Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-04-26
Tbe Press and the Public.

One of many letters of similar tenor re-
Gently received, says, in perfect simplicity,
II assure you that what you say in favor of
Peace and of lenity to Rebels does not rep
resent the sentiments ofyour subscribers in
this quarter" We haven't the least doubt
of it. Representing-tha is rejecting,
conforming to-thc changing opinion of
the hour, may not be difficult; but itsurely
cannot be achieved by those who do not try /;
and We never attempted the task, finding it
unadapted to our mental habits and tastes,
We might hoe cotton for peck of corn and
a couple of pounds ofbacon per week, with
few cuts of horsewhip thrown in at in
tervals; we can certainly chop cord-wood
or dig potatoes for living, for we have
tried; but to represent public opinion in the
editorial columns of a newspaper is task
quite outside of our capacity. The physi-
cal possibility of doing it may or myy not
inhere in our faculties: the moral does not.
We are sometimes inspired with intense
disgust for vocation whereof the popular
estimate appears to be so sordid and low.
We have quite often received epistles
gravely informing us that what we think
and say on a certain topicis is unpopular. in
the evident presumption that we only need
to know this to make us wear ship at once,
and come short round on the other tack.
The notion that writer should ever un-
dertake to resist, correct and improve pub
lie sentiment seems as inconceivable to our
mentors as that man should practice law
with view to the promotion OF justice
rather than for the sake Of the money he
might earn by it. ,-".
If the public is to be made any better, it
must have instructors who do not "repre-
sent" its average views, but are wiser, bet
ter, profounder, than they are. A journal
ist who uniformly represents" the popu-
lar opinion may make his newspaper profit
able to its publishers but what can he
possibly have done for his readers y AS a
vehicle of news, his sheet may be valuable;
but his editorials, considered as lamps
along the public highway and guides to
correct thinking, can be of no use what
ever. v. r...
The idea which seems to, lie at the bottom
of the degrading conception of our calling
which we find prevalent seems to be not far
from this: An editor is an intellectual glad
iator, whom we hire orpay to find or invent
reasons for the course which we have pre-
determined to take. He is like the lawyer
who, being paid his fee, does his best for
his client, whether that clients case be
good or bad. He cannot always win; but
he must ascertain what his clients want
dllu 'ItpIcScllL III dS WCil ITO HC Cdils
Now we know and could name journals
that always mean to ''go with the tide"
and generally succeed in this: we presume
that they also succeed in making money /;
but they have no more influence on public
opinion than the weathercock has on the
direction or force of thewind. They may
be consulted as evidence of what's popular,
and may, in that view, have certain value,
but in no other are they worth straw.
Sometimes, we are addressed by per-
son who says, IL have taken your paper
fifteen or twenty years, and have never
disagreed with it till now." We are very
sorry to hear it; for, in the course of SO
many years, we must have been many times
wrong, and you ought to have detected
some of those errors. The end and aim of
this Journal are, not to make its readers
think in all cases as we do, but TO teach
them to think for themselvs. We state our
own opinions freely and frankly; we ask
for them fair consideration and a candid
Judgment; but we never dreamed that
every one would make them his own, In
fact, If we supposed every one united in
the belief of a certain proposition, we
should waste no words IN Its defense. 1t Is
precisely because we presume an opinion
mot generally entertained that we show
cause for cherishingit. z b u 80 So
On single point, we insist on being bet
ter understood Several have written us,
protesting against .'sentimentality,n s.tend-
erness to criminals &c. They entirely
mistake our position. Its in the interest
not of the criminal but of the yet unde-
praved thatwe resist penal inflictiops that
tend to barbarize the community, 1T is In
the interest of Human Liberty that we re-
sist all that tends to invest the defeated
champions of Slavery with the honors of
martyrdom. We cannot well agree with
those who hold that great criminal es-
capes punishment unless the law takes his
lite orinfiiets on him some kind efy fyphysical
torture for our respective Stand -points are
not within hail of each other; but we can
possibly makeqstudents Of history and of
human nature comprehend that no party
triumphant in great civihwsr ever yet
suffered from treating its vanquished op-
moments with too much lenity. The danger
| Is all the other way: for there will always