Abstract

It Seems to Heywood Broun

As age creeps on and on the author has begun to worry about the fact that journalists are seldom loved. The author means by those who read their efforts. There is something of endearment in such terms as "veteran actor," "venerable clergyman," "aged bard," but the phrase "old newspaperman" has in it a tinge of contempt. The whole implication is of a certain slackness and seediness. The adjective "tiresome" seems to lurk not farther away than just around the corner. The requirements for journalists should be somewhat mitigated. But let a journalist grow auto-plagiaristic and he will find himself assailed by that noxious alliance of folk with long memories and others who save clippings. Is there any justice in this? There is not. They say in accusation against authors who deal with things ephemeral that they are trivial fellows whose vagrant words will line the pantry shelves upon the morrow.