Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-01-18
MANUFACTURED SEXSlTIONALIsW.

One takes up Il metrOp llltan newsDaDar
nowadays, witha certain daprlyyd craving.
lie Is conscious Of nervous appetite for ex-
cltement, for the lowest sort Of mental siinu.
lus. He finds himself gancing from item
to item In search Of sensation and when
he finds it, he devours it with rnvnuin ,
aeidily, more like the fierce sgnsualsm
OF brute appetite than the reasonable self.
control of rational impulse This is a form
OF incompetence which is slowly coming to
be recognized as dangerous and offensive.
1t Is, IN fact just as much an intnxication of
the mental faculties us common drunkenness
ls an intoxication of the physical faculties :;
and 1t is more dangerous and more degrading
than the latter, by just so much as the men
tai powers are ncbler and higher than the
physical. It's worse to fall from cliff than
from boulder. Injury to mans lower
natute may be repaired, but if it is the higher
nature which suffers, the harm is ant to be
vital
That the appetite for sensations is not a
natural one, is evident from the fact that If
is not satisfied by natural occurreoces-- oc.
currences, that is, which take place in the
natural course of everyday life, and are
heightened neither by the depraved imanina-
ZION OF the narrator, nor by the reaction
"hlch such cXaggeration has upon real life.
1t is Transporting, from confessions made here
and there by newspaper men. that q LARGO
proportion of the sensations which find thcr
way into the public press are bald Gabrica-
tlons-stories, purporting to be actual occlr-
FENCES, written up IN the coarscst and mos,
realistic style, and heralded to the renders
eye by the blacklist suggestions of the nrint.
er's art, 1t appears that there arc men who
make their living by concoctiug these atroci-
Gus lies, or converting simple truth into com.
pound falschood by an ingenious system If
exaggeration and amplfication. Everyone
Will recall the recent sangunary account Of
triple tragedy in North Adams, Mass
IN which husband killed his wife and her
paramour, and then put an end to himself
Ihls story is now proved to have been n cleor
fabrication, without the slightest particle Of
truth to back it. Some literary Bohemian,
VINO was hard up for cash, manufactured lbe
Tale out OF whole CLOTH and sold it TO the
newspapers for good round sum.
We published, the other day, an extract
from the Lowell, Mass, Times, showing nm
young scoundrel in that city, who has been
Tor several months invenling sensations for
the newspapers. and selling them for what
they would bring. His confession, howev.
er, Is more dis8raceful 10 the newspapers
than to himself, for he was able 70 show Ict
tiers and kilograms from well-known iournols
lne;ructing him to send on his fctions. The
public taste has been depraved to sucb an
cA'en' that newspapers evidently tndit rec-
essary TO manufacture excitements in order
to pander TO it. Some of the sensations or
special articles, IN the Sunday editions os
peclally OF our great city blanket sbo.,o
are immoral and revolving ia the extreme.
great part of the loose social
conversation and life of the nreeert
DAY may be traced, without douht
10 The constituencies sensatIonslism 81
the daily press. 1t is impossible to rna,d
against It's harmful influences. The dmIv
paper can not be kept out of the hands ~
the young. 1t finds it way uncballoncod -,
to every household. 1t is Acknowledged -
De Inc most indispensable thing of the ora
ior' along with its vilencss and sensational.
Ism, 1t presents all the intelligence and !,
formation of the day. 1t is indeed q s,rorro
compound of good and evil. Ono coI,,r,r
contains noble sermon Or just and power
1ul editorial on the abuses of the llmc and
the next coarse Byronian description Of tba
lowest slums and dives Of the rrcot oi,,
spun out to revolving fneness bv tha oIoat
ing Imagination of the reporter. Tbcn 70,
low columns of startling rumors and exag.
geratlons and fabrications, in which every
form OF human vice is trickcd ont in its ,or,
drlest livery, aud the lowest passiors nio
tured In such way that they can M, t,il
nave dangerous Influence upo. the reader
Inns Is Ihe stuff that our Metropolitan blank
etsheets are, for the most part made of
we DO not wonder that so manv ror,o,.
OF senslbllity and moral cboroo,s~
reiuso 10 read the newspapers altogether
lheY can better afford to lose the news Than
70 gam the novelties which are manufactured
under its name. We hope that the time is
no' Instant when reaction shall set in
against the prevalent sensationallsm of ,ho
aallY press 1t ia not only disgrace, but