Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-11-09
THE EDUCATORY INFLUENCES OF
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.

i AAAA< WV % a. IN ANA@N'~fs
The following extracts are taken from an
article written for the Brockton (Mass) Time,
by John Habbertons-
Not one valuable book in hundred cost,
as much in time, labor and cash as the news.
paper which is sold at two or three cents a
copy, nor does any profession require higher
general education, keener wits or better judg-
ment than that Of the editor Of a newspaper
that would succeed.
Yet, ifthe editor be host himself he must
also have host Of assistants, and each must
be master Of his business. Each bit Of new,
from different parts Of the Union and the
world at large is prepared by the best man
that can be obtained, for in news gatherings
as in every other business, there is keen com.
petition, so incompetent men are quickly
crowded out Of place.
1.-The young newspaper fellows" have had
uncomplimentary things said about them by
men who know as little about the press as a
cat knows Of architecture, but the truth is
that there is quite as large proportion OF so
aihs hitatNiN iAANh ~ AilC press dh hNl OthNi
profession, and thousands Of able men have
left the church, the bar, medicine and Con.
gress TO do newspaper work No men have
larger and better Acquaintance, nor are any
men more sought after by those who are
worth knowing.
From this aggregation of ability proceeds
the thousands Of Americans papers. No daily
journal worth reading contains the work Of
less than fifty carefully selected men, to say
nothing Of the army Of chance contributors
who "bring in" something,
Newspapers seldom pose as moralists. but
they do more for the moral educationlof man.
kind than all the books Of moral purpose
which authors and publishers unload upon the
community. 1t is the newspaper press, not
the law, which raises the people above the
moral level Of their ancestors. Law is oper-
aiive only so far as public opinion. 1t was
the newspaper press, not political speeches,
the Union army or the Emancipation Proclaim
alton, that abolished slavery, for itcreated
the sentiment which made the other inhuen-
ees possible. When the Civil war ended, it
was the newspaper press that ''bridged the
bloody cAasm' by making North and South
better acquainted with other. Two such NOR.
al victories, achieved during single quarter
Of century, could not have gained by a
country without newspaper press. but the
men who helped gain them regard such re-
suits as a matter Of course, for they are uoing
such things, though not snch great ones, every
year.
In like manner the reforms that succeed one
another in all communities and state Of the
Union are due and almost entirely to the ed
ucatory influence Of the newspaper press.
To maintain ones rights it is first necessary
to know what those rights are; on this subject
the most intelligent communities were pain.
fully deficient until newspaper became mum,
erous, good and cheap Before the advent
Of the daily press the affairs Of the state
generally went from bad to worse until no.
thing short OF armed revolution could accom-.
plish needed reforms. There is not a new in.
ycnuon adopted that is not quickly des-
cibed by the press.
In like manner everything new in literat
ure, art, music, housekeeping, farmlns,psr
sonal corfort and everything else thVt makes
life interesting, easier and more pleasant,
reaches the people first through the news
papers.