Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-07-06
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin
THE CAPITAL CORRESPONDENT
TOLD OF BY HASKIN

WASHINGTON, July 7:-Young
men who take up newspaper work as
q profession almost invariably look
forward to a berth as Washington
correspondent as the top rung on the
ladder of success. To them the
National Capital is the most inter-
esting field for the most interest
ing work in the world. An assign
ment there is more than a promo
ton or a preferment.
1t is a medal of honor-a citation
for distinguished services. Even
more than hat it is Opportunity.
1t is a chance at the big news. 1t
means daily contacts with the great
and near great. 1t means being con-
stantly in touch with the most i'm
| portant national and international
events-seeing history made and not
being a mere historian. 1t is the
open door to the inside of things. 1t
means knowing what makes the
wheels go round and who does it.
1t means being behind scenes when
the great dramas of statecraft, poll
tics, legislation and diplomacy are
staged-one is no longer mere aud
ience, but sees the stage set, knows
how the actors look and behave in
their dressing rooms, knows when
cues are taken and missed, and is
familiar with the props and bus
mess" that put the big scenes over
And not infrequently n helps write
the play!
Presidents and Cabinet Ministers
and what not other dignitaries may
come to call a fellow by his first
name. Friendships may be cultivated
and intimacies established, conf
dences earned and held, that r
the enduring satisfactions OF life.
Memories may be laid by that Will
enrich later years.
And then there is all the gossip
that seeps out from the city by the
Potomac-the tales that are relay
ed across the continent by whisper
and inueudo almost as quickly as
they could be flashed by telegraph
or radio-the jokes and scandals hat
are limited at but never published
nd the revelations that + promised
but never disclosed Just to be so
placed that one might know the
truth about all SUCH
And one may play golf with the
First Citizen of the land, and know
how good-or how poor-he is at
the game. One may be of his en-
tourage when he sets forth for for
eign capitals in a time of crisis with
a whole world hanging breathless on
his every utterance, or one may ac-
company him on long swings around
the circle that are a part of the
great game Of politics as tradition
says it must be played.
Above all, one will be working in
a field where there is always a story
that is worthy of the first page and
big headlines, and that is about as
near heaven as the average news
paper man eve hopes to get!
OF such is the fascination that the
envious and ambitious eyes of youth
see in the life and job OF the Wash
ington correspondent And it is not
all glamour charm on the eyes
causing them to see things differ
emily from what they are in reality.
Much of all that the young man
dreams he may realize when his call
comes and he finds himself one of
the chosen few who sit, not in the
seats of the mighty. but overlooking
them.
Another Side to the Picture
However, there is another side to
the picture such as was revealed in
the grim tragedy at Denver that cast
a pail of gloom over President Hard
ing's tour to Alaska. An automo-
bile plunged down a mountain side
and Sumner Curtis was dead, and
Don Craig and Tom Dawson, two
other veterans of the corps of Wash
ington correspondents were hospital
cases, the latter dying within "a
hours.
Joy-riding? Not a bit of it. Wher-
ever the President of the United
States goes entertainments and side
trips are arranged for him and the
members of his party that are a
part Of the serious business of the
tour. They cannot be avoided. Lo-
cal committees are more than hos
pitable. They are insistent. They
have an opportunity to show off the
attractions of their city and its en-
virons to a group of distinguished
guests and they will lot be denied.
In this instance it was a drive up
a wonderful mountain roadway OF
which the people of Denver and
Colorado are extremely proud. A
few years ago when President Will
son was on tour IT was a similar
drive out OF Portland along the