Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-26
THE RESULTS OF PERSONAL JOURNALISM.


The tragedy which occurred in San
Francisco last Friday was, in its broadcast
associations, the fruit of personal journal
ism. 1t was the logical outcome OF that
theory which posts right ON the part Oh
publishers to hound men to ruin and shame
under the elastic plea OF concern Tor the
public veal And it is instructive to OBJ
serve that in practice many OF the most
shocking scandals and most demoralizlng
crimes have been led up to by the opera
ton of this doctrine, wherever and when
ever it has been adopted. That it should
result in desperate and even murderous
acts cannot be marveled at, for it involves
the constant employment of the mcst ex-
asperating and injurious agencies conceiva-
BILE. Its adoption by one party to con-
troversy invariably leads to its adoption by
the other, and when angry men, whether
publishers or candidates, have resorted to
the vilest charges against one another, it is
plain that they are very likely to go step
further, and seek in personal violence the
satisfaction which mere vituperation fails to
afford. 1t would be impossible to find more
striking illustration of this process than the
feud between Charles De Youngand the Kali
lochs. Both sides first exhausted every art of
calumny. and then followed two murder
Gus attacks, the first unsuccessful, the Sec
ond only too successful. And in this case
it is further apparent that personal jour
nalism is mainly responsible for the cleo
ton of the elder kalloch to an office Tor
which he is singularly disqualified. For
there can be little question that he was
elected Mayor of San Francisco, not as a
mark of confidence in himself, but because
many people sought to give emphasis to
their indignation at the attempt made by
Charles De Young to assassinate him. His
election was thus the effect of a popular
revulsion against personal journalism, and
in accepting him the people of San Fran
cisco accepted one evil to rebuke a greater.
The crimes which have grown out of this
feud show how absurd is the pretense that
the kind of journalism which produced
them is in the interests of civilization
and good government. Facts speak more
strongly than words, and against all the
sounding phrases with which it has
been sought to disguise and justify
this method of conducting news
papers, we may confidently appeal
to the fruits of the policy. Not only did
the Chronicles method of assailing men not
prevent the election of man who is gen.
orally conceded to be unfit for public honor
or trust, but it actually produced the very
situation it was directed against. 1t is ex-
tremely doubtful if Kalloch could have
been elected Mayor of San Francisco
through any other influence than that of
De Young's pistol, yet the use of that pis-
tol was one of the direct consequences of the
Chronicles peculiar theory of journalism.
Thus it is evident that as protection to
the community personal journalism is a
failure. 1t does not prevent the election
of unfit men to office. On the contrary, it
is at all times likely to produce reaction
in favor CT the assailed, such as will give
them what they are striving for. But it is
not only distinct failure from this point of
view. 1t is, as all can now perceive clearly
enough, a powerful promoter of new evil
and decentralization. Instead of helping
the community to higher civilization, it
drags it back toward barbarism.