Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1919-08-21
NEWSPAPER MEN WORK HARD
AND LIVE LONG.

~ EW ol- AZ EN Nl Elm WORh HAND
AND LIVE LONG.
Is there. something about the pro-
fession Of journalism that is condu-
Give to long life? Looks that way
At any rate Father Time seems to
have dickens of a time prying news
paper men loose from their work, in
spite of promises of golden streets
and wings and eternal rest-Ah,
there's the rub, possibly, for who ev-
er heard a newspaper man talk about
rest?
To blazes with the mollycoddle
state of mind that a man has gone
over the top in strength and useful
ness at forty or thereabouts. Stuff!
Why, bless you, real man is just
getting ready to hop off and do things
worth while at that age. There's
nothing to this old-age stuff any
way, not in the newspaper game. The
longer man lives the more he should
be worth to his fellow men.
The life of Uncle Henry Wallace
should be an inspiration to young
men of fifty and sixty. For he was
Iowa's Grand Old Man. He died in
the harness, literally, at the end of
a customary days work He was
eighty years young and the amount
of work he turned out weekly in his
later years would stagger the aver
age man of half that age.
Down at Burlington, Iowa, there is
young fellow by the name of Waite
that is the backbone, handspring,
motor and everything else of one of
the greatest and most successful
daily newspapers in the Mississippi
River country. He has set up some
thing like seventy eight milestones.
He has been a power for good in the
development Of Iowa.
Up in O'Brien county there is an
other young fellow far along in the
seventies getting out the same paper
he has been running more years than
anybody but himself can remember.
Like all newspaper men there is no
limit to the territory he can cover in
case of emergency, and he would no
more think of retiring than he would
of burning down his neighbor's house.
We don't know how old ]. M. Pierce,
of The Homestead is, but it is safe
bet that he is well past his allotted
three-score-ten and still in the going
strong. He is always on the job.
early and late. OF the hundreds of
workers in his big establishment there
isn't a man who puts in as many
hours Of the twenty-four as j. M.
Lafe Young, editor of the Des
Moines Capital, is not so young as he
used to be when he scrapped the
Populist party, tooth and toe nail
Every passing year adds to the punch
of his expressions. He is always on
the job, always in the front line, and
always on the side that means pro-
gress and patriotism-with as much
emphasis as you like on that last
word.
Over in Omaha there is young fell
10y by the name of Tibbles, Thomas
H. Tibbles, on the editorial staff of
the World Herald. He will own up to
eighty birthdays, but insists that it
is nobody's business haw many more
there have been. A story of his life
and adventures would make seen
ario writer take to the woods. Tom
was a power in the days when the
Middle West wore whiskers, sold
wheat for SO cents and talked Popu-
lism. He is one of the guys that put
the pop in Populism-and if you know
anything about the history of your
country you will agree that it was
some considerable pop. Tom is still
on the job. The harness fits so we'll
he probably couldn't sleep without it.
Every day he sits down to his baby
grand typewriter and lets his fingers
wander over the keys, but not idly, not
! lightly, as the novel writer's say. be-
cause the machine grinds out political
editorials.
They are the wheel horses of the
game, these sturdy old boys. Per-
haps word Of explanation as to the
meaning of the term "wheel horse" is
due the rising generation given to
thinking in terms of coils, carburet-
ors and things. In the days of the
stage coach and Conestoga wagon
they always picked the stoutest
staunchest and most dependable
horses to work next to the vehicle
A lightweight, flighty animal might
serve on the lead or in the swing
pair, but the wheelers not only had
to buck the collar going up hill, but
also had to go into the breeching on
the down grades. They had to be
double enders, for the work was as
hard one way as the other.
1t is even so in the newspaper
game.
A FEW JOLLY JOLTs.