The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-07-31
SO adjourned at 4 p m.
The Press.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES OF THE
NEWSPAPER.

The Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanium,
a benevolent society, having for its chief ann the
mutual insurance al the members held its an
nual seseinn in Detroit last week. Delegates
were present from many States. the Supreme
Council heing Il national affair. Thursday even
ing a banquet was given to the members, at
which Mr.. George p. Guodale, city editor of the
Free Press, IN replying to the toast The Pre- w."
made the following remarks, which very aptly H.
lustrate responsibilities and duties which are i'm
posed upon the properly conducted newspaper:
There is something to be said on the snbiect
embodied in the words of the toast. Indeed, it
has engaged the thought and elOQuence of men
standing in the nation most exalted places and
| am proud that | hold the honored Office of
spokesman for an institution of such power for
usefulness and right.
Bulwer once said that the world has had two
Saviors-Jesus Christ and the press. That is
perhaps an extravagant coupling of terms, but it
serves to illustrate the esteem, not to say awe, in
which such a daring and self-reliant genius as the
author Of 81 Rienzi - and g The Caxtons - held
the press.
l have observed that the versatile American
citizen-especially if he never saw the interior of
a newspaper ofice-prides himself on his ability
to fill the editorial chair. He does not always
find the opportunity to show the world what he
can do in that position, but he does the next
most available thing offers sage advice to the
experienced editor, who has learned the business
from press room to skylight.
l have not infrequently felt that the press has
neglected some noble and promising opportunities
for human good that its great heart has not al
ways throbbed responsive to that which the
chancery lawyers describe as equity and good
conscience and that sordid impulses may have
sometimes sent both its heart and brain off on a
tangent not in the direction of true wisdom.
The journalists who acknowledges as we'll as re-
cognIzes these facts is in my Judgment likely to
hew nearest that line of equity and good con-
science" | believe that the great majority of
journals have right and high aims. True, men
do not risk large pecuniary interests in journal
istic enterprises altogether for the public good.
They are not, in the ~strictest sense, self ,sacri-
fcing missionaries. Publishing newspapers is a
business, nmenable to business laws. II these be
ignored disaster is inevitable. If newspapers did
not make money you may be sure they would
not long endure. But there is the voice OF the
people demanding of the press that it do not de-
ceive them nor forget that, in addition to its
mission as the mirror of the worlds each day s
history, it's higher mission is the diffusion of in
telligent thought and the conservation of morals.
In the very nature Of the case-by virtue of Its
easy reach-and in the light of the significant
fact that the newspaper Is practically found In
every household, it's influence is potential-far
outreachiing that of any other human device we
know anything about. The pulpit, the stage,
poetry and all the literature found in good books
aim high, but they lack the democracy of the
newspa per, and therefore they do not come in
such intimate relations with the great bodies DO
lite ard social. This very intimacy OF the press
and people liz the strongest argument | can offer
by way OF appeal to journalists everywhere to
guard their columns against impurities. and to
cast their opinions i'll the mould of sincere con-
victiUn.
The fearless journal, if it be fearless in defense
Of right and in assailing' wrong. is mIghtIer than
al. army with banners. | have no wish to mis-
takenly glOrIfy any human institution, but [
think it easily true that there is grandeur in the
victories of the press over cant and fraud, neither
OF which common and skiIlful enemies can live
long in the fierce heat Of it's exposure. For the
brave and honest press there is a still nobler gar
land-the appropriation of its own conscience
and the enthusiastic adherence of its friends.
| should like to tell you something of the men
who make the newspaper something OF the
ardur with which they fling themselves into that
morgue where leisure and dUmesticIty lie dead;
something Of the mercIless and memorable toll
which the profession demands of it's slaves. 1t
would. no doubt. be of interests to you to know
something of the methuds of the men whose
~drudgery of brain and body outlasts the stars at
night and were | able to fttingly phrase the
truth | might enlist your curiosity in respect of
those arcana of the journalistic temple, and whet
your relish for the Vaccinations with which the
career is spiced for those who truly wed it. That
would invade your patience too far now. The
passing hour warns me to say good night.