Show WASHINGTON WHIFFS A Glance the Papers of the Capital THE f FEMALE f RIDi > ORDERS S When Fashion and Folly MeetThe Demand for Gossip and Society NewsGeneral Notes SALT LAKE CITY Oct 2 1886 From our Own Correspondent Considering the advantage it possesses in being the seat of the government Washington D C is certainly not up to the mark in being able to boast of a first class daily newspaper and I have often heard it asserted that in the near futureunless the proprietors of the daily papers now published in Washington i Wash-ington awake from their lethargy and I display considerably more enterprise I some persona having the necessary capital cap-ital brains and experience will come along found a paper to meet the requirements re-quirements of the city and make a fortune for-tune At the present time there are published i pub-lished in the city two morning papers I The Post and the National Republican and two evening papersthe Star and the Criticexactly the same number of morning and evening dailies as are published in Salt Lake City Washington however is away ahead in weekly papers there being no less than a score all told nine being published pub-lished on Saturday eight on Sunday and three on other days of the week Each of these papers have their patrons and supporters and it is only fair to presume that they would not be published pub-lished it they did not pay In Washington Wash-ington or anywhere else people very boon tire of running newspapers for the fun of the thing They are started of course with the object of advocating the views of a certain partybut over and above this they are expected to pay their way and leave a surplus into the bargain The advocacy of certain principles prin-ciples is all very well but after all thereat the-reat object in that as in every other line is to make money Most of the weekly papers in Washing Wash-ing on are extensively read More especially espe-cially is this the case with those pub lished on Sunday morning The Capital the Chronicle the Gazette the Hatchet the Herald and National Intelligenc r the National Free Press and the Republic all published on Sunday morning must have combined a very large circulation circula-tion Everybody seems to purchase one or other of these papers Hundreds are sold at the hotel news stands hundreds more are sold on the streets and thousands are delivered at the residences of private subscribers All these weekly papers are ably edited Each has its specialty in politics and news Several pay particular attention to Department matters and of course they are patronized patron-ized by Department people Under nomdeplumes they give vent to their grievances individual It bosses are discussed dis-cussed for their rulings or actions in certain matters and generally governmental govern-mental topics are taken up and considered con-sidered pro and con Others again devote de-vote considerable of their space to society newsa great item in Washington Wash-ington during the height the season and gossip of every kind The society news and gossip column are contributed con-tributed as a role by female reporters ladies of culture education and experience ex-perience who have access to the inner circles of society who are adepts at describing de-scribing the female figure and form who can give to perfection the style of the hat the hair the dress and all that goes to make up the female form divine This class of rEportersthe female society reportershave the entree to all high class receptions whether at the White House or at the residences of the Cabinet ministers the Supreme Court Judges j the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House j the numerous foreign legations the residences or Senators Congressmen Congress-men or anywhere else of society repute re-pute and there is always exhibited among this class if no other ap eager desire to read a report of such gatherings gather-ings Except upon very State occasions oc-casions the daily newspapers of tae city do not enter into minute particulars par-ticulars in regard to the matter of dress style etc so that the weekly papersat least several of them make it their special line to give full details de-tails of everything in this regard with a view to satisfying the class above referred re-ferred to who must be pleased at all hazards This class like to read that their daughters at such and such a reception re-ception made their debut that dressed in such and such a style they loosed charming that their deportment was easy graceful and winning that their dancing was utterly exquisite and their singing perfectly divine and all that sort of rot Yet in a city like Washington where fashion and folly meet during the height of the society so-ciety season it pays certam newspapers to make a specialty of reporting gossip and society news The proprietors pro-prietors of these papers never stop to enquire into the utility of such business busi-ness They find that it pays and that is all there is to it They pander to the public taste What does it matter though the taste be depraved What does it matter though the publication of certain news tends to vanity and pride and sin so long as it satisfies the Demand of the age and the hour The incentive the object and aim is the root of all evil money Itisjsimply a question nowadays of keeping within the bounds of the law and making money out of whatever articleirre spectfve of its virtuethe nubic demands de-mands This may be a deplorable state of affairs yet it is a state of things that exists all the same Several of the weekly pipers in Wash ington however nay little or no atten tion to society or gossip news They are strictly partizan papers Politics Poli-tics their field They each serve their party and allow other papers to attend to the fashionable pabulum in which so many people delight 0 At one time The Capital under the editorship of Don Piatt was a very popular weekly paper in Washington Dons bold fearless style