The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-09-03
THE PRESS ON CRIME.

The Kolnische Zeitung, one of the ablest
papers in Europe, takes the French jour-
nails to task for publishing the details OF
the life of CernoI's murderer together
with his insclent and cynical answers
on his trial, on the ground that such pub
locations will spur wrOng-headed readers
to new crimes. The point is we'll taken.
The world is full OF weak-minded youths,
many of whom have vicious inclinatOns.
The perusal of the lives and speeches of
great villains inspires these youths with
desire to follow the example set before
them and to make themselves famous or
Infamous by some startling deed. The
desire fer nOtOriety is one of the most
powerful impulses in vain natures. There
is no limit 10 the progeny of Her0stratus.
1t was in order 10 restrain the center
prise" of the French papers that the new
anli-anarchist law was enacted, and it is
surprising that 1t has pot been invoked to
give a lesson to the journals which de-
voted so much space to the sayings and
dOngs of Cesario. That may come later.
There is no question but the notoriety the
press gave him is calculated to generate
imitators, just as the dime novels in this
these anarchists seek is to obtain the
crown of martyrdOm by the use of the
dagger and the bomb. Their maady is
vainglOry. II among the Destilential
class from which they spring 1t were
clearly understood that they would be
consigned to an obscure doom, and that
their names would not figure prominently
in the papers. they would not be so ready
to court infamy. So much was made plain
in this country by the trial of Guiteau.
One or two American newspapers, COM
mentiEg on the new French law against
anarchists, have observed that il is an in
fringement Of the natural liberty of The
press. and that such a law would not be
tolerated, if it were constitutional, in this
country. That is not SO certain. In the
State of New York the recent law substi-
tuting electrocution for hanging provided
that the press should not publish accounts
of executions. That was going too far,
and the New York papers set the law at
defiance without molestation by the Dis
trict Attorney, But by common consent
they deferred to the spirit of the law by
minimizing their reports of executions and
by emitting details which might have a
tendency 10 raise the criminal to the
heroic level. That was what the authors
of the law aimed at.
1t is to be hoped that the American
press will of their own accord anticipate a
modification of the law governing news
papers by meeting the requirements of
modern civilization. Nothing is gained by
the publication of elaborate reports of
crime. Biographies and portraits of crim-
inals, with accounts of their manner of
living and reports of the lying excuses
which they make for their crime. serve
no useful purpose at all. They pander
to a morbid taste, and while they inspire
disgust for miscreants in well-balanced
minds, they are apt to inspire admiration
for them in minds which are less robust
This truism is far more generally under
stood than il used TO be, and it gains adj
herents daily. Ii conductors of public
journals discern the DRIFT Of public opinion
and adjust their sheets accordingly, the
law under which we live will answer all
necessary purposes. But it, for the sake
of creating sensation among the vulgar
they continue to devote so much space to
the details of crime that these become the
feature of the paper, the moral sense of
the community will certainly sooner or
later demand a revision OF the law.
Those who have lived long enough to re-
member the newspapers of forty or fifty
years ago cOntemp plate with amazement
the progress which the press has made
since then. No daily newspaper of TO-DAY
would print the police court reports which
were then prominent feature in all lead
ing journals. No paper in our time would
publish the details of divorce cases such
as the New York Herald and Tribune used
to give in large print None of our papers,
claiming to be respectable, would admit
to their columns the billingsgate which
used in the old days to constitute The staple
element Of political controversy These
betterments were not brought about by
laws. They grew out of an improved pub
lie taste. 1t is fan to hope that the i'm
provement will 90 on.