Page:The Washington Newspaper volume 6.djvu/12

 everyday tasks. None of us are so old or experienced that we cannot new ideas. The industrial world is moving fast, and if we do not keep pace with it in our sphere, we are simply left behind. Others will not wait for us. We have many knotty problems to solve, from the editorial desk to the job press, and we hope to make our programs varied enough to cover the different departments of the printing and publishing business.

"I would urge on every newspaper man in the state to make a special effort to attend the University Institute this winter, and prepare now to attend the big meeting next summer in Rainier Park. The latter meeting will be primarily a vacation for the editors. But we also plan to make it one of the most practical and interesting business sessions in the history of our association. Will you not lend us your aid and your presence?"

Newspaper editors in the smaller towns and state editors in the larger towns and cities have come to frequent grief over the stories sent by their country correspondents—the impossibility of the copy caused by a lack of proper sense of news values perhaps, or by ignorance of the paper's particular style.

On the other hand, country correspondents have been discouraged when the small-town editor or the city state editor has cut their stuff unmercifully.

Editors would be saved much of this grief if the correspondents knew the needs and the style of the paper as well as the paper's local reporters do. The correspondents would send in more of what the paper wants, in the way in which it wants it, if they could once see, in black and white, just what is wanted.

Any editor could make and publish a style -book suited to his particular publication if he had the time to get it up. It is hoped that the following suggestions may not only save time for the editor, but meet his requirements as well. The suggestions are put out by The Harrisonville (Mo.) Democrat for its country correspondents.

Write only on one side of the sheet. Don't be afraid to use plenty of paper. When your supply is gone, we'll send you more.

Write each item as a separate paragraph. Leave plenty of space between paragraphs.

Leave plenty of margin on all sides of the sheet and don't crowd your lines together. Don't use a hard pencil. If you use a typewriter, always write your copy double-spaced.

Write plainly—just as plainly as you possibly can.

If a proper name is in any way odd, spell it in hand-printed capitals, thus: SMYTHE. Be careful to spell every person's name correctly and use care in getting the initials right.

Always put "Miss" or "Mrs." before the name of a lady; but don't put "Mr." before a man's name in a personal item.

Head each set of items with the name of your community, your own name and the date of mailing.

Watch our columns for style in capitalization. The tendency of the