New Britain herald., 1917-02-05

local news. If things in the news paper world were as this teacher inn plies they are there would be no use in The New York papers, the "big'' papers, would cover the field, would take care of all the New England ter ritory.
 The reason newspapers may be divided into the two classes, "big' and little" is because all the cities of the United States are not "big' cities. As there are some small centers of popu- lation there must necessarily be little" newspapers to serve them. Until we have national newspaper published simultaneously in every city and town throughout the United States this must ever be the case. We have, however something which ap- breaches that order now,-The Asso- ciated Press and other news services which, to all intents and purposes, make little" newspapers and "big" dailies all the same in the matter of telegraphic. news. The difference Is accentuated only in the featuring of local items If this teacher had waited to get an out -of-town evening paper belonging to the same news as- sociation as the Herald she would have read In that publication the identical news story out of Washing ton carried by this paper on the diplomatic situation. If information in "big" paper is authentic it Is no less so for having been pup ished at the same time in little paper.
 Since all eyes are now turned on Washington, we must give an insight into the manner of gathering the news there, news that Is making history, and how it places all papers, big and little, relatively on the same plane so far as imparting this infor- nation goes. Each press association has a corps of correspondents in the national capital. Some of these men are assigned to duty in the press gal leries of both Houses of Congress- some to the United States Supreme Court, others to the various depart ments and bureaus which are branch es of the federal government. In this day we are more interested in the men towering" the White House. the State, War and Navy departments, and the various foreign embassies. From them we get the important news of the moment. After they have interviewed the President, members of the cabinet, and the ambassadors, this news, gathered during the night and day, is sent over the circuit wires, and, all members of any press asso- citation receiving a full report, as this paper does get their quota of news, share and share alike. There are no favorites. The New York evening pa pers receive the same stuff sent to the Herald,-not one word more, not the same wire, taken off only at diff ferent stations. If the. "big' papers carry any special stories under a Washington date line, or from foreign capitals, stories that the little" pa pers do not get, it Is because the "big'' papers have special Washington and other correspondents who write semi editorial matter which the Associated Press or other unbiased news serv- ices cannot, and will not, carry over their wires. And when an Associated Press story comes into a newspaper office 1t is either printed as it comes,
 or thrown into the waste basket.
 There is no editing of such "copy" on the local premises. Inasmuch as every paper of any pretentions what soever has a special correspond ent in the national capital it follows that what such a man writes is SUD- plemental to the regular news carried by the press associations.
 If our High school teacher would study how news is featured in the various papers or the country she might get an insight into the working methods of a profession that throbs with the very life of the nation This, however, is not her business; but since she essays to place so small an amount of confidence in the little" papers and so much in the "big" pa pers she owes this to the newspaper profession before laying her dogmatic l and peda gogish observations before
 a class of young girls and boys. These | pupils are in the plastic age. Their