Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-31
TIE uzoLEAN JoURNAlIsM QUESTION

to ali classes which antagonize our ciViliza-
ton.
TIE UECLEAN JOURNALISM QUESTION.
We felt moved few days ago to quote
the eccentric Brooklyn preacher, DR.. Tai
mage. He has given second occasion for
approval BY launching sensible and in
cisive discourse against pestiferous liter
ature, subject upon which this journal
has not infrequently dwelt. He believes
that the greatest scourge of the nation is
unclean journalism, and in so saying he is
undeniably correct. It has never counted
It's victims-they are myriad, and the
array Of It's crimes by the preacher is mad
eguate TO convey an idea Of them. The
only remedy for it is 10 fight it with clean
literature. He classes books and newspa-
pers together since e newspaper is but
book in simpler and more portable form.
The pure novels, the elevating pictures he
compares to deep wells and gushing springs.
Of these men should drink, but never of
the muddy pool resting upon the mire of
impurity. The loathsome literature of the
flash press was Of course condemned, but
above and beyond that is the loose liter
aturc on the food Of fiction of this day,
rising above the banks of decency, that
finds It's way to the hands Of youths and
curses and blasts them. Such are the
books that give false pictures of human
life; that make it either a tragedy or
farce; men either demons or gods, and
women angels or furies books that have
an admixture Of good and evil; for the
bad" in a book sticks to youth faster than
the good"-.the heart being like seive
that lets the fine gold through, but holds
the coarse debris. The books that infame
the passions and corrupt the imagination
fall within the category; the kind that
eyade the law and are not sold in secret.
Parents should take time to see that the
books their children read are not apollo
getic Of crime, that strive TO make impurity
decent, that put carnalism behind embroid-
cred cnrtains, that swarm with libertines
and desperadoes, and make the brain of
the young whirl with villainy. The bad
pictorial literature of the day came in for
a bitter lashing, as well as the men who
write for It, the men who publish and print
it, ard the men who sell il. In this day in
a class Of papers the pictorial art is prosti-
tuted to the purposes Of iniquity, and the
sign is hung out at every news stand, smit-
ing the vision Of the young with pollu-
ton. 4 bad picture is enough to poison
dozen souls and these thousands of others.
The engraver of indecency can do more
with one picture than the author can with
whole book Of filth. It is good sign
that leading journals are reprinting Tai
IMAGES protest against gigantic evil. 1t
is time it was stayed time this river of
crime, dishonor, degradation and death was
cofined by the law, that it shall no longer
cast its spray in the faces of the people at
every turn of the highway. 1t is time all
the pulpits Of the land echoed Talmage's
vigorous protest. It is time that such laws
as we have on the subject be enforced An i
effort in that direction was made in this
city twoweeks ago and il was successful. One
magistrate with backbone brought
about the conviction of two rascals for
openly selling lewd pictures from stand
in the street. Yet there was not one in
the lot so meanly Vicious as are exposed in
the unclean papers on the news counters
Of every city in the State. We cannot ex-
pect the youth or manhood of the day to
be any better than the books they read, or
the pictures they are drawn to dwell upon.
There are two methods of checking the
evil. One demands that every parent
shall take time to see what his boys and
girls read; the other is that public senti-
ment shall be cultivated to a demand for
removal from sight, at least, of lewd and |
anclean papers and books, and that their sale
and possession be prohibited. Both meth
DDS must be employed The one is per-
5onal, the other public, and this latter
must find expression in laws of broader
character and more certain effect, Cal
.fornia needs to copy after Georgia and
write into her statute book condemna-
lion Of the unclean journalism of the day,
md to see to it that the decree is enforced.