Show r I 1 I. I w It must be wonderful to be a Ii newspaper man the old comment goes because you meet so many Interesting people And ADd the stock reply Yes and most of ol them are newspaper people I Theres There's something about this I business business' which seems to invite criticism even criticism even ve If you are a a newspaper man youre you're fair game for folks with gripes We invite criticism but we allI all allet I get et aa a little fed up with rancid c comments from people who dont don't know as much about the mechanics mechanics mech mech- s as as s I do about mixing biscuit dough For instance if 11 youre you're running a newspaper heres here's what you'll youn do doIn in one normal day Explain to Mrs why Aunt Sarah's birthday party wasn't on on the front page Explain to an advertiser wh whit why y it Is Is' impossible to get him on Page Three Explain to an subscriber ex r ris especially one whose credit is good why good why you had to cut off h his is unpaid subscription I Explain deadlines and why you o u have to have them Explain to readers why the their it I newspaper cannot exist without retail advertising Soothe a lady whose name w was misspelled misspelled again Explain why tome some weeks theres there's news running out your ears and on other weeks t the h e j paper reads like Almanac 1 Apologize to an en advertiser for forI foran fo r I an error In his ad and smile very J 1 sweetly when he tells you what I 1 to with his next copy Decipher scribbling often your you r own that comes scrawled scrawled on paper paper paper pa pa- per napkins check backs backs- a corner corner corner cor cor- ner of Juniors Junior's arithmetic paper pape r or on the back of a letter fro from fromI m I Cousin Fr Frank I Try to understand why college colleg e graduates cant can't spell I Pet balky machi machinery that picks pick press-days press to break down I Explain to a customer arriving arriving J ing late with copy that if you get his stuff tuff in you'll have to leave somebody else's out out and and d I then explain vice versa The last run made you feel a ase sense se O of relief for for for abo about i lye ye i iThen minutes i Then the the whole iole thing starts all allover over again No wonder cemeteries cerne- cerne teries teries sometimes nes are beautiful Mac |