The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-11-12
DEEDS NOT WORDS
Rabbi Lewis Teaching on
Press Reform.
THEORY PUT INTO ACTION.
DR.. Jacob Voorsanger's View of
the Matter.
LITERATURE WHICH DEGRADEs.
Words of Warning and Advice De-
livered From Jewish Pulpits at
the Sabbath Services.
LITERATURE WHICH DEGRADEs.

Inc MISSION Oh tUo fT6SS was Ino SUD-
ject of a sermon preached yesterday morn
Ing by Rev. Jacob Voorsanger at the
Temple Emanu-El.
The raobi began his discourse by word
OF thanks to the ladies of his congregation
for their suggestion of the subject which
enabled him to draw atteation to one of
the crying evils of the age-vcious litera-
ture.
1.-THE word press" he said. "applies to
all printed and written literature"
Speaking of the newspaper as part,
and by no means the worst part, OF this
literature. Rabbi VoOrsanger said:
IF we criticize, let US be just critics.
Do you know how news is being gathered ?
Ii not. you should be careful with your de-
nunciations. A newspaper is the daily en-
cyclopedia of civilization. It is the prod
uct of number Of minds. all clad in the
shroud of anonymity. These toilers seek
out the avenues where men congrega te,
penetrate the refugees Of savants, enter the
schools, academies and workshops. and
from every imaginable direction they
bring the intangible entity which is
summed up in the word news
"That is to say, they seek out every ex-
perience which should be the common
pro perty of man. and n doing so they do
not always exercise their own judgment
but rely upon what is deemed the pleasure
aud the taste of their readers. Therein
lies the possibility Of error. They do not
always hold strict &C count with the moral
sentiment of society"
The speaker then spoke in glowing
terms of the gigantic sacrifices made to
secure the news. of the lives rsked in bat
lie, in the depths Of the wilderness, in the
that they at home may read without run
Ming" and he begged his hearers to be
just to the newspaper man and his work.
LET US remember and admire his devoted
labors, even when criticizing part Of his
efforts.
1--WE criticize the taste that presents the
harrow ing details of crime, that fills COL
depraved gamblers and accounts OF every
| folly under the sun. The detailing of
| crime serves no purpose except to feed the
mouths of the idle, the indolent and the
deprave0.
but do you know that you should in
clude in your denunciations thousands of
| volumes, some of which are lying around
in your homes, and which You permit
your children to read, without ever Ques-
| ton of the danger they are mourning?
"When you shrink from some Of the ac-
counts of cruelty practiced upon poor AID.
die Gilmour. do you also shrink from
maines," from BaIzac's salacious. invidi
| Gus stories? Ii you desire purity. try tc
| be pure all along the line of literature
| We want reform in the one as well as in
] the other"
| kew. NJ. S. Levy's sermon at the Geary.
| street Temple yesterday morning, upon
1 x~tt IF ekA
| cal and i'm presSive. While admitting that
! there is room for complaint as to certain
| matters published in the newspapers. he
| added, Are we, the readers, not RESPONSE
BILE for some share of this?
1.-The demand creates the supply. IF the
| householder demanded purity in his daily
| paper; if he stopped taking it when he
| saw 1t was growing too sensational and
| told the carrier why he had stopped his
| subscription; if thousand people would
| do this, then that paper would be CON-
pelled 10 change for the better or to &C.
| knowledge that its circulation was becom-
| ing limited to a sensation-l0vug few. LIE,
each individual stop taking the sensational
| and the supply of sensation will diminish,
Fathers and mothers. do you pay atten-
| ton to the class Of reading matter which
| you put into the hands of your children
| Why do the women who complain of the
daily press, not look at some portions OF
| the weekly press-thOse illustrated &C.
| counts of crimes, committed In all the four
corners Of the earthP Look at the dime
| novels, the trashy literature to be found in
many of our houses. Why not object also
to that?"
The speaker drew attention to the i'm
mense educational power Of the modern
newspaper, which In some ways ne cousid
cred to have superseded the oral teachine
which the priest in olden times gave to the
people.
"If the press is 10 become the mod ern
minister, then truth should be found in its
mouth" In conclusion, Rabbi Levy en-
phasized the exhortation: IF you are sin
cere, If you are earnest. stop condemning,
and act"