The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-02-16
THE REPORTERS LIFE.
Often Called to Make Great Sacrifice
and Enter Danger.


Do you know of any occupation that
demands and receives SO much from
those engaged in it as the newspaper
business? We admit we do not. The
church requires great deal from the
clergy, but poverty is, perhaps, the
most serious sacrifice it asks. The
practice of medicine at times compels
physicians to risk their lives in minister
ing to the needs of the sick, but because
OF the perfection OF methods and the
discoveries made in the prevention and
cure of disease danger has been reduced
almost to negligible quantity.
Journalism, on the other hand, insists
that those who engage in it shall be-
come its slaves and be ready to sacrifice
health, comfort and even life itself.
This is a strong statement, but is it not
true?
The man engaged upon great metro
politan newspaper, or even upon the
dailies of smaller cities, is always on
duty. There is not an hour in the TWEEN
ty-four when lie may not be summoned
to the office to meet an emergency that
no engagement that is not subject to
cancellation on few minutes notice.
He is never sure that on the night he
goes to the theatre with his wife or
sweetheart he may not be compelled to
leave in the midst of the most interest
ing part of the play to take an i'm
portant assignment.
The reporter, is of course, the one who
is called upon to face real danger. Often
he takes his life in hand when he at
tempts to climb the ice-covered rope
ladder of belated Atlantic steamship
in the lower bay on wild winters
night when he visits a plague infested
ship to learn the story of its voyage;
when he engages in trailing murderer
through the dark and dangerous pas
sages of tumbled-down buildings in the
lower East Side, or among the noun
tains of freight piled in seeming dis
order upon unlighted wharyes; when he
accompanies the police in the raids upon
gambling houses or the dens of thieves.
The reporter or correspondent who
loves his work, and most of them do,
rarely think of themselves when on an as
signment, but always of the paper they
represent. And so they endure the icy
blasts of winter, the scorching heat OF
burning summer sun, the drencbing
storms, the dangers OF gun tests, with
an enthusiasm and self-denial that is
unknown in other lines of business. They
60 without food, without sleep, without
rest and do it willingly all for the paper
they represent. They take pride in their
work and, although what they write
does not carry their name, they are
content as long as the paper gets the
glory.
The pay does not begin to be com
mensurate with the service they render,
while their expenses are higher than
those OF men in other professions. Even
the frugal among them find difficulty in
saving enough money or in carrying
enough insurance to take care of their
families in case of their death. The
most of them lack business foresight.
They give everything in them TO their
employers, and on dying, perhaps the
paper does not send wreath to grace
the casket
The reporter stands in much the same
position as a soldier-always ready to
sacrifice himself and all that belongs to
him for the news; but the soldier can
feel that a grateful country will care
for his wife and children. 1t does some
times seem to MS that those who have
to share in the profits they help to
create ought in some way to be freed
from anxious thoughts about the future
OF dependents for whom every law of
humanity should require them to pro-
vide.--From The Editor and Publisher.