Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-06-15
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
FRIDAY, JUNE 0, 1871.
Annual Meeting of the Verm mont
Editors and Publishers Associ-
alton.

Eliors and Publishers Association was
held at the Bates House, Rutland, on
Thursday evening, June Sth, Hon. E P.
Walton, President of the Association,
pres ding; D. Webster Dixon. Sec'y.
The following named gentlemen were
present:
f. B. Whiting, St Albans.
G G. Benedict, Free Press and Times,
Burlington.
Albert Clarke, Messenger and Tran
script. St. Adams
A. n. Swain, Times, Bellows Falls.
C N Chrse, Union, Lyndon.
c. NJ Slone, Caledonian St Johns
bury.
Luther o. Green, Standard, Wood.
stock
J. NJ Poland, Journal, Montpelier.
Hiram Atkins, Argus Montpelier.
II. c. Johnson. Vermonter, Vergennes
P. P. Ripley, Eagle, West Randolph
Orville Bliss, Georgia.
@. H. Baker, St Albans.
John Cain, Courier, Rutland.
X. Mclean, Independent, Rutland.
Henry Clark, Herald, Rutland.
H. c. Tuttle II erald, Rutland.
The proceedings of the last meeting
were read. after which business was sus-
pooded, to listen to the literary exer-
discs.
The president introduced Col. Albert
Clarke, of the st. Adams Messenger and
Transcript who delivered the following
well prepared and suggestive essay on
OUR DUTIES AND RIGHTS.
Mr. President and Gentlemen Of the
Press Two years ago one of our num-
ber informed us of the demand of the
times upon the live journalist, and last
year another dwelt upon the power and
Influence of the press it may not be un-
profitable now to consider some of our du-
urs and our rights.
Collectively, we represent the main
source from which the majority of the
people of Vermont derive their current
nteligenoe aud almost the only source of
infornatlnn IA to home affuirs. 1t Is easy
to ses, therefore, that we owe duties to
truth, 70 principle and to professional honor
aud dignity which devolve upon no other
our fidelity to which depend, more than
we can tell, the tone and influence of our
people in the world. Churches and school
houses have had almost the sole credit
heretofore of making the Puritan peculiar,
and of furnishing the "lesven' which Is
supposed TO be always aggressive, and yet
always sweet and never too much putfed
up. They have indeed done much and
will continue to do more in proportion to
the progress which they keep with the
march of modern thought; but while
these two arms of the service-the artil-
lery of the pulpit and the infantry of the
school-house-have been fighting against
darkness, another arm, never intrenched
and never at rest, has sent out its fear
less videttes miles to the front, and often
times siugle-handed, sometimes in squad
rons massed, has cleared the rougher way,
found every foe and fought them in de-
tail. This Is precisely what is expected
Of the press-to know every fact and to
faithfully report, and when we have done
this, and not till then, have we any right
to express our bias or expect it to be in
anential. Here, then, arises our first
duty, and that Is
FIDELITY TO TRUTH AND PRINCIPLE.
Higher and moro potent than all the
other obligations of the journalist is that
to keep his paper pure. In the wide do
main of news there are numerous details
which have a demorslizing tendency. 1t
ia not TO the credit of human nature that
this kind of reading is relished and
sought after, and it is to the positive dis
credit of the press that it is ever given.
1t is not necessary to omit the news-only
let it be detailed in such a manner as
shall do no harm. If the editor will think
Of this rather than of the sale of his pa
pers, he will do the world greater SER
vice than by any amount of enterprise.
There is nothing else in the profession 80
much to be abhorred as the thin disguise
of condt mn alton under which some pa
pers give all the shameful particulars OF
certain classes of news. They thereby
only fatten the satan they affect to abhor,
and excite in others the baseness they
condemn in one.
SENSATION" NEWSPAPERS.
The two greatest dangers that journal.
ists have to encounter are that of becom'
ing too pharisaically respectable, and
therefore dull, and that of becoming toe
sensationally devili-h, and therefore un'
safe. BY the former extreme they lose
that which they most would gain, for
human nature Is 80 perverse that men
will not respect them enough to take their
paper; and by the latter they forfeit tha
which TO every man should be most dear
the approving judgment of enlightened
conscience, and therefore go to the baC
themselves more rapidly and more surel,
tlan they send others, for "what shall
pr, g. a man if he gain the whole worl'
and lose his own soul p FactIis descensu
aVerni--''it is easy to descend into hell"-
says the old maxim, and If any one !
anxious TO take the ride, he will find tn
press, once turned in that direction,
vehicle of unsurpassed velocity. Ever,
sensational item that is perpetrated at tn
expense of truth or of principle is lard fo
the ways and hammer for the stays, an,
all the brief renown and al, the tainte
gold which tempt the journey, float onl
asa mockery whenthe victim fnds him
self abandoned blythe moral Judgment Q
mankind, in the realm where "the worr
d'eth not" Obscene prints, which ar
Dared ny the statute, are no worse /
their n set than some of the almost dali
utferances OF certain infamous pape
whose motto is to be "anything but dull
ana the occasional sickly and sickeniu
attempts OF few weeklings in the countr
/" bolster up . lettering existence by a,