The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-30
NEW YORK JOURNALISM.
An Up.tC.Date View Of the Serio.Comic
Supplement Schemes Of the
Sunday Newspaper.
From tie New York Sun.

From tie New York Sun.
Our next door neighbor, the Tribune,
! which has taken into it's house the re-
| mains of the defunct Recorder. dead
of vulgarity, announces its intention of
producing. or evolving, or disgorging,
"a Serio-Comic Supplement" as a reg
ular feature henceforth Of its Sunday
| edition.
Our candid opinion is that there is
about as much demand for more serio-
comic supplements to Sunday newspa-
| pers in New York as there is for more
fleas in Italy. We should say. more
over, that although it may be possible
for the Tribune establishment to con-
cOct during the week its projected
serlo-comicality, according to the reg"
| ular formula. either for plain or for
| colored, there will be some difficulty
when 1t comes to emitting the same
upon long suffering public. How,
| for example, does the Tribune propose
| to get the serio-comic edition out of
its own front door, where still sits on
| guard the bronze statue of Horace
| Greeley, who could use fOrcible Ian
guage on occasion?
1t Is a light t-headed and Unbalanced
| management which is swept off its base
| by the frantic struggle now in progress
between the journalistic anarchists
who have recently invaded our noble
profession. From competition where
OF the field ranges from mere inanity
| to the limits of obscene enterprise, rep
| utable publishers and selfrespecting
editors would better keep themselves
| wholly aloof. Let the scavengers with
an Unborn taste for that sort of re-
search continue to discover all the
coprolities and to shout them for sale
in the open market place. Let the
same fellows likewise monopolize the
traffic in that sort of harm!essly vul-
gar train Of literature, which no man
with clean linen can read, even in a
smoking car, without sense of per-
sonal ignominy and degradation.
We do not for an instant suppose that
the Tribune, with its traditions of re-
spectability, contemplates a descent
into the underground filth through
which the New York World, and the
New York Journel. and their imita-
tors are noisly wading their way. But
In getting itself, or any part of itself,
down to the Recorder level. the Tribune
incurs moral injury. Imbecility is
sometimes almost as immoral as posi-
tive indecency: and the methods of a
newspaper which perished because it
was SO feeble, even in it's chosen field
Of vulgarity, are not an Inheritance
which our neighbor ought to desire,
or possession of which our neighbor
ought to be proud.
The intimate contest between the
proprietor Of the New York World and
the proprietor of the New York Jour-
nal for the primacy of the sewers pro-
ceeds with unabated energy on either
side. One of them Is spending lavishly,
In the attempt to beat off its inconve-
nient young rival. the money amassed
during a long and happy period of alb
'solute monopoly and shamelessness.
The other is pouring into the campaign
money earned by older and probably
wiser men in more honorable business.
In a desperate effort, foredoomed to
failure, to prove that Harvard grad
uate with the training of a gentleman
can out Pulitzer the original Pulitzer
himself. FOredOomed to failure, be-
cause the new conner is, after all. only
an amateur. If he succeeds in buying
away from the older shop every artist
whose pen or whose pencil has been
educated to proficiency by the master
of all the arts which have made the
World what 1t Is other artists will
spring up like mushrooms under the
brass dome. Pulitzer has only to raise
his somewhat hooked forefnger to
summon to his aid special talent of an
order not at any other new journalists
command. Besides, his nose is longer
than young Mr.. Hearst's and his scent
keener by far.
Meanwhile, what contest 1t Is, and
what a struggle young Mr.. Hearst is
making. though hopelessly. for the full
fillment Of his astounding ambition!
The hideous prOjectiles are hurled back
and forth every day in the week. but
particularly on Sundays. There is yet
discernible no sign that the ammuni-
tiOn is low in either arsenal. As two
wrestlers change their grip or shift
their ground from time to time, so the
desperate competition passes through
varying aspects of the unspeakable
At one time it is pronographic. When
the multifarious. appeal to pruriency
seems to pail upon the two constitu-
encies, the exploitation of the horrors
of morbid anatomy and disgusting
pathology begins. Pictures of diseased
tissue sprawl across whole pages form
erly occupied by the imaginings of
lasciviousness. Crime Is illustrated in
all its phases with charts and full
working directions for finding GRIMM
ais. When the Harvard graduate ran
sacks the shelves of the library halls
for forgotten nastiness of erotic lit
erature. the ex-kellner sends forth his
men and his women to collect from the
cooks of the anonyma of today their
mistresses favorite recipes for Christ
mas plum pudding. When the ex-
kellner goes to the hospitals with his
camera to photograph for the benefit
of the World readers the latest run
ming ulcer. the Harvard graduate
promptly furnishes to readers of the
Journal explicit instructions, with
plates. teaching how murder may be
done with a single blow of the fist
upon the chin by driving splinter of
the under jaw up into the brain. So 1t
goes on. Sunday after Sunday with the
bright sun shining in the heavens: aad
the end Is not in sight. There was
never before anywhere on earth such
a rivalry. and. God willing, there new
er will be again after Mr.. Pulitzer is
dead or has gone mad. or after Mr.
Hearst Is tired out or has reluctantly
come to his senses.
II is a positive relief to turn to the
Journal of Commerce or the Evening
Post. without picture except in the
advertisements. The Post. at least.
has In contemplation no ser,o-comic
supplements of the Recorder fashion,
much less any disposition to follow the
World and the Journal In their fren-
zied competition