XIINTERVIEWS

"Participation in government is not only the privilege, but the right, of every American citizen and should be considered a duty," said the Rev. Frederick W. Hamilton, president of Tufts College, who spoke on "The Political Duties of the American Citizen" at the monthly men's neighborhood meeting in the Roxbury Neighborhood House last night.—Boston Herald.

Here the reporter has given us a sentence that is practically a summary of the speech, has told us who said it, when and where, and has completed the paragraph with the title of the speech. Sometimes the title of the speech is not of great importance and its place in the lead may be given to a little summary as in the following:

"The modern man isn't afraid of hell," was the concise explanation which W. Lathrop Meaker gave in Franklin Union Hall yesterday afternoon and evening of the fact that the churches are losing their grip on the average man.—New York Sun.

A question which embodies the content of a speech may often be quoted at the beginning; thus:

"Will the Baptist church continue to maintain an attitude of timidity when John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil is mentioned?" asked the Rev. R. A. Bateman, from East Jaffrey, N. H., of the ministers assembled in Ford Hall last evening at the New England Baptist conference.—Boston Herald.

The opening quotation may sometimes be made an excuse for a brief description of the speaker or his gestures as in the following. This is good at timesbut it may easily be overworked or become "yellow" in tone.

"There is no fire escape," remarked Gypsy Smith, the famous English evangelist, yesterday before the fashionable audience of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church. He held aloft a Bible as he made this declaration during an eloquent sermon on the possibility of losing faith and wandering from the narrow way.—New York World.

2. Direct Quotation Beginning.—Paragraph.—You notice that in each of the foregoing the quoted sentence is incorporated grammatically into the first sentence of the lead. It is followed by a comma and the words "said Mr. ——," "was the statement of ——," "declared Mr. ——," etc. This construction is possible only when the quoted sentence is short and simple. When it is long or complex, it is well to paragraph it separately and to put the explanations in a separate paragraph, thus:

"If the United States had possessed in 1898 a single dirigible balloon, even of the size of the one now at Fort Myer, Virginia, which cost less than $10,000, the American army and navy would not have long remained in doubt of the presence of Cervera's fleet in Santiago harbor."This statement was made today by Major G. O. Squier, assistant chief signal officer of the army, in an address on aëronautics delivered before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at 29 West Thirty-ninth street.—New York Mail.

This statement was made today by Major G. O. Squier, assistant chief signal officer of the army, in an address on aëronautics delivered before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at 29 West Thirty-ninth street.—New York Mail.

This same construction mustalwaysbe used when the statement quoted in the lead consists of more than one sentence, as in the following:

"The climate of Wisconsin is as good for recovery from tuberculosis as that of any state in the union. It is not the climate, but the out-of-doors air that works the cure."So said Harvey Dee Brown in his tuberculosis crusade lecture in Kilbourn park last night.—Milwaukee Free Press.

"The climate of Wisconsin is as good for recovery from tuberculosis as that of any state in the union. It is not the climate, but the out-of-doors air that works the cure."

So said Harvey Dee Brown in his tuberculosis crusade lecture in Kilbourn park last night.—Milwaukee Free Press.

It is to be noted that the statement quoted in the lead is never split into two parts, separated by explanation. The quotation is always gathered together at the beginning and followed by the explanation.

3. Indirect Quotation Beginning.—This method is best adapted to the playing up of a brief resumé of the content of the speech. It is sometimes called the "that-clause beginning" because it always begins with athat-clause which is the subject of the principalverb of the sentence—"was the statement of," "was the declaration of," etc. Thethat-clause may contain a resumé of the entire speech or only the most striking statement in it. Here is one of the latter:

That the cruise of the battleship fleet around the world has taught the citizens of the United States that a powerful fleet is needed in the Pacific was the statement of Rear Admiral R. C. Hollyday, chief of the bureau of yards and docks of the navy, at a luncheon given to him by the board of trustees of the Chamber of Commerce at the Fairmont Hotel yesterday.—San Francisco Examiner.

