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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 22, 1909)
The Omaha Sunday Bee. PART THREE HALF-TONE PAGF.S 1 TO 4. A TkTZK rOR TTXC BOKX OMAHA DEE BEST IN THE WEST VOL. XXXiX-NO. 10. OMAHA, SUNDAY MOllNIXU, AUUt'ST 'J IWi). PTNGLB COPY FIVE CENTS. COLLEGE DAILY NEWSPAPER AN INFLUENTIAL FACTOR How the Editor ''Lives and Toils and Suffers" That His School May Prosper and That Faculty and Student Alike May Have Ample Light to Guide Their Feet Along Their Daily Walk. NE element of the Fourth Estate, with which the general public does not come In contact, but which is most potent l I within lts,sphere, and even of unquestioned influence on V. S the outside, Is the college newspaper. Whether it be daily, weekly or monthly, this publication reflects In no uncer tain way the spirit or the school it represents and gives life and currency to event aud incidents that might otherwise! perish for want of the saving light of publicity. It embalms the daily doings of the student holy, criticises the faculty, raises Ned with the ath letic board, ?nd in a way that Is persistent, if not pertinent, is enters Into every n.-pect of life at the upper schools and generally dis chaiireH the duty that devolves on a free press. If it is not bound by ar.v t.r t conditions that at times circumscribe the activities of the ;n. ... press. It feels In a measure the restrictions that come !! i iil.y, and sooner or later the editor and publisher of the .. r Irani the lessons that are borne in upon the editor nn I ..ib:iy;.. : cf a periodical peeking for public support. The editor For.;i barns that he has Influence he might not otherwise wfold, ' i.n l tl.;.i power may dazzle him for a time; but It is not long until ho ci.o discovers that he has a certain degree of responsibility. It May bo that the college government does not extend to the paer, or i-.ut. the facility does not tin -It riake to prescribe what may or may net ! published. It may also be that the patronage of the paper Is qucli as to warrant the editor In feeling some independence of sordid conditions, and it may bt that his way Is apparently free from all tin- obstacles that at times constrict the Judgment of the editor who is forced to depend on fickle patronage or is "cribbed, c.abln'd and confined" by some control that prevents freedom of expression, lint, no matter how happily he Is situated, before he pets through i-.chool he learns " 'tis sweet to have a glaut'a strength, but cowardly to use It llko a giant." If he does not learn this, he Js not much credit to bis school nnd none whatever to the profession ho has even temporarily entered upon. fUit the college editors, as a rule, learn this. They also? learu that the profession Is one of exacting nature; that It requires far more of persistent application thah one on thf outside can under stand and that the making of a newspaper means work. It is to the credit of the guild that their papers are of a high class; some of them have a fame that extends beyond school confines and are known to the reading public, while all of them fill a function of the life of the schools no other agency can supply. Great Growth in Numbers During the last ten or fifteen years college Journalism has had a wonderful growth, until today in many of the universities of the country may be found student papers run on a metropolitan basis and possessing complete editorial and business staffs and owning their own printing plants. Only fifteen years ago fewer than ten college dailies although many weekly and monthly Journals ex isted In this country; today there are many times that number. Besides there are hundreds of weekly, semi-weekly and monthly and hl-monthly papers, each educational institution having some sort of uTi oillcial publication through which news, Interesting and pertinent to the student body, Is gflven publicity. So great a foothold has the college paper secured In the life of the student body that a school now which does not publish some hind of a representative Journal would be, In frank college slang, called a "dead one"--and dead as a doorknob at that. With the college paper furnishing a means of getting university doings end funny occurrences of college life Into print, the students are always Interested In their official organ and keep it in mind as one of the real things about their school life. Through the college paper the athlete is enabled to bring him self prominently before the other students; the sorority girl througn it gets announcements of her social activities before the Jealous co-ed of another society, and the college professor who Is not ad verse to advertising If It Is free gets to the notice of his fellow professors and the regents by means of the paper the news that he has received a flattering offer from some bigger and better institu tion. The college dally Is not always a newsy journal. Oftentimes It Is dull reading, but more often It Is u live publication and prluts articles which at some time during the year serve to arouse the iuterest of every man and girl connected with the school. Even the Janitors and hired men on the campus find It of so much import ance that nearly every college daily numbers among its subscribers a majority of the Janitors and other men employed on the campus. Polling so Important a position In the college life, a dally student paper, when rightly conducted, commands much respect and lias a great Influence, which It