Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-01-08
Gareth's Beat With
News
BY WARRINGTON DAWSON
Do. Doubleday. Page 3 COD

Opposition PAPERS BEAT W
~ THREE MINUTES YESTER-
DAYS TEST VOTE SPARE NO
EFFORT SECURE RESULT TOMOR-
ROW ELLERBY."
Gareth threw down the telegram
after reading it and sprang from his
desk. In pushing back his chair he
was careful not to upset and break it,
knowing he would not be supplied
with another.
"Spare no effort" indeed. II he
had been told not to spare cash for
necessary expenses, the message
would seem more to the point. Nine
times out of ten he beat the opposi-
ton, just by alertness and initiative
and physical speed and -well-say
luck and eight times out of those
nine he wouldn't even know OF bis
success until much later, accidentally.
But when he slipped up, as he must,
in competing with an organization
which employed three men to do
what he did alone, and which al
lowed them to spend ten dollars to
his one, he would find his nerves put
on edge at a critical juncture like
this. Three minutes! The wonder
was he hadn't been beaten by three
hours. OF course, though, he ought
not to have let them beat him.
The next day, the French parlia-
mem was meeting; both houses as
sembled, at Versailles, to elect new
President of the Republic. A pass
had come in the affairs of the nation
when the question was OF worldwide
Importance. The group of American
evening papers whose Paris news
service Gareth managed" Che had
been given the title Of Manager to
balance a scarcely decorative salary
simply must be first In the field with
the news He was perfectly aware
that the telephone wires would be
leased by men who could afford 70
do it, and large sums would probably
20 for bribes. To offset this was the
fact that the censOrs would be watch
ing jealousy with the high motive
of delaying all messages impartially.
Unless a first flash caught them nap
ping, there would be confusion
abolishing privilege as it would order.
So he must get that flash, If he would
beat the others And he had to beat
them.
Not as a purely personal matter
He had set out to help build up this
new service out OF nothing, with no
facilities at hand and every odd OF
money and Of influence against him.
and-he was going to see 1t through.
He knew at what cafe on the boule-
yard some OF his newspaper friends
would gather that night. They were
good fellows, and while swapping
stories would drop hints He might
No, he wouldn't. His program had
been prepared and he wasn't going
to be ratified by a foolish telegram.
Nevertheless, when the crucial
moment came, at Versailles next day,
he caught his breath his il for a cold
plunge. He had staked everything
upon psychological observation at a
famous trial on whose verdict he had
beaten the world O. his own surprise.
If the same law NaiIed tework now
ne was done.
From gallery yareth matehed the
crowded Congress- hall tens with pas
lsions and heavy With bre Ting. The
speeches, heard in SeFttef6H portions,
reused the fervors b isanship on
benches where senators and deputies
sat with a common rank. Then came
the vote and the rush for the room
where ballots were counted.
Gareth knew his ground well, hav-.
Ing paced it in advance. SO he pro-
ceeded quietly to the vast hall serv-
ing as antechamber to the secret
room. The most brilliant and eminent
figures in the life of Paris-social,
diplomatic, political, Intellectual
were pressed and packed against the
forbidden door like shoaI upon shoal
OF herring.
With crash, the news broke The
doors did not have chance to open,
they were driven in. Yells, pun0tu-
ated by roar Of footballs, rang and
re-echoed. The result, cried out In
stentorian tones, was caught up and
repeated, again and again and again.
Not at the first cry. nor at the