It is not always necessary to use the phrase "was the statement of." A variation from it is often very good:

That it is the urgent mission of the white people of America, through their churches and Sunday-schools, to educate the American negro morally and religiously, was the sentiment of the twelfth session of the International Sunday-school Convention last night, voiced with special power and eloquence by Dr. Booker T. Washington, the chief speaker of the evening.—Louisville Courier-Journal.

That the Irish race has a great destiny to fulfill, one greater than it has achieved in its glorious past, was the prophecy of Prof. Charles Johnston of Dublin university in his lecture at the city library Sunday afternoon.—Wisconsin State Journal.

It is perfectly good usage to begin such a lead with twothat-clauses or even with three. The two clauses in this case are of course treated as a singular subject and take a singular verb. It is usually best not to have more than three clauses at the beginning and even three must be handled with great care. Three clauses at the beginning, if at all long, bury the speaker's name too deeply and may become too complicated. Unless the clauses are very closely related in idea, it is usually better not to use more than two. Naturally when more than onethat-clause is used in the lead, all of the clauses must be gathered together at the beginning; never should one precede and one follow the principal verb. Here is an example of good usage:

NEW YORK, Feb. 25.—That America is entering upon a new era of civic and business rectitude and that this is due to the awakening of the moral conscience of the whole people was the prophecy made here tonight by Governor Joseph W. Folk of Missouri.—Chicago Record-Herald.

4. Summary Beginning.—This is a less formal way of treating the indirect quotation beginning. It is simply a different grammatical construction. Whereas in thethat-clause beginning the principal verb of the sentence is outside the summary (e. g., "That ... was the statement of"), in the summary beginning the principal verb of the sentence is the verb of the summary and the speaker is brought in by means of a modifying phrase; thus:

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 1.—Both the free trader and the stand-patter are back numbers, according to Senator Albert J. Beveridge of Indiana, who delivered a tariff speech here tonight.—Milwaukee Free Press.

Federal control of the capitalization of railroads is the solution of the railroad problem suggested by E. L. Phillipp, the well-known Milwaukee railroad expert, in the course of a speech at the third annual banquet of, etc.—Milwaukee Free Press.

The summary beginning may be handled in many different ways and allows perhaps more grammatical liberty than any other beginning. The summary may even be given a sentence by itself as in the following. This kind of treatment may easily be overdone and should be handled with great caution:

If you have acute mania, it is the proper thing to take the music cure. Miss Jessie A. Fowler says so, and she knows. Miss Fowler discussed "Music Hygienically" before the "Rainy Daisies" at the Hotel Astor yesterday and prescribed musical treatment for various brands of mania.—New York World.

5. Keynote Beginning.—Very closely related to the summary beginning is the keynote beginning, in which the subject of the main verb is an indirect presentation of the content of the speech. Whereas the summary beginning displays its resumé in a complete sentence, the keynote beginning puts the content of the speech in a single noun and its modifiers. Thus:

The ideal state university was the theme of a speech delivered by, etc.

The mission of the newspaper to tell the truth, to stand for high ideals, and to strive to have those ideals adopted by the public was the keynote of an address delivered by, etc.

6. Participial Beginning.—This is less common than the other kinds of indirect quotation beginnings but it is often very effective. The summary of the speech or the most striking statement is put into aparticipial phrase at the beginning and is made to modify the subject of the sentence (the speaker). It must of course be remembered that such a participial phrase can be used only to modify a noun, as an adjective modifies a noun, and can never be made the subject of a verb. Here is an example of good use of this beginning:

Upholding the right of public criticism of the courts on the theory that there can be no impropriety in investigating any act of a public official, Judge Kennesaw M. Landis last night addressed the students of Marquette College of Law and many members of the Milwaukee bar.—Milwaukee Free Press.

Just as it is perfectly possible to begin an indirect quotation lead with twothat-clauses instead of one, it is also possible to use two participial phrases in the participial beginning; as:

Pleading for justice and human affection in dealing with the delinquent child, and urging the vital need of legislation which shall enforce parental responsibility, Mrs. Nellie Duncan made an address yesterday which stirred the sympathies of an attentive audience in the First Presbyterian Church.—San Francisco Examiner.

