Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1923-01-06
RELICS OF AMATEUR JOURNALISM
ny Frederic T. Hasisin.

=
Washington, Jan. e.-,rhs little red |
schoolhouse and the old swimming hole |
have been suiogizcd eshaustlvely by
poets. sfter-dinner speakers. and po-
lltical sspirante. But u has remained
for q single group OF men, the To~ils.
90 keep green tho traditions Of the
boys printing press and the silver
penned boy editors Of 30 years ago.
According 10 the dictionary, q fossil
10 n pereon or thing antiauated or out
% date. The Hoeails IL n club com
posed - men who were once, In their
boyhood daye, amateur Journalists.
Amateur journalism, % known 90 the
boys 90 from 80 20 80 years ego, is
certainly sntiqusted and out o. date.
So some years hack the es-ansteurs
banded themselves together and hl-
morously dubbed themselves tho Fos-
slls
So FAR as amateur journalism - ON
cerned. they may DO fossils. but the
name does not seem b describe them
otherwise. Thomas a. Bdison = a
Fossil. So are Governor Eproul %
Pennsylvanla, Senator Moses Of New
Hampshire. Cyrus X Curtis. Charles
Scribnor. Josephus Daniels. and some
/ 200 other men who are stli marching
along with the umee
one and all. however. they are proud
/ ~ being tho fossils Of amateur jour
nails1n They Hike nothing petter 'han
/ 60 goaslp about the days when each
+ WIS an editor and helped % mold
{ public opinion. ono Fossil eays that
when Edison WA invited tn Join the
/ club tho Inventor went upstairs and
came back with faded copies OF his
paper that he had kept since boyhood
among his most valued possess,ons.
There ara almost no amateur papers
~ this sort printed today. But BE-
tween 1870 ada 1890 there we're az
least 500 Almost oil 81 them were
the projects % boys IN their teens.
The boys printing press vac com
paraively new. and 10 own a press
vas the great ambition of mahy a boy
in those days. The happy owner M
once went into tho printing business
generally combining the printing with
a literary career IN order % have some
thing ~ print Mos- often ore boz
would re tho entire etaN - a publ.
cation. from editor. business manager
and reporter 10 printers devil and
newsl,ov Tho little sheets, some a
thorn containing eight and evan siN
teen paRes. were almost always pub
iiehnd monthly.
a pape- o. THIS typ. enjoyed only
, small and select circulation eTcep
when some unustisl feature capsed
run On an ISSUE a story ~ one recort
, sale ia told by George ". Hue-. who q
, now Assistant Director Gene~a1 o
the Railroad Administration. and wh'
, In also known - Tho man who sur
veyed tho syrio-Ottoman Railway iron
, Hsifa 20 Damascus ard built r bridg
. across tho River Jordan
Tho Tale ~ Doctors DoE.
, Mr. H1rss saws 4ha' ons msmo~ahl
month his paper. tho Buckeye Hoy
, sold 10 q most gratifying extent. Will
> nqv7alosv Huas vas btsily filing or
dsrs. eiitor Hurs was proudly rerec
2 ting mat his houls town had ~ iss
' recognized Ms literary genius IN
I friend explained tho sudden derna N
;. for he Buckeye Roy. and ths youn
. editors faith in = Discriminating pub
n 10 d-,indis-l
One ileun IN the paper had read: Il
p - a curious phenomenon o. an iD~t; NJ
4 that -very morning Dr. Parsons %
q runs around ths sohoolhouss~
b. Tho reason for This phenomenon. q
"a tho entire town we'll know. rae tho
Tho doctor rad bsen counting Oh
q school mistress. and for a tine NJ M
10 Tnads a practice ~ visiting ths schoo
: house zach morning and r-allcir
Z around s. Tho doctor had dircontlr
= ued these pdlErimsRee. hut ne %
still visited Tho school At ths accu,
4 toned timn. Tho tale of The doctor
a dog. 30 iunocently printed by the NJ
j. editor. was ono which more mstu'
y editors OF che community lacked Il
Ie nerve TO print.
p That was the Buckeye Boys his
+ water mark. For the moet part q
editors OF the amateur papers had
depend on other youthful editors
ths country FOR appreciation. criticss
and interest.
IN thoso days. Mr.. Thiss says. the
was 4 post Office ruling by which ney
papers could 10 weighed and posta
paid per pound az second class IA
Under this ruling a great many pa
ers could be sent 20 me four corns
u the country for Few cents and Z