The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-01-31
as to the work Of the country's law
makers-whether the laws they frame


are wise or unwise; whether they will
prove benefit or curse to the con-
stituents of these solOns; what the peo-
pie want is stenographic report of
what is actually being done in the con-
gressional halls. In word the people
expect at the hands of the press true
and correct report of the actual hap
penings of the day, with all poetical
clap-trap, all local colOring carefully
and cOnscientiOusly eliminated Tn
fortunately the newspaper field, like
many another, is becoming aIarmingly
Overcrowded, and in the great race for
supremacy, the one desire of catering
to the worlds inOrdinate appetite.
these knights of the quill are frequent
ly forced to make history or
in other words, invent news. OF what
earthly use is it for the Morning Star
to print the bare, bald statement that
"the body of all unknown man was
found floating in the river" when the
Journal, the Times, the Review, the
Eagle, the Clarion and half dozen
other papers will print exactly the
same thing? Why announce the
simple fact that dwelling on lower
third street was burned to the ground,
when every reporter in the city knows
it and will surely give it to his own
paper simultaneously with the Star.
The prime object of the Stars existence
in this mundane sphere is to make a
livelihood, and with this object in
view it proceeds TO sell papers by
''scoOping" its contemporaries how?
| by inventing news. OF course the
truth is amply told, in both of the
above instances, when the bare facts
are recorded; but what is to prevent
the Star from saying that the stiff
found in the river met with foul play;
that the burned dwelling is the work
of al incendiary; and to darkIy hint
that 1--WE have it on the word of local
tough who does not wish his name to
come before the courts etc?" Nothing.
There is no danger of libel for the
reason that no names are mentioned,
and even if the Star wishes to be over
bold in the matter and give names,
there is still no danger, as the libel
laws were made for the newspapers
not against: and no matter how much
they blacken and vilify character in
one issue, they are allowed to white
wash it in the next; the retractiOn de-
bars any action for reprisal or damages
Would it not be the rankest kind of
folly then for any one Of the score of
daily papers to cOniine itself to the
strict truth, knowing that every one of
it's adversaries will print just as much
if not more? 1t has always been a
mystery to many why jurors are so
frequently excused when they admit
having read about the case being tried:
the reason ought to appear quite
opposite. The fact of the matter is no
great case ever comes up for trial
wherein the defendant has not long
ago been tried. convicted and hung
over again in the daily papers. Ali
through the great strike of last sum-
mer, there was one Minnesota daily
that insstantly declared every morn
ing, three days after the strikes in
ceptiOn: 1.-The back bone of the strike
| is broken, notwithstanding the fact
hot 70 0i.,fn {<l>Tr
recorded hourly its growing dimen-
siOns and increased fervOr. Why did
it persistently reiterate this self-con-
fesSed lie? Simply in order to be
ahead of its contemporaries who had
an equal right to publish the truth.
The actual trouble with the news
papers of today is that the field is over
crowded; not only with legitimate news
gatherers but with venal outsiders, who
enter the arena only for the purpose of
coming money therein. All these latter
care for is the means to an end which
the profession furnishes. They cannot
be sent to the penitentiary for publish
ing untruths, even when they know
them to be untruths; they cannot be
expatriated for praiSing to the skies a
dishonest and corrupt candidate for
political favor, since there is no law
fOrbidding hero worship of this kind,
and the candidate in question has bar
rels of money to spend on such adver-
Using. The work such a journalist en-
cages in is Infamous beyond doubt,
but it contains no illegality, and he is
looked upon by the world as an honest
upright citizen when he is in reality a
scoundrel in disguise, felon at heart,
who withOlds from actual crime simply
through fear of the punishment it en-
tails. Against this audacious knave,
| with hiC uorIo6 HQvionC and htnr-