Although the participial phrase usually gives the summary of the speech, not infrequently the participial construction is used to play up the name of the speech or some other fact and the summary comes after the principal verb of the lead; thus:

Paying tribute to the memory of President William McKinley last night at the Metropolitan Temple, where exercises were held to dedicate the McKinley memorial organ, Judge Taft told in detail of his commission to the Philippine service and his subsequent intimate connection with the President.—New York Tribune.

7. Title Beginning.—There are two reasons for beginning the report of a public utterance with the speaker's subject or title. The title itself may be so broad that it makes a good summary of the speech, or it may be so striking in itself that it attracts interest at once. In the following examples the title is really a summary of the speech:

NEW YORK, Dec. 15.—"The Compensation of Employes for Injuries Received While at Work" was taken by J. D. Beck, commissioner of labor of Wisconsin, as the theme of his address before the National Civic Federation here today.—Milwaukee Free Press.

"The Emmanuel Movement" was the subject of an address by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of the Free Synagogue yesterday morning.—New York Evening Post.

In the following stories the reporter began with the title evidently because it was so strikingly unusual and also because it was the title of a strikingly unusual speech by an unusual man. This kind of title beginning is always very effective:

"Booze, or Get on the Water Wagon," was the subject on which Rev. Billy Sunday, the baseball evangelist, addressed an audience of over 4,000 persons at the Midland Chautauqua yesterday afternoon. For two hours Sunday fired volley after volley at the liquor traffic.—Des Moines Capital.

"If Christ Came to Milwaukee" was the subject of the Rev. Paul B. Jenkin's Sunday night in Immanuel Presbyterian Church.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

8. Speaker Beginning.—It is obvious that this is the easiest beginning that may be used in the report of a speech. But just as obviously it is the beginning that should be least used. Just as in writing news stories a green reporter always attempts to begin every lead with the name of some person involved, in reporting a public discourse he has astrong desire to put the name of the speaker before what the speaker said. But the same tests may be applied to both cases. Are our readers more interested in what a man does than in the man himself; do our readers go to hear a given speaker because they wish to hear what he has to say or because they wish to hearhim? Whenever the public is so interested in a man that it does not care what he says, then you may feel safe in beginning the report of what he says with his name. This test may be altered, especially in smaller cities, by previous interest in the speech; if the speech has been expected and looked forward to with interest, then, no matter if the speaker is the President himself, his name is not as good news as what he has to say. Even if the lead does begin with the speaker's name, the reporter usually tries to bring a summary of the speech or the most striking statement into the first sentence after the name. For example:

Speaker Joseph G. Cannon placed himself on record last night in favor of a revision of the tariff in accordance with the promise of the Republican party platform and declared that so far as his vote was concerned he would see to it that the announced policy of revision would be written in the national laws as soon as possible. The words of the speaker came at a luncheon givento six rear admirals of the United States navy by Alexander H. Revell of Chicago in the Union League Club, at which the need of more battleships and increased efficiency of the fighting forces of the republic were the principal themes of discussion.

This example was chosen because, while it is written in accordance with the rules of the speaker beginning, it is obviously too long and complicated—over 110 words. It would be better to gather it together and condense it as in the following:

Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot opened the second day's session of the national conservation congress yesterday by an address in which he expressed his entire satisfaction and his confidence in the attitude of President Taft toward conservating the national resources.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 10.—Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee, Ala., in an address at the People's Church tonight predicted that within two years the liquor traffic would be driven out of all the southern states but two.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

There are obviously other beginnings that cannot be classed under any of the above heads. Some of them, much like the "freak" leads that may beseen in many newspapers of the present day, may be called free beginnings for want of a better name. These free beginnings are quite effective when properly handled but the novice must use them with fear and trembling. They may be witty or they may be sarcastic, but they are usually dangerous. The difference in the eight beginnings discussed above is mainly one of grammatical construction; the same fundamental ideas govern them all. Their purpose is always to play up a striking statement or a summary of the speech report and to give at the very outset the necessary explanation concerning the speech.

