The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-12-06
THE KANSAS PRESS.

Notwithstanding the oft repeat
ed assertion that Journalism
is not in its nature an exact pro
fession like law or medicine, and
cannot be reduced to oHe, the
present generation Of editors has
made much progress in that direc'
ton, and now in the selectioa oil
matter for publication, whether
news items or editorial subjects
taken at first hands, they are gov.
erned by rules, precedents and
customs almost as much as law
yers, and certainly experience no
moreembarrassmentin the exercise
of their Judgment than physicians
do in diagnosing disease and pre-
scribing the remedy. There are
several different schools of jour
nalism, just rs there are branches
of the medical profession, and OF
these the intelligent editor may Sc
lect at his pleasure the one that
best suits the taste of the class OF
readers for whom he proposes to
cater, or he may form q combina-
ton of 4 part of each and thus
serve to an extent all classes OF
community. This latter the edi-
tor of the country paper is gener-
ally compelled to do, and his sue
cess is measured by the skill and
judgment displayed in the combi-
nation.
In the larger cities, where the
work is classified, where telegraph
ic dispatches are furnished by
press associations, and events in
all the departments of life repre-
scented in the journal are sufficient
in number and character, the work
is comparatively easy. The edi-
tor may here select the style OF
paper he wishes to furnish, and he
has nothing to do but go ahead.
In country towns, however, where
one man does all departments OF
editorial work, and is often fore
man, pressman and compositor nj
so, the variety of the work taxes q
mans industry to the utmost, and
has q tendency to dissipate the ed
itors strength and weaken his ef
forts in all departments. This
makes the publication of country
papers difficult, and accounts in a
great measure for the usual weak
ness of the country press.
To make a lively, spicy, reada-
Bile and interesting country paper,
therefore, requires professional
knowledge and skill of superior
order; and while we may here and
there find such 4 paper it is not
often that we find a whole section
where the papers are nearly uni
formly excellent. They have to
collect their news from the open
field, as they rarely have space for
more than their local news. if the
editors have tact to collect it, and
they cannot use extract matter to
any considerable extent without
republishing that which their rea-
ders have already seen in some
larger city paper.
Under all these uniform Difficult.
ties the Kansas press succeeds to
an extent to be found nowhere else.
We speak here of the country
press, leaving out the dai!ies pub
lished in the cities, which are TO be
measured by q different standard
Their matter is nearly original,
and comprehends the news, gossip
and events of localities in which
they are published, to an unusual
extent, and besides this the inter.
ests and movements of local af'
fairs and usually also all national
and state questions that affect
them, are handled with intelligen,
discrimination and ability. No
other papers of any class present
their matter in better form, or un'
derstand more fully the relative
importance of their items. And
added to this is the further fact
that there is scarcely a poorly
printed paper in the state, while
several of them are of such typo.
graphical execution as would be
worthy of an establishment that
made fine Typography a special
ty.
In our position the country
press of several states passes un
der our observation, and we have
had experience with that of states
from which we are now separated
The Kansas country press is bet
ter by a large per cent. in all th'
essentials of s country press thar
any other that ever came undo
our observation. Iowa makes The
nearest approach to it, but is still
behind. The exchange editor o
| any daily paper where the Kansas
press is received will, we believe
corroborate this statement, TO
they must find, as we do, that in 10
cal interest these papers are vel
nigh complete, while thee furnish
more news matter suitable for re
publication In daily paper thai
is Afforded by the press of any 9th
sr state. In this latter respec
! any number of the ordinary rn
+ of Kansas weeklies is equal Z
double the number from q
! most any other western or easter
, state.-Kansas City Journal.
i Sir Henry Holland, the youn
> rnvue na1 IN HE ei1hty.fOurt