Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-02-27

Some Sensible Remarks by an
Independent journal.

of The Voice there comes to the
editor Il bunch of letters. They
are the letters of the discontented,
the grievcd and the angry. Eve
ry editor gets them. If he is wise,
he reads them. If he is sirascible,
he gets mad over them. If he is
meek, he weeps over them. But
rarely does hepublish them. They
are the broken ends of thread in
the tapestry that are kept on the
inner side, out of sight. They
are the letters that cry, "Stop my
paper
Strange as it may seem, there
are people who write letters of
this kind even to The Voice. Be
ing wise, we read them. Being
philosophic, we neither weep nor
grow mad over them; we simply
study them and reflect on the kali
cidoscopic character of human ma
turc, and consider what drearv
world this would be if we were
all cut out like biscuit, from the
same dough with the same mould.
We quote from some of these let
tcrs, partly to show the trials that
bcsct an editor who undertakes
honestly and fearlessly to treat
the topics of the day before an
audience of over 100, 600 subscri-
bers of diverse views, and partly
to draw an important lesson there
from.
Here is one from this State:
'Please discontinue The Voice. |
am at loss to understand how YOU
can take the position you do on Home
Rule. It seems as if you never heard
of the practically unanimous sentiment
of the Protestant denominations in Ire
land" etc.
Then comes another from Mis-
souri,:
"Please stop sending The Voice. |
do not wish to see it again, because
your editorials on the Hawaiian ques-
ton are so basely false, SO detrimental
to justice and morality. :. am a
life long Prohibitionist, and with this
exception, like The Voice. have
children there to participate in your
vile, infamous SANDER"
Then we read the following
from Kansas:
''The Voice is published too near Wall
Street to suit us out here. Please stop
it,"
Then a Maryland man tells US:
"We cannot agree with the senti-
ments of the article, The Right to
Work on Sunday, contained in the is
sue of Nov. 30, so you will please stop
sending the paper. :. . We agree with
you regarding the Importance of the
Prohibition movement"
A Nebraska man tells us:
II do not believe in State control
Your expressed views prove your sym
pathies to be Democratic. l have no
further use for your paper. You will
therefore discontinue it,"
An Illinois man expresses his
grievance:
Il write you to discontinue my paper.
Your remarks about the A. p. A.
in recent number have fully decided
me-"
Comes also voice from West
Virginia saying:
II am heartily with You in the Pro-
hibition cause, but we differ on the tar
if question so widely that feel as if
you hurt me as much on one side as
you aided me on the other"
Now, every man has Il right to
take a paper or to stop it, for any
reason or for no reason at all. It's
a free country-in that respect.
But ut the same time there is a
certain responsibility attaching to
all actions, even to so trivial a
one as stopping paper because
the editor says something one
doesn't agree with. There is COM
plant that newspaper editors lack
fearlessness and honesty; that
newspapers are too generally mere
partisan organs that disregard the
claims of truth and justice when
political interests are at stake.
There is too much truth in the
charge; but let us ask how it is
possible for fearless, honest,
outspoken journal to live if every
man is to cry "Stop my paper"
whenever he reads something that
does not accord with his views!
The men who insist that the paper
they read shall never say any
thing contrary to their views are
the ones who are in large measure
responsible for the craven cow
ardliness and the weathercock pro-
pensities of modern journalism.
Opa of two thinUS Is ahcOlutaly