Evening star. [volume], December 16, 1902, Page 32, Image 110

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
sisted by the White House representative,
e has always comprised the political staff of
TheStar, and with a well organized corps
of special correspondents throughout the
Union has supplied the readers of The
Star with the news of politics.
Cosmopolitan Washington.
Washington, politically, is cosmopolitan.
All political parties and every state of the
national confederation are represented in
Washington's citizenship, permanent and
temporary. Essentially, therefore, it would
be wise newspaper policy to present to this
cosmopolitan audience a variety of political
news. so that each colony could find in
The Star something of interest about the
politics in its own state.
The political correspondence of The Star
of the present day, which in point of scope
and range is not surpassed by that of any
other newspaper In this country, has been
built up within the past twenty years. It
has grown by leaps and bounds within ten
years.
Monday, prior to the last election. The
Star published more than two full pages
of political news, compiled by its staff and
special correspondents. There were tele
graphic dispatches, giving the unbiased,
non-partisan judgment of capable political
writers upon the outlook in many states.
These dispatches were wired to The Star
at the last moment and represented the
best estimates of the men who expressed
themselves. Comparison of election returns
with prophecies shows that the forecasts
were accurate. Moreover, those correspon
dents had been sending letters from their
states for three weeks before the election
The dispatches covered the political situa
tion in these states: New York, West Vir
ginia. Michigan. Connecticut, Maryland.
Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin,
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Illinois, Ne
braska and California. The territory of
Hawaii was represented in the same pub
lication by a letter, for the reason that
there is no cable connection with the isl
ands.
The Staff Correspondent.
The system of reporting politics by staff
correspondents has grown, up within the
past twelve or fifteen years. The theory
is that a dispatch from a member of The
Star's regular staff, permanent and known
In the community, who writes over his own
Initials, attracts more attention than an
unsigned letter. The regular readers of
The Star get to know the man. He is on
test, and the knowledge of that fact is a
stimulant to him to do his best.
The Star, through its staff correspondents,
has covered the field of politics in every
state from Connecticut to Missouri, and
from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Its
staff men have traveled over every state
within the area thus circumscribed. famil
iarizing themselves each year with the
political and economic conditions of the
communities.
In addition, The Star has special corre
spondents in the big cities of all the states
in the Union, resident men connected with
the most prominent newspapers, who fur
nish dispatches when called upon. Whatever
the political affiliations of these men may
be. they must send unbiased political dis
patches to The Star. A good newspaper
man is a newspaper man first and a parti
san afterward. so it is quite practicable to
get non-partisan news.
The letter of final instructions sent to The
Star's efficient corps of special correspon
dents, previous to the last election, by the
managing editor, contained this injunction:
"The Star is independent in politics and
your correspondence must be from an abso
lutely non-partisan standpoint. Of course,
we want the probabilities as they appear,
but in no wise biased."
When The Star's staff correspondents ap
pear in distant states, as in Minnesota, Mis
souri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ken
tucky. etc., people sometimes say: "Is
Washington interested in our politics?"
Most assuredly, a portion of Washington's
population Is deeply interested, and as it is
the purpose of The Star to serve every
class of its subscribers, it is considered
worth while to send a staff man on a spe
cial mission to those states, if events of a
special character are happening. Not only
that, but it is the custom of The Star to
keep its staff men on the road in off years,
when the elections are not so interesting, so
that they may keep in touch with the poli
tics and the leaders, and never lose their
familiarity with the situation.
Some of the special correspondents, resi
dent newspaper men of standing in their
community and ability, who are members
of The Star's big corps, have served the
readers of this paper for ten years. The
Star has a special correspondent In London,
and gets periodically correspondence from
Paris and other continental cities. More
ov'er, it has from time to time editorial cor
respondence from Egypt, the Philippines,
Japan. China and South and Central
America. For some years The Star's let
ters from Honolulu. signed "Kamehameha,"
have attracted national attention.
WHITE HOUSE
BY W. W,
The development of news gather'ng at the
White House in the last fifty ycars has'
probably kept pace with the kindred work
in all other fields which a daily paper must
cover. It is a field in which every reader
of a paper is interested. Men want to
know the position of the President of
the United States on all important ques
tions of the day.