THE BODY OF THE REPORT

The body of the report of a speech is not so distinct from the lead as the body of an ordinary news story. In the news story it is safe to assume that many readers will not go beyond the lead, but in the report of a speech this is not so true. It is less possible to give the main facts in the lead of a speech report and the rest of the story is more necessary. Hence it must be written with as great care as the lead.

The body of the report should consist of direct quotation in so far as possible. The reader is interestedin what the speaker said and it is impossible to make a summary in indirect discourse as convincing as the actual quotation of his words. Be sure that the quotations are the speaker's exact words or very nearly his exact words, so that he cannot accuse you of misquoting him. The spirit of his words must be in the quotation, anyway.

In these quotations nothing less than a complete sentence should be quoted. Do not patch together sentences of indirect and direct quotation, like the following—He said that some of us are prone to let things be as they are, "because the philanthropic rich help in our times of trouble and in sickness." Such quotation is worse than no direct quotation at all. Of course, this does not mean that one cannot add "said the speaker" to a direct quotation, but it means that "said the speaker" can be added only to quotations that are complete sentences. Furthermore whenever it is necessary to bring in "said the speaker," or similar expressions, they should be added at the end of the quoted sentence—the least emphatic part of a newspaper sentence.

Obviously a condensed report of a speech can only quote sentences here and there throughout the speech—the high spots of interest, as we called them before. These must not be quoted promiscuously and disconnectedly. The original speech hada logical order and set forth a logical train of thought. These should be followed as far as possible in the report. Bring in the quotations in their true order and fill the gaps between them with indirect discourse to knit them together and to give the report the coherence of the original speech. But do not carry this indirect explanation to the extent of making your copy a report of the speech in indirect discourse with occasional bits of direct quotation to illustrate. Remember that, after all, the direct quotation is the truly effective part of the speech.

Whenever a paragraph contains both direct and indirect quotation, the direct quotation should always precede the indirect. But it is much better to paragraph the two kinds of quotation separately, making each paragraph entirely of direct, or entirely of indirect, quotation. If a paragraph must contain both, begin it with the direct so that as the reader glances down the column he will see a quotation mark at the beginnings of most, if not all, of the paragraphs. By the same sign, when your notes are lacking in direct quotations, bring in as many of the quotations as possible at the beginning of the report and let the indirect summary occupy the end where it may be cut off by the editor if he does not wish to run it.

Here is a good illustration of a part of the body of a good speech report—it is the second paragraph of one of the stories quoted under the "Speaker" beginning above:

"I can not account for the moral revolution that is sweeping over the South," he continued. "The sentiment against whisky is deeper than the mere desire to get it away from the black man. That same sentiment is found in counties that contain no negro population. People who say that the law will not be enforced have not been in the South.—B. T. Washington's speech,Milwaukee Sentinel.

You will notice that although the above paragraph is composed entirely of direct quotation it has no quotation mark at the end. This is, of course, in accordance with the old rule of rhetoric which says that in a continuous quotation each paragraph shall begin with a quotation mark but only the last shall be closed by a quotation mark.

To illustrate the errors that may be made in reporting speeches we might write the above paragraph as follows:

Mr. Washington continued by saying that he could not account for the revolution that is sweeping over the South."The sentiment against whisky is deeper than the mere desire to get it away from the black man." He says that "the same sentiment is found in counties that contain no negro population." People who say that the law will not be enforced "have not been in the South," according to Booker T. Washington.

The clumsiness of this mingling of direct and indirect quotation is very clear, as is the weakness of beginning with an explanation that is really subordinate.

Much more could be said about the reporting of speeches. Very few things will make a man so angry as the misquoting of his words. Therefore, whatever other faults your report of a speech may have, let it be accurate and truthful.

