Document text
Country Editor
Henr%; H. Pratt
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Canaan is a small,but notable, town of fewer than 1500
inhabitants; it is one of three or four towry of its size in
New Hamishire that le the home of a weekly newspaper. This
wkly newspaper,too, is distinguished bez:ond what rrobably is
apIreciated by the m<orit of is local readers. Its editor
could boast,were it not for his abhorrence of any least thing which
str.uf:ks of vaink4or-,,,of illustrious contributors,of comradely
rega.od from l_ut, i.2at ors of nation-wide repu:te,of resrectful
stem -Pom Tror,in-nt people to whom the Reporter roes,week by
wk,tit stater. Its candle is set in a humble
candlestick amonr the 7ew Hampshire hills but for more than
three score years anJ te it Tlas FiveA lirht to all who are
in its house,and far beyond.
"A small town that has a nawspaler in it 10 fortlnate,"
said Lr. Edward A. Barne-,;,edtor of the Canaan Reporter,discussing
the ins and outs of lcurtr,, editorship; "hun'ole exponent of the
fourth estate toh it ma-- be,it is a desirable possession for
a to7n of this size.
"Vay I illustrate that claim b7 an actual occurrence?
Some years ago a p'om nent manufactarinp pharmacist of Jerse7
wrote to Canaan as':inr for a cory of the town's newsrayer.
A cory VVE seat hir ',-opether with an invitation for him to come
11-- and lock b over and to stay with me while he was here.
"He came,was 16sCe wth What he saw,purchased an estate
on SE1Wvir. :ill,ard eventually made of it cre of the show places
of 'ann. e1TVF spent a lot of mcne7' here; his coming to us
has. brn ore or the rreatest benefits the town aver received.
Country Editor
Henry- H. Pratt
"He said to me in the course of our co2espondence:
'I have found that one can often form a pretty correct
impression of a town from the newspaper that represents it.'
"The country editor, through his paper,does have the opportunity
of representing country people in their true light better than
any other agent; he has the privilege of speaking for the country
as well as to the co-,intry,of introducing his town to the world
as worthily as it should 17e.
".is f=entlerar continued his relations wlth the paper...as
verY helpful contributor. He wrote for itlat his own suggestiv,
articles on things which interested him about the town and
countryside. He wrote,too, not as a city man to a more simple
country folk,but from the country angle,a thing rather exception&
in itself. In that way he became one of us,doing a fine and
helpful job for the parer as well. He enjoyed writing...took
it seriously.
'The Reporter is one of the state's old family papers. My
father established it in 1867. He exemplified in that the cour-
ageous beginnings of many country newspapers,for he had no capital
to fall back on; I guess he founded the paper largely on faith
in himself.
"I wish I knew more of his early life; I have often wished,
s:i.nce he died, that I could ask him questions about a lot of
th.oagb. He was born over or. Razor Hilltin Orange, in the years
when that town Was 8 sizeable farming comrunity, on an old hard-
scrable farm written with a small "h". The family had to
work bard for what they got from it; it never produced a competence
Country Editor
4.6 =ID
Henry H. Pratt
for anybody.
"What education my fatherebtainedoCanaan Union Academy,up on
the Street,gave his. That was all he had --he couldn't afford any
more. In those days boys were fortunate to have that much,
"While attending the Academy he boarded with the Wallaces
and probably taut was where he became infected with the newspaper
idea. Yr. Allen Wallace had been a printertreporter,editor,
free-lance writer,ever since he was fifteen years old. He had.
beer several times back and forth across th4 continent —had been
a war correspondent for a California paper --was an old hand at
the newspaper game. H ad published in Canaan,at irregular
intervals,a newssheet, and I think he must have made father a
rather attractive offer of some sort to take up the work and
develop it.
"Anyway Mr. Wallace turned over to him the old hand press
on which he had printed the newsehesttto begin with. Father
had no capital,as I have mentioned, on which he could depend
unless Er. Wallace may have stood back of him somewhat. I don't
know as to that.
"My father was only twentythree years old when he began
work on his paper. Seems pretty ng to you?
