The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1918-06-11
SOME PREVALENT, BUT
ERRONEOUS IDEAS.
(Danville Bee.)

1t is curious how many strange
notions people have of a newspaper
and the methods Of publishing one
and of collecting and preparing the
matter published therein. Recently
this paper has had several sores sent
in by people who seemed to fancy
that because they were subscribers
to the paper they had right to send
in and demand publication Of any
thing they chose to write and even to
dictate to the paper that it was to be
printed "just as it was written"
| These stories which the writer's
wished to have published were not
of sufficient general interest, nor
even of such local importance as to
justify the space they would have
occupied Usually they are some
thing of interest to the writer and a
few of his or her friends and are
written in exaggerated style and in
detail not warranted by their i'm
portance.
to promise blindfold to print any
thing Just as it is written. AS a
matter of fact, the writer's would
often be humiiated and made ridic-
ulous if their volunteered news, as
they seem to regard it, appeared
precisely as written. Sometimes it
seems to us that much if not most
of the manuscript volunteered for
publication is written by persons
with the vaguest idea of ortho-
graphy, with no conception OF
grammar and with no idea of style
in writing. Much of the matter is
full Of ives" is marked by express
sion Of opinion and abounds in su-
perlatives and eXtravagances of
speech.
All these persons seem to have no
idea that nwspaper never lacks for
matter to "fll up" and that if it
should, it could readily find an
abundance of readable matter OF
more or less general interest Nor
does it occur that newspaper
employees men to Judge Of the rela-
tive importance of matter for pub
!ication, to sft out the relatively
unimportant, to cut or boil down"
matter that is worth printing, but
not worth the space given to il by
in newspaper, unless it be signed
communication, is supposed to be the
expression of the paper, not of the
person outside who volunteers,
writes and sends it in. What a
strange appearance newspaper
would make If anybody who does
chose were permitted to write any
thing he liked and as he chose to
write ii and then demand that it be
printed just so. Every newspaper
In a small town has obituaries sent
in, sometimes week, two weeks or
month after some person dear to
the correspondent has died, and
these articles are full of intimate de-
tail and Of hysterical expressions Of
GRIEF and extravagant or labored
eulogy. Such matter would be of in
terest to very few. would consume
much space that might be given to
real news, whereas ii has little or no
news value. A newspaper pays a
high price every week for about
$4,000 words of matter sent by
telegraph, and IL has men employed
to gather and write the important
local news and correspondents at
various contiguous or state locali-
ties. Every day demands Of adver-
tising. the pressure of important
news and the cost of setting up a
paper determine the number of
pages In a days issue. Six or eight
pages will only provide so much
room, and, to use familiar phrase,
4 the garment must be cut according.
to the cloth, Often valuable news
matter sent by telegraph at heavy
1expense has to be sacrificed for lack
OF space much of which Is consum-
ed by matter OF relatively small inn
portance Hence 1t is necessary to
employ men of some experience and
discretion to determine what shall
and what shall not be printed.
accommodating as a newspaper in
i