There was new interest in Tim’s eyes and he drank in Dan Watkins’ words.
“You’re luckier than you know,” added the head copy reader, “for you have behind you a great newspaper organization. Someday, and someday soon, the News will need an aviation editor. Someone who knows the air from A to Z, someone with nerves and brains and foresight, and there isn’t a reason in the world why you shouldn’t fill that editorial chair when the time comes. Don’t get moody, don’t get discouraged. I know the weather gets a fellow’s nerves once in a while but you must learn to pull yourself over those rough spots.”
“I think you’re right about the future for an aviation editor,” agreed Tim, “and that’s one of the things that has put me in the dumps lately. The field is so big and I know so little about it. When the time comes to select an editor I’m afraid Carson will pass me by and pick a man with more education.”
“You can remedy that, Tim,” said Dan. “You can take work at night school and I have a fine library at my room. I’d be only too glad to lend you some of my books and suggest reading material that will help you. You’ll have to hit the line hard, Tim, but you’ve got the stuff to do it. And besides, Carson likes you and when he knows you are trying to better yourself it will make a big difference with him.”
Tim’s face was aglow with new hope and courage. “I’ll work hard,” he promised. “I love the flying game; it’s becoming life itself to me and I want to keep on but I won’t be satisfied unless I’m something more than a flying reporter.”
“I admire your ambition, but don’t be too impatient now, Tim,” counselled the copyreader. “As a matter of fact you’ve gone a lot further than most young fellows your age.”
“The growth of aviation is going to be like the growth of the newspapers. The young fellows who had plenty of foresight back in 1890 and 1900 are the big men of today. I started in the print shop back in the home town, sweeping out and sorting lead slugs. Got fifty cents a week and thought it was big pay. Next thing, I was setting type by hand out of a case. Used to sit on a high stool from 7 o’clock in the morning until night and the day before we went to press we used to work half the night.” Dan smiled a little at the thoughts of the old days.
“When we first read about Mergenthaler and his typesetting machine, we thought he was a nut of some kind. But a few believed in him and today they are the leaders in the newspaper business.”
“We used to print our weekly paper on a Washington hand press, and it took us all day to get out a few hundred copies. Now even the weeklies have modern presses while the dailies turn out 36, 48 and 56 page papers by the thousands every hour.”
“The same revolution has taken place in the editorial rooms. When I first came to work on the News we had one dinky little telegraph wire that brought only a few hundred words of news a day. We’d take that and pad it out and also used the scissors liberally to cut dispatches out of the big eastern papers. We never knew from one week to another whether our pay checks were good and it was always a race to see who could get to the bank first.”