| Show newspapers AND N NEWSPAPER cju WRITERS j As the freshly issued broadsheet is taken up and perused or merely glanced over to note the most important of the multi multitudinous inous news items it contains gathered from various parts of the tile globe how many think of the forces at work to produce it of the labor of mind and body the machinery and material necessary to place it there in a readable form how many think of the power it wields the influence it exercises for good or evil seated in his ills sanctum the editor by himself or his associates talks with thousands of people he is continually preaching sermons on ever varying topics religious scientific political social and moral to immense congregations he possesses advantages that the lecturer cannot avail himself of he addresses address bs himself to each individual and can remain with him that his words may be conned over weighed and referred to and he speaks with an authority that would seeh seem seem egotistic assumption if his personal identity and peculiarities were better known steam and electricity help him to place before his readers intelligence of what has happened in distant parts af the earth often almost simultaneously with the occurrence As human beings are all anxious to know what their fellow beings are doing and ardently desire the news whether the selections contributions locals and leaders of a paper be valuable or valueless whether they have a beneficial or injurious tendency people will still read the paper because they wish the news and if the morals tastes or proclivities of a party or community are vitiated and incorrect in correct the paper that circulates among them and will pander to their tastes will have the largest number of readers this thia is a tast fast age everybody admits that people are already beginning to think the ordinary modes of traveling slow they would like to journey with telegraphic speed and the editor who could furnish his readers with i spicy and detailed accounts of oven even events ts just a little tine tino before they mook took place and could do so exclusively would make a fortune in a short time to obtain and furnish early information leads f to 0 all sorts of shifts dodges and seli schemes enies enles on the part of editors and their aids to be ahead of others in ilc lic int of time in fur news there must be no wait ing to arrive at the truth it is reported and must be published readers will have it if one does not furnish the file news true or false another will and his paper will be bought hought up while the later more careful and truthful and nip ampre n conscientious ions 0 one n e is voted a biow blow slow coach hence the fd feverish race amongst reporters locals correspondents etc etc each trying to give as correct statements as lie he can but giving eivind them whether correct or incorrect take up the accounts published by papers of some great calamity notable event or circumstance of absorbing interest lay them side by side sidd and compare them and it would take weeks to arrive at a correct idea ima of the truth if it could be ever done by such means the man who reads one paper only gathers his information from its statements n and nd fondly hugs to to himself the belief that he knows all about it while the chances are that he could not rake the truth out of the mass of error printed in a month if he were to try I 1 yet with all this the newspaper wields aa w mighty influence jt it is a power felt and recognized in the cabinet the field nield field and the forum therefore editors should be men of high toned honor men who could not be bought by paltry presents the application of soft soap present or prospective offices for selves or friends or an extra column of advertisements yet unfortunately the opposite ls esthe ma rule an inai invitation citation to a banquet oi or to th a place of amusement an extended advertisement paid pad for a little tickling judiciously done and too many editorial bosoms so overflow with the milk of human kindness that the verlest nincompoop laeh jack pudding or dishonest scoundrel becomes a gentleman an artist or a man of the strictest honor and inte integrity 7 rity papers devoted to party interests must or rather do malign and slander the opposite party or parties andreport all the evils editorially magnified of their opponents extenuating and glossing over of course the faults of their friends however venal venni they may be they often think themselves justified because they do all in defence of certain principles which they believe in and of which they consider themselves the exponents the doctrine of is very generally acted upon however much it may be decried the ithe end justifies the meins means means some borne papers again start 0 out ut on an independent basis that is the proprietors and conductors desire to become independent as soon as possible in a monetary point of view with them the dollar is the be all and the end all the speculation may be successful but if it is in too many instances that success is dependent on other and less honorable causes than editorial ability one great error under which projectors and conductors of newspapers seem to rest is that they are and ought to be merely mediums for enunciating certain political or sectional views or a source of making money those who indulge in the latter view are often apt to be hugely deceived whose fT hose who indulge in the former commit a serious mistake that they are recognized 0 as vehicles for more than the si simple simpie aple dissemination of news is at once onee anee evident from the fact that readers de dei 1 mand and editors find it imperative on them to tb furnish leaders articles on numerous topics and other written matter calculated to awaken interest these indicate the tone and aim of a paper they are the true criteria by which to judge it they should be of a character to elevate not to degrade the reader their object should be to teach the masses if this were done and men possessed of suM sufficient clent elent intelligence and integrity only were employed to wield the pens devoted to such work the world would flooded today to day with the tho perfect deluge of washy trashy matter papers and periodicals that are poured forth like an ever increasing river from the great cities of the earth or the miserable silly and dictions duct ions that vegetate and flourish in smaller towns and cities our meditations are partly attrib attributable lita ilta to some extracts from a paper a little over a century old published in england july 1763 1703 we were struck by the startling account of some terrible doings of the indians in the back settlements of pittsburg and detroit we thought that indians then were much the same as indians koiv now but newspapers were very different institutions and viewing the vast field in which they operate we could not help thinking how their influence was wielded and their powers ap applied plied piled and have given our readers the benefit of a few of our thoughts |