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If you compare any interview story with any speech report in any representative newspaper, you will readily see how a discussion of interviews easily becomes an explanation of the differences between interview stories and speech-reports; that is, how the report of an interview differs from the report of a public utterance of a more formal kind. There are few differences in the written reports. Each usually begins with a summary or a striking statement and consists largely of direct quotation. Were it not for the line or two of explanation at the end of the introduction, it would be practically impossible to tell the one from the other, to tell which of the reports sets forth statements made in a public discourse and which gives statements made in a more private way to a reporter.

The difference lies behind the report, in the way the reporter obtained the statements and quotations. And the whole difference depends upon the attitudeof the man who made the statements—whether his words were a conscious or an unconscious public utterance. When a man speaks from a platform he utters every sentence and every word with an idea of possible quotation—he is not only willing to be quoted but he wants to be quoted. But when he speaks privately to a reporter he usually dreads quotation. Of course, he expects that you will print a few of his remarks but he is constantly hoping that you will not remember and print them all. He speaks more guardedly, too, since he is not sure of the interpretation that may be given to his words. Hence it is a very different matter to report what a man says in public and to get statements for the press from him in private. Any one can report a speech but great skill is required to get a good interview—especially if the victim is unwilling to talk.

The first matter that a reporter has to consider is the means of retaining the statements until he is able to write his story. It is a simple matter to get quotations from a speech because it is possible to sit anywhere in the audience and write down the speaker's words in a notebook as they are uttered. But the notebook must be left behind when you try to interview. When a man is not used to being interviewed nothing will make him reticent so quickly as the appearance of a notebook and pencil;he realizes that his words are to appear in print just as he utters them and he immediately becomes frightened. Ordinarily so long as he feels that what he says is going into the confidential ear of the reporter—and out of the other ear just as quickly—he is willing to talk more freely and openly and to say exactly what he thinks. This, of course, does not apply to prominent men who are used to being interviewed and prefer to have their remarks taken down verbatim. Such an interview, however, is little more than a call to secure a statement for publication.

It might be well to settle the notebook question here and now when it assumes the greatest importance. The stage has hardened us to seeing a reporter slinking around the outskirts of every bit of excitement writing excitedly and hurriedly in a large leather notebook. So hardened are we to the sight that some new reporters buy a notebook just as soon as they get a place on a newspaper staff. But real reporters on real newspapers do not use notebooks. A few sheets of folded copy paper hidden carefully in an inside pocket ready for names and addresses and perhaps figures are all that most of them carry. Many people dread publicity and the appearance of a notebook frightens them into silence more quickly than the actual appearance ofa representative of the press. This is true in the reporting of any bit of news, in the covering of any story—and it is ordinarily true in interviewing for statements that are to be quoted. Of course, an exception to this must be made in the case of some prominent men who prefer to issue signed written statements when they are interviewed.

The impossibility of using a notebook or writing down a man's words in an interview seriously complicates the task of interviewing. Some reporters train themselves until they are able to remember their victim's words long enough to get outside and write them down. Others are satisfied with getting the ideas and the spirit of what is said together with the man's manner of talking. A few characteristic mannerisms thrown in with a true report of his ideas will make any speaker believe that you have quoted him exactly. Whichever method is pursued, the reporter must always be fair and try to tell the readers of the paper the man's true ideas. The exigencies of the case give the reporter greater liberty than in quoting from a speech but he must not abuse his liberty.

The success of an interview depends very largely upon the way in which a reporter approaches the man whom he wishes to interview. It is never well to trust to the inspiration of the moment to startthe conversation. The reporter must know exactly what he wishes to have the man say before he approaches him and must already have framed his questions so as to draw out the answers that he wishes. People are never interviewed except for a purpose and that purpose should suggest the reporter's first question. No matter how willing the man is to tell what he thinks he will seldom begin talking until the reporter asks him a definite question to help him in putting his thoughts into words. All of this should be considered beforehand. The reporter should have outlined a definite campaign and have a series of questions which he wishes to ask. If he has written the questions out beforehand, the task becomes an easier one—he merely fills in the answers on his list later and has the interview in better form than if he had tried to trust entirely to his memory. To be sure, the questions may open up unexpected lines of thought and he may get more than he went for, but he must have his questions ready for use as soon as each new line is exhausted. A skilled reporter frames the interview himself and keeps the result entirely in his own hands through the campaign that he has outlined beforehand. Unless he knows exactly what he wants to get, a wary victim may lead him off upon unimportant facts and in the end tell him nothingthat his paper has sent him to get. A reporter must keep the reins of an interview in his own possession.

