Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-06-20

gence and more discriminating de.
mand of the great body of news
paper patrons-but it may, as have
suggested, become necessity in
order to meet the competition of
metropolitan journals. Perhaps it
is well that attention should be
directed to this subject, if nothing
is done to carry the suggestion in
to effect. 1t may at least help to
restrain foolish attempts to multiply
papers, for l can conceive of moth
ing more illogical and illusory than
the establishment of new journals in
districts where it is the palpable
teaching of the times that there
should be fewer and better.
If follows from what has been
said, that the rapidity with which
news is transmitted over the tele-
graphic wire, and the speed with
which steam multiplies and scatters
the printed sheet, combined with
the effect thus produced in stimu-
lating intelligence and enterprise
and raising the standard of the
popular taste, that the future of
country journalism will depend up
on its ability to comply with the
conditions of success, and that the
responsibility of the profession will
be measured by the excellence of
its mental and mechanical work.
You have, then, gentleman, besides
the desire for self-preservation, two
strong inducements for seeking to
attain higher excellence in your pro-
fession-your ambition to meet sue
cesstully the demands of the age,
and the duty of contributing all in
your power to the welfare Of the
race.
EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
AS the newspaper has become the
great teacher, in these stirring
times, so has the obligation in
creased that the power which it
possesses be wisely used. tell
you, gentlemen, Notwithstanding
all l have said as to what our art
has done in developing human pro-
gress, and in contributing to indivi-
dual freedom, it is yet an unsolved
problem what is to be it's ultimate
influence upon the welfare Of man.
kind. The experience of ages
shows that the very elements which
contributed to the greatness of some
nations have proved their down
fall-that the traits which brought
them out Of barbarism, and lifted
them to the pinnacle Of human
glory, perverted and corrupted by
success, paved the way to speedy
and irretrievable rnin. Man is ever
inclined to excuses, and that which
discreetly used, is virtue and an
advantage, degcnerating into license
becomes vice and the parent of
untold horrors. Is it to be so with
our noble art? Shall this tremend-
Gus enginery, made up of the tlexi-
Bile pen, the movable type, and the
steam press, after lifting mankind
out Of the darkness of ignorance
and superstition, be instrumental in
hurting him, educated snd enlight-
ened, into an abyss of moral and
political death? Shall the agency
which gave SO fair promise of
converting him into an angel of
light transform him into a fiend of
darkness? Do you wonder that l
ask these questions? Shall l point
you to that terrible cancer that is
now gnawing at the very yitals of
the republic, official corruption?
Shall l tell you that lightning pres
ses groan night and day in multiply
ing weak, wicked sensational and
immoral literature, which copstitu
tes almost the sole intellectual food
Of millions? Shall l ask you what
you think Of "Illustrated Police
Gazettes" and "Day's Doings," rank
with the atmosphere Of the brothel,
reveling in all the prurient details
of nasty and desperate crime, and
glaring with pictures intended to
corrupt the imagination of the
reader while the work of moral death
is done in his heart? And rising
to higher plane, shall l speak to
you Of the deceptions ofpolitical con-
troversy by which a natl on is cheat
ed into policy which it does not
approve, and the insiduous infidelity
engratted on some of the best
literature, that it may more certain
ly destry the souls Of men? Is there
no cause for alarm-no motive for
appealing to those who WELD the
omnipresent newspaper-that they
will help to stay this tide Of ruin?
THE EDITORIAL MONSTER.
The editor who cares not for the
moral results of his work is an in
tellectual demon. 1t matters little
what may be the kindness of his
heart, or how much he may out
wardly respect the decencies oflife,
he is an enemy of society and n
traitor to the race. He knows the
power of his press-he is conscious
that his paper penetrates the family
circle, and will mold and influence
the minds of those who read it. But
he is either sordid and remorseless,
or careless and sensual. He gives
his own depraved appetites and
passions full play, or he takes q
savage delight in ministering to the
meaner instincts and the grosser
passions of the body polite. He
deals in sensation, that the young
and excitable may be lured to his
columns. He serves up the wors:
domestic scandals, because aware
that there is a degraded side to hu-
man nature which secretly longs for
such pruricnt food. He publishes
the details OF crime, though con-
vinced that he is stimulating many
minds into channels of thought
which may prove temptations. Tie
undermines belief in moral account
ability, because he himself ac-
knowlcdges no God but gold and
the qualification Of sensual desire.
And so day by day he pours his
contaminating flood over society,
poisoning, misleading, betraying,
running; and still he can sit quietly