The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-08-29
WOMEN JOURNALISTS.
Do They Tend to Raise or
Lower the Dignity of
the Calling?
MUCH OF THEIR WORK Is TRASH.
But They Often Get Good Prices
for it-A Favorable
View.

Those who look upon the present
condition of the press with unalloyed
satisfaction, and who consistently
maintain in the face of anything in
the way of proof or evidence that the
influence OF women in journalism, as
in everything else, is necessarily a
good one, will probably regard the
situation from the optimistic point of
view only.
Those, however, who prize that
vigor and virilty of sentiment and
writing which ch~aracterizes the best
masculine pens; who deplore the per-
sonalities, gossip and feminine tone
which find SO prominent a place in
many of the papers; who value style
and scholarship and huinor, all of
which stand a chance of being ne
elected, if not lost, will see reason for
regret that SO much of the literature
of the day is written by women. No
where, in the opinion of the present
writer, can this deteriorating and de-
moraliZing influence be seen to better
advantage than in the society papers,
which, however, it is only just to say,
are as much read by men as by
M
There are a large number of So
called high class society periodicals,
the greater part of which consists of
the vulgarest gossip and personalities
about the conversation, modes of life
and movement of persons who are in
no sense Of the word public" who
have distinguished themselves in no
legitimate way, and often in no way
at all outside existing, and whose
"smartness" or fastness or money
alone makes them the object OF this
publishing ti~ttle-tattle. While, how.
ever, a good portion of this literature
is as harmless as it is stupid, the same
cannot be said of the very latest de-
velopment of feminine enterprise in
the press which seems likely to have
q hourishing existence before it.
A LADY'S LETTER.
This takes the form OF a 'lady's
letter" and is written ostensibly by a
lady of fashion whose fastness moi
only goes to the verge of disreputabil-
ity, but some way beyond it. She
purports to give an account of her
weeks doings, which generally in
clude visits to music halls and other
places not usually considered classic
ground for decent LII Some
where or other there is one Charlie"
or Jack" in tow, and this
dating husband invariably figures in
the description SO as to give the thing
presumably an air of propriety. Let
any impartial person peruSe some of
fhIS h. M HinnnTaf ~ DeftVlor -t,-F
now becoming SO general and ask
himself whether it can have anything
but a vicious effect on the brainless
they are young) who read it every
week.
But eve if these society papers are
left out of account it must be appa-
rent to any one who has an intimate
acquaintance with current newspaper
literature that the ewig weibliche
strain is far too predominant, and
that the hysterical attitude taken up
in some quarters on certain social and
other questions is a direct result of
this feminine influence. Of course, a
large amount of respectable Journal
ism is done by women, and is read by
women, and the proof OF this is to be
found in the existence of we'll written
and ably conducted papers, and in
the successful launching of the new
paper for women, which has papers on
purely literary topics written in ex-
cellent style.
But with the exception of a few in
dividual women who have made their
literary reputation elsewhere) the bet
ter sort OF newspaper work, which in
cludes leader writing, reviewing and
miscellaneous literary articles, is not
i'll the hands of women at all, whose
main business is concerned with para
graphs and articles about social func-
tions, the shops, fashions, cookery,
home decoration and reports of lee
lures, meetings, weddings and so
forth. To write successfully upon
cookery and art decoration requires a
certain amount of technical knowl-
edge, and ome who are we'll up in
these subjects find a ready market
and very good prices for their literary
wares.
Carried on ligitimately-that is to
say, without puffs and bribes-this
seems q very suitable and desirable
held for the feminine pen. But-and
this brings me to the second part of
my inquiry-can much be said in
praise of the work of the ordinary
lady journalist, which involves the
constant wear and tear of reporting.
night work, severe physical strain,
which necessitates, if she is to get on.
an astounding exhibition of audacity
and push, and which pe%rpetuaIly
compels her to place her natural i'm
pulses of reserve and unaggressive-
ness in the background; which in-
cludes the interviewing OF persons
who are not gentlemen and the for
nation of promiscuous acquaintance. !
and which, above all, forces her to
write about worthless trivialities
which, if she have any better sort Of
aspiration or literary taste, she heart
lily despises?
1T PAYS COMPARATIVELY WILL.
As a setoff against these disadvan-
tages it must be admitted that a
woman possessing but average intelIi-
gence and quickness, even if her edu-
cation be of the most limited kind.
al make a very fair living out OF this
sort of journalism, while a woman
with moderate ability, with good edu-
cation and Il facile pen and a quick
eye, can make double the income
earned by her scholarly sister, who
has graduated at Newnham and be-