A good reporter takes great care in his manner of addressing a man whom he is to interview. A well-known newspaper follows the rule of asking its reporters never to do what a gentleman would not do. A reporter who is trying to interview must always be a gentleman and must not ask questions that a gentleman would not ask. If the victim is a prominent man of great personality it is not hard to follow this rule—in fact, it is impossible to get the interview by any other method of approach. But when one is trying to interview a person of humbler station, the case is different. It is very easy then to fall into a habit of demanding information and turning the interview into an inquisition. But the reporter who keeps his attitude as a gentleman gets more real facts even when his victim is of the most humble social status. Therefore, never approach your victim as if he were a witness and you a cross-questioning lawyer. Do not say: "See here, you know more about it than that," and thus try to force unwilling information from him. Go at him in a more round-about way and lead him to give you the facts unwittingly perhaps.

A young reporter often feels an impulse to become too personal with the man whom he is interviewing.He must always remember that he is not there for a friendly chat but as a representative of a newspaper, sent to get concise facts or opinions. This attitude must be maintained even with the humblest persons. Any desire to sympathize, criticize, or advise must be checked at the very start. The point of view must always be kept.

Although the main difference between writing interview stories and reporting speeches lies in the very act of getting the quotations and words of the speaker, there are certain aspects in which the writing of an interview story is different. The actual form of the two stories is almost identical and yet there is a tone in the interview story that is lacking in the report of a speech. This may be called the personal tone.

The very name of the speaker obviously plays a much larger part in the interview story than in the speech report. We may be more interested in what a man says in a public discourse than we are in the man, but when we interview a man we want his opinions not for themselves so much as because they are his opinions. An interview with the President on the tariff is not necessarily interesting in the new ideas that it brings out, for we have many other ways of knowing the President's opinions onthe tariff question; but the interview is worth printing because every one is interested in reading anything that the President says, although he may have read the same thing many times before. A man is seldom interviewed unless he is of some prominence—that is why he is interviewed, and so in the resulting story his name plays a very important part. In fact, his name is usually the feature of the story; most interview stories begin directly with the name of the man whose statements are quoted.

Although a man may be interviewed simply because of his prominence and popularity, there is usually another reason for the interview. We are interested not only in hearing him say something but we wish to hear him say something on a certain topic. The interview thus has a timeliness, a reason for existence. Since this timeliness is the reason for printing a certain man's statements, the reporter's account must indicate that timeliness near the beginning. That is, the first sentence of an interview story must not only tell who was interviewed and the gist of what he said, but it must tell why he said it. The interview must be connected with the rest of the day's news. This comes out very definitely in the custom which many newspapers have of printing the opinions of many prominentmen in connection with any important event. Perhaps it is because we wish to know their opinions on the subject or perhaps it is simply because we are glad to have a chance to hear them talk—at any rate many editors make any great event an excuse for a series of interviews. This is illustrated by the opinions of the various labor leaders that were printed with the story of the recent confession of the McNamara brothers. In such a case, the reporter must make the reason for the interview his starting point in the report and must indicate very plainly why the man was interviewed.

This idea of timeliness is very often carried to the extent of making the interview merely a denial or an assertion from the mouth of a well-known man. There may be an upheaval in Wall Street. Immediately the papers print an interview in which some prominent financier denies or asserts that he is at the bottom of the upheaval. Naturally the report of the interview begins with the very words of the denial or the assertion. Very often a man when interviewed refuses to say anything on the subject. The fact that he has nothing to say does not mean that the interview is not worth reporting. In fact, that refusal to speak may be the most effective thing that he could say. The reporter begins by telling that his man had nothing to say on the subject and endsby telling what he should have said or what his refusal to speak probably means,—if the paper is not too scrupulous in such matters. At any rate, the denial or assertion or refusal to speak becomes the starting point of the report and furnishes the excuse for the interview story. The expanded remarks that follow the lead are of course important but they are not so important as the primary expression of opinion that the reporter went for.

