The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-11-10

uOSJ lu1pOTLdub WOIkt III always gave
additional force to an article when you
occasionally saw added to some signifi-
cant article in the old New York Courier
and Enquirer ]. W. W., or in the Tribune
III. g., or in the Herald j. G.. b., or in the
Times III. j. R., or in the Evening Post
W. G. B., or in the Evening Express +. b.
While this arrangement would be fair
and just thing for newspaper writers,
it would be defense for the public. 1t
is sometimes true that things damaging
to private character are said. Who is re-
spOnsible? 1t is the 1--WE" of the edi-
tOrial or repOrtOrial columns. Every
man in every profession or occupation
ought to be responsible for what he
does. No honorable man will ever write
that which he would be afraid to sign
But thousands of people have suffered
from the impersOnality of newspapers.
What can one private citizen wrOnged
in his reputation do in a contest with
misrepresentation multiplied into 10000
or $4,000 copies? An injustice done in
print is illimitably worse than an iujus-
tice done in private life. During loss
of temper q man may say that
for which he will be sorry in ten min
utes; but newspaper injustice has first
10 be written, then set up in type, then
the proof taken off, and read and cor
rected, and then for six or ten hours
the presses are busy running off the is
sue. Plenty of time to correct. Plenty
repent. But all that is hidden by the
lmpersOnality of newspaper. 1t will
be long step forward when all is
changed, and newspaper writers get
credit for the good and are held respOn-
sfble for the evil.
Another step forward for newspaper
dom will be when in our Colleges and
Universities we open opportunities for
preparing candidates for the editorial
chair. We have in such institutions
medical departments, law departments,
why not about editorial departments?
Do the legal and healing professions
demand more culture and careful train
ing than the editorial or repOrtOrial
professions? | know men may tumble
by what seems accident into a newspa-
per office as they may tumble into other
occupations, but it would be an meal
culable advantage if those proposing a
newspaper life had an institution to
which they might go to learn the quail
tcat1Ons, the esponsibilities, the trials,
the temptations, the dangers, the mag
niticent opportunities, of newspaper
life. Let there be a lectureship in
which there shall appear the leading
editors of the United States telling the
story of their struggles, their victories,
their mistakes, how they worked and
what they found out to be the best way
of working. There will be strong men
who will climb up without such aid
ntO editorial power and efficiency. So
40 men climb up to success in other
branches by sheer grit. But if we want
| learned institutions to make lawyers,
and artists, and doctors, and ministers,
we much more need institutions to make
| editors, who occupy position of intlu-
ence hundred fold greater. do not
put the truth too strongly when L say
| the most potent influence for good on
| earth is a good editor and the most po-
tent influence for evil is a bad one. The
best way to reinforce and improve the
newspaper is to endOw editorial profes.
sOrates. When will Princeton, or Har.
ward, or Yale, or Rochester, lead the
way?
Another blessing of the newspaper is
the foundation it lays for an accurate
history of the time in which we live
We for the most part blindly guess
about the ages that ante-date the news
paper, and are dependent upon the pref
udices of this or that historian. Bu
after hundred or two years what splen
did opportunity the historian will hav,
to teach the people the lesson of this day
Our BancrOfts got from the early news
papers of this country, from the BOstOI
News Letter, the New York Gazette, ant
the American Rag Bag, and Royal Ga
zetteer, and Independent Chronicle, ant
Massachusetts Spy and the Philadelphia
Aurora, accounts of Perry's victory, ant
HamiltOn's duel, and Washington
death, and Boston massacre, and the Op
pressiVe foreign tax on luXuries, whicl
turned Boston harbOr into teapot, t,an(
Paul Revere's midnight ride, and Rhode
Island rebellion and South CaTOlin;
notification. But field for the chroni
cler of the great future, when he OPEN
the files of hundred standard American
newspapers, giving the minuti@ of al
things occurring under the social, pOliti
cal, ecclesiastical, international head
ings. Five hundred years from now, i
the world lasts that long, the studen
looking for stirring, decisive histOr,
will pass by the misty corridors of othe
centuries and say to the libraries: "Fint
me the volume that gives the centur,
in which the American Presidents wer
assassinated, the civil war enacted an,
the cotton gin, the steam locomotive
and telegraph, and electric pen, an
telephone, and Hoes cylinder presses
newspapers do for to-day than the fac
that they make stOre-hOuse of history.
More than all, the blessing of a goo
newspaper is in its eVangelic influence
The secular press of this country dis
cusses all religious questions, scatter
abroad religious intelligence, multiple
sermons until the Gospel comes ever
, week within the reach of every intell
gent man and woman in America. Th
good newspaper is to be the right win
: of the apOcalyptic angel. On the Sal
: bath a minister breaches to feV
hundred or thousand people, and o
: Monday morning or evening throug
: the printing-press breaches
3 millions. May Goa speed
3 The telegraph then gathers U
for it matter on one side, and til
( express rail train waits to be lOade
: with the tons of folded sheets on I'll
r other. l set it down as the mightie
3 force for the worlds evangelizatiOn. A
d aged woman earning her living by kni
s ting came to the end of her wOrsted ba
8 and found it wound rounds piece of o.
Il newspaper, which she opened and rea
: and to her amaZement found in it 6
advertisement announcing herself 8
i heiress to large property. And aft
8 the thread of time shall have run furt
g er out who knows but that through Il
@ silent yet speaking newspaper is to
Il found the vast inheritance of Il
" worlds redemption. ..
A .... rD UEr nv II OWE .