The sun., 1919-06-29

lOL Oh pTOltSblOnal f~OuNaH-
l. - mas on the lob. America has
never been so good a country. SO clean
a country, SO altogether desirable
country in which to live as It Is to-day.
Yet We are permitting the yellow dogs
of discomfort to bark and yelp their
hydrophobic lies in the press. without
botherng to print the adequate anti
dotes of truth beside them. The muck
raker has been succeeded by the pur-
veyor Of half lies, near lies and damned
lies. Divine Observation-Disclosures the
great American incentive to true progi
RESTS being superseded by a new
Giscontent that believes in nothing but
the devil and all his works"
The speaker is George Horace Lori
mer. editor of the Saturday Evening
Post. He is addressing. collectively,
the reading public. but specifically the
writer's Of America, for he had just
been asked by the interviewer to lift
back stage" concerning the big week
ly magazine of which he Is the DOM
mating head. Mr.. Lorimer's plea for
moro Pollyannas came out in discus
SION of the American magazine field,
the kind OF reading matter the public
likes, how the Saturday Erenin0 Post
discovers and develops young writer's,
and the opportunities for young writ
ers who have the great urge ito break
into print
The men who have the best chance
With US are total strangers" says Mr..
Lorimer, who Is ever on the lookout
Cor new writers with new ideas, and he
holds that the value Of his readers to
an editor depends altogether on their
ability to discover new talent, either
developed or potential" g..
II was as a newspaper reporter that
MIR. Lorimer started his journalistic
career. Born in Louisville, Ky in
1868, and educated in the Chicago pub
lie schools, with college courses at
Colby and Yale, Mr.. Lortmer first en-
tered the downtown Office OF Armour &
Co in Chicago as a billing clerk, finally
becoming the head Of a department.
But the call to journalism was irresist-
ible and he hicd himself to Boston
where he began as a police reporter
II Is small wonder. then, that he has
warm spot In his heart for the news
PAPER man and considers the newspa-
per Office as an all important breeder
Of magazine writer's.
Locking for Young Blood.
Some $4,000 to 10000 manuscripts
are submitted to Mr.. Lorimer every
year, and SO in the very performance
O. his work he exercises a strong in.
fJence. on the development OF the new
writer. And he IL always looking fol-
young blood. He regards the magazine
that tries to print none but the old anC
we'll known names over and over agair
as peculiarly liable to what he calls
periodical arteriosclerosis." just a,
he calls the combination Of sex anC
sensation in a magazine cocktail edit
ing"
Writing Is like religion" Mr.. Lori
/ mer says. IAN editor can point on
the straight and narrow path, bu
every man who feels the call must II
the end, work out his own salvation
Ard might add that while many are
called few are chosen.
"One class of beginners think tina
II they can initiate style or acquir,
style the fight is won; but style with
out ideas Is as useless as an edge,
tool without material with which 4
work. On the other hand, anothe
class OF young writer's that have idea
think TO write acceptably withou
serving an apprenticeship learnin;
how to use the tools of their trade.
Given talent for II, or even geniu
for 1t. "A young man must prepare him
self for writing as he would for an,
professionally study and practice
Men do not expect to leap overnight
into the practice OF either medicine o
law. But there is an idea curren
that writing is a haphazard profession
and that success in it just happens.
know of none that involves NOR
di udgery and hard work during tn
years of preparation, or that require
more continuous effort to maintain
once won place with the public. o
every story that a writer publishe
there is a pleblscite to determin
"LClncT ne Snall De eHCOuTdGeu l
continue. Past performance avail
little with the reading public. Rattle
Il makes it more critical and exactinl
A writer's reputation always depend
on his next story
Newspaper Training Great Help
Il believe that newspaper training
great help to the man who wants I
write for the magazines. The dali
paper sustains the same relation to tn
young writer as the hospital to tn
medical STUDENT is the first grea
school OF practical experience. TAX
almost any of the men who are dom
good work to-day and you will fin
that they have been reporters. New:
paper training teaches three invalI
able things: To do what you are tol
to do, to do II quickly, and that theI
are no excuses for not doing 1t. The
man who writes for the magazine
to-day should have trained new
sense, for most OF our special article
and many of our stories reflect or al
based on the news Of the week or II
month.
There are some drawbacks to
newspaper experience. 1t teaches Il
cility, but a man may easily becon
too facile. That, I think, is why I
many OF the new novels read as
"a they are first drafts OF stories. The
n are written at white heat with lou