Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-07-30

LANCASTER. PA. July 80, 1890.
A Plea For Purity.


A Plea For Purity.
The constitution of the United States
speOvides that Congress shall make no
Inv abridging the freedom of
speech or Of the press" amendment
FIT In the constitution Of Pennsylva-
MIA this freedom is not only guaranteed
but defined. Declaration Of Rights,
section VIII II consists of the right to
publish public records, and TO
0fiticise public men and measures to
discuss freely and print fully every
mans opinions upon science, art, phil
osophy, religion or human life aud fin
ally, 1t declares that ono conviction
shall be had In any prosecution for the
publication Of papers relating to
any matter proper for public investiga-
1tl0n or information, where the fact that
euch publication was not maliciously
or negligently made shall be established
10 the satisfaction of the jury" This
leaves, IL is true, wide margin for judi
cIal construction, but the Interpretation
of the courts has been consistent with the
spirit of the age and in no land Is the
press more free. That this unrestrained
liberty has not been abused, that an un-
licensed press has not been at times
licentious, even the most radical Demo-
crat will not affirm. But the remedy
must be found not in restraining laws
but in the strong curb Of enlightened
aud refined public opinion. From the
day on which tho emancipation of our
literature was accomplished says
i Macaulay, the publication of our
literature began" The old English
46ensing act did not restrain licentious-
ness, for 1t was virtue, not vice, that the
public liccnser suppressed. He mutt
lated Paradise Lost, but he had no
ecruples in sanctioning such play as
The Country Wife, She Would If She
i Could, or translation Of the fourth
book Of L,scretius. The press is not
licentious because II is free, but because
the people who support 1t are impure.
1t Is their mirror, faithfully rejecting
their virtues and vices, their prejudices,
tastes and opinions II presents in
vivid and realistic colors their daily his.
tory. Nothing Is too conhmptibe for
Its notice, nothing too exalted for its
criticism.
But 1t is more than mere mirror II
& 10 the parent of the people as well as
& their child, their teacher as well IA thcil
4 pupil, for II forms its readers Just a,
surely as In turn II Is formed by them
( Hence the large and ever growing re
eponsibility of its conductors, respon
sibiiity which Is too frequently ignored
i For perfect as. the press is as a teache
q Of morality by prccept, II is only to
often open to the severest censure as
I teacher Of vice by example. Why shoul,
public journal be allowed by publ
\ opinion to become the common schoo
OF iniquity Why should il he permit
I ted to keep Its readers immersed dali,
In flood OF foul details drawn from tn
: criminal courts, from the lowest dens o
6 vice, aud from the vile records of tn,
pre-eminent in crime, and often in tn,
very language of the depraved, or wors,
still, detailed with all the alluring AN,
seductive art of accomplished writers
''vice is "a monster OF so frightful mien,
As, 10 be hated, needs but TO be seen;
Yet, seen too off, familiar with her face
We first endure, then pity then embrace"
Words which none dare utter in de
cent society and deeds which even theil
vile authors seek 10 hide, are rehearsed
In the free press as daily lessons to
thousands who would otherwise b,
wholly unfamiliar with such teachings
That familiarity with vice which all are
thus compelled to suffer, must needs
from the law Of association, lead many
70 first endure, then pity, then EN-.
brace.'u
But 1t is said newspapers must print
what the public demands, or the,
| will be thrown aside and lose theil
patronage" 1t is undoubtedly true
eays one of these journals, "thal
pc publication of all the incidents
"a circumstances of great crimes has |,
nicious effect in exciting the imagi.
spns of weak readers but news
that fs worthy of the name can
pre( help printing the details OF
rsT scandals, ETC., than it can
from printing reports of great
or European wars This Il
neyed excuse ofevery publisher
his columns with the details o
der, crime and burglary, and
Use of all who pander to tn,
r fellow men. The keeper,
OF low dives and gamblin,
- furnish what the publ,
llUmands. But these people are KEEP
out of decent homes. Compared /,
them leprosy itself would be welcomed
But not so the newspaper. L
enters everywhere and Is greeted b,
every eye. Boys and girls at the mos
critical age, when their imaginations ar,
most lively and their minds most sus
ceptible to powerful and permanen
bias, are often Influenced by such print,
~ these in manner little dreamed o
by their parents. This evil, which Il
growing, should be plucked out root an,
-hranch. enlightened public opinio,
should demand a pure press, and ever,
careful father and refined mother sboul,
allow only clean newspapers to ente
the household,
The IpssOu fr0un Arvant,,.