The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1922-10-03
uneven topography.
BY FREDERICK ). HAsKIN

WASHINGTON. D. c., Oct. 3-When
Justice John Hessin Clarke resigned
from the supreme court the other day
he did a service not only to the man
appointed to succeed him but also
though quite incidentally, to one o.
more news photographers in Washing
ton. A new justice on the supreme
bench means a new photograph of the
supreme court, and a new photograph
of the supreme court is worth hun
dreds of dollars to the photographer
who secures it.
But photographing the supreme
court is all in the days business for
the news photographer in the nation
al capital, although not many photo
graphs are so valuable. A photograph
of the supreme court has a historic
value which causes it to be purchased
not only by newspapers and magazines
but also by lawyers, law libraries, let
AL to use legal phraseolgy. Yet it
ffreQpently happens that the news
photcgrapher by some lucky shot Sc
cures picture that outdistances the
formal photograph Of the supreme
justHhes as a seller This is usually
view bf some great man in an imposed
and human attitude-the well-known
pictu1e Of Mrs. Harding fastening 2
rose in her distinguished husbands
buttohhole was an example-but i
NAY Be merely a still picture of some
Seenfe phase.
The man who first photographed
the reflection of the capitol's dome
on the wet asphalt made himself a
small fortune How many copies of
the photograph of the blossoming
cherry trees along the tidal basin in
Washington have been sold? Tens OF
thousands of them. Some day, when
the landscaping of the approach to the
Lincoln Memorial is done, some lucky
button prcsser viii get that right; and
there viii he another fortune made.
No other city in the world is SC
thoroughly photographed, both as tc
its distinguishd inhabitants and yisi-
tors and as 10 its streets and buildings
as Washington. The firm of Harris
&. Ewing alurc owns over half d mil
lion negatives Of Washington pictures
of news value past and present. The
firm of Underweod& Underwood al
though established in Washington only
tor few years, also possesses ar
enormous file. Besides these there
are several other photographers whose
business is primarily studio bushes.
but who deal in new photographs to {
greater or less extent It is probably
safe TO estimate that there now exists
the negatives of a million new photo
granhs of Washington and its people
taken by professional photographers
And the oldest of these negatives i:
not much more than 15 years old.
Photographers Rank
With Reporters.
The business of photographing tht
progress of our government has grown
to be as highly specialized as that 0
reporting it in print The photograph
er has taken his place along with tn
Washington correspondent. News pho
tographers have their regular station
at the White House, for instance, jus
as do the representatives of the pres
associations. This is all an ultra moi
ern DEVELOPMENT. Infants born befor,
the modern action news photograph
was understood at all are still minors
Yet today there is scarcely any phast
of historical progress anywhere in tn
world that is not being completel.
preserved in photographs.
To appreciate the truth of this state
ment, the reader has only to searcl
his recollection for a mental image o
saw. President Benjamin Harrison il
some active pose. He has no sue
recollection, for he never saw an &C
ton picture of Harrison. Except 70
those who saw President Harrison II
life the public today has no bette
means of knowing what he reall,
looked like than it has of KNOWN.
what Julius Caesar loked like. 1t ha
some formal portraits and that is al
The same is substantially true of Pres
idents Cleveland and Mckinley; a.