San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-05-05
influence of Editors.

Influence of Editors.
From the New York Fourth Estate
A minister of this city startled a
revival meeting recently by pray
ing for the salvation of editors.
That was very proper suppl
cation, says the Sun, for, next to
the church, the most powerful en-
CINE for good or evil in modern
civilization is the newspaper press.
1t is of the highest Importance to
| society that editors should be, first
of all and always, men Of religious
principle. Every newspaper should
be religious paper, in the sense
that it obeys the obligations Of
religion.
The whole number of newspa-
pers in the world is now estimated
at more than $4,000, and of that
great total nearly one-half are pub.
lished in the United States and
Canada.
The combined circulation of the
newspapers of this country alone
far exceeds the number OF its
churchgoers. Their editors address
a much greater multitude of peo-
pie than the clergy reach in all
their services.
They influence vast numbers who
are altogether outside Of the church
and who never listen to the SER
mons of its appointed ministers.
The most powerful ally the devil
could get would be the daily news
papers.
The many thousands Of editors in
the United States are subject to no
other code of ethics than that es-
tablished by their own consciences
under the pressure of public opin-
ion. They do not have to
pass any official examination for
admission to their profession, like
that which lawyers must undergo
for admission to the bar. They
are not bound by the oath and the
legal restrictions which bind the
practitioners of medicine. They are
under no authority like that which
the church exercises over its minis
ters.
There is no precise test of their
qualifications applicable when they
undertake to be editors, and no
court or counsel is empowered to
determine their fitness or to punish
them for their professional misbe-
havior.
Any man can start newspaper,
if he has money enough to pay for
it's manufacture, or can get credit
for printing, paper, ink and type
setting, and on this condition he
can keep it going without inter-
ference so long as he likes, provid-
ing that he does not grossly offend
the laws for the protection Of pub
lie decency.
He can sell his paper or he can
give it away. He can charge what
he pleases for it; and can advocate
any principles or theories in relig-
ion or politics he wishes, if he
keeps within the broad and elastic
requirements of the law. He is d
free agent.
How, then, do the many thou
sands of editors in the United
States use this extraordinary lib
erty?
AS body, there is no learned
profession, however strict its code
of ethics and however severe the
accountability to which it is held
by professional rule and etiquette,
which is more faithful to its moral
obligations than this great multi
tude of editors.
OF course, there are some swim
dlers and constituencies sCoundrels
| in their ranks, but they are few,
both comparatively and actually ;
not as many relatively, perhaps, as
the unprincipled quacks in medi-
cine, the shysters at the bar, ana
the reprobates who make the min
istrations of religion a cloak for
wicked purposes.
The thousands of editors are
scattered over the Union, in every
community, both great and small,
and more than any other men they
are subject to the constant criti-
cism of the community, as that
their offences and shortcomings
cannot be concealed. Their very
existence depends, in the long run
certainly, on their securing and
meriting the public respect and
confidence.
They are not under the pains
: and penalties of a formal profess
J sional code of ethics, but of neces
sity there prevails among them a
| l>xy nvxyY, nnn.