The fact that every
man is a born poli
tician makes him
look to the center
of the country's
politics for every
scrap of information
that has a political
bearing. The few
men who care little
for politics do caire
for and resp.-ct the
President of the
United States, or
are interested to
some extent In the
chief executive's actions upon many prob
lems, political and otherwise, that daily con
front him for settlement.
The women find nothing of greater inter
est than to read of the movements of the
mistress of the White House. of the social
plans, of the visitors who call upon the
President's wife, of the occasional recep
tions, the children. and the domestic mat
ters that are of such nature as to permit
publication. Comparatively few editors
handling news at the desks of great news
papers reject an item of any value re
lating to the White House or its occupants.
This demand for detail-from both men
and women-has been growing from year to
year for many reasons. The country has
grown immensely in fifty years, and the
President's great power and duties have
been consequently extended. People are
studying more deeply the questions and,
governmental matters of the hour, and real
ize the enormous importance of the position
of the chief executive in our own affairs and
the affairs of the world. For the office itself,
NORTH FRONT 0
as well as for the men who occupy it, respect
is deepening each day, and is being taught
more thoroughly than ever before to the
children who are coming up to citizenship.
To this country the office represents so
much bearing upon law and order, upon
fairness and justice, and upon the gigantic
possibilities of the future that everything
pertaining to it naturally draws attention
and rivets interest.
Half a Century Ago.
Fifty years ago newspaper reporters and
correspondents went to the White House to
see and talk with the President. If he was
easy of approach and their acquaintance
with him warranted it they probably went
often, or at least as often as was necessary
to keep in touch with the day's news so far
as it related to the White House. The office
of private secretary then was little more
than that of an amanuensis. Today it is a
position of influence and power, and there
are times when the secretary to the Presi
dent is almost as hard to see as the Presi
dent himself. The President's duties have
multiplied so fast that in the last ten years
much of the detail of the office has had to
be placed in the hands of the secretary. IU
would be manifestly impossible for the
President to attend1 personally to the
minutiae of a e-reat nortion nf the work de
IlF GITIIEINI
NEWS HAS CHIGE.
PRICE.
volving upon him. So his secretary must
come in contact with the people and act as
a medium of communication for the chief
executive.
The departments try to relieve the Presi
dent of as much detail as possible, but
there are many people who insist upon the
democratic right of carrying a thing to the
White House and -putting it before the Pres
ident directly. They are not satisfied with
a decision reached by some department offi
cer, or do not look upon him as unprej
udiced toward them or their case. These
people encounter the President's secretary
when they go to the White House, and
often must submit to his putiting the mat
ter before the President or advising 'them
what to do. As the business of the country
grows this system, or some other, will grow
with it, ourt of sheer necessity. Ex-Senator
Chandler has suggested that there ought
to be two Presidents, so that one may re
lieve the other.
The Private Secretary.
Fifty years ago, therefore, the private
secretary to the President was not a person
of the importance to newspaper men he is
now, and most of the reporters and corre
spondents of those days daily sought and
obtained interviews with tihe Presidents.
Then, as now, there were men whose per
sonal relations were such as to admit them
quickly to the chief executive, while others
had to be content with obtaining their news
supplies from senators or representatives or
cabinet officers who had talked with the
President. It was a rather democratic pro
ceeding for the Presidents in the old days
to talk directly with the newspaper men
who called, and submit to being "held
up" to answer all kinds of questions. News
paper men nowadays have access to the
President. but they do not intrude upon his
privacy, except in cases of absolute neces
sity. They usually get all the information
that is to be had by talking with the sec
retary or an assistant. They may see some
one else who has seen the President and
knows his views on a particular question.
All newspaper men in Washington fully
F WHITE HOUSE.
realize the immense amount of work de
volving upon the President, and the fact
that he has few spare minutes. When,
however, they need to reach the fountain
head of news he is accessible.
In point of approachability and accessi
bility there isn't much difference between
now and fifty years ago, as far as time
has wrought changes, practically every
thing depending on the man who is Presi
dent. Fifty years ago the duties of the of
fice were not so pressing as to bring about
such severe restridtions in securing inter
views with the chief executive. These re
strictions have gradually increased. Often
they are born of necessity, sometimes
caused by peculiar ideas. They surround
and govern a President just to the extent
that he may desire or thalt his time may ad
mit. With President M4cKinley, for in
stance, the Spanish war bringing its mul
titude of additional duties and responsibili
ties, it was Imperative to omit his program
of three weekly receptions to the public in
the east room of the White House.
