Life, 1898-07-28 · page 12 of 20
Life — July 28, 1898 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Journalist" - Life Magazine Commentary This page discusses the qualities needed for serious journalism. The top cartoon shows two dogs fighting ("Hicks" and "Dick Hicks"), illustrating the caption's point: fighting over trivial matters means "they have the same day" — a metaphor for journalists who engage in petty disputes rather than meaningful work. The main article defines what separates a true journalist from a mere "newspaperman." It emphasizes that real journalists must possess imagination, romance, moral conviction, and intellectual rigor — not just a sharp ear or keen nose for gossip. The lower cartoon titled "Doing a Rushing Business" appears to depict a newspaper office (Cohen's Grand Sale Clothing store), showing journalists or salesmen conducting business, likely satirizing the commercialization of news.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
with presidents, dignitaries and am- .. bassadors, the Journalist must make them understand that their views count for nothing, while those of the American people, as expresséd by him and warmly endorsed by his ‘ own paper, must be listencd to. In a free country like America every- thing must be free and public; and the true Journalist takes a pride in impressing upon his readers the solemn truth that personal and family privacy is a relic of an intolerant past that has no place in American life to-day. It would be futile to lay down the rules that govern and the qualities essential to the making of a great Journalist, and what he is and should be are best illustrated by a brief autobiography of the eminent corre- spondent, Jenkins D. Grade, whose fame is the property of several continents, newspapers and syndicates, #8 @ HE son of a famous retired butler and a distinguished domestic, Jenkins EXPLAINED. Hicks : Y DOG HAS INS DAY, MY ROY. FiGuT? “1 SUPPOSE IT PREQUENTLY IAP! THAT TWO OF THEM HAVE THE SAME DAY." The Journalist. URELY a person who writes decent English in the newspapers, who bas no imagination, whose work neither excites public fears nor disturbs the stock market, and who is hampered with archaic ideas about the honor of womanhood and the sacredness of family life, cannot hope to be a Journalist; he is merely that back number we call a newspaperman. The Journalist is a novelist moved from his base, disjected from his orbit, and wandering, comet-like, in yellowchaos. He must be able to throw a glamour of romance and imagination around everythi he must be proudly superior to tradition and morals; he must know that «pace (in his paper) is greatness; that latitude in statement is better than beatitude, when united with attitude and platitude; and he must understand that virtue is its own reward and cuts no ice. . * * Wate brains may be useful, they are merely incidental to journalism; a quick ear, a keen nose, a sharp eye, an enthusiasm not balked by locks, keys, or domestic impedi- menta, a bomb-proof assurance anatomy that smiles at sole leather and defies violence, these are the gifts the fin de siecle Journalist needs ifthe is to be successful, Colleges training young enthusiasts for this high profession should impress these facts on them. * . e B aatenee lays down the fundamental principle that the creature is inferior to the creator; and in dealing uw pORmO UN Rta StRREEEY” comicbooks.com