Well, young fellows used to take up the responsibilities of
basiaass earlier n life then than now. Their schooling was
all done,what little there was of it; most people had no money
with which to pive their boys any education beyond the district
school; they had to PO to work to suppo.:It themselves. Their
folks were all done with them.
7ountr17 7ditor
Eenry E. Pratt
"For years after I was old enough to take notice of things,
the Report(:r W4S still printed by hand power; the old presses driven
by a crank. Father never had any money ahead with which to buy
new muchinerT--never made the paper pay more than a living --never
acumulnted any surplus until he was seventy years old,
suprose that was about the time he caught up with himself. He
started with nothinp--less,if anything-- and never got ahead any
until late in life.
"I know my father was a very bright man,intellectually--Mn-
unusually- able country editor and writer —a genius at that work--
bUt he was never any kind of a business reneger. I can look
back and see what an advantage it would have been to me
in my
upward climb with the raper if I could have had good business
training. I've suffered from the lack of it. Fven now I find
myself ,almost unconsciously,travelling along some of the old
ruts worn by my father in his innocence of
Food business methods
uneconomical ways of doing things. Only the other day I stopped
to wonder why I was doirg a certain thing in a certain way.
I couldn't see any reason for it,come to think,except that my
father had always done that way; I could see good reasons against
it. So I changed.
"That's the WH7r I've learned my business —trial and error —making
mistakes and trying to profit by their correction --a waste-
ful,tedious path of learning. Skilful guidance when I was young
would have .meant a lot to me.
"Nor have I had any school training in journalism. My
general ed'.',cation was practically 'Dili —largely thro-o,gh my own
Country Fditor
Henry H. Pratt
fault. I went to such high school as we had in those days but...
well, it Ivi.46 different from what we have to -day. I was inattentive
to the instruction —my own fault.
“ry practical education in newspaper work came from the office
of a little courtr:: newspaper,ard that is al -,out as rear self
education as a rnr can get down to. One can,doubtless,learn
spelling,punctuation,grammar as well from pic'anp type in a county
office as anywhere,but he isn't surrounded by conditions for
self-advancament in composition. Ee lacks pood models for
imitation.
The typicfa contributor to country newspapers does not furriin
the rising editor with rood models of writing. He just plays alag
with simple new items,and in those largely fails to see and
construct the story they contain.
"Sosfor improvement in writing,I fell back on the old trial.
and error game. In addition to my own contributions to the ,RepOor,
I wrote constantly for other periodicals. The stuff I wrote
was nothing very wonderful,I guess, but enough of it was accepted
to encourage me along. I depended on the law of averages to
make good; I figured that if ore out of every hundred of my
articles wns accepted,and if I produced a sufficient number of
hurdreds,I'd ke,ip getting ahead.
1:y beinp in newspaper work
myself may have helped some toward getting my articles accepted.
matter
But it was different from what the periodicals went to -day;
I couldn't write this modern stuff.
"That's not an easy question to answer--whetherilf I were back
Country Editor
"Ink
Henry H. Pratt
where I could have my clipice of going to college or spending the
s4Trie amo'..nt of time in practical newspaper work,in the light
of my experience what would I do? I've never quite made up my
mind flout the value of a college education to a country editor
practical value,' mean. Of course an editor can't have too
much general knowledgeond perhaps in the city there wouldn't
be any danger of polvg too 'high -brow'. But in a country weekly...
well, I think I'd choose the practical experience,ir a good
live country office,over the tire spent in college. Any newspaper
man,anywhez,,has opj,ortunity enough to gather up atout all his
br4in will hold; a country newspaper ofice is a pretty good
college,
"It has seemed to me remarkable what genuine interest really
big men are takinglof late,in our humble country newspapers.
I have mentioned my doctor friend and the help he has given us
in contributing to our columns.
Mr. Wallace I. Gould -ivs another who brought great assistance
to I.E. Ir. Gould is an important executive in the New York office
of Iontgomery Ward; a really big mar in that organization,' am
told. Summerinp,one season,over in Orange, he came into the ILe-
rortor office --as many summer people do-- and became acquainted.
