French, and German newspapers.[1] The development of "the morgue," or "the dead room" containing biographical material relating to every person even remotely connected with public life, and clippings in regard to every subject of public interest makes information instantly accessible.[2] The editor is and must be prepared for every emergency.
This improvement in the general standard of the editorial has in part been made possible by the great extension of the newspaper plant. Through modern invention and through news-collecting agencies, the whole world has been brought to the sanctum, and the time and energy of the office staff thus released has been turned in the direction of perfecting the various parts of the paper.
The early editorial might claim infallibility of judgment, but the editorial of to-day may with greater justice lay claim to omniscience. The slightest error of statement in regard to events brings on it the satire of its even more omniscient competitors while the danger of a libel suit lurks in every misstatement in regard to an individual. An examination of editorials covering a
- ↑ S. K . Lothrop, "Memoir of Nathan Hale," Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, 1880–81, 18: 270–279.
The New York Evening Post opens its library to the use of students.—Advertisement, January 19, 1918.
- ↑ L. E. Theiss, "The Morgue Man," The Outlook, September 14, 1912, 102: 83–88.
"The morgue" is the clipping bureau of the newspaper, but individual workers use the same system in a limited way . See Robert Luce, "The Clipping Bureau and the Library," in Special Libraries, September–October, 1913, 4: 152–157.
The New York Evening Post publishes, and frequently revises, a pamphlet giving the list of its obituaries in readiness, character sketches, and list of subject envelopes.
The importance attached to the "morgue" by journalists themselves is indicated by the reply reputed to have been made by a city editor to a Japanese who had asked what constituted the most important element in the oft-repeated "power of the press." "'Here is your answer,' said the city editor, taking him to the journalistic morgue. 'The newspaper keeps its fingers on the past and its eyes on the future.' In 'dead' news rest such important clues for the future as well as of the past, and such an infallible, indelible record and guide that the statement of the trained editor was well chosen."—G . J. Nathan, "Journalistic 'Morgues," Bookman, August, 1910, 31: 597–599.
An exceptionally good account of the "morgue", is that of J. F. Kwapil, "The 'Morgue' as a Factor in Journalism," Library Journal, May 15, 1921, 46: 443–446.