The personal element in interviewing may be carried to an extreme extent. The man who is interviewed may so far overshadow the importance of what he says that the report of the interview becomes almost a sketch of the man himself. That is, the report is filled with human interest. The quotations are interspersed with action and description. We are told how the man acted when he said each individual thing. His appearance, attitude, expression, and surroundings become as important as his words and are brought into the report as vividly as possible. Such an interview may become almost large enough to be used as a special feature story for the Sunday edition, but when the human interest is limited to a comparatively subordinate position the report still keeps its character as an interview news story. Such a thing may be illustrated from the daily press:

"I would rather have four battleships and need only two than to have two and need four."Seated in the cool library of Colonel A. K. McClure's summer home at Wallingford, Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, retired, thus expressed himself yesterday on the need of a larger and greater navy.

"I would rather have four battleships and need only two than to have two and need four."

Seated in the cool library of Colonel A. K. McClure's summer home at Wallingford, Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, retired, thus expressed himself yesterday on the need of a larger and greater navy.

After all has been said about interviewing, the one thing that a reporter must remember is that an interview story is at best rather dry and everything that he can do to increase the interest will improve the interview. But all of this must be done with absolute fairness to the speaker and great truthfulness in the quotation of his ideas and opinions.

To come to the technical form of the interview story, we find that there are very nearly as many possible beginnings as in the case of the report of a speech. The interview story must begin with a lead that tells who was interviewed, when, and where, what he said (in a quotation or an indirect summary), and why he was interviewed. This is like the lead of a speech report in every particular except in the timeliness—the occasion for a speech is seldom mentioned in the lead, but a reporter usuallytells at once why he interviewed the man whose words he quotes.

1. Speaker Beginning.—The very purpose behind interviewing makes the so-called speaker beginning most common. It is almost an invariable rule that the report of an interview must begin with the man's name unless what he says is of greater importance than his name—which is seldom.

The simplest form of the speaker beginning is the one in which the speaker's name is followed directly by a summary of what he said, as:

Dr. David Starr Jordan, president of Leland Stanford Junior University, said yesterday at the Holland House that in the development of American universities educators must separate the lower two classes from the upper two, the present freshman and sophomore classes to be absorbed by small colleges or supplemental high schools, making the junior year the first in the university training. He said the universities should receive only men, not boys.—New York Tribune.

Another kind of speaker beginning may devote most of the lead to the explanation of the reason for the interview, giving the briefest possible summary of what was said: Thus:

Director Lang of the department of public safety is going to place a ban on the playing of tennis on Sunday. He doesn't know just yet how he is going to accomplish this, but yesterday he declared that he would find some law applicable to the case.—Pittsburgh Gazette-Times.

One step further brings us to the entire exclusion of the result of the interview from the lead. In this case the reason for the interview occupies the entire lead and we must read part of the second paragraph to find what the man said; thus:

Charles F. Washburn, Richmond Hill's wizard of finance, promises to appear at his broker's office in Newark, N. J., this morning with a fresh bank roll, accumulated since the close of the market on Saturday.(The second paragraph tells what it is all about and the third quotes his words.)—New York World.

(The second paragraph tells what it is all about and the third quotes his words.)—New York World.

It is to be noted that in each of the above leads the speaker's name is always accompanied by a word or two telling who he is and why he was interviewed. Furthermore the reporter himself has no more place in the lead than if he were reporting a speech—his existence and the part he played in getting the interview are strictly ignored.

2. Summary Beginning.—There are two common ways of beginning an interview story with a summary. First, the lead may begin with athat-clause which embodies the gist of the interview; this is like thethat-clause beginning of the report of a speech; thus:

That the apparent apathy among the voters of the country is merely contentment with the present administration of affairs by the Republican party is the contention of ex-Senator John M. Thurston of Nebraska. Mr. Thurston was at Republican national headquarters today, etc.—New York Evening Post.