often Is called upon to use. The editor of the paper Is usually considered one of the "big" men among the students nnd receives consideration he might not other w Ise have. - Influence Depends on Editor The influence) of the college daily rests In tue mental caliber of of Its editor. If a weak or incompetent fellow gets iuto the chief editorial position, the paper cannot command a large following, but when the right studeut is at the helm it demands au.l receives re spect. If the editor is afraid of being dismissed from school, or is kowtowing to a particular professor or professors, his paper is likely to be a sheet which no one respects or takes much stock in. When the "free lauce" has hold of the pen the circulation increases and the whole school takes notice of the paper, whether Its policy and methods be endorsed or no. At such a time the grafting members of a foot ball board, the corrupt athlete aud the "Uriah lleep" pro fessor get on their good behavior. This editor can make himself a power for good and usually docs. Ho fights for clean athletes, he calls for falivyplay among the professors, boosts for the unverslty and all Us Institutions and prints every itery, of news that is fit for a class of college men and women to read. Now and then the editor of a college paper allows his zeal to carry him too far and then there W trouble. Last winter at the University of California the editor of the Daily Callforulan was forced to quit school because of seme Indiscreet words. The same th in vhs repeaU-d at Wesleyan university in Nebraska durlns the boo! year. Each winter brings new cases of dismissals for t ' o cause. , S- ioIJ do some of the young editors occasionally become that they 'in not hesitate to touch on any subject, no matter how im portant it Is or what men It concerns. During the last winter one of the leading universities of the country lost its chancellor and the i events selected his successor from among the members of the faculty of the university. The editor of the paper wanted a man from some other school with a big reputation; in fact, a majority of the nn 1 rprn.duatcs and alumal of the school wanted an eastern man. Soaked It to the Chancellor On the day following the selection or ine new man for a trial the cdiu.r wrote a rather lengthy editorial, declaring the board could not have made a better choice for a temporary chancellor for ti:o school, but added that this man was not the one for the per manent head of the school. The editor declared the university should have an eastern man one who would bring influence and pover to the college. Since then the acting official has been made tir.7 permanent head of the school, and the editor realizes. his mis take, lu that case the editor probably exceeded the limits of staid rules of respect toward his seniors, but he expressed fully and frankly his opluiou of the situation. He hid none of his belief behint a desU. It u:i;i l.U heal and not his heart that was wrong. in udecting the c iiorj nnd business managers the method varhs v.ith ciink i cut schools. At some the merit system ia in prac others the oiUces are filled by appointment, and at others edition ly "the student body. Where the merit system controls students etart In at the bottom and work up. On the editorial ;..; or liie otflce beginners are given positions as cub reporters and told to gather news. Those how ing the greatest capacity and apti tude for the work advance the fastest. On the business side of the paper the new men are started in at gathering advertisements or at wrapping, mailing or delivering papers. Here the same conditions obtain as on the editorial staff. In schools where the editors are appointed or elected by the stu dents the merit system rules to a greater or less extent also, for sel dom does the deserving man fall to get the office. Of course, In the case of student elections poli tics plays an important part, but with a body of American college students the best man usually gets thero. The vast majority of stu dents are willing to vote for the man best fitted for the position of editor. As business manager a youth with less training In manag ing an enterprise than Is required to make a financial success of a college paper sometimes is se lected. This, though, is infre quently the case, and it can be said that most college papers of the country are run at the business and by bright young men, fully capable of keeping the publication out of debt and at the same time allowing the editor sufficient funds for the purchase of cuts and spe cial editions to make the paper a good seller. At most colleges the editors and managers receive pecuniary compensation for their labors. At some the managers alone are allowed money, for their work, the editorial forces being required to take university credit In rhetoric for their services. Where the former plan obtains there is more enthusiasm for the work and keener competition for places on the paper, although the character of the publication turned out Is no better than at the other schools where only credit is given. Often, Indeed, the latter plan produces a higher class of Journalism, for then the students who take posi tions on the paper do so for pure love of the work and not because of the desire to make money. 