The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-12-08

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aArrsrrrr or rHs posLIc ron THE ScAE.
DIAL OF PR,vArg Lire. Under this head,
the New York Herald remarks The morbid
taste exhibited by newspaper readers for the
prurient details which are occasionally dis.
closed In the trial Of divorce cases, renders
the task of the journalist often delicate and
difficult one. Ifhe were TO consult simply
his sense Of right, he would suppress every
thing which has tendency to demoralise
the public mind, by familiarizing it with
vice; but II he takes into consideration his
own interests, he will do as others do, and
leave She task Of moral reform to some more
and chivalrous member of the
confraternity. The public are but too apt to
regard newspaper as mere vehicle of in
telligence, without reference to its higher and
nobler purposes, and the journalist who takes
different view Of it must be prepared to
make large sacrifices to his conscientiousness.
II he omits from his reports of the proceed
ing of the law courts details which are not
only revolving in themselves. but poisonous
in their influence on the public mind, he not
only gets no thanks for his scruplousness,
but differences are drawn from the fact I'M
favorable to the business character of his
journal The results, as regards its circula-
ton, are obvious. Those who may be dis
posed to agree with him in opinion, form,
unfortunately, but small fraction of news
paper readers; and were he to address him.
self merely to their tastes, he would soon
find his less punctilious contemporaries out
stripping him in the race Of public favor.
But few journalists have moral courage
enough to face this consequence; and thus it
is that the newspaper press is so frequently
made the unwilling vehicle of much that is
detrimental to the public morals"
The Herald says it has been led to make
these remarks by the publication, few days
since, in its columns of the disgusting Incl.
dents of one of those catastrophes in domestic
life which destroy the happiness of SO many
families, and which, unhappily, says the
Herald, Notwithstanding all the puritanism
and cant which have become the characters
tic features of our New York society, seem
like gangrene, to be only spreading the
more rapidly from the efforts made to cloak
them.
The Herald then proceeds to apologize
for its inadvertence in permitting the details
of the case to appear, and adds:
Gas long as the public themselves, however, hold
out premium to the publication of the filth and
obscenity disclosed on these trials we confess we
do not see much hope OF their effectual suppression
The keen competition and Jealousy which exist
amongst the conductors of the newspaper press,
will always prevent any general harmony of action
amongst them on the subject. They will abandon
no part of the recognized province of journalism
which may give an advantage In point ofcircuation
to their rivals. Unfortunately, the features to
which we allude are amongst those which crafty
the common failiDgs of the human mind, and 1t is
therefore not to be expected that they will prove
any exception to the rule"
We are pleased to see the Herald apolosi-
zing for its publication in the Childs case,
and hope we may welcome it as a sign that
hereafter the Herald will exclude from its
columns those indecencies and obscenities
which have characterized it from the mo-
ment of its establishment. We do not be-
lieve that the public appetite demands any
such prurient food. The Herald set the ex-
ample of fostering and cultivating such an
appetite, and doubtless it has grown by the
foul meat it has fed on, until now its wants
require active purveying. But men who can
degrade the press to depth of baseness low
er even than that of the procuress, who can
convert that noble engine of human power
20 fha
passions of human nature, deserve to be put
in the pillory and pelted from sunrise till sun
down with missiles as foul as their own base
thoughts and purposes. 1t cannot be doubt.
ed that the newspaper press in such hands,
no matter whatits other virtues may be, is a
greater curse than blessing, We hope that
the other New York journals which have i'm
itated the Herald's bad example, may follow
it in its promised path of reformation.
BREADsTUFFs-The New York Sun is of
opinion that the last advices from Europe
are not favorable to an advance in breadstuffs
in our markets. Glad to hear it. We are
always pleased to be informed of decline
OF prices. In regard to consumption, it is
better, in our opinion, that decline should
prevail among prices instead of consumers.
We are in favor of breadstuffs going down,
especially when good butter can be obtained
to facilitate their descent
THE THOMPSON JURY-The Greenbr;er
Era says of the jury in the Thompson case,
that about one-half of them are not free.
holders; that one or more are said to be nm.
der the age of 81, and that several of them
are known to be perjured men.
We fully agree with the Era that the Ward
case, bad as it was, cannot compare in
atrocity with the Thompson case. A man
would better have hundred such murders
as that of Ward on his head, than the mon.
strous crime of which the jury acquitted Dr.
Thompson.
The FIRST ELECTION IN K.Ns.s-It
nounced under our latest news head ve.,.ra.u
that Gen. J. w. Whitfield, the slavery cand;d.,.
had been elected delegate to Congress from Ksn.
sas, over Robsrt P. Flenniken, ESQ tina c.na,a.,.
OF the free soilers The following are acme ~ ,h
returns sA0
Whitfield