The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-06-26

CHEAP NEws.-"As easy as lying,n saws
Hamlet This is one of those happv toucbss
of Shakespeare that seem slight and aeei-
dental, while furnishing fruitful text Il, az
after-time. Self-oDservant persons ale aware
of the ease with which exacoeration and
other varieties of falsehood slip from tb.
tongue, and tine extreme d fficuly OF giving
an exact account of the simplest matter.
And this difficulty is greatest to ardent and
imaginative persons, who naturally take to
writing. The very qualities of mind which
give them their power TO interest other
miGds are, in many instances, the qualities
tina. incline them to picturesque and effect
i've exaggeratiOn. Telling the simple trutb
is the hardest thing done, either bv tongue
or pen. How easy it was to represent Ma
poleon Bonapaite galloping over the Alps on
a robust charger, gorgeousiy capa ri.oned, his
cloak flying in the breeze, and compact le-
gions pressing up the steep acclivityl Til,
lie was imagined in a moment; hut it cost
NJ. Theirs much painful toll and long travel
to ascertain that his conqusror crossed the
Alps on mule, muffled to the ewes i'm his
cloak, and attended by one guide GU foot.
LII the press, as in literature, fasehood has
the additional advantage over truth Of being
much the less expensive. Your raw hand
will bring you i'll an account of finance
meeting which shall lie of necessity mere
To get an approximately true narrative of
what occurred, without verbatim reports,
you must send three persons of trained intel
ligence; but a full and exact report, with the
requisite descriptive matter, demands the in
tense labor OF twelve trained men. Now the
account stands thus: tissue of green false
hood, two dollars; vivid narrative strongly
resembling the truth, thirty dollars; vel batim
report, eighty dollars. In every department
of newspaper, from the most commonplace
reporting to the most important criticism,
We find that lies are very cheap and truth il
very dear.
We must also bear in mind that if lying Is
easy, it may also be TOR the moment highly
effective. Tnat tawdry fasehood ol Bona
parte bounding over the mountains adorns
at this hour hundreds of barbershops in all
countries, as the tale, equally sroundless, of
Lincoln and the Scotch cap figures in many
histories of the ate war. Some men of very
ordinary abilities do succeed, after long prac-
tice, in purging their conversation of the usual
exaegerations and credulties but even this
negative part of difficult virtue is ant to be
purchased by the loss OF vivacity. Their con-
yersation is as dull as it is correct. But the
journalist lies under an inexorable necessity
OF not being dull. Incorrect he may be. 10 \
certain extent, and live; but if he is dull, he
dies.
And, unhappily, there are three ways open
to the journalist OF avoiding du!lness: Two
wrong, and one right The tight way is vig-
lance, tact, and bard labor in the gathering
and utterance of truth proper to be told.
The two wrorg ways demand vastly infericr
powers. One Is the Invention or repetiion OF
talsehood, and the other the revelation OF
matters not proper to be told A ierihe ana
sympathetic mind, capable of public spirit,
finds the material for stiriing aud delightful
journalism in a village; but there are dull
dogs that. even when posted in Washington,
the most interesting capital in the world, are
compelled to exc out their daily dole OF rou-
tine by calumnious invt ntion james Par
tom In Haper's Magazine for july.