The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-06-21
CHI 99ailg Arens.
LOCK ISLAND, ..... ILLINOIS.
Journalistic Enterprise.

There is nothing more essential to a good
newspaper than enterprise. 1t would be
a waste of time to write such truism were
it not that base counterfeit has found
its way into the market; counterfeit
which it is the DUTY OF every journalist to
expose. We have little admiration for the
weekly cook books and novelties which GO
by the misnomer OF newspapers; which are
edited with pair OF shears; which will not
publish local news because "a mani private
affairs should not be brought before the
public" which contain nothing that can
offend the most refined taste" because they
contain, practically, nothing at all; AID
which would appear to be of no earthly use
unless to enable thoroughly idle people to
kill time AS general rule whatever. in
the columns OF a newspaper. shows indust.
ry, activity, alertness, and public spirit
and is not sanderous, and deserves to be
commended. More than once an enterpris-
ing newspaper has detected the carefully
hidden crimes OF public officials. The de-
tective, the Sensational" the ri bald and
licent; Gus press has often done { 90 service
to its country. Even the disgusting reports
of private immortality are not without their
uses. A community is not rendered vir-
tuous by concealing vice. The notoriety,
the riGicule, the reproach which are cast
upon the vicious or indiscreet when their
misconduct is published to the world, can
not but be terror to evil-doers. The law
| of libel which forbids the defendant to
prove the truth of his assertions is grossly
unjust, and could lot have been more mis-
chievous had it been framed in the interest
of crime. The plea that such publications
tend to a breach of the peace is true, but
wholly immaterial A hypocrlte whose
dishonesty is exposed through the public
press fells like horsewhipping or assassin
ating all concerned in his exposure, and
burglar caught in the pursuit of his calling
would find the greatest satisfaction in
smashing the heads of all concerned 10 the
arrest. When laws are framed to suit the
humor of law breakers, the law of libel
will be one of the best in the code.
On the other hand, there have sprung
up Of late number of newspapers which
are burlesque on journalism. While claim
ing to be sensational and enterprising they
are as great fraud at their end of the line
as the patent medicine reporters and kitch-
en- manuals are at the other end. They con-
tain any quantity of articles with bold and
startling head lines. But little examin-
alton will convince careful reader that the
articles are all Of the same stamp and all
pure inventions. They bear certain marks
indicative of their origin. They are slight
ly indefinite as to location, very indefinite
as to names, and impossible as to Incidents
The writers who give tfeir day-dreams to
the public as facts are not remarkable for
Invention. Their stories are as much alike
as two ten cent romances. Once 10 a while
a real scandal gives them new mine to
work, and its incidents are relocated and
rehashed until they get another hint. The
prominent merchant OF ShopplnVille, who
returns home Unexpectedly in time to see a
nelghbor jump from second story window,
still fingers around and occasionally gets
into print. The young lady Of highly
aristOcratic family in a side street ia Liars
town, who ran away from home, and be-
icame lion tanner in a menagerle, and
whose name is suppressed for the sake Of
her relatives, is periodically heard rroih.
The Doctor of Divinity who is discovered
in prayerful attitude with his arms around
the neck OF IA female parishioner, and
; whose misconduct is condoned because he
was slightly drunk, turns up with provoking
Regularity. One OF the Philadelphia papers
located lin in Norristown this week.
Next week We shall probably hear Of him
in San Francisco.
The province of newspaper is to give
news, and it is essential that the news
should be true. Mistakes are excusable,
but the deliberate publishing Of wild fic-
tons as facts is destroying the usefulness
of journalism. The innocent suffer with the
guilty. Conscientious journals too often
share the reproach which these frauds cast
upon the profession. The sham sensational
are worse than the worst Of conservatives.
A paper which becomes too moral and
high'toned to publish anything but love
stories, election returns, and recipes, be
comes Insignificant One which devotes its
energies to the manufacture of ialsehoods
becomes mischievous 1t is no uncommon
e thing to hear men say that they believe
+ nothing that they read ia the newspapers
;, and considering the character Of too many
'enterprising" journals, we cannot blame
them for the remark. 1t requires energy
! and ability to collect and furnish reliable
news. 1t requires neither energy nol
/, ability to sit and scribble lies. -Norristolof
| HoroIJ