Maumee City express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1838-184?, 1839-05-18
MAUMEE CITY EXPRESS.
SATURDAY, MAY 1e. 1889.

the subject OF the proposed convention OF
newspaper editors and publishers, to be
holden at Columbus on the Sth July, and
should still continue to do SO, but for the
appearance in the Ohio State Journal of a
list of newspapers whose editors, according
to the Journal, have signifed their intention
to be present on that occasion, accompanied
with request that, "if, bymlstake or 9TH
erwise, any name has been inserted without
due authority, an immediate and respectful
notification of the fact" will be given. AS
we have no recollection of ever having zig
nifed, by word, look, gesture or paragraph
our intention to be present OH the occasion
referred to, we were somewhat surprised to
see the name of our paper inserted in the
list, fact which, we hope, the editor of the
journal will take as respectful nctifica-
ton that we have not yet determined to at
tend, however grateful to our feelings it may
be to look forward to meeting with our
editorial friends ofthis great and fourlshing
state. We confess, that SO far as pleasure
enters into the account, we know not how
we could elect to spend few days gilmore
enjoyment than would arise from mingling
in the society of those who are engaged
in the same kind of business, and whose
days and nights are given to the same
kind of hopes and fears, of cares and
labors of pleasures and disappolntments
that ours are. Considered in the light ol an
excursion for amusement, we feel SEN
timents ofregret that the calls of business
and the still more pressing considerations of
economy will not permit ms to enroll our
name in the list of those who will probably
attend, but here we must be allowed to say,
our regret ceases, for we have ne er yet
been able to discover out ofwhat, in the do
ings of this Convention any real good can
be expected to arise.
The evils under which the publishers of
newspapers suffer lie too deep TO be reached
by the doings of body that can only re-
solue without the power of enforcing their
resolutions. The courtecies interchang-
ed by the meeting of day are not
such as will be carried into practice to any
extent, even when fortified by resolutions
to do SO, so long as every editor will be a
self.constituted arbitrer of the rules and will
construe and practice as he understands
them. 1t is beautiful to think of reforma-
tion in this matter, esnecially wi ne is so
much needed, but, Alas, the prescribed re-
medy is not equal to the disease, which
can only be cured by an application to the
heart, such as is only the result of calm and
sober reflection, best performed at home.
Nor do we believe the inadequate reward
which the publishers Of newspapers receive
for their labors is matter in which concert
and resolutions can be productive of a re-
formation, There is a foreign competition
continually operating upon the interests OF
the local press, which Is beyound the juris-
diction of any Convention. The presses in
several of the cities ofthe United States are
teeming with such publications as the Sat-
urday Courier, Saturday Evening Post, AL
exander's Messenger, and whole train Of
Lady's Books and Parlor Magazines, which
are sold at the cheapest rate, and heralded
forth to the public, under the imposing title
of "Famly Newspapers, "Lades Maga-
zines" and so forth, while their circulation
is aided by flaming prospectuses, huge re-
wards ofnovels and trash promised to those
who may become agents, copperplate en-
cravings, prints of the fashions, wood cuts
in each number, and all the fiourishes Of
rhetoric that are calculated to impose upon
the eignorant and entrap the unwary. These
miserable emasculated things are filled up
with the namby pamby trash ofthe day, Sill
ly tales of love and murder, and old stereo'
type Joe Miller jokes, without a spice oil
originality or even an attempt at what is re-
ally useful. 1t is these soulless publications
made up of extracts from old almanacs
gleanings from each other, stealings from
the whole newspaper press at large, and the
productions oflove-sick poets and silly tale
wrights, and which to call Family Newspa-
pers is most arrant perverslon of terms,
that find agents in every Post Master, and
what is worse ready advocates and most
constant buffers in almost every country
newspaper, and by the means find their way
into almost every family circle, to the per,
version of the tastes Its members, and to
the exclusion of the honest and laboriouslo-
cal press that dwindles and expires under
the influence that it has so foolishly labored
to build up. For ourselves, were we the
father ofa family, none of these vaunted
Family Newspapers, and talented Ladies
| Rooka should over find their waV into the