Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-11-06

The Boston Congregational club is an
organization which yields no little intlu-
ence, not only among the Congregational
churches and pastors of New England,
but among intelligent and scholarly men
of all denominations. Its discussions are
commonly marked by II breadth and can
dor which make them peculiarly valuable
as indications of the drift Of thought
among the conservative and cultured but
not fanatical thinkers.
A Boston newspaper man-Mr. Frank
Foxcroft of the Journdl-was recently in
vited to read Il paper before the Congrega-
tional club, on the subject of The Sun
day Newspaper" His paper, which has
recently been published, is written, not,
as might have been expected from the
standpoint of journalist, SO much rs
that of critic and scholar. He does not
attempt to plead the common excuses for
the existence of the modern Sunday news
paper. He does not even try to emphasize
its unobjectionable features at the expense
of the Objectionable ones. He takes
broad, honest, sensible view of the whole
matter-a view which the eminent and
scholarly members of the club feel justi-
fed in endorsing.
Mr.. FoXcroft first shows, by critical eX-
animation of three of the best conducted
and, perhaps, least Objectionable Sunday
newspapers published in this country,
how small proportion of the contents of
these mammoth sheets can, even by the
most charitable construction, be called re-
ligious. He shows that in the Boston sun
day Hcrdld of August %, only four and
one-half per cent of the entire contents
is devoted to religious or semi-relgiouS
subjects, while six times that much space
is devoted to sporting news and summer
resort gossip.
In the Providence Journal of the same
date Mr.. FoXcroft found eight per cent of
the reading matter devoted TO religious
news, miscellany and poetry, The Spring
field .Sunddy Republican of August 23,
had over nine columns of secular reading
matter, tor every column of matter that
might be called religious. OF course if Mr..
| FoXcroft had taken any of the New York
Sunday papers he would have had still
| less to say in favor of the religious char
aCter.
Mr. FoXcroft next turns TO the question
of the labor expended upon the sunday
newspaper. The stereotyped argument of
the advocate of Sunday newspapers is that
almost all the work of preparation, the
editing, type setting, stereotyping, and
indeed everything but press work is done
during the secular hours of the week
This argument Mr. FoXcrolt meets by
saying that it does not cover the real OBJ
lection, which is that by the publication
of the Sunday newspaper seven days
work are required of all those connected
with the establishment instead of six
When the Sunday issue is sand
wiched in between Saturdays and
Mondays, neither editor nor printer
gets any time at all for rest. The candle
of life is always burning at both ends
and the result for the workers is either in
sanity or premature death. Then, when
the necessities of distributing these vas
Sunday editions are taken into account
/. to say nothing of the prolonged labor o
reading them-it is plain that their pro
duction is violation of the Sabbath o
the decalogue.
The most efficient antidote to the Sun
day newspaper, Mr., FoXcroft thinks, i
: more earnest and simple preaching of tn
gospel. The gospel, he says, is not shOrl
! of its power over the hearts of men, ant
with "more pulpits conveying direct
sweet and burning message OF divine love
/, and with unpulpited disciples touched
l with divine cagerness for the salvation
= of men, we should have forces at wOrl
p which would go far to counteract tn
t evils which result from Sunday papers
> and to check those tendencies of moderl
y life which men of serious minds must dc
f plOre.