Evening star., 1934-01-24
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.

Margaret Cermond.
IRWIN s. COBB; His Life and Achieve.
ments. BY Fred G. Neuman. With
an introduction by o. o. Mcintyre
Illustrated. Paducah. KY: Youn(
Publishing Co.
After the departure Of q somewhat
troublesome caller few days ago con-
versation turned, as it frequently does
into channels of thought prompted BY
the reason for the visit. Many thou.
sands Of people, representing every sta.
ton OF human existence and endeavor
come into the Offices Of all large news
papers in the course Of each year, or
countless kinds Of errands. The ma
jority of them have plain, straightfor.
| ward propositions or requests to submit
verdict on the merits or dement's ol
their plans In spirit Of intelligent un.
| derstanding. A large number of those
who are seeking to further some cause
Of their own are afflicted with deep.
rooted convictions which no amount o.
| reasoning can shake, and there is still
another fairly large aggregation of peti.
TONERS for one thing or another Whose
limitations and deficiencies place then
Immediately in the class which has beer
termed, with no disrespect, nuts"
The caller in question happened to bt
one OF those with unshakable convic.
tions, and the purpose of his visit re.
lated to a matter Of professional judg.
ment on a subject for which the great.
est concern must necessarily be for the
; general benefit. But the restricted visior
of the professional mind was incapable
af hau he .
tied experience. And it was upon thi.
fact that the conversation. which de-
veloped into a discussion of the influ.
ence Of specialized occupation, was
based.
Every profession, and every industria,
and business enterprise in which the
men and women Of this planet engage
has its rightful and needful place ir
the economic scheme of life And it is
proper and commendable that thost
who pledge themselves to any occupa.
! tion should give themselves wholeheart-
/ edly to learning all there is to know
about their chosen work. If there were
not this sincere application Of minc
and energy there would be no success
and the attainment of perfection Of
knowledge in one field is bound to limit
the ability to completely absorb ar
understanding in all others.
There are. OF course, exceptions both
in individuals and in lines of endeavor
Outstanding among the latter is the
newspaper profession. The true news.
| paper reporter or editor cannot display
bias in print, no matter what his Oh
her personal convictions may be. Fact.
must be stated without prejudice. ane
they must be intelligently interpreted
oil ly ~ fIrl hfar on,
Of the community. The dispensers o.
the daily news must have the ability
to see beneath, behind and arounc
every problem and every project which
is presented. The person possessing in
telligent vision is usually grateful wher
pet idea or proposition Is shot full OF
holes and shown to be something thai
would produce harmful rather thar
helpful results But the person with
an unalterable bias is quite another
matter. That extraordinary sixth sense
accredited to reporters and editors L
beyond his comprehension.
From the functions of a newspaper
and the essential broader vision which
those who interpret the happenings ir
the world must possess, the talk drifteo
20 outstanding members Of the profes-
sion and the successes in other field.
which have been achieved as a result oi
Journalistic experience. Irwin S. Cobb
a boy came in with a package and 6
letter, both from Paducah. KY.
Speaking Of Irwin Cobb-here's the
story of his life!"
And what a life of activity and full
fillment it has been! He is now only
fifty-six years old, and working at full
speed though he has accomplished more
than the combined efforts of almost any
ten people could produce in the allotted
span Of three score years and ten
He has been earning livelihood since
he was sixteen years old. and has risen
from the driver Of an ice cart to the
most widely known and one Of the best
loved men in America.
1t was at the close of the ice cart sea-
son in 1892 that the father Of this
veritable cyclone of boy asked him il
he would like to try his hand at news
paper work and perhaps become such q
splendid writer as Maj. Joel Shrews-
bury. an intimate friend of the elder
Cobb for whom Irwin was named. The
ranged to get position for him on the
Paducah Daily News. He began work
on the morning Of January is, 1893
His first STORY" found a resting place
in the Local Notes" column and con-
sisted Of a paragraph stating that more
rabbits had been brought to the Local
market that week than during any week
that Winter. He worked for two weeks
without pay to test his ability. and al
the end of the third week received the
magnificent salary of one dollar and
seventy-five cents.
Promotions came rapidly, as young
Cobb developed a remarkable talent
and ability, and within two years he
was receiving ten dollars q week a
the star" reporter When he wa,
nineteen he became the managing ed
itor. the youngest man to hold such q
position on daily newspaper In Amer
lea He served on several other news
papers during those early years, and
was on the Louisville Evening Post
when the newly established Paducah
Daily Democrat offered him the post
of managing editor, at twenty-five dol
lars a week. That was four dollars
more than he was earning. so he ac-
cepted. A lively competition for his
services sprang up between the two
papers, which finally resulted In his
staying on with the Paducah Daily at
thirty dollars week.
New York was bound to receive him
sooner or later. and at thirty-three he
had reached the enviable position OF
top-salaried newspaper man in New
York City. Three years later he pub
lished his first book, and since then
the number Of novels, short stories
magazine articles and other publica-
tions has increased so rapidly that a
formidable space in a good-sized pri-
vate library would be required to house
them all.
The task Of relating the life and
achievements of this remarkable man
has been one of painstaking care and
devotion to the highest principles OF
character likeness and material accom-
plishments 1t seems almost incredi-
BILE to be able to put into one volume
the life of a man whose meteoric Ca
! reer through a period Of about thirty
years has brought him fame as q news
paper man, novelist, public speaker
a war correspondent. q short-story
writer, radio entertainer, playwright
hl 49,