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About Oregon City enterprise. (Oregon City, Or.) 1891-194? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1909)
-s f OREGON CITY ENTERPRISE, FRIDAY, AUGUST (?, 1001). t . . - IN A METR0POLITAN NEWS- SHORT STORY CONTEST ' NTEREST- PAPER'S 1 TT 41 ii i I'il y-j ti ENCIRCLED THE GLOBE The New York Herald Received 5,000 Manuscripts Representing Not Only, Evcryt.State in the Union but Every Country in the World Where English Speaking People Reside vy w yy vy 1 I, , vxsm " x v' l a ' n i wn i i Ki'it.- . ivva s mm Jh??& ill -' fe J I, V --TTT -'s -.' : Iff ;.x j .",.- V - ;;. - ' : .,-i-v-. t J,-; f;,-... ,-: ...y, i.o. .y , t ' -i.,'-. --- - ...-a-w-.v.. . K; 'I I 1 J- the tory In Nich roiHtltlon receiving tho moihI Ursi-st vole, J500, mid for tli ntory In fob comHtl Hon rrvolvliiK the thlnl lrft vote. Ji.VX rruTlMlon was lumlo to rcpulillnh the flro tirlo In oh com Htltlon which Ivhx1 hlKhest, for tho flnl conliler tlon of rvHili-rs, mul provision wnn lo ninde for the ill vision of the prlo equally In t ' impnlar vote betwctn tlve who were tl1. The nuniln'r of votes cast for the various contests for the grand prises was kept secret, lut each day a list was printed showing the relative positions of the leaders. The progress of the contest was reported In the Herald every day and, In addition, letters from readers commenting on the stories and criticising them wer also printed. The criticisms became one of the moat popular features 'of the competition and scores of letters were received every day from enthusiastic fol lowers of the contest, praising their favorite stories, pointing out what they considered defects In other dories and expressing their likes, dislikes and general lews on everything connected with the competition. Another feature which met with approval was the publication of the photographs of contestants and of short biographical sketches each Sunday of the au thors of the stories that were printed that day. These sketches were obtained In Investigating the eligibility of the contestants, no story being printed In the school teachers' competition until It had been established bo yond the peradventur of a doubt that the contestant was a school teacher, and no story In the other com petition until It had been conclusively ascertained that the writer was an American, this division of the .ontest being restricted to Americans. Incidentally. It may be stated that the Herald received a number of letters from Europeans expressing regret that the were Ineligible so eager were amateur writers ei-ery where to avail themselves of the opportunity to get their work before the public. Newspapers throughout the country soon after the competition was Inaugurated took cog ilxance of the attention which It was attracting and of the value from a purely news standpoint of the various devel opments In It. and printed many columns of articles regarding It. The publication of a storj from any particular community was treated as an Im portant news Item by the press of that community rnd attention was prominently called to the matter Frequently there would be keen rivalry between neighboring communities which were represented In the contest, and the newspapers did yeoman service In trying to carry their favorites to vli lory, son. of them even publishing editorial appeals to local pride. Shortly after the preliminary announcement made by the Herald the manuscripts began to flow In. Long before January 2, when the lists were opened py the publication of the four Initial stories, an aggre gate .of several hundred stories of both classes had been received In the otlice and had been placid In the hands of the committee apolnted to select the con testants for the fray. The best of tho manuscripts Readers of the Herald Decided h Ballot Which Stories Should Receive the $10,700 Prizes, and Such Enthu siasm Was Aroused That No Less Than Two Million Were Voted for the Partisans' Various Favorites through the eyes of outsiders, that eventually won for him the splendid serenity in which he worked out his masterpieces. The Mine came when nobody, Includ ing himself, could doubt that In the more Important couiHtltloiis In the larger world he was ludeed su preme. Is there not here a lesson for all beginners In literature 1 The manuscripts presented a variegated apenrance. It had been stipulated In the published conditions of the contest that all contributions should be type written. Iilsregnrvl of this condition was considered n handicap against a manuscript, but not an absolute dlsipiallllcHllon. Many of the competltora pleaded Inability to secure competent typewriters In their par ticular lH-alitles. Others urged poverty as a reason why they could not employ outside services. Over strictness might lose a