St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-12

FOLLlES AND SHAMS
of the world are seen day by day, and the
temptation is to believe neither in God,
man, nor woman. 1t is no surprise to me
that in your profession there are some
skeptical men. l only wonder that you be-
lieve anything. Unless an editor or a re-
porter has in his present or his early home
model of earnest character, or he throw
himself upon the upholding grace of God,
he must make temporal and eternal ship
wreck. Another great trial of the newspa-
per profession is inadequate compensation.
Since the days of HaZlitt, and Sheridan,
and John Milton, and the wailings of Grubb
street. London, literary toll, with very few
exceptions, has not been properly requited.
Another great trial of the newspaper pro-
fession Is the diseased appetite for un-
healthy intelligence. You blame the news
paper press for giving such prominence to
murders and scandals. Do you suppose
that so many papers would give prominence
to these things if the people did not demand
them? l go into the meat market of
foreign city, and find that the butchers
hang up on the most conspicuous hooks
meat that is tainted, while the meat that is
fresh and savOry is put away without any
especial care. / come TO the conclusion
that the people of that city love tainted
meat. You know very well that if the
great mass of people in this country get
hold of a newspaper, and there are i'll it no
runaway matches, no
BROKEN-UP FAMILIES.
no defamation of men in high position. they
pronounce the paper insipid. They say:
1T is shOckingly dull tonight" l believe
it is one of the trials of the newspaper
press. that the people of this country de-
mand moral slush instead of healthy, in
tellectual food. Now, you are respect
able man, an intelligent man, and q paper
comes into your hand. You open it, and
there are three columns of splendidly-writ-
ten editorial, recommending some moral
sentiment, or evolving some scientific
theory. In the next column there is a
miserable, contemplate divorce case.
Which do you read first? You dip into the
editorial long enough to say: ''Well, that's
very ably written" and you read the di-
vorce case from the long primer type at the
top to the nonpareil type at the bottom,
and then you ask your wife if she has read
it. o, it is only case of supply and de-
mand. Newspaper men are not fools.
They know what you want. and they give
it to you. l believe that if the church and
the world bought nothing but pure, honest,
healthful newspapers, nothing but pure,
honest and healthful newspapers would be
published. If you should gather all the
editors and the reporters of this country in
one great convention, and then ask of them
what kind of paper they would prefer to
publish. l believe they would unanimously
say: I'VE would prefer to publish an ele-
waiting paper" So long as there is an in
iquitOus demand there will be an Ubiquitous
supply. make 10 apology for
\ DEBAUCHED NEWSPAPER,
but L am saying these things in order to
divide the responsibility between those who
print and those who read. Another temp
tation of the newspaper profession is the
great allurement that surrounds them.
Every occupation and profession has temp
tatiOns peculiar to itself, and the news
paper profession is not an exception. The
great draught, as you know, is on the nerv-
Gus forces. and the brain is racked. They
must have something to counteract the wet,
they must have something to keep out the
chill, and after a scant nights sleep, they
must have something to revive them for the
mornings work. This is what made
Horace Greeley such stout temperance
man. He told me that he had seen so
many of his comrades go down under that
temptation. Oh, my brother of the news
DdlCI pIOlCSSlOD. Nudb lOu SdilllOL OO WILL
out artificial stimulus, God does not want
you TO do. There is no halfway ground
for our literary people, between teetotaIism
and dissipation. Your professional success,
your domestic peace, your eternalisalvation,
will depend upon your theories in regard to
artificial stimulus. l have had so many
friends go down under the temptation,
their brilliancy quenched, their homes
blasted, that | cry out this morning, in the
words of another. Look not upon the wine
when it is red. when it mOveth itself Alright
in the cup; for at the last, it biteth like a
serpent, and it stingeth like an adder"
ANOTHER TRIAL
Of this profession, is the fact that no one
seems to care for their souls. They
feel bitterly about it, though they laugh.
People sometimes laugh the loudest when
they feel the worst. They are expected to
gather up religious proceedings, and to dis
cuss religious doctrines in the editorial
columns, but who expects them to be saved
by the sermons they phonograph, or by the
doctrines they discuss in the editorial
columns? The world looks upon them as
professional. Who breaches to reporters
and editors? Let me ask all men connected
with the printing press that they help US
more and more in the effort to make the
world better. ! charge you in the name of
God, before whom you must account for
the tremendous influence you hold in this
country, to cOnsecrate yourselves to higher
endeavors. You are the men to fight back
this invasion of corrupt literature. Lift
up your right hand and swear new allegi-
ance to the cause of philanthropy and
religion. And when, at last, standing on
the plains of judgment, you look out upon
the unnumbered throngs over whom you
have had influence, may it be found that
you were among the mightieSt energies that
lifted men upon
THE EXALTED PATHWAY
that leads to the renown of heaven. Better
than to have sat in editorial chair. from
which, with the finger of type, you decided
the destinieS of empires, but decided them
wrong, that you had been some dungeoned
exile, who, by the light of window iron
grated, on scraps of New Testament leaf,
picked up from the hearth, spelled out the
story of him who taketh away the sins of
the world. In eternity, Dives is the beg
gar! Well, my friends, we will all soon
get through writing, and printing, and
proof-reading, and publishing. What then?
chapters. Our months are the paragraphs.
Our days are the sentences. Our doubts
are the interrogation points. Our imitation
of others the quotation marks. Our at
tempts at display dash. Death the period.
Eternity the peroration. o God, where
will We spend it? Have you heard the
news, more startling than any found in the
journals of the last six weeks? 1t is the
tidings that man is lost. Have you heard
the news, the gla0dest that was ever an
nounced, coming this day from the throne
of God, lightning couriers leaping from the
palace gate? The newsl The glorious
news! That there is pardon for all guilt.
and comfort for all trouble. Set it up in
..dOnhle-leadedu columns and direct il Il