The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-03-16
NEWSPAPER ETHICS.

Ex-President Harrison is delivering a
course of lectures on international law ar
| Palo Alto University. Having devoted
considerable time to the study Of his sub
jsct he expected that the course would
constitute an exhaustive treatise, which
could be published in book, from the
sale of which he might reasonably expect
to realize some profit. Accordingly he fol-
lowed the course of other lecturers and
respectfully requested the press not to
report him verbatim, as such a report
would anticipate his book and impair its
value. The request was aeceded to by all
the papers Of this city except one. In de-
fanee of the lecturers request that journal
published full report of Mr.. Harrison's
second lecture. aud when the ex-President
complained it justified It's course on the
plea that ''Mr. Harrison receives sum
for these addresses which, from all &C
counts, is fully commensurate with their
worth. and he afterward repeats each
one in public for an admission fee." 1t
adds some sneering remarks on the quality
OF the lectures. stating that "public Curl
osity as to his utterances is pretty well
satisfied already"
1t strikes outsiders that our contem-
pOrary is evading the point at issue. The
discourses which the ex-oresident is de-
livering are his property. The question
between him and the offending journal is
whether the latter is justified in apprOpri-
atiDg them because for a regular stipend
he delivers them 10 the students of Palo
Alto University anG afterward repeats
them 10 others who are willing TO pay to
hear them. That is a question which was
exclusively discussed when the Lyceum
Bureau Of the East became active thirty
years age. A popular lecturer spent weeks
or months in preparing lecture which be
might hope TO repeat fifty or sixty times
before as many audiences in the course of
winter. lIconsiderate newspapers some
times defeated bis object By publishing a
verbatim report of this lecture, taken down
by shorthand reporters. The effect OF the
report was TO Quench any desire on the
part Of audiences TO hear a lecture which
they had already read In print, and the
lecturer found his vocation gone. Appeals
were taken to the courts. but under the
rulings Of Judges in regard to theatrical
performances il was found that at that
time-it is different nowhere was no
redress for the lecturer against the news
paper pirate.
4 strong public sentiment, however, W as
aroused. 1t was felt that lecturers like
Emerson and Curtis and Beecher and
Ingersoll were not outlaws. Fair-minded
people agreed that they ought to be pro-
tected in their property. a. the butcher
and baker and candlestick- maker are pro-
tected in theirs. And the conductors Of
the Eastern press, after due consideration,
tacitly agreed to act as if the lectures had
been protected by law and forebore to re-
port them. 1t is to be regretted that an
example of the opposite conduct should
have been exhibited in California.
EX-President Harrison's lectures may be
"of no particular Importance" as the
newspaper which appropriates them says.
That is not the opinion that those who
have heard them have formed; these per-
sons regard them as clear. accurate. COM
prehensive eXpositions OF an exceedingly
important branch of law, expounded by
one whose personal experience has fam
iiariZed him with its workings. Ii the
offending journal bad really thought tile
lectures of no particular importance it
would not have gone to the expense of hav-
ing them reported by stenographer. Its
conduct reflects logical confusion as we'll
as moral strabismus. The incident
might have been passed over without COM
ment as a small controversy between our
contemporary and the ex-President but
for its tendency TO create an impression at
the East that lecturers coming 10 San
Francisco are apt to have their lectures
pirated by a portion of the local press.
That impression would naturally prevent
their coming. and the consequences of this
would be that our community would be de-
priyed Of the pleasure of hearing the great
lecturers of the day and of the instruction
which their addresses would convey. That
would be pity. There is often more TO
be learned from carefully prepared
lecture by bright man than from a dozen
hoaEs