Evening star., 1926-05-16

one story, it is: but that one story is
typical of hundreds handled daily by
filing editors and Is a simple part OF
their days routine.
There are four main circuits out
of the New York night Office deslg
mated the West, East. New YORK
state and Jersey wires. There are
also a half dozen or more special cir
cults such as the New York and Phil
adelphia morning papers. the Havana
cable to Cuban papers, The race track
wire. and special loops or cut-ins to
ha Sc ball parks. the Wall Street mar
ket bureau and others.
Each filing editor on the main cir
cults is. in effect, the general tele-
graph editor of all the papers on that
and its auxiliary circuits. The papers
may range from five to several hun
dred. The job of the regular news
paper telegraph editor is to select
from the telegraph news coming to
his desk that which Will most interest
the greatest number of Its readers ana
TO display it prominently and attrac-
tively in his paper by descriptive head
lines: then to cut down the non-inter-
esting. but necessary, to the feWest
number of words to make it intelligi-
BILE. and spike or discard the remain
der.
The 4. p. filing editor, in another
sense also is Waging non-endinS
battle with the troublesome twins
time and space.
1T is his task to rapidly select from
the immense volume of news constant
ly flowing to his desk the quality and
quantity desired by the papers In the
territory his circuit covers. With
some news there is no hesitancy as to
quality. A national convention, the
death Of some great man, a champion
ship f1ght-there only speed Is re
uuired and some slight editing until
the high spots have been covered. But
great stories do not happen every day,
SO ordinarily the best in sight must
take their places.
"A famous Chicago editor once de-
scribed news as coming into his Office
in a scoopshovel to be ladled out III a
salad 5000 A \ Steam shovels would be
a more accurate description of the
conveyors to the New York office.
The total incoming news of four great
circuits. the EurC4ean and other cable
file. the report from the Canadian
press, the output Of the city desk with
its own staff men and its selection
from the news of the combined A. p.
papers of New York City and the City
News Bureau pile the filing editors
desk with a seemingly hopeless mass
of copy.
Must Sift All News.
But. don't think it is neatly piled
up there to be mulled over and chosen
from. 1t is flowing in continuously;
the important from one point with the
trivial from another. There is not a
minute in the editors eight-hour
work day that does not bring to his
desk a sheet Of mimegraphed copy
containing 10 TO 800 words to be re-
layed. edited or discarded. But at
times they come like a snowstorm.
It is his task to seize the best in sight,
trim it into shape if too long or poor
ly written and keep it and the sue
ceeding next best at the top of his
pile as the telegraph operator or tele-
graph printing machine attendant
reaches for copy.
THE work Of the filing editors of
the New York offices is duplicated.
although the volume of the report Is
smaller, in the scores Of bureau
points throughout the country.
"A placard in many bureaus that
interests visitors and fascinates the
new employee reads: somewhere
every minute a paper is going to
press.
"This is not only true during the
greater part of the day and night
but sadly understates the fact dur
ing the peak hours. Then not one.
but a half dozen or more are going
to press every minute and every one
Of them demands not only the latest
important news right up to the min
ute of their deadline. but they must
have had, in ample time, all the hum
dred and one routine matters, the
latest financial and market news,
base ball and various sports. weather
reports and the various columns
that go to make up the complete
newspaper you demand.
"a. p. editors sometimes recall
with envy those happy periods of
their newspaper days, for virtually
all of them are trained newspaper
graduates, the lull when an edition
had gone in and there was a brief
period of relaxation and chatting, or
time to puff a cigarette leisurely be-
fore the squirt for the next edition
began. Edition time ON the A. p. is
always just one minute ahead of
them and they never catch up with
it. The pursuit is turned over to
their successor: