New Britain herald., 1924-11-20

newspapers are staunch believers In the freedom of the press, which ap- parcntly includes the formulation of whatever rules governing the use Of
 English that their editors deem ad- Nisablc. Hence, to find any two Of them in agreement upon such a minor thing as capitalization is the rxception-cXcept where one leads and the other follows;
 There is a uniformity in the teaching of capitalization in the sceools, which follows the rules of authoritative textbooks. But the newspapers do not follow such rules. They have their own,
 Many of our foremost newspapers have what Is known as style books" These often run 10 50 or 5 closely printed pages. In them is given every special rule pertain ing 10 the use of English and the method of news presentation per- missihlc in each particular newspa- per. Though every journal of size may not possess printed style book, virtually each has an exten- sive set of rules that are at least and kept at a conve- nicnt place for quick reference by editors and desk men. Some of the dailics in the smaller cities, prob ably desirous of aping the swank of their brethren in the larger cities, likewise have printed style books. The writer once possessed one Of some 60 pages which was issued by a newspaper published in a city of only S0.000.
 Hail to inc Proofreader.
 Naturally this sounds like com mcndable enterprise and indicates a desire that news matter be printed in at least a uniform way through out each publication. If by acci- dent departure is made from the style sheet" or style book" the desk man and likewise the proofreader who missed 1t usu- ally hears about the occurrence. The head proofreader, by the way is the custod of the style in most plants, and In such cases it matters little what the editor or sub editor wrote: if it transgressed a rule laid down in the rule book the proofreader changes 1t to con- form. For instance, the writer once wrote the word "aide" as noun in a headline, meaning 1t as contrac- ton of "aide- camp" It came out in the paper as aid" A stroll to the proofrcading department and n conversation with the chief func- tionary there disclosed that his way of spelling it was according to the style sheet" and anyway either method WAS correct. according to the large dictionary at his elbow. The shorter word, he said, saved a letter in setting 1t up.
 Pcculiaritics Abound.
 The papers, lacking uniformity In style sheets or style books, go in for all sorts of individual peculiari- ties. Some will capitalize Interstate Commerce Commission while others do not. To many the White House Is always white house, the Iegisla- iuro is always legislature. and to some His Honor is his honor. The Grand Jury is frequently flower ease" but Judge Blank always gets the capital J.
 During the late world unpleasant ness. some of the most patriotic Kaiser and did not capi- talizo president. This is an amaz- ing fact, comparable as sn ana to the singing of the Aus trian national hymn in thousands of American churches during the war. just because in the hymn book Papa Hayin's tune vas coupled with sacred words and the ninis- tvrs Hlr4 none the wiser.
 SouC Of thU peCuliaiities
 Il IS Il llcl that the BrIuaA 1 arlia- mtut Is capitalized by majority oi tue papers, but the American con- grcss la not Inc German ltCIChStag, even uurus the war, was capitalized in a large number of American but Il Was toss-up whether thu French Chamber ot Deputies jared any better JOurnaiisucally speaking, than the American Con- gIcas, some Connecticut papers print it repupAcau and democratic paltil.. but Often slip into upper casing tAg British Labor party and lhc socnusl5; even the Comnlunists often St the capital (. h such uascs lho Republican and DcINocra- lie rarues have reason 10 feel Jeal- ous.
 | IS frequently q cause for won der nly tA- Chamber Uf Commerce -uoo tsu5uU JQl eNqM stGNdeo s1aI mon council doesn't Qust like this). rhc High srLUoI will frequently get the capital II while the city hal is dismissed with small letters. Gus tom, and not reason, here holds sway, The center (mesnlng the city's downtown trianEle) ausually small letters, yet is a, proper noun dono'ing a geographical loca- ton, if there ever was one.
 The New York and eastern papers CHS, or7arily use capitals where they belong much more generally than their midwcstcrn and western con- tenporaries. The Chicago Tribune, inc Chicago Daily News and tho In dianapous News. three papers whose styles are follow ed 10 a considerable extent by smaller city dailies their territory, appear 10 elirina'a capitalization to a skele- tonizvd minimum.
 Due to Machines