New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-20

be one of good humOr. They don't want 10
rise from its perusal, every morning. WIN
bad taste in their mouths. Inc Edlior
who commands their respect ana persuautss
their Judgment, must keep his temper, must
keep out Of petty personal controversies, must
be seen TO have higher motives ior attack
than spite. and higher motives for praise tnaI
mutual admiration. In a word, the spirit that
habitualy controls the columns must Oe
clearly recognizable IA one OF justice anu
goodwill.
In that spirit we might escape the present
tendency to run In ruts, both with our praise
and our blame so that, 10 matter VIA
man does, you can pretty safely preclcJ at
once what good many papers are gong "
say about it. Ii lie is man they are III the
habit OF pralsng 1t takes little less Iiin
arson or highway robbery, demOhs'Iapiy
proved, to force them to hlnt lauit'
If he Is man they generally blame, lie
Is promptly and as a matter Oh course as
suned TO be guilty, however wanton or uu-
likely the charge, unless he can instantly
prove himself innocent. Nor viii any mode
rate array If proof suffice. lie must make Il
case absolutely impregnabe, with the pre-
sumptIOns all held ugldly against MN. Nay,
even ii Ills innocence be demonstrated Dy tn0
exclusion OF every possibility OF quit, IL VIII
still be grUdglngly rCmaIhed that, Whlle Shls
explanation seems plausible, II IS very bau
scr;ipe anyway, Tor such a man TO be getting
mixed up III! Through THIS UNI Ortunale Ten
dency, biack-maIlers and all manner Oh per
ylceable ally Let them but start malignant
story AGAINST a prominent man, and the whole
hostile Press may DC counted on 10 tsDouse
it for them, push lt, AID carry ItielutsSD
forward the work OF persecution. Here l. ile
open secret OF the enormous spread III this
country Of calumny and personal abuse
Only get the Press out OF these ruts OF praise
and blame, and the half OF IL Is annIAllated
-strangled before 1t Is born.
THE POWER OF THE PRESS.
little while some discontinued clergyman or
extinct politician declares it is. Quite re-
Gently they have given Us very SOL
emn discourses about 1t. Newspapers are
more read. they admit, but less needed.
With the air of discoveries they tell
us of the great things done by the
Journals of the past generation, and triumph
aptlv evclaim, But who minds now what
n newspaper says ~ There were giants Ia
those days only pISmies walk the earth TO-
day. In the earlier times the greaC news
paper stood for "a great force now IL Only
stands for a great noise. IL has become SELL
ish, il wants TO make money, II Is on "a COM
mercial basis now, II actually supports ltsei!-
how can such Press weld the oid III
tuence .,
! wish 10 sneak with due respect but really
this sort Of falkland we hear Il good deal or
it, from unsuccessful quarters-seems 10 me
the tWaddle of mushy seDumentdilsts.
Far wiser and manllcr was The tone
taken by Lord Macauay, IN opening his great
history =" Those who compare the age on
which their lot has fallen with golden age
which exists only in their Imagination, may
talk OF degenerdcy ana decay but no man
who is correctly informed as to the past VIII
be disposed to take mOrOse or despOndlnS
view OF the present.
1t is easy to marshal the great names Of the
past and Idle to try to match them t0m
among the living. We count no man gre %,
ANYWAY, TIL he l. dead. But great men 90
not necessarily make the greatest neWsyL pers.
As well might you challenge Inc LOHdOR ItmeS,
in the zenith of its influence, Jay IN 1919,
TO prove itself the equal OF the Old EaOutk ID
rertiSer of the century before, and crush 10
equal of Junus ~ As well twit our news
papers of the sea-bOard to-day with their IN
teriOrity to the Old Pennsyicdnid Gazette
because among them all 10 DC
that the foremost editorial writer OF our time
has had and is to have IO successor. Horace
Greeley stood alone, without peer ana
without a rival mot perhaps the local
editor, but. fairly judged, the ablcat
master of controversial English and the most
successful popular educator the journalism OF
the Enghsh-speakIng world has yet deVcl-
Oped | remember how through halt us ca
rrer the men he had Gngered were always
saying his power had declined.
TIL ABILITY OF THE PIEss INCREASING.
IL is not true that the ability oil the Press
is declining The papers Of the country are
better written now tnan they ever were be-
fole. They are better edited. Their average
courtesy is greater their average morality Is
purer their average tendency higher Ihey
better hit the wants or great. mlscci-
uneOus communities, and 80 they have
more readers III proportion to population.
Their power may be more dIluscd but II is
Enthusiastically greater. There has been no more
remarkable phenomenon ~ the history OF tAe
profession than the rapid growth OF The country
press, aud It's Increase IN dblllty, IN resources,
IN self-respect and IN influence. There are half
a dozen towns IL the interior OF New Ork when
now have better newspapers, with larger income
ana more influence, than those OF the metropolis
Itself a thlrd or perhaps even quarter Oh Il
century ago.
Let the croakers take any Of these towns,
or any considerable CJwn in the country, and
compare the cnalac,e r and the Influence OF It's
press With that OF "a generation ago, or al the
period just before me Wal. lake Rochester,
or UUca, or Troy. lake Che leading paper,
of the Newly DIRK State Association, anu COM
pare their circulation. their standing, thrr
actual control OF State affairs, with what they
were Ill 1860. VINO does not see that the
growth has been 80 great a. 10 make COM
paTlsOn impossible. Or t.ike my own old nome,
of which / may speak the more readily, since
think / know IL well.rsNo are very qIuch
ut singing Out the f0IDies oil rs leading
editors. Even the CncinnItiaua ia mselVes
are ready, now and then, IN spiteiul mood,
10 long Tor the good OLD days OF Charley
hammond, and the Otler haIl-tOrEOtten
Wortnies OF hai-U~rDaIOus period.
Yet | undertake to say that from
the year when the first-cOmcrs established
themselves III Colonel Israel LudlOws village
around the tort and Indian trading post oppO-
site the mouth OF the Licking, down to tins
year OF grace 1879, there has never been a
year when The Press OF Cincinnati was 50
ABLY written or 50 lull Oh news, was
40 much read Or 80 much followed "a u Is TO-
day never year when 1t hsd 30 much 10
do with shaping the policy OF On, and OF