Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1916-06-02
0 o o o o o o o o
0 WASHINGTON GOSSIP
. SideIights and SearchIights on
D Public Men and Events o

10 o o o o o o o o
Washington, May 30.-If oliver
Goldsmith could see Washington in
about three weeks he would prob
ably be so moved by the bucollc
quiet of the place that he would
write another Deserted Village. Con-
gress will be officially in session,
the government departments will be
running and stores will be open for
business, but Washington will be
very dead. The politicians, the con-
gressmen and high government Off
Gals. and the newspaper men will
all be out to the great party con-
vention at Chicago and later at St.
Louis.
Every four years Washington ex-
periences this exodus. The town has
it's quiet period of Information, and
then comes the resurrection as, ev-
erybody comes back from the con-
ventions to talk about them.
The politicians will lead the parade
!
ters of the Republican candidates
will begin moving out to Chicago
next week. Next will follow the
newspaper men. Most of them VIII
get into Chicago during the week of
May 49, In the final group come
the congressman and other Officials
Many of them are delegates, and
there is no need for them to be on
hand until the big doings commence.
1t is not very well known general
ly that all the press arrangements
for the quadrennial conventions are
in the hands of Washington news
paper men. A newspaper does not
necessarily have to send it's Wash
ington correspondent to write the
convention news, but it usually does
Consequently, the political commit
tees have found it convenient to
leave all the press arrangements IN
the hands of the committee Of news
paper men which is elected annual
ly to boss the press galleries in the
national Capitol.
The biggest job handled by this
committee is the seating Of all the
newspaper men who apply to report
the proceedings of the conventions.
At the Republican convention there
will be something over 500 seats,
and there have been over 1000 ap-
plications for them. Consequently,
the correspondents committee has
to break over 400 hearts, but it is
doing so ruthlessly. Only the big
gest newspapers of the country are
given seating, and their privileges
are being limited.
| Heretofore it has been a fine ar
rangement for the owner of some
big city newspaper to get a block
of press section seats at the cOnVen-
ton and occupy them himself with
his family and guests, giving a sort
of convention house party, as it
were, while the working newspaper
men stood up or found What seats
they could get in the auditorium.
This year it is to be different A
strict limitation is to be put on those
who enter the press section. Any
newspaper owner is welcome to sit
in the seat assigned ito his paper,
but if he does SO his paper will have
to go without the news, unless the
owner chooses to do the reporting
himself. There will be no extra
seat for the regular correspondent
of that paper, If the boss takes the
seat, the working reporter will be
shut out automatically.
| No little diplomacy was used by
the correspondents committee in
seating the reportorial staff of the
| Central Press Association Of Cleve-
land. This organization signed up
the three big headliners, William J.
Bryan, Samuel G. Blythe and Irwin
S. Cobb, to ''cover" the conventions.
Blythe and Bryan are not good
friends-not al all. Therefore, it
was feared that if they were placed
| in adjoining seats incidents might
arise that would take the attention
of the convention away from it's
regular business. All was solved,
however, when the committee re-
membered that Cobb is also on the
| Central Press Staff Cobb is one of
the largest physically newspaper
men extant, and also one of the
most neutral. He gets along all
right with Bryan, also with Blythe;
likewise, with most everybody. so,
| by seating Cobb between Bryan and
Blythe neither of the belligerents
can see the other, and both will have
a fine time talking to Cobb. Incl
dentally, Bryan and Blythe are no
featherweights themselves. The Cen
trail Press section of the auditorium
will probably be braced extra
heavily.
Washington, the Beautiful