Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-12-21
Tue.aay EvsalnE. Dss. 81. 1880
The Abuses Of Che Press

Por the PUBLIC LEDGER.l
On the 18th Of the present month
an able editorial, entitled "The Press
and Public Speakers" appeared in
the Appeal. So common an occurrence
as an able editorial in a Memphis
daily would excite no special remark.
we're it not that the extraordinary
suggestiveness of the article was upon
a subject Of transcendent importance.
When Gutenberg, in 1850 invented
movable type, the celestial fire had
been stolen from heaven when the
printing press was made free, Prone.
theus was unclaimed. God had said
Let there be light, and there wa,
light"
But in this world there are few
good things that may not, in viciou:
hands, become TIE instruments Of
evil. Ambition, in a Washington and
Franklin, frees a nation and draws the
lightning from its dread abode in an
Alexander or Tamerlane, is the in
strument Of desolation and death.
Education raises mar from the level
OF the savage almost to that of the
angels to the criminal, it adds a new
and startling power for evil. Genius,
in a Homer or Shakespeare, delights
the ages in a Cesar Borgia. blackens
the pages Of history, compelling the
students Of all after time to shudder
at the crimes it has wrought. Demo
cracy, the law of nature p~ervading
the law Of the land" is, Of all forms
OF government, the most prolific crea-
tor Of demagogues, pandering to the
9aaest Instincts of the lower masses.
Religion, the hope of the world
through ages Of darkness, is a gar
ment screening many a hoary hypo-
critic. Above all, the free press, the
creator and motor Of modern civiliza-
fion' becomes, in the hands of un-
scrupulous men, an instrument o.
transcendent power for the propaga
tlon OF all manner Of evil.
The printing press: The preserver
Of the arts, the light Of commerce, the
sword and shield Of liberty, the de.
ilght Of sages, the teachers of the
world the art which has given such a
mighty industry to the race; which
has raised the statesman and scholars
above the soldier8-right above might
which has freed man from the reign.
OF ignorance, superstition, and tyr
amy; which, more than any other
SINGLE instrumentality, wrought the
mighty change which has taken place
since tho fifteenth century-it, too.
can become an instrument Of moral
degradation-it, too, can serve to
guide the way to hell as we'll as light
the path to heaven.
OF the propagation Of error. the en-.
eroaehments Of the press upon the
p~ferogatlves Of the courts, the abuses
winch often arise from government
patronage, the pure invention Of news
or the wild distortion Of facts for
party or sectarian purposes, it is not
our intention to speak, however detri-
mental to the true interests of society
1nese evils may be. But there is an.
other and more terrible abuse Of the
press, which Of late years has beer
gaining ground with alarming "a.
pidity.
This is the evil spoken of in III,
editorial on 1.-THE Press and Public
Speakers" An abstract of this edi.
will disclose the abuses of which
We complain. The growing antagon-
ism between the newspapers. on the
one side, aud the pulpit and
classes of public speakers.
On the other, is caused BY the
progressive power of the press
the gradual wane Of or.torv
which the pulpit regards, and moi
Without reason, as cause and effect.
he press has taken the place of tbe
ulpit and political rostrum. 1t has
surped the ancient prerogatiye 0