valuable story. It was deemed best to follow n liberal ixuley. Hut, other things lie. if i"? if '( j ,t a. r .v." it ji.Mi ij J, Jj' f on this last day. Itesldcs t ho ordinary rtpriss and the ordinary mall imtny manuscripts arrived by spe cial delivery; others were handed In personally by the nut hiirs or their representatives: others, again, were forwarded through district messengers. The glut fur the moment was appalling. lint many hands mid many heads sihui brought order out of chaos, ami Hie entire number were tabulated, classlilcd, ronl and reread In time for the tliial selections, In order to reach tills result, however, it wn nlio lutely necessary to stick to the letter of the condi tions. It had been announced that no manum rlpl received after six o'clock on June 7 would be cmnM ercd. That rule had to be enforced Simultaneously the department ,,f the llcrnM nlo rs the votes were received and counted was threatened with temporary submersion. Hnllots arrived In letters by post. In parcels by hand. In packages liv eme Here again fresh relays of recruits ctiihllhcit and maintained order. These ballots covered Iwlh " awards if weekly prises now concluded and the gninil prles In be awarded lifter all the victors In th ti rate duels were crowned, as tliey have mm In-en crowned. Of the ItH participants the majority were w n - seventy seven aiuarnus ami twenty-seven knlu-hl" Isire the brunt of the fray. It was only natural dial a liuce majority of these came from the Aliunde ninl Middle Slates ' Inevitably It was this region thai 'iiptiirrd the largest number of prises. Itul the Far West and I'nelllc I'nnst Slates alio had answered In ii" mean numbers to the trumpet calls of the llenild This Is shown III the list of enUlietllor .elecled Jamestown, N. I: I'lirlland. linker flty and Oregon flu In Ore gon; Tucuiiliiirl, N M : l.os Angeles ninl I'nlo Alio, I 'al : Unite, Muni., anil oilier nutosis In Hie Far West furnished roinpelHom to one or the oilier of the contests, together with Inure Inland cities like iener. Col.: Chicago, and Alexandria. Minn. One of the surprises of the routes! might be called Filing the Short Stories. Deluge of Short Stories. (From Our Special Correspondent.! NEW YORK. Saturday. WHEN an American newspaper conducts a contest which attracts entries from every State in the Union, which arouses Intense enthusiasm among clergymen and actresses, financiers and artisans, octogenarians and school children, there will be none to gainsay the Btatemeat that the paper has accomplished a uotable success. But the Netf York Herald has not only suc ceeded in doing all this with Its J10.700 short story competitiou, but a great deal more. Interest In the Herald's remarkable undertaking was not covtined to the United States; 1( was world wldelnitssope.and the assertion Is made advisedly. From the toirid Jungles of Yucatan, wbose denizens are for the ni.wt part tbe descendants of the aborig inal Carlbs, aul froi-the snowy fastnesses of the Canadian wilderness, from' ancient Cairo and Pekln, and from ploneei camps in South America; from the West Indies and t.'e. Isles of the South Sea; from half l du&en countries til Europe and from the Philip pines lu short, froi every part of the globe where English speaking ptiple are to be found manu-K-ripts Wept pouring U.o the Herald office while the intries were- being ret'lved. Five thousand short stories were turned over 'o the committee which had the reading of the maDust-ipts In charge. When a newspaper publuveg 10i short stories and calls UKn Its readers to deck's by voting on a ballot printed lu the paper which stot g are most worthy of prizes, und when two million su. h ballots are cast, It may be said without fear of contr. diction that the re sult obtained is phenomenal. I5ui that is precisely what took place In the Herald's coa.vetitlon, readers of the stories, with nothing to gain the-uselvcs and no personal Interest to serve, recording, thei' opinion, aui only In th united Staies, out in other countries. vvnen stories of such .-allure are entt-ed In the contest that .'uimedlatel.