New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1916-11-21
CHERUBS AND REPORTERS.
There is No Singing and Music in a
Typical American Ctty-R Room; But
in Buenos Aires,-Ah!

in Buenos Aires,-Ah!
To arrive in the morning, most
| likely by automobile, at the front of
a 100000 structure as ornate arch
| itecturally as a European foreign Of
| flee or opera house; to lounge In
magnificent library long enough to
store a days supply of useful, know
| ledge; to listen to a symphony or
chestra in a sumptuous music room;
to be conducted to ones mahogany
desk in a suite of elegantly furnished
apartm ents, and in time to receive
| the days assignment from the city
| editor on a silver salver; that is what
| one might call being a reporter de
| luxe, says the Christian Science Mon
| itor.
Imagination falters when it comes
| to describing, with like freedom of
| touch, the possible experiences and
! environment of the heads of depart
ments of La Prensa Of Buenos Aires.
| What with wainscoting of the choicest
| woods what with frescoing by the
| most famous artists, what with orien
tai divans and gilt chairs and hand
painted typewriters, can it be Won
|
ancial editor and the river front Of
La Presna should turn out matter daily
| that is literally devoured by the So
| ciety Of the Argentine capital!
| Who could not write enchantingly
! and never-endingly in a magnif1cently
| furnished suite of a $4,000 news
| paper building with the ripping of
| fountains, the singing of canar1es and
! the music Of a symphony orchestra
nlingling with ones toll.
| Ordinary newspaper men who, amid
conditions prevailing in the United
| States, succeed in supplying their edi-
tors with a daily grist of fairly we'll
| written copy should one would think,
be able to turn out gilt-edged manu-
script by the ream. on hand-painted
| typewriters in mahogany Wainscoted,
mosaic-foored, velvet-curtained apart
ments in the Argentine.
What could hinder the reporter
sent out to get. a meeting of the
city council committee on streets and
alleys from bringing back material
for an exhaustice Carlylian essay on
political economy. or from whipping
it into shape for the last edition!
Our correspondence from Buenos
Aires, describing the office of the
leading newspaper of that city, La
| Presna. says innocently enough:
IAN average reporter in the United
States who found himself installed in
| one of these beautifully furnished
rooms equipped with mahogany desks
and the floors laid in marble mosaic,
velvet curtains at the windows, and
cherubs flying over him in the fres-
coed ceilings. would be inclined to lose
his American punch "
Rather, we should think, would he
| be inclined to let his genius soar with
the cherubs.
But this is mere conjecture. No
| United States reporter, so far as we
| can learn, has ever written in such
! an envirOnm emit The average re-
| porter, that is, one who has had ex-
! perience, has probably written copy
on everything save a mahogany desk
| He has written copy in a street car, in
a freight train cahoose, on his knee
on the back of friendly brother re-
| porter, but never under flying cherubs
! to the f1utter of velvet curtains
Not that he couldn't do so. He
would not be a real reporter If he
could not enter the office of La Prensa
in Buenos Aires fresh from an office
in New York, or Boston, or Cincinnati
or Detroit, or Denver, or Los Angeles
| or San Francisco, or New Orleans OF
Seattle, and settle down as comfort
| ably and as confidently to his task on
a gilded chair before a mahogany
desk as he had ever settled down to
| write his story at a hasty lunch coun-
| ter at home.
Still clearly. all this is conjecture
It is impossible to say just what a
| United States newspaper staff would
do, or would not do, If landed, with
out notice. among the luxurious fur
nishings and appurtenances Of La
Prensa's establishment. The prob
ahi1ites arc. however, that the f1.t
thing it would think of would be tho
getting out of the paper in time to
catch the mails.
! Yet. there is another side to this
n'atter: Newspaper offices, in the
| United States. as regards cleanliness.
comfort and convenience, are greatly
| improved over what they were a few
years ago. They are growing better
| constantly. for most Of them have
| learned that the ira dittonal frowziness
/ and DARKNESS and drearness and
| smOkiress of the editorial deDartm ent
! is wholly unnecessary and avoidab1e.
Certain newspaper Offices In the
| United States today are luxurious in
the working Quarters, compared with
| the average offices Of O score of years
ago. They have no mosaic floors. no
velvet curtains, no mahogany desks:
there are no music halls or avaries or
| conservatOries on the premises: there
| is neither frescoing nor cheribum in
| the neWsroom and yet everything is
there that makes surely for neatness
and dispatch.
| Salaried Man, Living Costs.