The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-02-28

i've Tor advertising matter ana thTee
only for what fellow wants 10 read. IL
Ia also eXasperating to find lonE-winded
editorials where you would like to see
bright allusion TO passing events. But
in England you are never puzzled 70
know where the advertisements break
off and the editorial opinions begin,
whereas in France this is a form OF per-
lexity which, like the poor, is with you
always.
But the blame for their apparent
shortcomings must not be charged eX-
clusively upon the newspapers them
selves. What We find in the press OF
France is only another instance OF like
priest like people. The Partisan public
knows what it wants, and so evidently
do Partisan editors. Some one has said
that to the people Of Paris an accident
10 u dog on the bOnteVards is more in-
teresting than European catastrophe.
So it is in one sense and they insist
that their press shall tell them os such
small happenings as these, no caring APP
parently for much beside, That the
people OF city so large and so cosmo-
politan should be so very narrow in
their views and sympathies, ia one OF
the things that has astonished us. To
the Partisan mind not only Is Paris
France, hut France, it would seem, is
nearly all there is OF the world, and it
is OF France, therefore, which is only
another name for Paris, that they want
to hear in the columns OF their daily
press.
And what they read must, have the
genuine Partisan favor about It. ~ That
is, it must be very highly colored,
must deal largely with intrigue, must
mirror in light fashion the gossip and
movements OF society, and must be in
teresting and piqnant, even II facts have
to be perverted to make it so. For
what Parisians desire to have served up
to them is not factHprlncipally, but arti-
cles which, with just enough basis to
give an air OF probability to WHAT said,
shall crafty q prurient taste and APP
peal strongly to the imagination. And
one cannot help observing, apropos OF
this, that il the naked truth we're more
common in Partisan papers, aud the
nude figure less go in ita art galleries
and print shops, this big city would
have more to boast OF than she has at
present; certainly so on the score OF
morals.
Which reminds us, however, that
saiacious court proceedings are not
nearly so much u feature in French
newspapers as they are in English.
This, because the law interposes in
France 10 prevent such degrading pub
locations. The testimony in divorce
suits is never neutrality-suspicious. and
readers alike have 10 content them
selves with the findings in such cases.
In England, on the contrary, you get
such slush by the wagon full, tho news
papers there-even the best OF them
going to such lengths, when the law on
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS them,
that they arc called to order sometimes
by even the salaclous press OF this city
on the Seine.
Doubtless, though, it is q case Of sour
grapes with these Paris editors. 1t
certainly must be, for the brightest
reporters in Paris are constantly on the
alert for just such copy" barring
names and dates, and IL is not too
much to say that matter appertaining
to domestic discord and illicit affection,
or at any rate having decided trend
toward such things, forms the staple Of
Partisan newspaper reading, whether
you Judge of it by the serials offered for
perusal, or by tho columns devoted to
real or fanoed happenings in daily life.
The newspapers vi lRarislare In guam
tity altogether out OF proportion to their
quality. Their name is Legion, and
when one thinks how venemoua many
OF them are, how spiteful in their at
tacks on character, and how destitute
OF high moral tone, it is impossible not
to think OF those malign agencies, by
whom, as q certain good book tells US,
that name was arst appropriated. But
IL q diaboliCal Philistinism can ever be
excused, Partisan newspaper men may
surely plead partial palliation in the
fact that they hold themselves person.
ally responsible for what they write.
The trouble about duois, however. is
that they kill of SO few. We used to
think dueling horrible practice; since
studying 1t in France we are convinced
that it is harmless, quite so, to the par
Elephants, and to the general public
decided source Of amusement. The only
pity is that too often editors are treated
TO the safe diversion OF personal en-.
counter" when they would BIO more
properly treated ii they were hurled
behind prison bars or subjected to
heavy fine.
1t is probable that moot OF the OK.
cesses OF French journalism are due to
Its newly found freedom. It was only
emancipated about ten years ago, and
like the nation itself, it has como into
the possession OF liberty by without
knowing exactly how to use 1t. On
this principle we may hope Tor improve
ment as time passes, and OF course
there are some papers even now which
are as ably conducted-with allowance
for different national standards-as
any OF our own. With other improve.
ments it Is to be hoped that the poor
reporter will be better remunerated.
AT present he Works mostly on approx.
al; that is, he gets 80 much d line II
his copy is accepted. A newspaper re-
porter in Paris, who gets from $50 to
S15 a month by legitimate means, is
vol of. To do this he must have sew.
erNl papers on his list, and ss things SO
now, must turn out very spicy article
OF work. t.'i wv H.T.
Beware OF olntnonts for Catarrh Tint
Contain Mercury,
IS mercury will surely destroy tho
sense Of smell and completely dorango
tho whole system when entering II
through the mucous surfaces. Such
articles should never DO used except on
prescriptions from neutrality-suspicious.,