of the
news editors at whom 1t was aimed
and to induce them to order story
of some length about the Alaska dis
coveries. Finally . thought suggested
itself to one Of them, and that was the
thought which did. the trick.
/ - tJP TIVIII by0W NOVkt
The idea came from short news
story he had read few days pre-
! vious In the commercial columns Of
one Of the new New York newspapers.
This story described, In a humorous
way, a recent little furry in the sill
yer market in New York, which had
|occasioned temporary rise In the
price of the white metal Of several
points.
1t appears that one Of the various
Wall street agencies had bulletined the
fast that ten tons Of silver had been
taken for shipment to France. The
story went around with great rapiditv
and created few hours Of feverish
interest and speculation The story
was promptly expanded, and for a
time It was believed that the meaning
was that France was preparing t,
remonetize silver and had made this
extraordinary purchase in order to be
supplied with sufficient quantity if
bullion bought at the then low figure.
in order to be prepared to enter upon
this reconciliation plan.
Transfer the Idea
The little bubble burst when some
one set at work with pencil and
piece Of paper and found that tho
actual value Of the shipment was orv
about 100000. Then there was
laugh and the incident was forgotten
The effect Of this substitution of the
S 'nrfor ds Of measurement WIS rlasry
II looked as though an appeal whie,
had met with such instant response
from gang of Wall street spectators
might have a somewhat similar effort
even upon a lot of hard-headed news
editors At all events the scheme was
worth trying.
The Portland had brought down gold
TO an amount somewhat in excess Of
100000. It was promptly figured out
hat, even at the rough rate of SIS an
5unce as the value, this amount would
ZONE to something In excess Of ton
n weight.
"Ton Of GoId' Wired Abroad.
Each man. who had String" If
newspapers promptly wrote out brief
statement of the fact of the arrival Of
he Portland with startling news from
he new discoveries and telegraphed |
his statement to the various news |
'apers which he represented. And each |
query" thus sent out had In 1t the /
magic sentence: THE Portland had a
on of gold aboard"
The replies were rapid and startling |
n every single instance there was \
emand for the stories which had been
elected all winter, The editors wanted
900 words. 1000, and, in some in
tances there was no limit placed upon
he amount. The news editors wanted
II they could get at the time and all
nat could be got thereafter.
The following morning every news
amer which appeared anywhere in the ,
nited states and which had tele- /,
raphic service, carried. as the leading !
Dry OF the day, the news about the :
londike discoveries and devoted far II
ore space To them than to anything :
sc in the paper: and If there was any :
swspaper in the list which failed to ID
Try the words of "A Ton of Gold" in q
e head lines over the story, thai 4
'wspapers was not among thN=e y
hich reached the exchange desk IND q
g Post -Intelligencer Office q
Cahled Undor Atlantic. y
That same phrase, "A Ton Of Gold" =
rs flashed by cable under the At =
ltic and appeared in the newspapers
England and the continent
The news was four or FIVE months
when 1t reached the rest of the
rid, outside of Seattle, but 1t was
'eived with no absence Of enthus-
I'm on that account. The world u
akened to the fact that the newest 81
dorado had been uncovered. and the &C
rld's Adventures of every race aud I'll
m every cline were soon on their co
y to Seattle, as the entrepot Of the lei
at discovery. the place whence the tn
VS. went out to the world. be
0..k kt~~L.l> -. A.. A. Sl