KANSAS CITY STAR CUB REPORTER

Newsroom Linotype Machines

Dearest Ernest,

My apologies for not writing sooner. After reading your initial letters that you sent from Kansas City, as you engaged in your job as cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, I decided to order the collection of the articles that you wrote for the Star.

I have to first share with you, Ernest, that the post today has become much faster now, and there are times that I can even get a book immediately from a source called the Internet. You'd love it, as all of the great books of the world are at your fingertips, as well as all of the works of new and upcoming authors. I won't get into this in detail right now, but I promise to share with you as we go. You'd be amazed!

The last couple of weeks have been about waiting, waiting, waiting for the articles to arrive. They're suppose to be here this week - out of publication so I had to order them from a used book dealer.

You Ernest, on the other hand, are like a rolling stone that gathers no moss! Wow!  How wonderful that your father sent you a Line O' Type. Your life of immersion as a cub reporter was just made easier! 

Already you are involved in, and writing about the brewing war efforts. Your letter of Oct 25th 1917 mentions that you were in the same vicinity as Major General Leonard Wood and Lord Northcliffe. 

You couldn't have known, when you met them, that Major Wood would serve as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba, and Governor General of the Philippines. He began his military career as an army doctor on the frontier, where he received the Medal of Honor. He was bypassed for a major command in World War I, but then became a prominent Republican Party leader and a candidate for the 1920 presidential nomination. He served as civilian Governor General in the Philippines in the 1920s, where he quarreled with Filipinos who wanted home rule.

Lord Northcliffe, on the other hand, was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. He owned the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, among other publications. Northcliffe's ownership of major publications and newspapers meant that his editorials wielded great influence over both "the classes and the masses". In an era before TV, radio or internet, that meant that Northcliffe dominated the British press "as it never has been before or since by one man." He traveled the U.S. as head of the British War Mission placing pro-war articles in American newspapers.

Ernest, WOW, you are rubbing shoulders with some very influential and powerful people! I realize that it's just in passing, but how many people even get access! 

Love your moniker for your newspaper beat - "the short-stop run". The Star has sent you after all that is newsworthy at the Fifteenth Street Police station and the General Hospital. You've got your foot firmly in the door, my friend! 

I like that you continue to stay in touch with and seek out news about your friends and acquaintances back in Oak Park. You have a capacity for connectedness, via correspondence and shared news that is truly admirable. I would have dubbed you a successful precursor to the Internet when it comes to connectivity! Your capacity for connectedness certainly could have given Northcliffe a run for his money!

So I'l close with a warm "three cheers" for Hemingway the Cub Reporter and for the other members of your newsroom crew that you pal around with. Keep the news flowing and the coffee hot!

Till next time,
B