What a Morning Extra Means

     At 4:05 Friday morning, the Boston office of the Associated Press telephoned to the managing editor of the News that President McKinley was dying. Two hours and twenty minutes later, the News extra was on sale in the city streets informing the people of the danger which hung over the life of their chief executive.
     The average reader of that extra thought little and understood less of the enormous amount of work which had to be done in the interval between the first announcement and the distributing of the papers to the boys. The folowing [sic] description of what was accomplished in that brief space of time will give one some idea of what a night extra means to the working force of an evening newspaper:
     The Boston office asked the News man to notify the city editors of our local contemporaries, who also receive their telegraphic service from the Associated Press. He stated that it would take him a full hour to notify by telephone all the papers on the Boston circuit. After the representatives of the other papers had been notified, a carriage was secured and dispatched for the telegraphic operator, who, before his arrival, had to secure a lineman, as he knew that his wire was cut out. The foreman, typesetters, machine operators, machinists[,] stereotypers and pressmen were brought to the office, the men coming from points as far north as Corey street, and as far south as Field street, Maplewood. Even after the arrival of the workmen, there was much to be done before actual work could be begun. Steam had to be got up to run the plant, and the type metal for the machines had to be brought to a melting point, a full hour being required before the machine operators could set a line. The dispatches were edited and set up,proofs [sic] read, plates made and sent to the press room, and then the mammoth Hoe press began to turn out the extras which were the bearers of the evil tidings.
     One other thing was necessary. Newsboys were wanted to distribute the papers, and newsboys are not found on every corner at that early hour, especially as no extra had been expected. But the boys were gathered from here and there and everywhere, the papers distributed, and soon even in the outskirts of the city was heard the cry, “Fall River News Extra.”
     The News was on the streets slightly ahead of its contemporaries, but that fact is not the one of which it is most proud. A comparison of the amount of news contained in the extras issued by local papers w[i]ll show the other and more staple reason for regarding the publication of the extra as a triumph for the News, as our extra contained every dispatch received from Buffalo up to the time of going to press.
     There is a general though erroneous impres[si]on that getting out an extra is a profitable business investment for a paper. The fact is that the reverse is true, and it may be said truthfully that every extra means an actual and substantial pecuniary loss to the paper which issues it. The reasons for this are not far to seek. The working force receive extra pay for their work,there [sic] is an extra expense for telegraphic service,and [sic] the papers are sold to the newsboys for one cent. Lunch is provided for the men, and there are a thousand and one minor expenses, such as light and fuel, which add decidedly to the expenses. It will be seen that the getting out of an extra it [sic] not a matter of personal profit, and is only undertaken for the purpose of giving the best possible news service to the patrons of the paper.