The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-01-14
The Newspaper Press

Ought to be. at all times, the vehicle of
truth. Its statements, as a rule, are re-
ceived by the public with implicit conf
deuce, nor is that confidence, except in rare
instances, wantonly betrayed. \ recent
case of faIsehood is an exception of fa-
grant character. We refer to the blood
curdling story of riot and lynching at
Bakersville, \. c., of a murderer in prison
there named Sipes, in which fifty men lost
their lives. The story was without foun-
lat;on. for there has been no riot nor lynch
ing there, nor anything to give color to
such report The fake has been traced
to reporter of local paper whose name
is Hyams, who seems to have taxed his
ingenuity to see how horrible web of
falsehood his Imagination could weave.
The only atom of truth about it was the
fact that the murderer, Sipes, was in jail.
1t is the business of the press to furnish
to the public the current news OF the day;
and at times. through the active competi-
ton with each other, the newspapers may
make mistakes, or may be deceived But,
as general thing, they aim to be accurate,
and strive to keep pace with every passing
event worthy of note.
We doubt not, however, that the keen
search after news and the alertness of their
agents, correspondents and reporters, leads
them sometimes into error. Caution and
accuracy are at all times necessary but it
may be that this is sometimes relaxed in
order to keep abreast with passing events
4 few recent instances may not be out of
place.
Mr. Blaine's physical condition, before
he resigned from the cabinet, was the sub
iect of innumerable contradictory and mis-
leading statements. His condition through
out his present illness has been the subject
of numerous perplexing announcements.
The continually recurring bulletins re-
specting Mr. Cleveland and his alleged
hostility to Mr.. Murphy, as U. 5. Senator
from New York, and the probable attitude
of Tammany towards the incoming Presi-
dent. and the dire results to the peace and
harmony of the Democratic party, were
favorite subjects for the press, day after
day. and the whole matter was distorted,
exaggerated, and blown up into the largest
size bubble that served the purpose of the
sensational press until the whole thing ex-
ploded into thin ait.
Another sensation which the press has
run through all the gamut of surprise was
the suspension from the exercise of his
priestly functions of DR. Mcilynn. The
subsequent coming over from Rome, Of
Monsiguor Satolli, clothed as alleged with
plenary power to supersede and override
the authority of other prelates and digni-
taries of the Roman Catholic Church in
this country DIR. McGlynn's reinstate
ment into his priestly Office by Monsignor
Satolli; the alleged jealousy inspired by his
mission here in the breasts of some of the
American prelates; the reported appeal to
Rome; and the charges against Archbishop
Corrigan of entering into conspiracy to
defeat the mission of Monsignor Satolli,
and Of Fathers Donahue and Ireland part
in all this newspaper racket, have been the
themes of sensational dispatches and COM
ment for months, when from the very ma
ture of the facts they were not accessible
to the press. which has managed, with Il
modieum of truth, to keep alive sensational
rumors and surmises and to interest the
public in all the statements which they
have published
Going back ten or fifteen years, and re-
viewing the cableerams in all that period
touching the probabilities Of Il general Eu-
ropean war, and the preparations made by
all the great powers on the most gigantic
scale, one is forced to believe, in view of
the peaceful condition of Europe in all
that time, that there was something more
than the probabilities of war, that inspired
these oft-repeated bilicose dispatches. That
the spectators and gamblers III stocks, the
dealers in the commerce of the world, and
the Wall streets of both continents, had
something to do with these warlike rumors,
iu order to bull or bear the markets of the
world and to put money in their purses.
The press is one of the most powerful
and useful engines of the nineteenth cen
fury, but it is subject to perversion, and
needs to be guarded with jealous care to
preserve its verify and to maintain its use
fuIness as the faithful servitor of the people.