Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



649 



HOW A NEWSPAPER 

 PRODUCED. 



IS 



Bv William T. Stend. 

 The Girl's (hen Paper and Woman's Magazine 

 publishes an article by Mr. W. T. Stead on how a news- 

 paper is produced. This, says the editor^ is probably 

 one of the last things Mr. Stead wrote. She received 

 it on .\pril 4th, only a few days before the tragic 

 \ovage in the ill-fated Titanic, 



IHE FIRST ESSE^TI.\L. 



Mr. Stead wrote : — 



The first step in the production of a newspaper is for a man 

 to lake a hatchet in his hand and go forth to fell a tree. For a 

 newspaper to come into being, the first essential is paper, and 

 modern news paper is largely the product of wood. The 

 material on which our journals are printed was a living tree in 

 \lie forests of America or Scandinavia but a few weeks before it 

 was pressed into the service of journalism. Every Sunday, New 

 \'ork newspapers consume thousands of acres of forests. What 

 they will do when in thirty years no trees are left standing in 

 the United States does not yet appear. 



THE SECOND. 



F.ut if the first essential for the production of a 

 newspaper be paper, the second is news : — 



.\s the foundation of the paper itself is the wood-chopper's 

 liatchct, so the foundation of the news is the pencil of the 

 reporter. He is the fundamental man. Without him the lordly 

 editor, the brilliant leader-writer, would be merely inarticulate 

 voices inaudible in a vacuiini. The reporter, the penny-a-liner, 

 the pieker-up of unconsidered trifles, he alone is indispensable. 

 I le is the Tommy Atkins of the profession. 

 automatic: rKODUcnoN. 



.K great deal of the work of producing a newspaper is so 

 systematised as to become almost automatic. There is a great 

 sameness about the doings of mankind. The opening and 

 closing of markets, the periodical meetings of local councils, 

 the great racing fixtures of the year, recur with the regularity of 

 the seasons. Three-fourths of the copy that streams into the 

 sub-edilor's oft'ice has been arranged for in advance, sometimes 

 years in advance. 



Some years ago all the more important newspapers considered 

 il neccss;iry to send their own reporter to take down the words 

 of every notable speaker. It was a great waste of men and 

 money. Nowadays, if they send their own man, he goes to do 

 special descriptive articles to accompany the more or less olTicial 

 text of the agency whose report is accepted by all the papers. 



If the grtattst fool in the world (ietcrniined to bring out a 

 newspaper lo-morrow, he need only pay cash down to a 

 iloztn rctogniseil agencies, and he would find three-fourths 

 of the niali-iial for next day's paper fed into him by telegram 

 anil " flimsy " without any more cITort on his part than if he hail 

 nut a penny in the slot and left the m.ichine to do the rest. 



Tilt; MAN IN TIIK SAUDLE. 



The centre of a newspaper office is the sub-editor's room. 

 The eilitor is above the sub-editor no doubt, but ihe man in the 

 saddle, (he man in command, llie man who makes the paper, is 

 ihe news cdilor. 



Il is he who foresee* everything, arranges everything, dis- 

 tributes the work lo \>e d(mc among ihc men who have to do il, 

 unci, when it is ilunc, decides how much of it is worth print- 

 ing, how il is lo appear, and where. 



The advertising piges are filled by Ihe business siiteof liic 

 house. The advertising man-igcr fills as much of the paper .as 

 he can, and leaves the rcsiilue to be marie up with news and 

 leading nintler. A* il is the advcrlisemcnis which enable a 

 p.iper 10 p.iy ils way, in Ihc constani struggle lielween the two 



departments it is usu.illy the news side that goes to the wall. 

 The adverlising manager daily grows more insistent and 

 aggressive. 



" i'ERSPective" .\nd "scare headings." 



Of the work of the news editor, Mr. Stead says the 

 study of the art of journalistic perspective is fascinating 

 and elusive, for the perspective varies from hour to 

 hour, sometimes from minute to minute. He also 

 speaks of the great art of scare heading, the production 

 of sensational titles in large print, which is one of the 

 most important in modern journalism. It has some- 

 what run to seed on the other side of the Atlantic. 

 Mr. Stead remarks in closing that before a single item 

 of telegraphic news m the paper reaches the eyes of 

 the public it has been read at least nine times. 



THE MAKING OF A BAT. 



Lv the Captain for June C. W. Shepherd traces the 

 evolution of a bat from willow-tree to cricket-field. 

 He says : — " In East Anglia — in Essex or in Norfolk — 

 one may often see willows growing in hundreds along 

 the banks of streams and ditches, having been plaiited 

 there with the express purpose of supplying the ancient 

 game with bats." The strong aversion felt towards 

 knots is described as a fallacy. The knotted piece 

 frequently has more driving power. Grain marks are 

 also mistakenly thought to be an indication of quality. 

 The willow-tree may be used when it has grown to a 

 diameter of about i5in. Felling takes place in the 

 winter, for the reason that the sap is down at this 

 period. 



THE BLADE. 



The trunks are trimmed and taken away to the 

 factors-, where they are cut into lengths approximately 

 the lei'iglh of a bat blade, .\bout :;olb. of timber is 

 cut away in the process of making a blade alb. in. 

 weight : — " The blades are now stacked to season. 

 They are left thus for about a year, when the seasoning 

 process will be complete. The next process is to chisel 

 them to proper proportions, a very tedious branch of 

 the work." The wood is then put into a press, which 

 exerts a tremendous pressure upon the hat. It has 

 been known to squcezx as much as a cupful of oil out 

 of a bat sent up for repair. 



THE HANDLE. 



Handles are all made on the .same principle : — 



tight or less oblong snips of cane are glued together in the 

 form of one large oblong, a strip of rubber having been 

 previously affixed between the two halves. The end is now 

 cut to fit the splice, in which il is wedged and firmly glue<l with 

 Ihe best glue obtainable. Needless lo say, ihe fitting must be 

 of the most precise character. Not until the glue has safely set 

 is the bat put into a lallic and the handle turned untd it 

 osiumes ihe familiar round shape. 



The finisher then, with his planes and chisels, models 

 the shoulders and the " swell," which is the driving 

 part of the bat, and is varied in position according to 

 the personal tastr ••( |Iv batsman. 



