The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-05-04
The Newspaper.
EDITOR INDEPENDENT:

days, prominent factor in the pro-
gress of our civilization. Everybody
reads the newspapers, and what is
stranger, is, that book reading is pro-
portionately increased. More books
are published, and purchased, and
read in community that reads the
newspapers, than in a community
that does not. The average degree
of intelligence, and the active men
tality of the people is increasing rap
idly. The farmer, the merchant and
the mechanic of to-day, are better
read and better informed Oh all kinds
of subjects, than were the professional
men Of two or three centuries ago, or
even of century, or of fifty years
now past.
The school master is abroad in the
land. The press is the great lever of
society. Everybody reads and thinks.
Many of the standard literary works,
whose sales enrich both publishers
and authors, were first published as
serials in the newspapers and maya
zines. The literary taste, first culti-
waited by the newspapers, is after
wards grati6ed and enriched by the
books, and by other books, of higher
character and of a better quality.
1t is singular that everybody knows
just how to edit a newspaper except
the editor, and the more he knows,
the less he seems to know: so large
is the field, SO numerous the subjects,
so various and so varied the tastes.
The boy, the girl, the mature man
and woman, the unlettered man and
the scholar, all have to be suited;
each one has to be consulted, and all
have claims upon the editor which
may not be disregarded. Too much,
too little, or none at all. Long, pro-
sy, and dry-as-dust, or short, and
sparkling, and crisp, dry toast, or
crackers and cheese; all very good
for dessert, but unsatisfying for a
substantial dinner. Still it is not
best to have roast beef and plumb
pudding every day. The Hygienists
might object, and if they do not the
stomach might rebel.
Seneca's maxims become tiresome
reading. DeQuincy's dreams float
the reader on cloud storms and
wreaths of smoke. Can't, phrases
and slang, and vituperation, and
personal gossip, become very weari-
some. Too much of good thing,
however much people like scandal.
What do the great public care about
the filings and the quarrels of editors?
What is the editor, that his private
grievances should absorb the atten-
tion of whole community?
A letter just received says: "My
dear friend of -, died there
Tuesday last, and was buried Thurs
day. The tidings of his death great
ly shocked me. In all my thirty-one
years acquaintance with him, | never
heard him say word, or knew him
to do an act | could wish unsaid or
undone."
There is a character for you-a
character worthy of imitation by the
editor and by the readers.
/ do not choose to multiply rules
for the conduct of printing Office
there is but one rule-do right.
In some schools there are printed
rules, thirty or forty, or fifty in
number,-some of them so trivia that
the best student cannot do otherwise
than violate them occasionally. A
celebrated professor of college said:
1--WE have but one rule in this insti-
tuition. We expect every young man
to be a gentleman, so long as he re-
mains under our care"
This is a good rule. The editor
should be gentleman, and the sub
scribers should be gentlemcn-honest