Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-08-11
EVENING CHAT

|lLyLIyIIy2 Nh
People who will take the trouble to
turn back to the newspapers of forty
four years ago will find as great diff
ference In the handling of news of
the European war as they will notice
In comparison of the manner in which
war news was handled in 1870 and in
the Napoleonic wars. The other day
reference was made to the fact that
the news of the decisive battle of
waterloo was carried by the American
papers of the middle of July, 1915, it
being considered very great stroke OF
enterprise to have the news of that
epoch-making conflict printed In New
York and Philadelphia one month
after the sun of June Is had set. The
two Harrisburg papers of that time
carried 1t late in July, the news OF
preliminary battles being sidetracked
for accounts of the celebration of the
Fourth of July and some talk about
our own peace parlours with England.
In 1870 the news of Sedan, the de-
cisive conflict, got to America the
same day through the cables and such
newspapers as sported a telegraphic
news service. The Telegraph got out
two editions, although it was Sat
| urday night, according the three col
umns of short official dispatches and
1,6OO-word description of the battle
the place of honor on the editorial
page. The news was carried in two
single-column heads, one a third of a
column deep and the other about half
| that size. Both announced the defeat
of the French and the surrender of
Napoleon, together with some. news
from Paris about the fall of the en-
pire. The news was carried through
all editions, the latest being marked
Second Edition" and carried beside
the first dispatches. The next Monday
IL carried about three columns sand
wiched between advertisements on the
first page under the caption The End
of Napoleon" For week afterward
the war news was played up, but it
grew less and less. and not as much
was carried in a week as the Tele-
graph carries in one issue these days
Every dispatch was prefaced with a
date line and with a statement as to
what line it came from and in some
instances a copyright was carried.
The New York Herald appeared to be
the leading authority on war news
from Europe, as reference is made to
its dispatches just as Is done now to
those provided by the Associated
Press.
It's pretty nearly impossible to get
comprehensive books on Germany
from any of the public Libraries now
adays and Harrisburg is no exception.
The State Library has issued many
books on the subject and the demand
at the new public library has cleaned
out the shelves except for reference
books which are not circulated. The
same conditions as prevailed during
the Balkan war and the acute stage
of the Mexican trouble now rule. The
public librarys books on the subject
are all new and up to date and have
been taken out again as soon as re-
turned.
Governor Tener keeps in close touch
with things at the Capitol during his
vacation and the more important let
ters are cleared UP by him every day.
In fact, the Governor gives as much
time to State affairs while in Massa-
chusetts as he does on some of the
slack days here. In summer time
there are generally about one and a
half days of activity, when chiefs of
departments and persons having bust
ness make 1t a business to get around.
Then everyone is busy. The rest of
the tine things rather ease up and the
Governor, to use his remark, reads
papers from headline to want ads"
He reads the State and local news of
about a dozen papers regularly and
some days goes through twenty. The
result is that he is will posted on what
is going on in every section and can
talk to his visitors about their own
counties. The papers follow him to
Massachusetts
Ex-Governor William. A. Stone, of
Pittsburgh, native of Tioga county,
where his early manhood was passed,
who has won fame and distinction as
a lawyer, has compiled for gratuitous
distribution among his friends a series
of Letters to Young Lawyers" which
were written by him to his son
stephen, now his law partner. re-
view says that they set forth the ethics
which have guided the Ex-Governor
in the practice of his profession and
contain advice sound. sage and help
full to young attorneys. Made a part
of the text are anecdotes and remi-
niscences of the early Tioga county
bar, which would likely have been
lost to local literature had 1t not been
for the authors foresight in including
them in these Letters" Some are
familiar tales, and while names are
,transposed. yet those who knew the
persons referred to have no difficulty
in sorting them out. The early Tioga
county bar was as rich in anecdote as
in legal acumen. The man perhaps
best qualified to compile those Incl
dents, which ranged from tire ludi-
crous to the pathetic, was Major Alex
ander Brewster, of Wellsboro. He
promised, after retiring from the
office of justice of the peace, which he
held for near a half century, to write
these for local paper; but soon after
he retired he died, and there would
have been lost to local history many
of the choicest of these had, not the