After we were quite well acquainted he volunteered to write
something for us if we would care to have him. He is a Dartmouth
alumsuBoof fine education and business training,yet a very modest)
unassuming man. It was almost timidly he made his offer of
writing--saidlhalf apologetically,that he was afraid anything he
could write wolildn't please us,. but he'd love to do it.
Courtr7: "eitor
Henry H. Pratt
"For almost two years he wrote,every week, from New York, a
column or more for the Reporter. He wrote on a wide variety of
.subacts--took his writing very seriously. Finally,he regret-
ted that pressure of business compelled him to give it 4. I
was surrrisfl tYat be hme kept it up so ldng,but it was a wonderia
for the paper while he was doing it.
"A Princeton professor was another.
He,too, became acquainted
with the Reporter while spending the summer in Orange.
"He was a man you wouldn't expect to notice -a little country
sheet; he was an associate of Einstein,what one might call a
super -professor. He IIME sought for consultation by professors frm
all the colleaes in that region.
"Rut in the fall when Dartmouth went down to -play football
with Princeton,he wrote up to ask if he might cover the game for
the Rerorter; he said he was going to sit with the Dartmouth
crowd,and would like to write up. the game for us.
"It made me smile --with gratification,however.--when Yrs. Hight
told me one summer how hr. Hight had missed the Reporter one
whole week.
"The lights were hotel people from Washington,who summered
in Canaan and,corstquertly, subscribed for the local paper.
"The 'miss' was for only one issue the only failure of publi-
cation in the whole history of the paper as far as I know.
Pressure of other things simply squeezed it out that week.
"'Has the Reporter come? Where is that paper?'
"Thus Er. ,Hight every time he came in; A.ways,through the week,
exacting the paper,always disappiinted when it failed to appear.
Country Editor
4111*
Henry H. Pratt
"And he hasn't bean the only one with an attachment for it.
"When my father started the Reparteroback in 1867, the country
pewspaper had the rural field pretty much to itself. The city
dailies hadn't invaded it,at least up heretto any Freat extent.
I remember having,ak a boy,a few dailies to peddle around,but
there was rothi P like a general circulation for them. What news
reople got in country they read once a week from their local
papers; what advertising they saw,thay gathered from the same
source. World events didn't interest them much; anyway they were
contented to bide the coming of the weekly to learn about them.
"It was after the turn of the century before the big dailies
came up here very much. It was the war with Spain that really
built up their circulation in this region; therelwas outside news
the country folk couldn't wait a week for.
"But the weeklies still have their own peculiarAall to themselves
always will have it --the field of local news --the doings of the
"There was a time when the city dailies poked a lot of fun
at the 'Bingville Bugles' and their grist of small gossip. But
while they were casting such stones with their right hands,with
their left they were creating the same sort of papers within the
city itself. The hunger to know what the folks around the corner
are. (.4?
in one's ow r reiFhl-,orhorsA
d is not limited to country people.
"7o less e city than New York is the home of a company which
issues local editions in the 3ronx,Harlem,Washington Heights,
Yorkville,Brooklyn. Most big cities have a group of such papers,
issued from the central office of some publishing organization,
Country Editor
••11
Henry H. Pratt
each devoted to a local area, their purpose being to give its
7111
reader ore detailed neighborhood news than the big papers could
do. Country newspapers gone urban,you see.
"The thing the country papeilevists for is local news. I never
can get enough of local items. They ere he very reason for exigence
of the weekly paper. There is a constant famine of that sort of
material. A good diligent correspondent is the backbone of the
country paper. One worthy of that term will labor in seasonsout
of season --for news items. I would rate a column of live news
from one of my correspondents far higher than any 'high -brow'
editorial which could be written. The editorial might appeal
to six or eight readers; ths. news column appeals to them all.
"I rate editorialsoin a country paper, of small importance.
They are skipped by a lot of readers --most of them,probably.
Somehow they feel they can't be bothered by such weighty subjects.
