Again, there comes a message dated London which reads:
Reading Readingess New Yorkward safternoon Philadelphia untalk peace undenied gravity Russian.
From his knowledge of the diplomatic situation and of current events, and from his bunch of newspaper cuttings the foreign editor finds it quite easy to construct a fat paragraph to run something like:
London—Lord Reading, the newly appointed Ambassador to represent Great Britain in the United States, sailed for New York this afternoon in the steamship Philadelphia. On arrival he will proceed immediately to Washington to enter upon his duties. This is Lord Reading’s third visit to America. He was sent by his government two years ago on a special mission and was in Washington for two months or more. He is accompanied by his wife. He refused to express an opinion as to the prospects for peace, but would not deny the gravity of the situation in Russia.
In the above skeleton dispatch the word “Readingess” means Lady Reading. The addition of “ess” to a man’s name designates his wife.
Again came one evening a London message that began:
Pm commons duohours restating aims intended Russian Bolsheviki but principally allies position to labor urged ongo warwin quote
“Pm” means Great Britain’s Prime Minister whoever he happens to be. This message was written out to say that Lloyd George had addressed a meeting of the House of Commons for two hours that evening restating the war aims of the allies. Ostensibly he was speaking for the benefit of the Russians, but it was plain that he was addressing the labor party of the Empire in particular, and that the Government urged the labor party to push on and help to win the war. “Quote” meant that what was to follow was a verbatim report of what the Prime Minister said and was to be preceded by quotation marks.
Close skeletonizing of this sort is used for short and comparatively unimportant news announcements. It cannot be used to advantage in long narration, in explanation of political complications, or reports of consequence. But in minor messages it is of frequent use by news associations and by correspondents. It is an entirely legitimate practice since it involves no misstatement of fact. It is simple, as may be seen, and the knack of using it is easily acquired. Yet obviously the more ingenuity and skill employed the greater will be the saving at seven cents or twenty-five cents a word. The difference in its skillful and its indifferent use amounts to thousands of dollars in a year.
In times of war the cost of news transmission by cable is enormous. Repeatedly in the late conflict it reached thousands of dollars for the description of a single battle, or a movement. At times these costly dispatches were sent day after day. In our war with Spain when reports were sent by dispatch boats to Kingston, Jamaica, for transmission hence by cable, as much as two dollars a word was paid for sending them to South American and Isthmus stations, hence north through Texas. The direct cable from Kingston to Halifax was constantly crowded. The South American route was the only other available outlet and it was used freely.