The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1917-03-15

day. There are in New York at
the present time reporters who
have not changed their station in
fifteen years, which is quite long
time to keep one place under ob-
servation.
Whether a man becomes a police
reporter, a gatherer of financial
news, a political writer, a special
ist in some other line, or an all
around worker, depends, in most
instances, upon chance. The only
way reporter can settle the char
acter of an assignment himself, is
to bring with him into the Office
some special training.
Finding that he has lawyer on
his staff, the editor turns the legal
training to account by giving him
court trials to report. The ply
sician gets work among the hospi-
tails and slum districts, and the
young man from the bank or the
brokers' Office gets financial work.
Coming into an Office to-day a new
reporter may be detailed on socie-
ty, churches or some other such
assignment, while if he had come
in yesterday he might have gotten
a better one now covered. Such
are the chances.
Now that l have tried to explain
a few details of how the reporters
and correspondents gather the
news, it is time to say something
about that part of a newspaper
which furnishes the money, and
particularly the business manager.
In an actual newspaper Office, and
not in a mere description of one as
/ have tried to make, the business
manager would never be found
bringing up the tail end of the
procession. Outside the editorial
department, from cellar to roof,
his word is law. You will not find
very often where the business
manager has served as an appren-
tice in the editorial department.
Often, when be has not risen by
degrees in a newspaper business
Office, he comes from a banking
house where he has learned how
accounts are kept and collections
made, and how notes and other
commercial paper are handled, and
sometimes he comes from a mer-
camille or manufacturing establish
ment, as l have before mentioned,
where he has been taught to direct
other men, to buy and to sell to
advantage, and conduct business
economically. A newspaper which
does not sell news to other publi-
cations has only two sources of in
come; one source is the public,
which buys the newspaper for it's
news, it's editorials, or maybe its
pictures; but upon the circulation
strength of a papers readers de-
pends the size of the income which
flows from the other source-the
advertisers. The income from the
circulation department of news
paper about pays the cost of paper
and circulation of itself. What is
meant by selling news to other
publications is, that when a large
newspaper has private or direct
wire connected with the Associ-
ated News headquarters in Chica-
60, or other large cities, thus SELL
ing it to smaller newspapers, it
being a great deal cheaper for
them than having telegraph con-
nection. The financial standings
of the class of readers has a great
deal more to do with advertising
than one thinks. 1t might be sup
posed at first thought, that the
paper with the largest circulation
would be most priced by the ad-
vertisers, but such is not always
the case.
There are some publications
that state that they do not have
large circulations, asserting that