If editorials are to have any interest at all,to country readers,
they must be about live local siojects,written from the rural
point of view,
is not easy- to understand the peculiarities of country
people to whom the editor speaks through his columns,nor to
write from their point of view. It is well-nigh impossible,
unless one has been brought up; among them„boy and man,unless his
habit of thinking is after the same pattern as theirs. It is
difficult for people from the outside to sympathize with their
limitations.
It would *,rouble the editor of a city- paper,coving to the
country press in his declining years,or any newspaper man habit-
uated to the patterns of thought of a cosmopolitan people,
Country Editor
Henry H. Pratt
to write as country people think. Any editor of a country paper,
himself one 'of the soil'Ibe he from Michigan or Kansas, culd
come irto 7ew Hampshire and edit a country paper with success.
Country sections are the same the nation over; if one understands
the conditions and people of one section,he understands them in
all.
"Not so with the city mantbred to different conditions. He
would be regarded with distrust by the country people; he would mt
be one of them,Tould rot ,:deress them 'in their language'.
They are suspicious of a personseducated by conditions different
from theirs,until he has proved his sincerity. That takes a long
time. Whatever he wrote would most probably be considered
'high -brow'. Boasting a very simple education themselves,
thinking almost in words of one syllable,country people regard as
conceited anyone writing from the point of view of a superior
education no mutter how naturally that writing may flow from its
author. 7othing could be more fatal to an editor's influence
than a reputation 43.P -being conceited,
"77ar.,r peorle se?pi to write for the country papers for :their
self -gratification —they like to see their stuff in print.
They write more to themselves than to their readers; if it sounds
well to themselves,it's pretty good stuff. It is so AexCeedingly
easy for the country reader to miss the paint,that a city man)
who can write for country perception/is rare.
"These limitatiors,prefererces,prejudices, of country people
may seem ridiculous to those not brought up among them,but
there they are and the editor who hopes to be successful among
Country Editor
aft
Henry E. Pratt
them must take 40. -pm into serious account.
"The courtry editor of a half century ago was a quite different
person from the editor of the modern weel6 newspaper; he had a
different social status.
"The country editor of that day was less sophisticated,in common
with a large part of his readers. The instruments with which he
performed hie 4vork were cruder; the contributions to his paper were
lass polished --pot worded as the universal spread of rood schooling
has now made them.
"By people of the unlettered social levels he was looked up
to as a sort of superior being; they tiewed him with the respect
attaching to one who could do what they themselv-s could not do
and which many of them would like to do --he could write. His
education might not have been highos rated, by modern standards,
but he could write, and the man who could do that --have his mateAal
ia printowas in the thinking of his time endowed with a sort
of genius vhch elevated4 a bit above the common herd.
"7ut above t1.9 rocial level,by the people of privilege,of
education,of business competence,the country editor was regarded
with a good-natured condesension. Fe was considered as decidedly
picturesque,a sort of "character".
"There used to be the feeling extant that the country newspaper
was not quite a aolvetiproioeition. Its editor was looked upon,
by more prosperous people,with something the same sentiment
as the village preacher --8 man of worth,in character and talents,
who was willing to sacrifice much of this world's gookto follow
the line of his tastes and abilities in a higher work for his
Country Editor
i-Ienr L.. Pratt
fellowmen. 7ditftro a papertif one liked that sort of thing and
wes wi"ing to Afford it,wes ell well enough,but no kind of a
business.
"The editor himself regarded his work as something resembling
a "call"; he was willing to follow it or the privilege of
making use of talents a little different from those of ,the
common run of peoplesand which gained him a regard among his own
people of the soil.
"Fe WPIF A sort of oradle. among them fovrt of earthly wisdom.
His opinion was given weight; he was in a position to have knowldge
of many things which wee denied them; he dealt with the mysteries
of literary pursuits.
"But the old-time country editor had need to know other things
than the juggling of words --he needed to be a jack -at -all -trades.
