Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-06
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.


Some legislators, in the course of the
debate on the dismissal of the infamous
Terry assault upon the Supreme Court,
took occasion to express their supreme
contempt for the press, and to inyeigh bit
terly against all men who recognize or ac-
cede to its influence.
The contemptuous expression of these
gentlemen is nothing new 1t invariably
results that when the press discusses pub
lie questions, some Of those who differ
from it take occasion to vituperate against
it. And it is well, for more forcibly than
anything else it testifes to the usefulness
of the press. When, however, these gen.
tlemen have the press with them, it is
marvellous how exceeding gracious they
are to this same "despised" influence, and
how proudly they point to it as the expo
nent and the creator of public opinion.
They fall into error if they suppose that
in manifesting their utter Indifference to
what the press may say, they are voicing
their contempt for the expression of indi-
vidual writers. The press does not create
or formulate public opinion-it reflects it.
The average Judgment of the country may
be accurately ascertained from press ex-
preston taken as a whole 1t reflects the
division in public sentiment quite as &C
curately as would census of the question
involved in given debate. The editorial
writer may be a factor in the modifying of
public opinion, but, according to our view,
one of very limited importance.
For public opinion is growth it has
its genesis in the thought of individual
citizens, and the aggregation of this
thought, taking shape and developing i'm
portance by accretion, becomes publicjudg
ment. divided, or practically unanimous
as the case may be.
Now the facts of daily life in public cir
cles, as reported by the newspapers, I'M
questionably form the basis, in part, of the
individual judgments, the aggregation of
which makes what we denominate public
opinion, and to certain extent, also, the
expression of journals aid in this forma-
ton, just as do other private judgments.
But when it is claimed that the press Gre
ates public opinion, there is set up an err
roneous pretension. And it is noteworthy
that this is most frequently made and with
but rare exceptions, by those not connected
with public journals. Seldom, indeed,
does the practical journalist assert the
claim He knows it is not true, if he is
well-informed and thoughtful He knows
that the newspaper reflects a shading of
public opinion, is its exponent, the vehicle
for its dissemination, not its creator. For
if it were, all other citizenship would be
subservient to that which pretentiously
invests itself with types, paper, press and
ink as mediums through which to express
its thought The absurdity of any such
proposition is obvious.
If these exasperated Legislators had
thought clearly, and less yituperatively,
they might have conformed their express
sion to the truth by saying that they enter
tanned contempt for this that or the other
specific journal, and refused to recognize il
as an influencing agency. No one could
object to such a statement, any Mere than
if the legislator had sid that he cared
nothing for the individual expression of
Brown, Jones or Smith. But if Brown,
Jones and Smith constitute a majority of
the community in democratic form of
government, and are agreed in sentiment
on public question, we take it that the
boldest of Representatives would scarcely
defend the propriety or justify the indiscre-
ton Of contemptuous and yituperative ex-
preston concerning this democratic mani
festation of the will of the governed, over
whom the government properly extends its
power by their free consent, and that only.
SO then, when the press is condemned
and its agency derided in public affairs, it
is the equivalent of denouncing the senti-
ment Of the citizenship of the country, of
which the press in its collective capacity
is simply the exponent, nothing more
If it does not reflect public sentiment, if
it does not voice public opinion. be sure
that the people viii make it known. and
legislators and all Others viii remain in nc
doubt concerning it.
CASTELAR,, the man OF faith and knowl-
edge and brilliant powers, the eminent
statesman and accomplished scholar. and
4han whom few public men had broader
experience with the press ia his day, or
clearer insight into che forces that mold
pubic opinion, strange as it may seem,
differed widely IN his estimate of this
channel of human intelligence from
those critical gentlemen of the Legislature
of California who are 50 contemptuous of
il. He could comprehend society without
steam engines, the telegraph, OF thou
eand other marsels modern industry has
sown III the triuEsphal path of progress,
but he could not understand a society
without the immense volume of the daily
press, in which is registered by legion
of writers, who should be held in honor by !
the people, our troubles, our vac,l liations, |
our apprehensiaps, and the degree o per- /