The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-07-26
An En.stsh View Of American News.
pnpcrs.

4 writer in the july number Of CdSseWs
Magazine is fa"ctious over some of the pc
cullarilics Of American journalism. He
SAYS "ln American paper Is never slow,
though il may have hundred other imper-
fections. You cannot go to sleep over 1t.
1t almost poetizcs its quotations Of stocks,
and turns its advertisements into conun-
drums. lest matter should want the charm
Of manner. IT does not believe in Il SIM
plc, natural form Of statement which allows
facts to speak tor themselves. Its sub-cdt-
tors toll through their columns OF copy,
and break them up into dainty, il indlgesti-
tlc morscls, by irintiug every striking,
startling phrase in line Of it's own. Its
descriptive articles are prefaced by half a
column Of index in The largest type, in
which the whole force and spirit of what is
| to follow are pre.tnted H. the eye ut 8
| glance. Read IL, headlines alone, and in
| five minutes you make yourself master OF
its contents. 1t 10 elninently the Journal of
nation Of business men, who arc willing
to be amused. but do not care to be i'll
structed, and who want to travel through
even their amuscmcn,S ut railroad spced.'
| He adds:
| The >uu-hesdings of the correspondence
from the battlc-tields read like the antici,
patory announcements 10 an English pan.
tomime till. "Gross- Hcrzog Mecklenburl
says he has won Victory near Pithiviers .
is the New York Worlds way of summa
rizins German dispatch. "Englant
Asked by Prussia to Behave Better. She
says she WON'T" is the same Journals an
announcement Of the substance Of the
late diplomatic notes. A single week:
issue would furnish abundant exam
or flippancy Of tone in reference
to every event. In journals lying before
US. and taken from pile at random
| Confuciu> is called "The Great Coolie.''
| The marriage OF Miss Motley "to a Bri.
ton" is termed her fathers Most Import.
ant Diplomatic Negotiation" Bismarck
che Ben Butler OF Europe" heads a column
of diplomatic gossip, while Z" ON der Tam
sent Whirling Out OF Orleans" is q sum
mary title for piece OF military news. A
report Of speech by one of the leading
statesmen of the country is headed 6 Sum-
mer's Salve-Lecture by the Great Panjan.
drum of Peace at Steinway HALL" The fol.
| lowing speak for themsclvs: England I'm
! easy; she thinks Won Bismarck only Smiles
| to Borrow Money" "king William forms
an Alliance with the Ghosts THAT is to
say, has interviews with the Spiritualist
Home. e.
The most astounding thing is
that the men bear no sort Of personal ideil-
tity with their work. You would imagine
them to be revolver. carrying, knife brand
i<hiug desperadoes, ready to act us reck-
| ieSsly as they write wildly; but in truth
| thag are Ike other educated Americans
and they are educated Americans-very
polished, amiablc, and mild, and OF a quite
seductive cOurtcOusUesS. Their literary
manner is with them an artificial one. They
regard their labors from purely profes-
si0nal point Of view, as legal advocates are
taught to do. A certain style of speaking
gains causes-that style IS cultivated; a
certain style of writing gains political par
! ti>ans-thut style is cultivated too. The
American public will not he bored with a
! public topic its newspaper writers, there.
fore, never dare TO be dull, whatever other
liberties they may allow themselves. The
| key to the production Of all we have read
will be found, not in Il contempt for the
canonS Of good taste among Journalists, but
| in the ignorance ofthose canons amongread.
ers, whom it is the supposed duty of writ
ers to please. So much for the peculiari-
ties of an American Journal.