He mutt iinderstand the kinks a)repairs of what machinery he had;
lieme.et be a -,:ractical printer; he must be able to set his hand
to a thousard-Ard-ore thirgs about the office to keep it going
smoothly. 'ro he eure,he eeuld hire many of these things done
for him,but the income from his paper was smalltand did not allow
much hiring of help without turning the profits from his own
pockets into theirs.
"At one minute the editor might be tinkering or a balky press;
the next,he wo •ld be dashing offer editorial. At times he wes
scour.,ng the village for news items; back in the office he might
come to put these it,ms into type with his own hands.
no office staff among which to systematize his work. It was
a one-man office.
He had
Coantr-.,, 14_;d.i.tor
NEB
rrenr7 '7. Pratt
"The tramp printer was another picturesque hanger-on of
the country newspaper. He was a thorn -in -the- flesh to many
of the editors. He is retty well pona,now, but he stayed with
the country papers long after the modern machinery of the city
offices made typesetting by hand obsolete.
"For s7.1 the tramp printer could co was set type by hand. At
least that was all he ever would do —never professed any knowledge
about any other work about a printing office. He was an indiffer-
ent typesetter. First of all he was a tramp; secondarily a
typesetter. We hired them out of pure rity,not because they were
of any use to us.
"Seymour was one of the last who ever came around here. He
made the Re.ortef off ce a port of call,regularly, about once a
year. He'd stet. a few days or a week or two, clear for some
other port, antereat. 7e Was no goodoven in rush seasons.
"T remember he had worked for me one spell when I met him
on my way down to the office one morning. He wanted to"settle up"
then and theresand be off. We discussed a few minutes. He became
abusive. Said hetin the course of h s tirade:
"I've stood the inabsence of the Barneys for forty years
and I'm all done.'
"at he meant by that I never knew; but I discovered. another
/irabsencel shortly. The lady where he had bqrded hailed.
me a bit later.
"'Anyhow,' she judged, 'Seymour profited some by his stay here;
I noticed he had a pretty good overcoat when he left.'
"That gave me a thought. I dashed back to the office —to the
Country editor
Henry H. Pratt.
closet where I kept my overcoat. Gore: A good silk -lined
overcoat.
"That didn't keep him from facing me for a job the next year.
It Was a cold winter day when he appeared in the office.
"Keep right on going,' I told him,' we want no more of you.
KeeI going.'
"But you'll let me stay long enough to soak up some heat,won't
you', he begged, enough -to last me a whilatanywayt'
"I couldn't refuse hem that. But he hadn't entirely got his
f• 11 of staeing be the stove when I took him by the arm and gentlr,
but firmee pushed him onto the sidewalk.
"Yet once 8PRiP he cere--the next year. That time I met him
at the door.
''Keep going' I admonished him, 'juat keep right on going.'
"That was sometime ago; I have never seen him since.
"The world around the country editor improved and carried
him along with it. The: country is coming into its own.
People are coming to look on the country as a good place to live
in. Time after time prominent and succeesful people come in to
tell me of their desire to get back into the country to live,
sometime. The automobile,the radio,the extension of electric
service have giVet he country the conveniences of the city
without the back -breaking rents and the strenuous life._
"Country life is becoming attractivetalso,to the younger set
who think seriously; the drift toward the city is slowing down.
"And with the coming of the country toward the front the
countre editor and his newspaper is becoming better known; with
the improvement of countr7; life the country newspaper office
Country editor
Henry H; Pratt
has chapped. It has become a business concern. It has posessed
itself of modernopoweredriven machinery; it has abolished much of
the need of hand labor. It has systematized its work among
a larger staff; it has become a city paper or a smaller scale.
"For myself I do not claim SO much. I am in a transitional
stage. A lot of modern machinery has come into my office,but it
is still staffed by too few people to give it a medern system.
"I have never beelafraid of hard work and long hours; I am
the ack-at-all-tradas sort of editor. I solicit advertisements).
write sr.ecial features, Father news items,set a lot of type, carry
or a Fereral information bureau or the public.
