The Detroit times., 1914-09-18
|lLY PRIMER
AKES WARNEWS
MORE INFORMING
f9j eet Of National Geographic
oeiety at Washington Very
Helpful to Americans
Any NEWSPAPERS
RECOGNIZE ITS VALUE
Every Available Source Of fnfor'
nation Drawn From to In
sure Its Accuracy :

WASHINGTON, Sept ls.r-Whils
The foreign war correspondents arr
croWding the American cables with
3 the details of the great Earopeai
struggle handful Of men and lev
stenographers here are educating the
people OF this country in regard te
+ the size. location, industries ana I'm
portance of the various cities WINCH
z dRure IN the war news. These men
are experts in the employ of the Ma
tional Geographic society, which Is
said to- have at least one member "a
every community in the United
states. Within the past month ths
society has built up an educational
press service. covering every part ol
the country and embracing nearly soU
4 Newspapers, magazines and o.her Pc
riodicals. .
f.The National Geographic Society
primer. was started recently by OIL
details OF the society to meet the ques'
lions which poured in upon It by let
ter. kilograms and ytelephone concern
! Ing localities, cities and towns ngur,
ing In the. European war. The mrs.
day the primer. vas issued. the Oh.
fcials say, It became an absolute
necessity, and now 10 editors ana
atenographers are employed IN com
piling 1t from day, to day
John o. La Gorce, editor OF the so
ciety's publications, is in direct charge
( 81 fhe new press service, and much OF
the credit for the idea and its sue
cess belongs to him. 1t was not
dreamed at the beginning, however,
that within 80 days they would
Be serving nearly 600 daily and week
" periodicals with twice-a-weeK
service. hundred or SO more with
fhrice-a-week service, and nearly an
hundred OF the big dailies all over the
country with daily telegraph SER
vice as II Is now.
The editorial force complies the
daily primer service In few hours:
The three-a-week service consists OF
two days copy of the daily service
Descriptive stories, commonly known
"a Feature" stories, are mailed In adj
.diffon to the primer and this ser.
Vice Is sent out twice a week.
AT the start OF the days work the
editorial force, which is housed In the
organization's beautiful new home
~ sixteenth and M-sts., carefully goes
over the news found in the morning
Washington papers. Atathe outset
or the ssprimerr service practically
every town named In the news was
taken down, to be included In the
sprfmer. bat as the work progressed
there are fewer towns to describe, as
none Is repeated.
Each days primer. usually in
cludes the names of from 10 to ~
towns and cities which before the
war were practically unheard OF In
this country. The information Is COM
piled from maps, Baedeker's France,
0ermany, Belgium, or other guide
books, the society's own year book
and Razetteers OF various kinds. Tax.
ing Z given town, Its geographic loca-
ton Ii noted, the province In which
a Is located, the distance to the near
ct large city, the number OF inhab-
itants, its principal industries and all
distinguishing features are described.
Every care is taken to make IL abso-
lutely accurate. The only complaint
OF any kind received so far was one
from d testy German, who complained
because the primer" named beer
brewing as the chief occupation OF
several German towns.
y s'Marienwerder--A. Prussian town,
three miles east OF vistula, % miles
south OF Marienburg and 40 miles
/. from Russian Poland. It's population
q. approximately 10000. The town
was founded In 1893 by the Teutonic
order. It's Industries include iron
foundries, sawmills, sugar refineries,
.broweries and printing works.
A. soon as the morning list" OF
the primer" is compiled a messenger
boy hastens direct from the Offices OF
the afternoon newspapers with the
regular afternoon editions: The force
again starts work, and any new names
OF towns occurring rare promptly
culled and added. The material for
the primer" Is then dictated to
stenographers.s who type their notes
on the wax impression sheets OF mul
tigrnph machines and within, aafew
hours the completed days primer"
IL In the offices OF the Various foreign
newspaper bureaus In Washington Or
flled with telegraph companies for
transmission as desired.