The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-07-06
ON .rUrr1Na- IN NEwsPApERs.

When a man is found protesting In vigof-
GUS terms against any Objectionable practice
in which Ire himself habitually indalgcs, then
that man is usually set down as d hSpocrite
in the discriminating Judgment ct his ac-
ouaintances. His condemnation is llkened
to the lusty cry of "stor thief" uttered as a
means of concealment by the real thief
when endeavorlng to make his escape. Cen
erallv it Is employed for the same purpose,
viz: that of distracting the attention of OH
lockers, either by directing their observation
upon innocent parties or else by leading them
into the consideration of remote occasions of
censure, the guilty party hoping That his own
shortcoming. will throu gh this device escape
notice. Sometimes. though, the hypocrisy is
more apparent than real. Take for INSTANCE
that embodiment of guileless innocence, the
newspaper man, and consider his case.
Are we to charge him with hypoc-
risy because, while raising his voice
10 heaven in protesting against "~exchange
fiends" and bores Of all other descriptions,
he continues day after day to bore his readers
not only in a most shameful manner, but
even after a fashion slightly dishonest in
character? And that this is a common news
paper offence, we must admit, when we con-
slider a moment the real nature of a news
papers functions, and the manner in which
those functions are improperly lntsrtered
with. The offence being committed in writ
ing is not so readily recognizable as if com
United in person, and by word of the mouth ;
but it exists, nevertheless, and instead OF be-
ing diminished, is vastly increased and in
tensifed by the choice Of type as the instru-
writing about it in his paper, if the editor
were to start up street and call upon his
subscribers, bankers, business and profess
sional men, and interrupt them in the dis
charge of their business duties by some such
remark as this :-"Last night c, of the Bang
Up saloon, sent over a dozen beer to the boys,
aud l tell you We set 'em up and had a good
time,'' and so On for half an hour. Could
the persons thus victimized think otherwise
than that this editor was an outrageous bore?
They might not be candid enough to tell him
so to his face but each would be apt, in dis
missing his unwelcome visitor to say to him
self, 81 wish you were in Tophet you and
your beer, instead of coming to interrupt my
work with any such trash" And yet how
much less Objectionable is it to print such
stuff in a newspaper than it would be to re-
cite it orally? How much less of an offence
against good morals mt good taste is it to
speak in type at once to a thousand persons,
than to go about and repeat the same words
in the ear of the victims, one at a time?
Evidently. the former is by far the greater
fault. And the practice is not honest. Peo-
pie who buy a newspaper do so because
they value it for the news it con-
tsins, or else for its expression of
opinion on matter of current interest. Prop
erly to meet those requirements is the legiti-
mate duty of all editor. Sometimes this
exceeds his power. There are occasions
when the dispatches to be printed, the editor
ial views to be advanced will not fill up the
paper. In that event it is allowable to have
recourse to suitable and carefully chosen lit.
erary selections with which to occupy the
surplus space; but it is not allowable to have
IcCoufSe 10 - puLS. Inc people WHO pay
for a paper do not pay for "puf1s.' In taking
their money the publisher morally obligates
himself to have the pages of his paper prop
erly filled and when he devotes any OF its
space to the vicious practice of pufIery he
takes what other people have paid for and
devotes it to a purpose its owners would not
sanction.
Reader, the advertising columns of the
MINER are open to all proper, and only to
proper advertisements. If you choose to adj
~vertise, whole columns and pages are at your
service. You can't imagine how delighted
we shall be t" announce your nanle or de-
scribe your business in letters a foot LONG, :;
nothing else will suit, provided it be lone III
a regular lad" and at regular rates. But
don't, don't ask us to puff you, for really we
will not do it. We have determined to shut
down on puffs; and from that form Of ilnpo-
sition the readers of at least one Montana
paper--to-wit. the MINER,-will hereafter be
free.
IN the IA2tyilla Sfrltp tba NINA ,,.,