If you cannot get to a telegraph wire, do not hesitate to use the long-distance telephone. Have your facts well in mind so that you can tell them without an expensive waste of time. A big story may be rushed into type for the city edition of a morning newspaper as late as 2:30 o’clock or even later. News that is important enough to warrant “making over” the first page or the issuance of an extra edition is available up to 4 or 5 o’clock.
Evening newspapers, as a rule, are essentially local in character, and hence use less special telegraph matter than those published in the morning. But a big story is a big story at any hour of the day or night, and if it develops in time for day publication the correspondent of an evening newspaper should use every effort to get it in. The St. Louis _Post-Dispatch_ says: “In the early hours of the morning--say up to 10 or 11 o’clock--a brief bulletin on any important news item will be sufficient; if the telegraph editors want more they will notify you by wire. But after that hour the _Post-Dispatch_ would rather have too much of a good thing than not enough. Remember that the Home Edition--the principal edition of the _Post-Dispatch_--is practically closed to its correspondents at noon. If anything BIG happens in your locality about that time, rush it to the _Post-Dispatch_ without any preliminary notification. Do not hesitate to ‘take a chance’ at any time if you believe you have something that the _Post-Dispatch_ would like to know about.”
Feature stories, which are as interesting at one time as another, obviously should be sent by mail. To what extent the correspondent should use the mails for matter of more immediate interest depends somewhat on the instructions he receives from his office. As a rule, early news matter for a morning newspaper should be sent by mail if the correspondent is sure his letter will reach the office by 10 o’clock at night. If news of great importance is mailed, wire the office to that effect, telling what train your letter is on. Most newspapers furnish special envelopes to their correspondents for use in mailing stories. Don’t hesitate to use a special delivery stamp in mailing important news. It is often possible for the correspondent to send news in advance by mail, to be held until a dispatch is received from him releasing the story for publication. A speech or a report of which the correspondent has an advance copy may be handled in this way to save telegraph tolls and time.