Pr-esident Roosevelt holds occasional re
ceptions, limited in such a way as not to
include more than forty or fifty people.
These are held about the middle of the day,
when most of the senators and representa
tives have naid their calls and the Presi
dent is ready to receive others who have
business with him. The reception takes
place in the office, and the people received
are generally those sent by members of
Congress.
Reporting White House News.
Up to six years ago reporters and corre
spondents called at the White House at in
tervals through the day to see the President
or his secretary. generally the latter, but
there was not until that time an attempt
to cover each detail and happening of the
White House, as now. Reporters for The
Star and other local and out-of-town papers
varied their visits to suit their ideas or ne
cessities of newsgathering. Frequently not
one reporter or correspondent would be near
the building when some important caller
would visit the President and go away. Now
the caller has no chance of getting in and
out of the White House without being seen
and interviewed by reporters. It may begthat
only one man may know him and surmise
his business. But he is almost sure to have
to give an account of himself. Thus the
White House has become a regular assign
ment for reporters representing single news
papers or the press associations, who re
main at or near the building during the
business hours of the President and keep in
pretty close touch with what is going on.
The man familiar witn the field possibly
has an advantage over a new man in know
ing the ropes and the people, and the rela
tions of various persons with the President
or with this or that project.
Searching for Clues.
As a matter of fact the news secured at
the White House is nearly always the re
sult of the efforts of the newspaper men
themselves. It is generally not the policy
of either the President or his secretary to
make public any information. A hint of a
"story" must be found before either will
talk. Appointments and similar official
changes are made public, but there is no
giving out of prepared news. So the re
porters and correspondents find it them
selves. Their acquaintance with public men
all over the country, with cabinet officers
and departmental officials, enables them to
get the first start or "tip." These same
friends develop the story for them, upon in
quiry. Sometimes it's a question of hard
digging, as the miner puts it, to unravel a
"story." If the matter is one of impor
tance, and the President and his secretary
and all others surrounding him are reticent,
being anxious that the news shall not get
out, the difficulties are increased. Then is
when the regular reporter calls to mind
this or that association of a body of men,
this or that man's interest in a certain sub
ject or certain man, or the probable reason
of a man's being summoned by the Presi
dent, and is thereby enabled to reach a clue.
It is to be assumed that the President of
the United States, his cabinet and all
others around him do not want matters to
become public until they have been finally
acted upon. Even when this has been done
there is no man who feels Uhat it is his par
ticular business to announce the fact. After
the President passes upon it the sub
ject passes from his mind. Cabinet officers
are similarly inclined. Therefore it is
the business of the White House reporter
not to be far behind when matters of im
port have received the approval or disap
proval of the President or are waiting to
be acted upon by him.
All callers at the White House are put
through a cross-examination process by the
newspaper reporters there. By this time it
has become a rather familiar experience to
most public men, and they generally sub
mit to the buttonholing with good-natured
patience.
President Roosevelt.
President Roosevelt himself is most ac
cessible to newspaper men who need to
see him. He knows how to talk with
them and leave to their honor and
good judgment the handling of what he
may say to them. He talks freely on oc
casions and upon matters not in shape for
publication in the newspapers, but his con
fidence is appreciated by the recipient, and
weeks or months pass before a word of
what has been said by the chief executive
gets in prinit. While it is pleasant to the
newspaper reporter thus to have the con
fidence of the chief executive or of a cabinet
officer or member of Congress, he frequent
ly regrets that he is the custodian of facts
that he is prevented from using, inas
much as some other man who bias not been
placed in a similar position is often at lib
erty to write the story whenever he has se
cured It from a source that does not place
the inhibition of confidence on him. Many
good stories get out to the world through
men who are not thus held in restraint of
good faith, while the man possessing of
ficial confidence may have had complete
knowledge of the facts weeks before.
The needs of the newspaper staff assigned
to the White House have beeni recognized in
a satisfactory manner in the new office
Ibuilding just completed for the President.
A room for the reporters has been re
served for them, with all the necessary