DAILY JOURNALISM 



uninitiated I would explain that this meant the linotype 

 operators began their duties four hours earlier than 

 usual). We used to begin work at nine o'clock on 

 Sunday morning and my usual time for finishing was 

 midnight. Of course there was an extra staff, but the 

 experience while it lasted was the reverse of pleasant. 

 All the different stories had to be cut down or elabor- 

 ated for different parts of England, and the " plates " 

 of two pages had to be changed three times. There 

 was even the endeavour to get in minor football. 

 It did not last many months, thank goodness ! It 

 was one of those many schemes tried by halfpenny 

 papers to attract circulation, but I shall always think 

 that it was a mistake. Those who buy London papers 

 wish to read what a serious daily journal published 

 in the metropolis has to say about what primarily 

 interests the majority of Londoners and readers in the 

 home counties. If they wish to read what, for in- 

 stance, Devonport Albion has done, they will get either 

 a copy of a Plymouth paper or a football journal, but 

 it cannot be expected, and is not reasonable, that a 

 London footballer buying a London paper on a journey 

 in the west of England wishes to have half-a-column 

 or more of some unimportant western fixture, which is 

 of really local interest. 



I am mentioning this in particular to explain that 

 some racing writers have not nearly finished when they 

 leave a racecourse. Of course there are many we 

 know on the racing Press who have to peg away at 

 it all the afternoon at the meeting they may be at, 

 keeping their work right up to the minute, but I think 

 that when the time is available to write the daily article 

 after the last race, or last race but one, is over, that it is 

 always preferable. There is a much better impression 

 of the day's doings, besides which, the time can be so 



259 



