The Washington herald., 1916-12-10
Seen and Heard
by GEORGE MINER.

for rural journalism. 1t is to teach
would-be editors of country week
lies how to do it properly and to fill
up their columns with something be-
sides items relative to the painting
of Sam Smiths barn and the fact
that "Ned Perkins spent Saturday in
Rutland. Some time, eh, Ned?"
Whether or not country weeklies
will stand uplifting is an open ques-
ton. 1t it not impossible that the
trivial piffle printed in most of them
is just what their readers want. In
that case, the school for rural jour-
nalism will have no cause to exist.
once started a daily in a small
New England city and made metro
politan paper of it. There was moth
ing of the yap sheet about it, no ear
marks of the country. 1t was written
and run by men who had had long
experience on the big New York pa
pers-lots of cable and telegraph
news and all that, everything citihed
and up-to-date, even to the makeup
and ad classification. $685.
And it was a dismal failure.
They didn't want it and wouldn't
have it, although had all the inHu-
ential and money men. in. the place
in the company. So after a year,
when it had lost all our capital and
piled up mortgages and bonds by
the cord, we switched and made it an
out-and-out country paper, with moth
ing but local items badly written by
couple of high school boys and the
clerk in the hotel, who acted as re-
porters.
1t was a whooping success right
away and is today a highly prosper
GUS publication.
Still there may be happy medium
between, whereby a practical and
trained man may make a country
weekly a more readable and infu-
entia1 institution than it is now. No
body will dispute but that there is
room for improvement.
There are several schools of jour
nalism in the country and they doubt
less are doing good work. The Pu-
liter School at Columbia University,
is, of course, the most conspicuous of
all. These schools, however, teach
young men how to be reporters and
editors on city papers. No attention
whatever is paid to the country week
ly, which is an entirely different prop
osition. 1t is we'll to remember that
there are at least ten weeklies to
every daily in the country. They un-
doubtedly exercise very big influ-
ence and are force that has to be
reckoned with
This proposition was brought up at
luncheon given at the Bankers Club
by the Rough Riders Association.
The connection between Col. Roose-
velt's famous regiment and the coun-
try editors is to say the least not OBJ
vious. 1t happened in this wise:
Norwich University which is at
Mortified, VT, has been made the
official cavalry school of the United
States. The cadets there are enlisted
in the National Guard and also in the
United States army for so long as
they are at the university. They are
wonderfully good riders and have
taken the palm at all the military
tournaments, as they specialize in
cavalry drill there, although the STU
dents are taught all branches of mil
itary science the same as at West
Point. The university was founded
by Capt. Partridge, who was the first
superintendent Of West Point. He left
the government school, as he thought
it was getting too aristocratic and
maintained for class only. There
upon he founded Norwich as rival,
where any body could go without re-
gard to his pull Norwich has had
a proud record ever since, but the
civil war nearly put it out of bust
ness. as the entire student body was
commissioned and sent to the front.
1t struggled through many lean and
meager years after that and is now
just getting its dues and is booming
into prosperity. It's the official cav
airy school and one of the govern
ment schools for reserve officers.
Last Spring when the Mexican
trouble broke out the entire corps of
cadets enlisted as a cavalry unit and
went to the border. This attracted
the attention of Gen. Wood, Col.
Roosevelt and other famous rough
Riders. AS they wish to preserve the
associations and traditions of the
Rough Riders they have made Nor
witch University their headquarters.
In future it is to be their official
home.
At this luncheon, given to cement
this new association, there were a