- following their pauIstVm their obscure autbu-s, wbose ilrtt attempts at literary work they were, are besought by publishers and high class magazines for contributions, the paper, It will be agreed, bus performed a notable achievement. But that Is exactly what happened In tbe Herald's compe tition. From this preamble will be gained some Idea of what occurred In one of the mont novel and entertain ing projects ever undertaken by a metropolitan or any other newspaper. fj Such widespread and deep public Interest was ex cited by the New York Herald's Anglo-American competition between Mr. Max PeuiberUm, of Eng land, and Mrs. Mary Wllklns Freeman, of America, that on October 25, 190S, the Herald announced that It had decided to conduct two other competitions, "open to all American writers, but especially de signed to encourage the school teachers of the coun try and amateur writers generally to show their strength as story tellers." It was honed In this way, the Herald said, to help men and women, particularly young men and women, to demonstrate their ability o tell striking tales of romance and adventure who if P. Vi"l-r W ff"!"; i. ... i.r..r--ni..jf-i. r , , , - - "7-s-pir I Jin I 'pusjumiti.i.l l ' I I ,rtT2:"r ' - ill II , ''"! I II I - . k i i i mm ii . . cnsi . r r a ... u srWlrr-'.. ill Mwe Than Two Million L'.illots Ui.spl.iycd I" X ' ' ail in the OmiHuini Uinilniu nf Ihr Mou v,,,u 10 Hr.rald Ruildine I : . "T- - in ii- II I u :t v Counting Ballots Received in the Morning Mail otherwise would remain mute and inglorious a writers for the public. The announcement also said: "It U very probable that more than one genius with the pen will thus b brought to light, to the delight of the reading world md tbeir own great profit. Under present conditions In the magazine and newspaper field it Is very diffi cult for an unknown writer to get a hearing" From the stories sent in by school teaciiers two were chosen euch week by a committee comi"ci, oi or professional manuscript reader, wno might even unconsciously have foibles, but ot competent literary critics. This committee also chose two stories for publication each week from the stories sent in by jate,.'- nd other American writers. The first stones were published Kundny, January 8, and there were In all twenty-mx instalments, fifty-two stories being printed In each competition, the last ap pearing Sunday, June 27. The readers of the stories determined each week which of the two stories In each competition was the better, und the weekly winner was paid $75 and the writer of the other story was paid $25. Thus $200 was distributed each week as weekly prizes for twenty-six weeks, making a total of $5,200 which was so disbursed. Keen interest was shown in the weekly prizes and thousands of ballots were cast each week. The voting for the weekly prizes continued for seventeen days after the stories were printed, Hiillicleut time being given to allow ballots to come from the Pacific coast. Koine of the weekly winners had majorities as high as five thousand votes, but there was one which won by the narrow margin of ten votes. Besides the weekly prizes totalllne $5,200 there were grand prizes amounting to $5,500. divided as follows: For the story in each competition receiving" the greatest number of grand prize votes, $2,000; for went through two readings. First the wheat wan separated from the chaff. Next tbe wheat was sifted for the purpose of securing the more promising grains. This final test was based on the opinion of the majority of the committee as to which grains would prove most appetizing to the general public, and therefore most likely to enlist Its Interest In tbe contest. Of eour there were heartburnings and bickerings. It would have been a dellghtrui uiiiccsf "e experi ment if all the five thousand competitors could have been gratified by the selections made by the commit tee. That under human cond'tlons was Impossible, rerhaps It was even Impossible that the final selec tions should be Ideally perfect Judges themselves are human, and therefore fallible. A unanimous decision In the case of any manuscript wus rarely reached. One reader might have a special preference for this, another for that contribution. The final selection could only be the result of mutual compromise. Rut huuld be evident that such a compromise Is a nearer approach to exact Justice than the triumph of any In dividual over '.he opposition of the majority. Legal as well as lay tribunal; have found by long experience that compromise Is the only uinan means of attaining approximate certainty In cases of this Jort. Now, If human tribunals are at the best ramble, what shall be said of the fallibility of authors them selves? "We brew and we like our own tap, amen," says Thackeray. (Joethe In his youth went through a notable experience. In bis school days, be tells us, he frankly thought that his own essays were the best. He noticed, however, that each of his fellow students thought the same of his own. Somebody, say all but one, must be mistaken. He took the lesson to heart. Was he, too, one of the self-deceived? It was this self-criticism and self-analysis, this eagerness to look at himself from the outside and lug eipinl, the preference was necessarily given to typewritten over handwritten contributions, even when the non-typists hnd gone to the trouble, as they frequently bad, of writing their manuscripts In print like characters. Some of the contributions, typewrit ten and otherwise, were beautifully Illuminated after the