The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-04-26

per. It's creed is short and concise.
Mans chief end is money" and il is
only step from this to the old Jesuit
ical proverb, "The end justifes the
means" The managers of such papers
have no profound conviction of their
sacred calling. Why is it that when
community becomes impressed with the
fact that q Christian minister is governed
by passion for money they at once
lose confidence in him? Simply be-
cause they expect him to be governed by
purer and holier motives, and, while
they acknowledge that "the laborer is
worthy of his hire" they Justly reckon
the honor attached to his Office, the
satisfaction of doing good to others, to
say nothing of the reward that awaits
him hereafter, as q part of his recon-
pense, and 30 they are. Now / place
all public instructors on the same plat
form, all men and women who serve
their country and their God from pat
riotic and philanthropic motives. There
are men in our pulpits, our colleges, and
In our schools, whose talents command
the highest positions of pecuniary adj
vantage, but who toll on cheerfully, in
the consciousness that they are "serv-
ing their generation by the will of God, 1"
and that when "they rest from their
labors their works will follow them"
And we claim some measure of this
philanthropic spirit as a prerequisite to
journalistic success. When, therefore,
a newspaper is run exclusively
in the interest of its proprie-
tors, when money is the chief end, the
result will be not only a mercenary, but,
3. An impure newspaper. It's col
umns will be sold to the highest bidder.
The law comes in to protect our homes
against lewd, icentious and grossly i'm
moral literature by making it contra
band and imposing penalty on those
who offer it for sale. But there is
large class of literature pernicious in its
tendency which does not come within the
provisions of the act, and which is cor
rupting the youth of the land. Still, we
can control this class of literature; that
is to say, we can exclude it from our
homes and caution our children againstit.
But if the newspaper give in detail all
the facts connected with the divorce
court, and the police court, anu the
criminal court; if it give in detail all the
cases of seduction and crime, which it
must necessarily record, then the rem
edy is not so easy, for our children natu-
rally inquire why they should not read the
paper when their parents readit. / admit
that there is some force in the argument
that an unreserved publication of all
such cases may serve to deter others
from the commission of these crimes;
but there are two sides to this question
also, and l submit whether the sup
posed advantage is not more than coun-
terbalanced by the thoughts suggested
by the reading of these accounts, and
whether simple statement of the crime
and its penalty might not suffice? 1t is
well-known fact, attested by many
painful examples, that thoughts of MUIR
der, and revenge, and impurity may be
awakened in the youthful mind by read
ing accounts of these things, and, even
in pure and fully developed minds, Incl.
dents connected with such perusal will,
ever and anon, come up like dismal
ghosts to pollute the heart, and extort
the confession, 81 wish / had never
read that narrative; wish 1 had never
heard Of it." An editor or reporter,
like preacher, should use the common
language of the people, and call things
by their right names, but all this is COM
patible with the use of the purest Saxon
and careful avoidance of a word or
phrase calculated to beget an impure
thought
4. Then, again, there is the infidel
newspaper. Perhaps there are very few
papers on this continent that are open
and avowed advocates of infdelity, and
it is difficult to say just how far a news
paper read by all creeds and classes
should goin opening its columns to every
variety of religious or irreligious opinion.
1t is easy for those of us, who belong to
the "straitest sect" of orthodoxy, to
find fault, and denounce the press as in
fidel because it affords the same liberty
to those who differ from us that it &C
cords to us. But this is zeal without
knowledge" Truth has nothing to con
ceal, and nothing to fear from the mos
learned and acute criticism. 1t asks
fair field and no favors. / am always
glad, therefore, when "new depart
ures" and new interpretations of script
ure are ventilated in the public pres
so long as the same space is afforded u
to reply, and "give a reason for tn,
hope that is in u.s." But L cannot shu
my eyes to the fact that portion Of tn
secular press seems to be in sympath.
with inidelity, as opposed, not to sec
tarianism, but to Christianity itself. ]
these papers are persuaded that Chris
tianity is fraud, and that the Pilgrim
, Fathers who came to this country TO
, freedom to worship God were well-mean
ing but mistaken men, and that praye
, is out of place in the national Legislature
: let them say 30, and we shall know wher
{ to find them. But in the meantime it
not fair in them to go out of their wa
, for selections and extracts hostile I
, Christianity, while nine-tenths of thei
! readers and patrons recognize Chris
tianity as a divine religion, and as til
! "chief cornerstone" of national grea
ness, stability, and prosperity.