Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-12-27

/ ike work done for dailies. or course
/ | realize that unavoidable haste is re.
/ sponsible for many of the inperiec
tions OF daily newspapers especially
in communities too small to support
complete newspaper organizations
which mean daily expenditure oi
large sums. do not in the least dispar
age the value of daily newspaper work,
or deny that the public demand for
it has created an acknowledged public
need merely wish to express my
belief that community which neglects
its good weekly press for its daily i.
short sighted and such neglect weak
ems. an influence for good which the
daily press is powerless to supply.
The introduction of the above quo
tation makes it impossible within the
/ limits | have assigned for each of these
essays to 60 into anything like an ade
quate discussion of newspaper matter.
So shall conclude this paper with a
brief statement OF what think ought
to be the province of the daily and
of the weekly newspaper
The term newspaper may be taken
to include all papers which furnish in.
formation in excess OF opinion. Some
OF the so-called 'literary" and ascien.
tihc" papers have as sound title to
the name newspaper as has the Daily
Monger, that deals with the idle tattle
of the empty hour 1t would take too
long, and it is quite Unnecessary, to 90
into a detailed classification OF news.
papers--the list would be an interest.
ing one, though, and | may refer to it
later This community is chiefly con.
cerned with the daily and weekly land
monthly publications it supports.
beg leave to offer, for the consideration
of every reader who does me the favor
to read this article, an opinion
based as much upon the judgment Of
the ablest journalists of my personal
acquaintance as upon my own deliber.
ate conviction.
The daily newspaper the sor,
best appreciated at the present time
is vehicle for the record and the dis.
semination of daily news II more than
that. 50 much the better if less, il fails
ofits object Nineteen twentieths ofevery
Anglo Saxon community safely may
be ventured--are interested in the daily
happenings of their little world The
| harmless title tattle Of the streets, the
on change, the local improvement, the
incidents, the accidents, the chances
and the mischances of the f1eeting
hour. am not discussing whether
this sort of brain food this ''mental
mush" Greeley used to call it) is good
for steady intellectual diet | ack-
nowledge the fact that the public de
mands it, and it is just as moral and
legal to furnish ii as it is to sell soda
water and ice cream. do not need
I'm Honolulu) to discriminate between
the sort of local news that may and
may not properly he told.
II remains that the public demands
the news of the day; and is willing to
pay for it. The daily paper that bes,
fills its mission will reflect pretty faith
fully all that portion of the daily life
OF the community which is fairly the
property of the public's curiosity. And
there is no city, no large town even
where the daily newspaper, in the righ,
hands, may not serve the public faith
fully and we'll
OF course there are among the ex-
acting readers of every daily paper those
who do not like personality, who call
complimentary mention of private affair,
fulsome fattery," and consider ever
the most mildly satirical mention in
sulting' There are those who thini
their paper "stupidly trivial if the re
pairing Of Davy Jones' chicken house
is chronicled; and Others who thinl
the sheet lacks enterprise" if the "im
provement" is not mentioned. One
man wants commercial intelligence bu
is not interested in shipping news. Hi.
neighbor's preference is vice versa The
intelligent conductor of the daily news
paper will cater to each. Sermons anc
religious intelligence please one sub
scriber; but the subscriber whose shoI
or residence is next door may not care
for anything religious, but be absorb
ingly interested in stock breeding O
fish culture. Each must be considered
And so on indefinitely.
The great difficulty in most communi
ties is not the lack of local news. Blu
lack Of tact, taste and Judgment ii
gathering and re-telling it. The righ
sort Of newspaper is SO systematic il
the arrangement Of its news that ther'
is a gratuated scale Of classification
giving its adequate importance.to -eacl
and every article or item. Airy light
ness is at once the natural and III,
artistic mode Of treating certain topics
The judicious editor never permits tina