manner of the tiiedlnevii. missals and were really remarkable works of art. These received their proper meed of unnfllclal admiration. Acaln. one of the stlnulatlons had been that no con tribution should exceed 2,500 words. Once more s liberal policy was allowed to prevail. And once more tho liberality hnd Its necessary boundaries. An excess over the authorized limit of 2.500 words was consld ercd a handicap, but not an absolute disqualification when such excess was not over-excessive. It was Im possible, of course, to stretch this liberality too far. In some cases the manuscripts could not even be con sidered. Not only would ovcr-llbernllty be an Injustice to authors who had compiled with the exact conditions of the contest, but It would Interfere with the pro posed mechanical arrangement of publishing two stories on one page. Another difficulty that faced the com in I ' "e was tlin enormous number of iiiaiiuscrlo'i received. There were 4,878 In all, dlvl'4 as rollows: School teachers, Z'.T; sUmM and other writers, 4 ,0.'l I . They came from nil parts of the country and of the world at large. The contributions Increased In volume as the compe tition advanced. ( On the very last day appointed for the receipt of manuscripts (Monday, June 7) neurly four hundred arrived. They began coming In earl In the morning with the first mall and the first express deliveries. They rolled along In n steady stream until midnight, and not a few slopped over Into the morning and the evening of June 8 and en mo dribbling In all through the week. Kvery method of conveyance was utilized Hie Kelly sisters' episode. On May II (here was pub lished In the Amateur and Other American Writers' (ontest a story called "The Mystery l.iuly," by Marvel Vance Abbott, of Oregon City, Ore. luvesilgatlnii proved that Mill.M'l Value Abbott was a pseudonym used by Miss F.lmlua Kelly, a typewriter lu Oregon City. The fuel was duly uiiuounced In Herald read era. On May 2.'l there came nut In the school teachers' rontest a story called "Tho Hulling Point," which was frankly signed Miss Mllzabeth Kelly. Klitillar laves ligation proved that she wns n sister of Miss F.lmlua Kelly and a school teacher In Oregon City Hard upon this discovery the committee learned thai n story which was published In I lie school teacneo contest on May IM), "Her llravo Iluckayro," was writ ten by still another sister, Miss May Kelly, of I'orl land, Ore., a teacher In tho first grade lu a school alt ualed lu the foreign (pinner in that city. Thus this remarkably talented family had produced three suc cessful candidates, whose work had been selected for tho final competition by tho committee on short stories. No one, could huvo been more surprised than the com mittee themselves at the outcome of their decisions. There were some less pleasant Incidents. A few would bo contributors were detected in plagiarisms Stories translated from the French, mid badly trans lated at that, wero traced to their origin and sum marily rejected. Worse remains behind. Nome of die fraudulent competitors ncii;!!y pilfered old magazines for stories, which they submitted for exnuiluallou One of these, people bad beeu so awkward oi 1 1. ..L i tis lo fall upon a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which had first appeared anonymously In a iiinga.lne ami was later Included In his "Twice Told Tales." I nunc dlate detection followed and nil the stories suhmliied by this "author," every ouo of which had exclied sus picion by reason of Jhelr old fashioned style, were pr ptly returned with a Justifiable rebuke. And as all sections were represented, so also were all ages and conditions of life. There were sexagena rian at on" "nil, anil, us an extreme Instance, on the other :;.ere were two girls of sevenio u, who f urnish, d 'lories that were examples of astonishing piecodiy. There were u few professional writers, but die vast majority. Including, of course, the school teacher, were engaged In earning 'their livelihoods in viii Ioim avocations not directly or even Indirectly cniiuei led Willi lllerature. There were lawyers, doctors, type writers, clerks, salesmen and saleswomen. Many of these have never before attempted fiction. One and all nit! to be congratulated on the success of (heir en deavors. If a classification could be iniiile of nil dm 4.K7H writers who sent in mamiscrlptH fur eMiiiiinallnii It would be found Hint nearly every field of human activity had been covered, so far reaching and so broadly Inclusive was the Interest aroused by the compel II Ion. Following the publication of the final Install, ent nf stories In the cntupctldiiii the Herald was over whelmed with request that the stories lie gathered together and republished In book form, nnd nlso that another contest be started as speedily as possible. 17