A man of no little consequence in most daily papers is the commercial editor. He needs discretion, shrewdness, sound judgment, and above all to possess the highest sense of honor and responsibility. In these days when fortunes are made and lost in an hour, when farmers consult the newspapers as to the time to sell, and business is conducted at a feverish heat, it is necessary that all important commercial transactions be promptly and correctly reported in the daily papers. To do this properly is a matter of great difficulty. "Bulls" and "bears" are not over-scrupulous in playing a joke on a reporter sometimes, when they have an end in view, and unless the commercial editor of a paper is well up to his work he and his constituents will be often lead astray. He is supposed to be well versed in every topic of the commercial world, in stocks and produce, railroads, steamboats, dry-goods, hardware, and everything whereby men make gain. The exchange editor of a newspaper is a man with an eye which just covers a page of print, no matter what the size. Through his hands pass all the newspapers received at the office, except, perhaps, those on special subjects, which may go to the different editors. He is usually armed with a huge pair of shears, and as he rapidly opens one paper after another, falling on something here and there of interest or probable interest, it is cut out for revision and perhaps republication. He is the "paste and scissors" editor so much talked and read about, but has no little responsibility in making a paper readable and "newsy." From the force of education or habit he knows exactly where to look for the kind of information he requires, and a single rapid glance over a page tells him at once if there is anything there for him. He is naturally well-informed in all matters interesting the country outside the city he is in, and thus becomes an authority on local politics. The ubiquitous members of a daily newspaper staff are the city reporters. The education of habit can hardly go further than is shown in their lives. Unconsciously they are drawn to where some event is happening, or about to happen, and if the reporters are on the _qui vive_, but little need escape them. Gathering information is as much a matter of habit as the duties of the table. A reporter cannot stray along the street without finding something to make a note of, and the note is made in his mind if not in his book. [Illustration: WAITING FOR THE EDITOR.]