Page:The Newspaper World.djvu/79

 68 The Newspaper World, lowing each other with a quickness which is bewildering. Then comes a procession of reporters attached to the newspaper, who one after another place their day's work on the sub- editor's desk ; and from an adjoining office arrive sheaves of news telegraphed direct to the editorial rooms from the London office in Fleet Street. And then but our friend has not waited for all this reading matter to accumulate before making a commencement. With a readiness of eye and hand acquired by constant practice, the sub-editor has sorted all these various contributions. Some of the matter requires little or no attention from him, such as the sporting news sent by telegraph, the markets, and certain descriptions of monetary news. All this is gladly passed on by him to the compositors who have a special experience with this class of matter. The " copy" of the senior reporters of the staff too, provided that it is of the required length, does not need the serious attention of the sub-editor. But here is a verbatim speech of Mr Gladstone, arriving in instalments from the telegraph office, which the news- paper is receiving in common with a number of other papers from a News Agency at a specific contract sum, inclusive of cost of reporting and telegraphing. This telegraphic report requires the careful attention of the sub-editor, and a considerable use of his blue pencil for the revision and correction of errors made in passing over the telegraph wires. The telegram is written on that thin paper called " flimsy," used for making .several copies at the same time by means of oiled carbonic paper. The mass of telegrams emits a powerful and unpleasant smell, due to the oil and lamp black freely used in the manufac- ture of what are known to press men as " blacks." In a short time the fingers of the sub-editor more nearly re- semble those of a chimney sweep than of a literary man. In the course of the night other " flimsy " sheets reach the