Similar conditions prevailed everywhere during this period . With much that is admirable in the war correspondence of the time, a larger proportion seems to be filled with the somewhat naïve accounts of the social attentions showered on the corre
spondents and with accounts of their personal adventures. These conditions were recognized by the press itself and an interesting account is given of the efforts made, as a result of
the ill-defined status of the war correspondent in the Spanish American War, to work out a system
that should eliminate
“ the free lance adventurers and news tipsters, responsible to nobody, always a nuisance, and sometimes a menace to the men
in the field .” The plan included among other points the guarantee that every correspondent should be an efficient, reputable work
ing member of his profession , vouched for by his paper with a bond of $ 2 ,000 which would be forfeited if the correspondent violated the rules of the censor or misbehaved in any other way; that he must wear the clothes of the color of the uniform of an
army officer and also wear a white arm band with a red letter C to indicate his status; that he must carry a pass properly countersigned ; together with detailed provisions for securing correspondence expressed in clear, unequivocal language. The plan was worked out before the troubles with Mexico and was approved both by the army and the press.96 Somewhat similarly , as a result of the indiscretions of the war correspondent in the Boer War, individuals proposed plans for improving the service that included the proposals that only
representatives of the great dailies, the illustrated weeklies, and certain recognized agencies should be allowed to go to the front,
and only men of proved ability be recognized as correspondents ; that correspondents should not have the use of the wire, since
its use was a temptation to bribery , and it kept the correspon dent in one place when he should be witnessing engagements;
that the control of the wires should be in the hands of one man instead of being frittered away in lengths of fifty words; that the record of events should be given without comment by cor respondents having both military knowledge and literary ability
but without professional relations with those whose actions they 86 New York Evening Post, April 25, 1914.
