The Press: Man on the Beat

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's veteran Federal Building reporter, Ray A. (for Archibald) Webster once took aggressive pity on an underpaid reporter from an opposition paper. "Listen, you," Webster gruffly told him, "the Star is going to have to raise you to $50 a week or I'll scoop you every day—and you tell your managing editor that." The Starman meekly passed on the warning and was speedily raised to $50 a week to keep Webster from carrying out his threat. There was no doubt that he could carry it out. For most of the...