New-York tribune., 1891-12-29
THE AMENITIES.

There are certain recurring phenomena IN
"iournaismr-will "The Evening POST take
particular notice of the quotation marks !-whlch
strike young and inexperienced persons as lndl-
catons-not proofs, mark you, but only lndlca-
tions-that the editors OF newspapers are, as one
might say, mon of like passions with themselves
II is. of course mistake. The young persons
find that out later Meantime let it serve them
as a warning against hasty judgments. What
misleads them is an occasional outburst OF can
dor here in Printing House Square, IN whicn
gentlemen who arc engaged in directing puDiiC
opinion and shaping the politics OF the country
express views about each other which are no'
entirely in accord with what are considered socia
amenities. The young men cannot help ooserV-
ing that the remarks which journalists make
about each other during these brief epldemcs
have the merit of unlSua, fiankness, but the!
observe also at times an amount OF warmth tha'
TO their immature minds seems mole suitable
TO the dive than the drawing-room. They arc
entirely wrong, to be sure, but it makes an I'M
preston on their mmaturity that nothing bu
personal acquaintance with the disputing jour
nali,ts"-"The Evening Post" will please notice
again the quotation marks-with their gifts and
Ioyeliness OF character, their general unselfish-
ness and their sublime altruism can ever efface
It is q great day for any young searcher after
light and truth when he discovers that, spite OF
all signs to the contrary, the editors of news
papers are really altruiStS. Then il is that he
experiences new dawn, quite unexpected and
inspiring.
Situated as it is in about the centre OF Print
ing House Square, TIE TRIBUNE has special
advantages for seeing the interchange of com
plimcnts and cOurtesieS and vegetables mpe ol
less decompo5ed between its esteemed cOntemrn
raries on either side Occasionally a rather high
favored remark from the office of our energetic
contemporary "The World" conveying intima-
tons of meanness, )" cOwardice," brutality
and ignorance of the English language has
dropped into THE TRIBUNE Building, and once
or twice our learned contemporary 1.-The Even
ing POST has let fall from ar altitude some
where in the intelstellar spaces an aerClite coy
cred with Latin or Greek or Syliac, or some
thing in cunefoim characters which, being sub
iected to analysis, seemed to mean, " You lie,' ,
or You're liar,'' or something of that sort
but The TRIBUNE being not inexperienced in
"iourna!ism''-whic again "The Evening Post
will please observe we quote-has, We venture tC
hope without any visible signs Of emotion at the
time though we were of course more or less
excted-returned to the sender with onl Y the re-
mark "Beg pardon, but you've dropped some
thingD As a rule, however, the missiles in the
air have been passing between "The Evening
Post" "The Times" "The Sun; and "Tht
Worldo three of which are, if we correctly
understand them, in favor of that great boon FOL
distressed people, Free Trade and all are in
their various ways hopeful of the election of I
Democratic President and the success of the
Democratic party. Perhaps it is this which con
fuses the intellectual processes OF the immature
and inexperienced youth and leads him on Il
tho erroneous conclusion that the amenities O
journalism consist largely Of brckbats ant
decayed vegetables
Within the last few days fresh Ouburst Of
candor among our contemporaries who are seek
| ing with such unsefsh dsintereStedness tht
| election of a Deplocia6c President has arrested
the attention OF the calow youth who is study
ing the amenities. "Thc Sun" ascending to the
high old Roman plano of its adversary, calls tn,
Editor of 1.-The Evening Post'' Impudentiss
mus" whereupOn the latter, from its screner anC
superior height, smiles scornfully. and asks
"Why not the vocative ?" TO which the philoo
gsts Of "The Sun" reply brskly in all tn,
numbers and cases with tumutuous etymology
Enters then "The Times with The untouched
resources OF the mother tongue, and proceeds I,
rasp both Of them with the pure dic,ion who's,
polysylabes are "blatherslites'' and it's mono
syllables "lies" And, while we are looking OF
from our mediate point of view waiting thC
peacemaker's opportunity to sOothe all partie,
into camness and readjustment, "The Evening
Post" suddenly bulges out of the dead language,
to remark that we have "a Democratic fabIi
Gator" in our Washington bureau, with which
preliminary it proceeds to castigate Ills with re
! marks not altogether lucid concerning the an