The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1922-11-04

you grow Older, unless you are
among the few very fortunate.
Men in other professions, as they
work through the years, build up a
firm name professionally or in bust
ness they build up business name.
And at the end of years they have
created something that GOES ON
earning for them when they are old.
Not so with the newspaper man.
He must do every day the work by
which he lives, and do it all over
again.
Each day he must create his repu-
tation anew.
His greatest asset is ENTHUSI-
Assn, real interest in what he sees
and what he tells.
And the years are the enemies of
enthusiasm.
A thousand newspaper men, how
ever represent something more i'm
portant than several hundred kinds
of disappointment. They are to our
civilization what the bulb in the cleo
trio lamp is to the big factory grind
ing out electricity down by the wa
ter-front. The light in the bulb tells
what the factory is doing. The re-
porter in the newspaper tells what
civilization is doing, as it works,
builds, tears down, cheats, lies, de-
ceives and SLOWLY GOES AHEAD.
The electric bulb BURNS OUT, 50
does the newspaper man. He at
least has made it possible for hui
manity to see more clearly and to
advance with knowledge. That
means satisfaction.
Newspaper work brings disillu-
sion. After few years a man start
ing out full of enthusiasm knows too
much about human beings. He must
begin with a great supply of hope
and optimism, and with a good deal
Of knowledge Of the past and of pro-
gress in the past to avoid pessimism
and gloom.
Young reporters learn that the
word of great men is often unrelia-
bic. One Of the best known states
men and heroes of this country al
ways had two reporters sent to see
him by the Associated Press, that one
might corroborate the other and dis
courage denial of what the hero had
actually said.
Reporters in the very beginning
learn the pitiful craving for noto-
riety, eagerness for publicity that
obsesses their fellow citizens and
that diminishes their opinion of them
Reporters learn quite young that
politics and the government of this
nation are managed to a great ex-
tent by the intellectual dregs Of the
population. They discover that the
first step toward public approval is
a step down, and that discourages
them.
However, newspaper work is an
education. It enlightens the report
er as the reporter enlightens his fell
low citizens. If he can stay out OF
the rut, which is extremely difficult
and unusual, or if he can stay in long
enough to get the information he
wants, then get out and try some
thing else, the reporter usually can
thank his newspaper experience.
If he stays too long and is not ex-
ceptionally fortunate, time and the
current Of news running through him
burn him out, as the electric current
burns out the bulb, and like that bulb
he goes into the scrap heap.
This is written after thirty nine
years of reporting and other news
paper work, and therefore with some
slight authority.
Without the work Of good report
ers our government, our grafters, OUT
hypocrites, big and little, our crooks
in politics, and our politics in crime
would be thousand times worse
than they are. Let that repay the
1000 newspaper men.
The foregoing editorial is good
one. and is taken from the Chicago
American.