The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1871-06-15

NOs TO-
our ranks coul1 furnish the actual sub. |
ject for such photograph, yet, it is
not altogether certain that, scattered |
around among us, may not be found
some of the elements to be maqui6ed |
into such personation. The popular
types Of the classes of society are but
the exaggeration of the faults Of the
class and may we not find IN the actu-
al editor the foundation for the fault,
attributed to the ideal'o
1t. cannot be denied that there are
respects in which our profession can be
raised, not only in the popular esteem,
but, what is of more importance, in its
own selfregard. And perhaps, no one
necessary quality is more lacking among
the conductors Of the local press than
practical self-apprecistion. The editor
who writes himself down, week after
week, as sycophant or begagr, need
not wonder if the public think Of him
only in those characters and forget him
as an editor.
Most, if not all Of tho popular misap-
prehensions Of the newspapers relations
to the public, with their resulting IN.
profit ableness to the publisher and an
noyance to the editor, are due to the
failure Of the editor himself to appre.
clate the necessity of conducting his
paper, in all its business relations to
others, upon business principles.
Wherever business trenches upon ed.
torship it should be recognized and
treated a. matter of business.
In the local paper, especially, are the
two functions Of editor and publisher
most intimately bleDded-geuerally
combined in a single iodiv,dual-and
good publishing is as essential, indeed,
We think more SO, to the life of
the local paper, than good editing.
If the editor is the brains, the pub
Usher is the heart Of tho paper; and
a ~ell.balanced ledger is absolutely e.
sentisl to a well.conducted paper. The
object Of the editor should be to make
a good paper the object of the pub
Usher should be to make it pay; and
the two should work together like the
heart and brain of healthy man.
A too low estimate, placed by the
publisher upon the business depart
ment, cheapens and lowers the editorial
standing Of his sheet. A paper es-
tablisbed or conducted upon any other
basis than that Of supplying a business
demand of the community, to be paid
for as other business, necessarily holds
its editorial columns open to the pur-
chase, importantly or dictation of
whomsoever it may concern. There is
a natural correlation between grstuitous
advertising and subservient editing.
The volunteer critic, the great aud
wise man of small neighberhood-and
the smaller the neishborbood the great
er and wiser he is-who, whatever
else he may lack, always knows just
what ought to be, but is not, in the
paper, is bore as harmless as he is
often impertinent. He generally pays
his way by the amusement he affords
( But that other large class Of assumed
patrons, both foreign and domestic,
who arc constantly mistaking their
private affairs for public interests worth
ty Of gratuitous forcing into notoriety
are to the paper like lichens on a tree,
that disfgure while they destroyit.
1t is sometimes so difficult for the
editor himself to distinguish between
matters public concern and those Of
private speculation that it is not to be
wondered at that the public SO often
ignore the distinction.
The curious idea has somehow be.
come firmly fixed in the public mind,
that after coustry publisher has
bought an Office and got, so far es'
tablished as to issue the FIRST paper, he
loses bis ownership to such an extent
that its conduct becomes subject to the
dictation of every one who has sufi
cient intelligence to borrow the paper.
To the great majority Of the people
the local paper ranks in community o1
ownership with the town pump, whose
handle every passer-5y has = right te
seize, and it is expected on all public
or semi.public, and too often on private
occasions, to gush "free as the waters
that flowed from Horeb."
We may conceive Of perfect pape.
Of the future, in which even the adver.
tisements shall be edited ; but that time
has not yet come, nor tho public have
never been taught as they ought to be,
the distinction between the editorial
opinions that should always be unpur.
chasable, and the advertising space that
ought always to be paid for.
| Ispeak thus plainly of tho homely,
but essential subject, because it. seems
to be so ignored by some Of the con-
ductors Of the local papers; aud be-
cause 1t is matter that the public can
not be expected to appreciate. The
question whether paper pays, is the
last to trouble the public mind. So
great is the popular faith in some
kind alchemy by which tho nothing of
public approval is converted into the
substantial something Of business pros