Secondly the summary beginning is used in the case of an interview that is a denial or an assertion by the man interviewed. The lead begins with a clause or a participial phrase embodying the substance of the interview, and the name of the speaker is made the subject of a verb of denying or asserting; thus:

Declaring that his office is run as economically as possible, Sheriff H. E. Franke denied on Sunday that he had expended more than $688 for auto hire to collect $1,409.28 of alleged taxes.(The second paragraph begins with a direct quotation.)—Milwaukee Sentinel.

Declaring that his office is run as economically as possible, Sheriff H. E. Franke denied on Sunday that he had expended more than $688 for auto hire to collect $1,409.28 of alleged taxes.

(The second paragraph begins with a direct quotation.)—Milwaukee Sentinel.

Although he had sharply criticised Roosevelt's special message condemning some of the uses to which the possessors of large fortunes are putting their wealth, President Jacob Gould Schurman, Cornell University, declined to discuss Roosevelt or his policies in Milwaukee yesterday. He said that he was not talking politics.(The rest of the report is a quotation of his views on college athletics.)—Milwaukee Free Press.

(The rest of the report is a quotation of his views on college athletics.)—Milwaukee Free Press.

3. Quotation Beginning.—Many reports of interviews begin with a direct quotation. The logic of this is that the expression of opinion is, in some cases, of more interest than the name of the man who expressed the opinion. Sometimes the name of the speaker is not considered worth mentioning and in that case a direct quotation is the only advisable beginning; thus:

"With the prices of food for hogs and cattle going up, it is natural that the food—beef and pork—for us humans should keep pace."This was the logic of an east-side butcher who discussed the probable rise in the prices of meat.—Milwaukee Free Press.

"With the prices of food for hogs and cattle going up, it is natural that the food—beef and pork—for us humans should keep pace."

This was the logic of an east-side butcher who discussed the probable rise in the prices of meat.—Milwaukee Free Press.

Sometimes a short quotation is used at the beginning of the lead very much as a title is used in a speech report; thus:

NEW YORK, June 1.—"A business proposition which should have been put in effect nearly twenty years ago," was John Wanamaker's comment today on the adoption of 2-cent letter postage between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland.—Milwaukee Free Press.

If the quotation at the beginning consists of only one sentence the name of the speaker may be run into the same paragraph; thus:

"Judge McPherson's recent decision declaring Missouri's 2-cent fare confiscatory is an indication that vested interests are entitled to some protection and that legislatures must not go too far in regulating them," said Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific road, on Sunday.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

However if the quotation at the beginning contains more than one sentence it is best to paragraph the quotation separately and leave the name of the speaker until the second paragraph; thus:

"The American Federation of Labor will enter the national campaign by seeking to place labor candidates on the tickets of the old parties. An independent labor party is eventually contemplated. But there is not time to getresults in that way in the next national campaign."So said H. C. Raasch, national president of the tile-layers, upon his return yesterday, etc.—Milwaukee Free Press.

So said H. C. Raasch, national president of the tile-layers, upon his return yesterday, etc.—Milwaukee Free Press.

4. Human Interest Beginning.—This is a designation devised to cover a multitude of beginnings. A human interest interview may begin with a quotation, a summary, a name, or an action. The aim is necessarily toward unconventionality and the form of the lead is left to the originality of the reporter. A few examples may illustrate what is meant by the human interest beginning:

"There goes another string. Drat those strings!" Only Joseph Caluder didn't say "Drat.""Say, do you know that I have spent pretty nearly $1,000 for strings for that violin? Well, it's a fact. Listen." Etc.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

"There goes another string. Drat those strings!" Only Joseph Caluder didn't say "Drat."

"Say, do you know that I have spent pretty nearly $1,000 for strings for that violin? Well, it's a fact. Listen." Etc.—Milwaukee Sentinel.

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