of writing made his paper a power His attacks on public men from President Grant don and his expositpn of frauds etc are talked of in Washington to the present pres-ent day When Don retired The Capi ral lost much of its vim yet it has always al-ways continued to drag out a paying existence ° Poirr r1five > > years ago on 01 e Iof its chief contributors wasvGr H fit t Mr George H Butleroneof the best newspaper correspondents that ever lived His style was lacy readable reada-ble always full of humor and he had the faculty of being able to get items ot news that seemed to be overlooked by everybody else His letters at the period pe-riod to which I allude 18SI2were generally dated from New York but many people know that dozen rof them no matter where they were dafed were written from the Soldiers Home in Washington where he generally used to haul up to recruit from a pp1 1 of dissipation Poor George bad a terrible enemy to contend with The love of drink + every now and then got the better bet-ter of him It was a passion he could not get down and ultimately it got away with him altogether He died in Washington about four months ago and there was not a journalist in the city but felt sorry that so talented a man should have fallen a victim to the demon drink All the Washington press paid tribute to his memory They referred feelingly to hiS faults and spoke commendably of his talents As I have said there are only two morning daily papers in Washington the Post and the National Republican The former is owned by Mr Stiltson Hutchins and is Democratic in politics The latter is owned by a stock company com-pany and as its name indicates is Republican Re-publican in its politics Both papers ae ably edited but in the matter of news they are very meagre They are of that class of papers that are read in a few minutes They are simply supplied with the usual A5 eociated Press telegrams tele-grams the same as the provincial papers pa-pers of the country and very little effort is made to furnish special matter The Sunday editions of both papers contain con-tain a vast amount of reading but the weekday issues are very common affairs So far as Washington news is concernedthat is congressional and governmental news and the sayings and doin + rs of prominent men and wo men of the countryone instinctively instinct-ively depends upon the New York and other great daily newspapers newspa-pers of the country whose correspondents corres-pondents are kept in Washington at great expense all the year round for I full particulars of anything that may have happened or is likely to happen in the capital city It is the enterprising work of these great morning dailies that has a tendency to throw the work of the Washington morning dailies into the shade The latter suffer from comparison com-parison Another disadvantage is Washington is only six hours ride from New York four from Philadelphia and one from Baltimora In these days of fast newspaper trains papers from the above cities are delivered in Washington at an astonishingly early hour the cry of New York and Philadelphia papers being heard upon the streets about 10 am An immense number of these papers are sold on the streets Ky the newspaper boys of which Washington has a perfect army They are for the most part colored boys and exceedingly smart at their business Their style of yelling out the names of their stock intra in-tra e is very amusing Nuok papers yar which being translated means New York papers here is a contraction contrac-tion that is worthy of a place in Isaac Pitmans Phonetic Journal Nuok Deify papers yar tiller five New York and Philadelphia papers here two for five isa cry very puzzling at first to a stranger but after awhile it sounds all right Many philanthrophic ladies and gentlemen in Washington take a lively interest in the welfare of thQ Washington newspaper boys Au association asso-ciation was formed some time ago in their behalf and by and by the most deserving of the boys will wear uniforms uni-forms will receive an educati on and be made as far as possible honest respectable respect-able members of society Many a newspaper boy has risen to be the editor and proprietor of a newspaper and many have not of course The two evening papers in Washing tonthe Star and the Criticare very excellent journals The Star has been established for many years and has gained a strong advertising foothold among the business men of the city Its circulation is larger than all the other daily papers in the city combined It is a twocent paper and is owned by the Star Printing Company the publishing pub-lishing and printing offices being on the corner of Eleventh Street and Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania Avenue The Star is edited by Mr Noyes a man of ability and experience expe-rience Mr Noses does not deal in long argumentative editorial He confines himself to a few short paragraphs on the first column of the second page the gist of these being current comment on the topics of the day The sub editing of the Star howeveris conducted with great ability Items of news other than local are carefully condensed conden-sed and the selections of general reading read-ing matter displays diligent work and great taste An evidence of this can always al-ways be seen in the double number of the Star which is Issued every Saturday evening The other evening paper of the city the Critic is one of spiciest sheets in the country It abounds with original matter mat-ter and is fast becoming very popular with the Washingtonians In the matter mat-ter of woodcuts humorous articles and racily written news paragraphs it may be said to be ahead of the Star In I any case it is steadily increasing in cn culation and in public favor and I notice that it is extensively quoted by metropolitan and other papers The Critic has struggled hard to gain a foothold and has passed through many vicissitudes but now it appears on the high road to success JOHN IBVIKE |