VETERAN JOURNALIST REMINISCENT ON DAYS OF BIG STORIES IN PARIS
By CHESTER A. FRITTS
(Mr. Fritts, whose home is in Portland, is a writer for trade publications. This article was written for a class in writing for the press, conducted by Alfred Powers in the Portland summer session of the University).}}
DR. CHRISTIAN GAUSS, who has been placed on the program of the state convention at Tillamook, is a member of the faculty of Princeton University, with a deep background of journalism. Dr. Gauss, who is now head of the department of modern languages and director of information at Princeton and is lecturing on literature at the Portland summer session of the University of Ore gon, was at one time Paris correspondent for the Associated Press, and as such, covered numbers of historic newspaper stories, including the second Dreyfus trial in 1899 and the Caillaux treason trial just before the world war.
Though nationally known as an editor, author, and teacher, the former journalist is still keenly interested in the thou sand natural shocks that the reporter is heir to; and his pulses quicken when his mind travels back to the tenseness surrounding the trial of the French military officer who was found guilty of treason at his first trial. in 1894. “During the second court-martial of Dreyfus,” said the Princeton man, “the Paris group of journalists and writers was pretty evenly divided; but in spite of our convictions, we all ate at the same cafe. Through the center of the eating place, however, there extended a row of columns; on one side sat those who be lieved in the innocence of the accused; on the other sat those who believed him guilty. There was no such thing be tween the groups as neutral ground, and one didn’t dare vacillate. “Tell you how I covered the story“? Well, there isu’t much I can tell you about that. A fellow really had no chance to pick up loose threads. The press, as you know, is excluded from military trials—everything goes on be hind closed doors, and what sifts through is oftentimes inaccurate. From one source we would hear that General So and-So said this; from another source we heard a conflicting report. ‘Ye had no way of verifying these reports and our stories had to be written with quali fications. “Then, too, our stuff was censored by the government of France. But we didn't mind that so long as we were nn able to cable facts. Had we been able to report the proceedings properly, we could easily have circumvented the cen soring by going to Belgium or England to send our material. “Just what went on behind those closed doors the world didn’t find out nntil Zola, the French novelist, published his memorable book, ‘I Accuse.’ Though this book cost the novelist a lot of grief, it was instrumental in bringing the Dreyfus case into the open—jnst the mission Zola hoped for it. ” Members of the Oregon State Editorial Association will have an opportunity of meeting Dr. Gauss and hearing him speak at Tillamook. The Kando Printers (Carl P. Cloud and son, James A. Cloud), who have been publishing the Riddle Enterprise at Rid die for the past five years, have pur chased the Glendale News from J. L . Campbell. Carl P. Cloud has moved to Glendale to look after the Neuvs, while his son, James A., will have charge of the office at Riddle. The Kando Printers have a model five Linotype in their Rid dle office, which is taking care of the composition for both shops. [4]
