26. XXVI.
REPORTERS.
The following paragraph is going the
rounds:
“How many a great man is now basking
in the sunshine of fame generously bestowed
upon him by the prolific genius of some
reporter! How many stupid orations have
been made brilliant, how many wandering,
pointless, objectless speeches put in
form and rendered at least readable, by
the unknown reporter. How many a
disheartened speaker, who was conscious
the night before of a failure, before a thin,
cold, spiritless audience, awakes delighted
to learn that he has addressed an overwhelming
assemblage of his enthusiastic,
appreciating fellow-citizens, to find his
speech sparkling with `cheers,' breaking
out into `immense applause,' and concluding
amidst `the wildest excitement!”'
There is considerable truth in the above,
we are sorry to state. Reporters are too
apt to smooth over and give a fair face to
the stupidity and bombast of political and
other public humbugs. For this they are
not only seldom thanked but frequently are
kicked. Of course this sort of thing is
wrong. A Reporter should be independent
enough to meet the approaches of gentlemen
of the Nincompoop persuasion with a
flat rebuff. He should never gloss over
a political humbug, whether he belongs to
“our side” or not. He is not thanked for
doing it, and, furthermore, he loses the respect
and confidence of his readers. There
are many amiable gentlemen ornamenting
the various walks of life who are under the
impression that for a dozen bad cigars or
a few drinks of worse whiskey they can
purchase the “opinion” of almost any
Reporter. It has been our pleasure on
several occasions to disabuse those gentlemen
of this impression.
Should another occasion of this kind
ever offer we feel that we should be “adequate”
to treat it in a similar manner.
A Reporter, we modestly submit, is as good
as anybody and ought to feel that he is,
everywhere and at all times. For one, let
us quietly and without any show of vanity
remark, that we are not only just as good
as anybody else but a great deal better
than very many we know of. We love
God and hate Indians; pay our debts;
support the Constitution of the United
States; go in for Progress, Sunshine, Calico,
and other luxuries; are perfectly satisfied
and happy, and wouldn't swop “sits”
with the President, Louis Napoleon, the
Emperor of China, Sultan of Turkey,
Brigham Young, or Nicholas Longworth.
Success to us!
