New-York tribune., 1871-01-03
INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM.

That what styles itself an independent"
journal is inevitably a fraud, we have long
felt and known. The essence of its profession
is an assumption of indifference to the ascend
ency of this OF the opposite party, which does
not exist. In free State whereof the people
are intelligent, no journalist is or can be indif-
ferent and an affectation of impartiality
necessarily cloaks some selfish and sinister de-
sign.
What is no one Indifferent to the rise or
" fall of parties in our cOuntTyW
yes! There are many so imbecile or so
profoundly ignorant that they do not even
know who is President, or which party tri-
umphed in tho last Federal election. There
are ecclesiastics whose days and thoughts are
so intently fixed on Heaven or Rome that they
know nothing of political parties. There may
be men so music-mad, or 80 absorbed in sci
entiic study and investigation, that they heed
not the surges of political contention. But
none of these edit journals devoted to news
and public affairs; ard we are speaking of
journalists. One Of these may devote his col
umns to Religion, or Music, or Chemistry, or
Agriculture and maintain a rigorous silence
with reference to politics. He does not affect
indifference; he simply prGctices reticence. But
the editor WHO devotes his thoughts, his pen, his
columns, to The discussion of transpiring events
and the men who influence and figure in them,
is led by the exigencies Of his daily vocation, to
pass judgments thereon and these judgments
necessarily incline him to regard one party
with moro favor than its antagonist. If
knave, he may be suborned to wIite adversely
to his convictions; but even this will not
wholly efface them. and cannot render his pro-
fession of indifference other than lure and
cheat
If n journal protesting indifference to party
success, and extensively read by men Of diverse
views, could have > editOr-in-chief who really
felt such indiffcrel nc must have assistants
in his work; and (. would share neither
his impartiality n b.. responsibility. They
would inevitably f. cOlOring to their mar
ratves or their critics 10 favorable to the party
with which they respectively affiliated ; and
they would be bribed by mscrupulous party
managers to do this if their scruples OF their
attachment to their positions restrained them
from so doing without prompting or pay. OF
this truth, the history Of our City Press of the
independent var'0'y affords notable confirm
alton.
The Ne,c- Torl Herald was founded, and has
constitution forbade his being Whg in tho
past OF q Republican in the present Profoundly
imbued with tho conviction that politics is q
mere game-that every man has his price-that
virtuous woman IL one who has not yet been
found out, and an honest bank officer one who
has not yet found his opportunity to make
a satisfactory grab-he could not be other
than q Hard Money, FTee-Trade Democrat of
the Loco-Foco" stamp. Hence you may read
in his columns throughout the Summer of 1887
the most confident and positive assertions that
the Banks (Which had just suspended Specie
Payment) would neuer resume-that their notes
would steadily and rapidly depreciate in value
until they became rs worthless as the old
Continental" shinplasters. So the first sug-
gestiOns of Railroad to the Pacific were ridi-
culed by him as on par with proposals to
build o bridge across the Atlantic or tram
way to the Moon. A cynic, a skeptic, and at
heart mOnarchist, the Editor of The Herald
could take no other views of our current poll
tics than such as identified him with our
Sham Democracy; yet he has, for this very
reason, been 10 the Republicans fairer, moro
manly antagonist than any other profesSedly
"independentn journalist. He has not con-
cealed bis elemental convictioDs but he has
often set forth facts calculated to incite ad-
verse conclusions in minds differently consti
tuted from his OVID.
But, while he has been as fair toward the
Republicans as a natural adversary well could
be, and while the suggestion that he has been
bribed to pettifog for our Sham Democracy is
simply absurd, he has been served and aided
by men far more needy and reckless; and these
I. IL. - s.xl I'D
utilized by the Tammany Ring. Judging
mainly from internal evidence, we assert that
not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars were
paid in the year 1870 for help through The
Herald and its tender Tho Telegram to the
Tammany managers-nOt one dollar Of it, We
arc confident, to the responsible Editor. How
many of his subordinates are now on the
City's pay-rOlls as clerks, commissioners, &c,