7 X 1 ' I V I S VJ '' - jJ4ta71 CARLTON C JEW ETT ug 1 ) V MMXJAILlAN ELSER. .XAltTW, CHAIRMAN. YALE DAILY NEWSAtTV fJ V- EDITOR CORNELL WIDOW Wfng? ' V II X TV f I f A M 1 vLZX ) llteasa1 'II 8 Hi ' VICTOR B. SMITH7 ill HERBERT 1 V 4 EOITOR DAILY I Q WAN j X J - JV-," t SZj m It " MGLARENGE &.iT Jit;. mm'm- X&WkV I P'" jl IJSPAUL It HAS Y lj Pay of the Employees V Practically all the western and eastern colleges, pay tlie editors of their paper salaries. In some instances the money made by an editor In one school year of nine months is as high as $800 or )1,000. Many students have earned their way through college by work on publications of this sort. Michigan and Chicago are ex amples of the schools which allow the editors a good share of the money made by the college paper. At those schools each year the staffs of the papers hold banquets which are paid for by the money made off the publications. Nebraska is an example of the schools that pay their edlfors in university credit. There the editor of the paper receives five hours' credit each bemester. His managing editor gets three hours, the associates are given two each and the reporters one each. The Ave hours received by the editor himself Is the same amount of credit that may bo earned by taking Latin, German, Greek, mathematics or botany foi one hour each day during the semester. It represents much more labor than is required to make the credit bytaklng any regular study. The editor of a paper published five or six days a week Is forced to give on the average at least six hours each day to his work and many times several more than that number. After his classes in the morning he starts in to plan his stories for the next day. A paper the size of the Daily Nebraskan, sixteen inches long and five columns wide, requires three "slug head" articles for the front page and from three to four for the rest of the pages together. No "slug head," In the opinion of a college editor, should be less than three fourths of a column long, and most editors try to get them long enough to fill the entire column. Full-column articles give a front page a good make-up. The clltor racks his gray matter to get sub ject for articles for the front puge. Some days he has no trouble, but on others evening will come before he has decided on what news shall be made Into "slug heads." I'sually, early in the afternoon, the editor will send out his best reporters on assignments that he thinks will materialize Into good stories. The other reportersare sent to various departments and told to get every item of news they can. One or two men are told to gather all the little doings they can learn of, such as the re turn of alumni and the visit of young people to the campus. The society editor is assigned a certain amount of space each and has to fill that. There is, In most papers, a local column In charge f a sub-editor. This column is filled every day by that editor and he i3 qu.'ckly put off the paper if he fails to keep it a newsy department. With a good staff of men wcrking under him the editor has no trouble filling his paper with live matter. Hut on most papers it is difficult to get a competent set of men on a college daily, and the editor himself often has te write a great share of the news for his publication. He gets up the editorials and, besides writing one or two of the slug head articles, gathers many small notes and other items. Easy Going in the Fall In the fall the college paper has Its earnest going, for then every body is Interested in foot ball and each issue contains at least one leading foot ball article, gridiron editorial and several other Items pertaining to the great college game. Cuts of the players and teams are used nearly every day. After each big game practically all the paper is given over to a write-up of the struggle and comments on its features. In the fall, to, everything Is new, the professors are full of news and there is much to write about the gtudentA.and their doings. It is la the second semester, beginning about January 1, and Haven, the Columbia Spectator In New York City and the Minnesota Dally in Minneapolis are of the class of papers in th larger towns where the' question of advertising is not the one of most concern. Circulation of a college paper is limited to a majority of the undergraduates, uost of the faculty and a small per cent of the alumni. A school with an attendance of 3.000 in the west will furnish between S00 and l.GOO subscribers. In the east and middle west the schools with. 4,000 or 5,000 students have a subscription list of 2,000 or 2,00. All students are not willing subscribers, and It takes a campaign at the beginning of each semester on the part of thexbuslness manager and his assistants to gt subscribers. Once secured, though, the students pay their subscriptions whea due and renew them when they expire. Once In r long while the university editors are given a chance to display their journalistic ability by handling a city dally for a while, and then it is they show how little they know about running a "real" paper. At Lawrence, Kan., the editors of the state college paper. The Kansan, were allowed to edit a local dally for one week last winter. The paper was owned nnd edited In Lawrence.. After two or three days of college editing the Lawrence sheet was hardly recognizable as a daily pa'pfcr. The editor of the paper was mighty glad to get rid of the university men aud he has declared there shall be no more college editors placed In charge of his paper. He still has several libel suits pending. No Use for "Students" The successful editor of a brilliant college aaily is likely to hold In lofty contempt the students o'f