St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-04-03

their horror, their hideous consequen-
ces. The press may rightly employ
rIdlcule, satire, denunciatiOn and warn
ing, In regard to the meanneSses, out
RACES and distinctions of crime in it's
various phases, and must record be
sides many events that are rcplIsivc
and indeed revolving. But it must do
all this with discrimination with
respect ta proportion, and with moral
responsibility.
Mr.. Smalley couples with the tendeu-
cies in this direction another tendency
as only less reprehenslblc. This he
describes rs "a manifest drift toward
curtness and ilippancy,a II touch-and-g go
style of treating all subjects, a dispO-
sition to make trlicitous point rather
than to convey au idea, Il way of skip
ping over the surface of things in Il
half-humorous, half-sarcastic mood,
which makes II paper what is called
bright and 'newsy." There is this
tendency, and it may be exaggerated
to the point the critic deprccates. But
he does not give any evidence of rec
ogniZing the assured fact that this ten
dency is at the start in the right di-
rection. 1t is a day of breakfast table
and railroad reading, and the question
is not of writing elaborate essays, but
of daily comment. Mr.. Smallry says.
The patient, thoughtful editorial
writer who puts conscientious work
into his articles is voted an olh-taSh-
iOned bore" Not so the truth is that
it has been discovered that the results
of conscientious work, of SERIOUS weigh
ing of reasons and of deep thinking
upon subjects can he put into less space
than formerly they were, with no real
loss of anything except words. We
caunot, with Mr.. SmalleY, lament the
lack of the British editorial. The
long, solid articles of the London Times
or the Daily News are not ideals of
editorial discussion ; their columns can
be condensed into sticktuls and Toe
worth just as much. 1t is not at all
necessary to be heavy in order 10 he
decent or deep. Some of the big pa-
pers, it is true, have for Years shown
that there is no medium for their
writer's between the elephant and the
monkey, but it is not i'll them that Mr..
Smalley will find the conscience and
sense of journalism.
This critic finds but one feature in
the present phase of journalism that is
satisfactory, it is the greater freedom
from the influence of politicians. He
perceives that there is growing spirit
of independence "even the strong
party papers display robust indie
pendence.n "Robustn is not quite the
adjective we should employ, nor should
we say that such papers were "the
leaders of the organizations they sup
port" But the general tendency is
indubitable, and merits this recogni-
tion. Finally 1.-THE most threatening
evil of current journalism is the hid
den hand of the outside capitalist, laid
upon it to shape its opinions and ma
nipulate its views" This too is an
evil in the journalism of the great
cities. In all that MIR. Smallcy says,
he manifests that narrow horizon, say
ing nothing about the vast number Of
newspapers in tho small cities and in
land towns, and the country press,
which in New England is noticeably
individual, strong and progressive, i'll
the best fashion.-[Springtield Repub-
! lican.