The editor of the Yanchester(N.H.) Union once told me,
"'You are filling a more strenuous job than any editor
on my staff. Thereleach mar has his own particular job.
that's all; you have everything to see to./
"Bat the country newspaper,in these daysthas to be a going
businessland it is still hard pressed for income in small areas
carrot
like mine. be supported by subscriptions and advertising
alone. PractiCallievery country newspaper office has to be a
job print.
"Of course we need all the advertising we can Fet,but most
of it is local —does not carry very hiFh rates. The big national
advertisers are not interested in the country weekly; they can't
be attracted t Several organized attenpts4 ave been mar —to
796.4
secure their basiness but thus far they have amounted to nothing.
"Legal notices -are an important source of revenue for ustas
is political advertisirF,which pays very rood rates. This last
Country Editor
Henry H. Pratt
is seasoral,corirg only at election times; its amount depends
somewhat on the heat of the contests. rlut,as I said,\the country
paper needs revenue beyond subscription and advertising, and
the most important source of that further revenue is job printing.
"Here is where the jack -at -all -trades editor comes in; he
needs to hire less help if he is willing to work,and the
profits saved for himself go a long way toward sustaining the paper.
"Some offices are a job print first,publishing a paper as a
sIde ISSUe; otLers,practically all of the old family newspapers,
eiVe
1-;1-)eir publication the rieht of way and carry on the job
print to help support it.
"Next go the job prirtlas a supplementary source of support
with melcomes my newsstand. The sale of magazines and newspapers
affords me a considerable income. Other offices have other
supplementary income; side lines in all business are becoming
rather necessary to -day.
"Courtry- newspaperthave been developing a habit of wandering
far afield from their home areas; what they have to say is
liatened to by a wider and wider area. To show you this,
here's a curious instance.
"Before my father left the paper the Reporter wheelbarrow
strayed offland failed to return,
"After a decent time father inserted,in the paper, ft request
to the on who had bori-owed it to be kind enough to return it.
"No result.
"I have merticred that my father was an able writer to the
poirt)wher he set his hand to it...a writer of clearness and force.
Country Editor
Henry H. Pratt
He empried these qualities in publishing his second request for the
return of the wheelbarrow.
"Still the time ran on...and no wheelbarrow.
"Then father let himself go; the third insertion of the request
was a good example of the advertising which attracts notice,
incisive writing the point of which one needs no acumen to feel.
"The wheelbarrow never came back,but news of that advertisemett
did. A.munthome from Florida, told us he had seen a oppy of that
ud. posted ir a Palm Beach hotel."
Yes,our•courtry editors and the newsrapers they publish, are
taking thelam- places they deserve in the modern world. The
'Bingville Bugle.' has gone to be with the Ark and the mastodon;
our country papers to -day walk hand in hand,with true family
feeling,with the bigger, -but no better, publications of th nation.
Lying on the editorial desk was a back number of the Canaan
Re;.orter. A small space was occupied by the reprint of a letter,
Arici to that letter was arrended the signature of the magazine,
"Life".
Curiosity led to questions, which drew reluctant answers from
r. Barney.
"I don't think that's anything which would interest anybody
o-LAtside of my own little circle of local friends; I just printed
that letter for them.. .thought a few people,here, might be
interested.... that's
Th+6 *46 thc letter,addressed to the "Canaan Repert9r" with
a prelude of arolopy for not knowing the author of the article
w'rlit',h was mertiored.
Ccduncry Editor
41M,
Hoary H. Pratt
"We would like to thank you for the interesting
column on "Life" which appeared in the October 27
issue of the Reporter The column was extremely
well written and accurate."
"I wrote the article for the benefit of my readers,only,
and naturally did not sign it. It contained a brief history of
the magazinelemphasizing its tremendous recent growth,and the diffi-
cl.at it wh.s hay..ng to Irodee enoupl: copies to meet the demand
of
-611crt"i426--rr c:-rculatior.
I was tremendously surprised that
"Life" Aver notice its" Yr. Barre:7 eyplairedsrather Oiffidert111
Tru117, t;he iule courtr7 editor is taking his place with the
great of the earth.