New-York tribune., 1890-06-29
TIE PEOPLE AND THE PRESS.


During the last week public opinion and
public welfare have gained one more Vic'ory
in the decision against the Sugar Trust. But
some of the comments on that decision deserve
| scarcely less attention than the decision Itself.
Thus an able attorney is represented as SAYING
that there is no occasion to fear any comOiIa-
ton will result in oppression or moh"poN pe-
cause the press will not permit IT. Ihat the
press has great power in defending tine pubic
interests will not be disputed. But it would
soon cease TO have any power whatever II the
people should neglect its well-warlantcd warn
ings. and it would cease to have any power al
most as soon If the people, without thinking
or Judging for themselves should lazlly iall
| into the habit Of condemning and destroying
anything the press may denounce.
| II is as true as it ever was that " "etcIna'
vigilance is the price of liberty There were
not many newspapers when that remark was
first made, and the kind Of eternal vigilance
required has not been altered AT all by the adj
dition of the modern press, with countless eyes
and tirelcSs pens. An alarm clock ceases to be
of use when man gets the habit of going TO
sleep after hearing it. If the man expects the
clock to pull him out OF bed he is about as
sensible as the public would be if it expected
the press TO suppress monopoly The utmost
that the press can do is to appeal to public opin-
ion, placing before the public the facts upon
which a correct judgment can be formed. But
if the public is content to read the facts ana
then do nothing, the monopoly will get itself
intrenched as surely and imDregnably as ii no
warning had been given
There is far more danger of this than there
used TO be, because the press sends out great
many warnings i'll these days. 1t prieS INTO
everything under the sun, and is not always
infalblc in its utterances Indeed, the preva-
lence of sensational journalism has done much
to weaken the influence which honest and ju-
dicious newspapers ought to exert. When the
watchdog has walked the whole house up Il
dozen times for nothing there is chance that
the next alarm with reason may be in vain.
Unless the people themselves look into the
matter of monOpolies and combinations, and
learn to think of it soberly and with discrlm-
inaton, and not only look and think but act
upon occasion, the press will soon have no
power whatever TO protect the public interests.
The clatter of the demagogue may go on in
definitely, but it will have 10 effect because
practical people soon learn TO pay little at
tenton to it. The real danger in these days
is that this same clatter may presently make
intelligent people deaf to the most serious and
needful warnings. and that is exactly what the
defenders of combinations against the public
interest hope for and expect.
Indiscriminate denunciation OF every trust,
whether it harms the public or not, whether it
seeks or does not seek the power to harm the
public. has done much already to dull the
ears of many to all charges of monopoly. The
Court of Appeals held that the accused corpora
ton in the sugar case had acted against the
public interest because il had stopped pro-
ducing for the purpose of lcSSenng the supply
in the market. The ourt might have added
that cxtortionate prices had thus been main
tanned, for il the supply had been reduced only
TO prevent oyerproduction and waste the public
would not have been injured. The people must
first appreciate these distinctions, their
courts and officials will not. II rests with them
to show the required wisdom and resolution,
for without it loose denuncatiOn of all kinds
of combinations will speedily cease to have in
fuence, and will render men fatally indifferent
10 those combinations by which the liberties
and welfare of the people are endangered.