Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1883-06-01

Every man who wishes to live in full
communion with his century must read
the newspapers. Else he will be as much
out Of place among his fellows as though
he wore small clothes and three-cor.
nered hat surmountisg q pigtail. In the
busy hum OF the nineteenth century few
may have stopped to think of the mat
ter, but there ia a vast difference between
him who reads the daily newspaper, and
his brother, who does not The one is
the human antithesis OF the other. There
are people who, while they read the
papers otherwise how should they
know what they affirm find scarcely
anything too bad TO say of them. These
persons are fond Of animadverting on
the sensational character Of the news
contained in daily paper. and that OF
the editorial comment. which, when not
frivolous, Is exaggerated, contained
\ therein. We are treating Of American
newspapers and American readers, and
assert that there are among us those
VINO agree with that English gentleman
who considered newspaper reading "the
great American vice." But our most
profound thinkers. our busiest men OF
business, our hardest working sons Of
toll, find time to turn aside for moment
from the engrossing pursuits Of life. for
the purpose Of reading their daily papers,
each preferring in this the journal in
which. judging from his own individual
standpoint, he finds the greatest amount
Of truth most ably set forth. These
men, who form tho nation, find the
papers worth perusal, for all that they
have each its faults. The man who
reads the paper is in effect traveller,
since news from all parts Of the world is
brought daily to his notice, and is, there
fore, cosmopolitan in his tastes, many
sided In his views Of men and things.
He who reads not the papers has ever
the homely wits said to mark home
keeping youth, has no horizon beyond
that, hemming in the very contracted
sphere in which he lives, and moves,
and has his being. Many of those same
persons, to whom we have referred as
turning up their noses at the perusal of
the daily papers, nevertheless concede
the advantage of reading history, bio
graphies, books Of travel, science, and
the like. Yet, what is daily paper, if
It be not all these in one. containing in
Vulnerable chapters, and issued in three
hundred and sixty.five annual volumess
In this vast country in which wc dwell,
how can any man be good citizen OF
the republic, unless he knows what is
going on within III And where can he
obtain that knowledge except in the
daily papers The ubiquitous reporter
is the type of republicanism in its broad
est sense. as we of America understand
and practice it. Nothing is uninterest-
ing to him which is of interest to man.
kind. The coronation of Alexander of
oil the Russias, the murder by unknown
hands of some tramp himself unknown,
are treated in the daily press from one
and the same standpoint-the value of
these items as news. II such reading be
not instructive to greater degree than
any other kind of reading. where is this
to be found' Even the sensational re-
ports of trials for murder, and the like,
are but lower forms of the study of the
actions of men and the motives that
prompt them. The narratives of such
trials are but so many novels, such as
tbssSerld applauds, told more in detail,
and real not iictiiioaris. nov may pos
sible "James boys" have been deferred
from their purpose by the newspaper
report of an execution? To that giddy
girl who could read unmoved, and I'M
mindful OF the lesson taught, tho preg-
nant tale of Jennie Cramer's death, all
warnings would be empty words.