Settled in a large cane armchair with a leather seat, a heavy rug over
his knees if the weather was at all chilly, Mr. Pulitzer took up the
serious consideration of the news which had been lightly skimmed over
during his walk.
An item was selected, and the account in The World was read aloud. Then
followed the discussion of it from the standpoint of its presentation in
the various papers. On what page was it printed in The World, in what
column, how much space did it fill, how much was devoted to headlines,
what was the size of the type, was the type varied in parts to give
emphasis to the more striking features of the story, what were the
cross-heads in the body of the article, were any boxes used, if so, what
was put in them, what about the illustrations? And so on for each
important item in each paper.
One of the by-products of this reading of the papers was a stream of
cables, letters and memoranda to various members of The World staff in
New York. None of these were ever sent through me, but it was a common
thing for J. P. to say: "Have you got your writing pad with you? Just
make a note: Indianapolis story excellent, insufficient details
lynching, who wrote City Hall story? and give it to Thwaites and tell
him to remind me of it this afternoon.
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