the university schools of Journal Ism, and Is loath to allow them to work on his publication. A stu dent of one of the classes In journalism has to change his writings a great deal before they can pass the bright college editor. It fre quently happens that the head of the school of journalism will try to get the work of his students Into the college paper as news Items, lie meets with strong opposition when he does, however, and U forced to bow to the will of Hie editor In changing the style and making corrections that are demanded by the latter. At the University of Michlgnn two years ago the class in Journal ism was allowed to edit the Michigan Dally for three days, and failed utterly to meet with the Ideal of the editor of the paper. For weeks after that trial this editor took great delight In criticising the class and its instructors for pretending to know anything about how a city paper should be conducted, when they could not even run a univer sity paper so that It was worth reading. Since coming under tho fire of that editor the Wolverine Journalism classes have never re quested an opportunity to try their skill at editing an official college paper. The college paper is quick to adopt the features and methods of city journals. Of a great many of the college sheets tho cartoon has become a fixture. It is run on the front page and serves the (tame purpose that it does on the larger papers. University doings are told without words, reforms are started, weak points of institutions and professors are shown up and humorous sidelights on college affairs are given through these roughly drawn sketches. Besides the cartoon, adopted from the larger papers, the college publications have followed with the plan of issuing extras, getting news from other schools by wire and going to press early In the morning, onlyafter all the happenings of the day aud night before can be given to their readers nearly as soon as they are by the city sheets. The wire service is employed generally in getting news of a foot ball game or debate in some distant town. The extras are Is sued after some athletic contest and, especially, in the fall after a big foot ball game. Tho Issuing of a morning paper with all the college news of the night and day before requires a night force. There must be a man to edit copy, another to read proof and a few to "cover" night hap penings. Besides these men, w ho are students, there are, of course, the llneotype operators, pressmen and a composing room man to put the paper Into forms. The students who do night work, such as editing copy or reading proof, receive a small salary, and some of them pay their board and-room by this means. Ownership of the Paper At most colleges the daily publication is owned and controlled by a stock company composed of undergraduates, alumni and mem bers of the faculty. ' in a few cases the trustees or board of regents of the university own the paper aud appoiut a publication board of students and faculty members to control the journal. From the student standpoint the first ownership Is the more satisfactory, for under it the editors and managers are permitted more leeway and receive greater compensation for their work. The latter ownership restricts the policy of the editor, usually reduces salaries and makes competition for positions on the puper less keen. It has one great advantage over the first ownership: In paying little or no salary to the editor It cuts out of competition for positions the wen who seek office only for pecuniary gain. The students who take the edi torial positions do so purely tor honor and for Jove of the work. These men make the best kind of editors and give a college the best kind of a paper. No one Is quicker to grasp the humor of a situation than the average college student, and no student is more willing to take ad vantage of a funny happening than a collego editor. For this reason the columns of a university paper contain much of the humor of college life and Its people. Some of the wit and humor is of the highest order, as is proved by the wi do circulation it is given in the press of the country. Professors, co-eds and male students alke are made the subject of jokes with equal dlsregurd for feelings and ten der spots. The higher up on the faculty roll the editor can reach with his joke bludgeon the better ho likes it, and the louder is the laugh that comes from the students. With all the good things that tan bo said about the college edi tors a few fa,ult3 still remain with the average run of university newspaper men. In nearly all cases the editor has no superior to whom he is compelled to answer. As a result he does not feel the responsibility that rests on the newspaper men on a city dally. He olten falls Into careless ways lets his copy go to the printer poorly edited, prints much that Is worthless matter and permits his report ers to become ruthless writers. This Is one of the ttrave darnpr f College daily advertising pays, just as well us cues city dally college Journalism, for if the editors get positions on big papers after y leaning nit reliant .of a college town and he they finish school they then have to learn that a Dewsnanor nn.ltinn carries with It great responsibility, and their course for several months Is very stony while they are getting some of the crude Ideas of their eollege newspaper career worked out of their minds. Not all college editors plan on catering newspaper work when they finish school; a great