The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-15
BROTHER TALMAGE LIKES US.

Rev. T. De WITT TALMAGE has come to
the conclusion that every newspaper re-
porter III New York is his friend in per
sonal way, and then he goes On to say that
he has been betrayed by about every class
of men in the world except newspaper men,
and he has come to the conclusion that
there is spirit of fairness abroad in the
newspapers which is hardly to be found
anywhere else. For all of which THE
HERALD returns its proportion Of the
thanks due.
While not always approving Of the ut
terances Of Mr.. TAI.MAGE, it is not to be
gainsaid that as an eloquent, cultivated and
logical divine, he has few if any equals On
all questions save one-Utah and the Nor
mons-he invariably exhibits liberal
spirit and a comprehensiveness Of purpose
which are greatly to his credit.
Many of the newspapers print
his Sunday sermons merely be-
cause OF their literary value and histori-
cal merit, without endorsing or dissenting
from his peculiar religious views, and
prominent among these is the Louisville
COurferJOurnGl, which has been doing SO
for several years, TALMAGE's sermons fig
uring conspicuously in its Monday and
weekly literary matter.
We strongly suspect that tie great
preacher has not always felt so friendly to-
ward the press; it is very certain that all
of his utterances in days agone have not
breathed forth such feeling of apprecia-
ton and regard. But that matters not
now. He is like great many others, who
imagine that the newspaper of the day is
q thing to be bought, hired or neglected, as
the individuals disposition may suggest,
and thereafter thing of no consequence
to anybody; so long as it could be used for
the PERSONS personal welfare it was useful
to that extent, but no further. Greater men
than Rev. TALMAGE have made the same
mistake, and like him have lived and
learned to change their opinions, not indif-
ferently but altogether.
1t is proper that the press should be
power in the land, because, however
humble it may be or how circumscribed its
sphere, the community is better by reason
of its existence so long as it labors up
rightly and intelligently for the communi-
flare. 1t is only when it debases its
class and dishonors its calling that it is to
be despised, and even then, by reason of
the prestige it has acquired and main
tanned because of being newspaper at all,
it is apt to be feared to some extent if it is
not respected. The more intelligent por-
tion of society everywhere realize this and
have always done so.
Perhaps Mr.. TALMAGE is proceeding upon
the theory of Cardinal RICHELIEU, that
great men gain doubly when they
make foes friends. 1t is tolerably
certain that he is proceeding in accordance
with another of the cardinal dukes apho-
risms, that the pen is mightier than the
sword. In his own case he has come to
realize that it is also more potential than
the pulpit. Let him succeed with his
learning; the more knowledge he acquires
the more benefit he will be to his flock, for
what he absorbs in the way Of information
he has faculty of imparting unto others
in manner and with a lucidity of which
few men since the food have been capable.
The homeliest of mortals, he is also one of
the brightest, and with few more jagged
corners knocked off, would doubtless be
also among the best.