The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1881-07-29
sSISSIPPT, FRIDAY, JULY %, 1881.

at least, the quality Of its independence
is decidedly strained. An armed an,
bristling neutrality falls short If ii,
idea Of independent journalism
| IN a large majority of country paper
the local department is made the leadn,
feature. This is as il should be. Th,
country weekly is essentially loca
paper. 1t should give especial attention
to home affairs, encourage in every legit
innate way the development III HON,
resources, foster home enterprises anr
furnish all information Of 4 local char
acter that may he Of interest to III read,
ers How well this function Of the paper
| is utilized il evidenced BY the many
lsprightly, newsy exchanges that come
my table. But this can he carried 10
extremes, and local journalism presents
some curious eccentricities. One editor
will devote almost his exclusive attcn
tion TO local paragraphs. He has 4 eer-
tain amount Of space which must be
filled up with strictly local news,
whether there is any news Or not. No
matter how insignificant an occurrence
may be, it is sufficient to point para.
graph. he pounces on the triyialest
happenings like duck upon june bug.
A runaway horse elicits feeling of
grateful appreciation. A dog fight is il
bonanza. If an esteemed citizen fall
and break his neck the grief of the
enterprising editor, though profound and
heartfelt, does not exclude bland
satisfaction as he rounds off graphic
and sympathetic description Of tile
occurrence. Business lis business, YOU
know. If he hasn't anything to tell,
he tells it anyhow. If the times are
distressingly dull and things move on 50
lazily or so harmoniously that nothing
will happen to break the monotony, he
rises equal TO the occasion, He manu-
factures news something after the man
ner Of making cannon as described by
the lrishman. Said the Irishman, "They
take hole and pour melted iron around
it" So, this editor takes any airy
nothing and gives it a living, aggressive
substantiality--a local habitation and
name. He is sometimes not averse to
making statement which is in the
highest degree improbable. A correction
will afford him paragraph for his next
issue. He cares little for the outside
world, The historic Isle Of Scio may be
convulsed by an earthquake and thous.
ands of ill-fated inhabitants buried
under the ruins Of their homes, but a
notice of the occurrence is crowded out
to give place 20 report Of street squab-
BILE. A revolution might shake Europe
to its centre, but it will receive less
attention than farmer JOnes' three
legged chicken.
Another contempo ary has pcncliant
for personals. He publishes every or,
rival and departure, and then to be i'm
partial mentions everybody else, for the,
use Of whose name he can frame the
slightest excuse. If you salute him on
the street you get your name in the
paper. One might have reason to sus-
pect that the name of "Col. Blankety
Blank, our popular and much esteemed
townsman," and "the beautiful and ac-
Miss So and So" are stereo-
typed and thrown into the forms where
ever there is lack of other matter. II
cannot be denied that the majority Of
people like to see their names in the
paper. They may deny the soft i'm
parchment or even express a disgust at
such publicity, but in 80 cases out OF
100 such denial is sheer ahectaiion.
When, however, personal mention be-
comes so cheap that anybody and every
body gets benefit, they certainly
should, ii they do not. be greatly lowered
in the public estimation. The personal
column is a legitimate and useful feature
gr btFf Nso all oI.
that il is Internationally abused.
Some country journals depend almost
entirely upon their rural correspondents
for local news, and they get il with
vengeance. Time will not permit me TO
do the average rural correspondent JUS
tice. He is unique in his Methods, in
defatigable in his labors, terrible in his
importunity. He only needs encourage
ment to be always on hand. pass him
by, for he deserves to be made the special
subject of paper.
There is class of papers which are in
one respect Identical ! refer TO the
"patent outside" or "inside, as the case
may be. am not going to inveigh
against these papers. Some Of them are
among my best exchanges. / have this
to say, however: / think the system
bad one. / think its tendency is not to
elevate journalism. The demand for
patent outsides is based upon wrong
idea.
/ had infinitely rather edit five col
umn paper than to edit half of ten
column paper. 1t is a mistake TO sup
pose that large paper is essential to
marked success. Some of the very best
papers get are small papers. A few Of
them are model country newspapers, and
each one contains more good and well
digested matter than two or three of
other Journals / might name that are
twice as large. II were called upon to
start new paper in town, upon limit
ed means, would print all Of my paper
at home, even though it were small, no
matter what the competition might be,
would endeavor to the best of my poor
ability to pit quality against quantity,
knowing that if fell in the struggle it