majority, Indeed, never go on the college paper with that Idea, and only a few of them ever become connected with newspapers after leaving college. The work on a mil. Uut the fact that the merchants recognize the college daily as taken up usually for the experience it gives a voun man t,. ood advertising Medium makes the task of the business manager la !nth to learn by working lis a writer on a college naner muoh to learn about the school, Its students rnd professors and about human nature that does not eome to the average student who falls during his college course to "make the pnper." task. Then news Is scarce, for there Is not something dolDg every day as there is in the fall. Basket ball, base ball aud track athletics furnish a certain amount of news, but they are not so important as foot ball and cannot be given the space that the gridiron game reoeivea in the first semester. The editor during this second semester is compelled to stir up his associate editors and reporters and keep them moving in order to fill the paper. Special articles about professors, alumni and Institutions of the school then are given much attention and the paper usually manages to get through with a good record. The business manager bus no less a strenuous time than the editor, but his is entirely a different kind of work. His salary de pends altogether, at most colleges, upon his own activity. He Is paid a percentage on the advertising run In the paper each Bemester. This biisis of remuneration, of course, places the young business manager in a position where he hustles for "ads" every day. It Is no easy task, us many imagine, to solicit advertising for even a university publication. It is often remarked that a college paper is filled with "ads" given by merchants who wish to be patriotic to the school in their town. Nothing could be more remote from the actual fact than such a statement. Outside of three or four men In each college town there Is not a meichant who puts an "ad" In the college jourr-al who does not believe he has selected a good adver tising medium. It is foolish to say that business men,' year after year, will con tribute to a college publication believing they are getting no just return for their money. The business man of today In a university town recognizes the college daily us one of the best advertising mediums he can get. He does not have to be urged to place an "ad" with the paper simply on the greunds of patriotism. When he makes up his mind to advertise he knows he is coing into some thing that will bring him a return Advertising- Really Pays advertising;. bk a will tell you this statement is tiui He will tell you the students read the "aiiV' and patronize the advertisers. The merchant who sells clothing, hats, shirts, etc., Jinus no better paper for letting students know of his goods. The ai'ention of the student body is regularly culled by the editor to the paper's advertisers with a request that the students do the right thing by giving these business men their trade. .re a.,iDed to certaU departments, or runs, in the university and running to the end of the year U June, that the editor face, the real mi inue easier. Me nas to hustle for all tho business he gets. A few merchants may uk tho manager to call for advertising, but they are scarce. It requires from five to six hours of work each day at the beginning of the fall semester for the manager to get enough adsertising -'linel up" to put the paper on a paying bufaln and ghe him a liberal salary. After that hU salary will remain at that figure or increase, juft as he continues to hustle. Usually a contest exists between the editor and the business manager of a university daily about keeping down expenses. The editor, anxious to put out a paper that will please, likes to spend money on cuts and special editions. These cost a great deal of money and a majority of business managers are reluctant about allowing their editors the money needed for such expenditures. When an editor has a manager who Is incline 1 to keep the strings on the money bag tight, he is forced to resort to many diplomatic tricks to get the strings loosened and the money he wants. College papers In the larger cities have an advantage over their contemoorarles of the smaller towns In the matter of advertising. They have more merchants from whom to solicit, with the result that they can be much more liberal In their expenditures in making a good paper. The Dally Maroon in Chicago, the Yale News Id New Paper? that Stand High There are today probably fit teen college aa:iy papers that are recoguized among college mvu as among the best hi tho country. Of these the following may be mentioned as those which stand out pre eminently: The Maroon, University of Chicago; the lliinl, Univer sity of Illinois; The Cardinal, University of Wisconsin; the Minne sota Daily, University of Minnesota; the lowan, University of Iowa; the Corneillan, Cornell; the Corn. 11 Da'.Iy .Sun. Cornell; the Prince Ionian. Princeton; the News. Yalt; the Spectator. Columbia; the Daily Californlan, UntverMty of California; the Michigan Daily, Uni versity of Michigan; the Dally Nebraskan. University of Nebraska; the Pacific Wave. Washington umv rsity. and the Kansan. University of Kansas. Other papers, such as the Harvard Lampoon, the Cornell Widow and the Princeton Tiger, have reputations that reach far be yond their schools. The Illinl and the Daily Nebiaskan stand high in the list, for (Continued oa Page Three.)