The record-union., 1897-03-24
SO-CALLED new JOURNALISM.
Strong Words Of Warning by Dr. ". h.
P. FaunCe.
The Integrity of the Youth of To-
Day the Best Legacy for Future
Generations.

The twenty fifth anniversary of the
founding of the Society for the suppress
sion of Vice was marked by large
meeting held in Carnegie Hall, New
York, on March ID Several speeches
had reference to the so-called new
journalism" a modern development
that, as has been recorded in Public
Opinion" has received the censure of
the Society for the Prevention of Cru
city to Children, as we'll as of the
Mothers Congress, and against which
there is a widespread crusade among
newspapers all over the country. DR..
w. H. p Faunce, who spoke on the
subject THE Integrity of the Youth of
To-day the Best Legacy to Future
Generations" made a speech that, as
typical of several others, is here re-
produced. in part:
There is a. fierce struggle going on
today between reputable and truthful
Journalism on the one side and what
calls itself the new journalism but
which is really as old as sin itself. The
newspapers in this metropolis penetrate
every hamlet and village between the
two oceans If our journals were united
be almost hopeless; if they We're united
in defense of good our task would be
well nigh needless. But now the jour
naliSm of our time is house divided
against itself, and therein lies our op
portunity. Let every man who respects
himself, who loves his country and his
home, stand by, cheer and encourage,
and substantially support those jour-
mails which to-day are standing for
truthfulness in the reporters pen, honor
in the editorial chair and honesty in
the business office. Two journals pub
lished in this city daily, which fear
neither God nor man, before whose
natural propensities no manhood is be-
yond attack, no Womanhood is secure,
and no childhood is safe, have recently
been excluded from the public library
in the city of Newark by the unanimous
vote of tie mana cement. Would to
God that all its kith and kin might be
excluded from every library and every
home where American childhood is per-
mitted to enter, New Journalism! They
call it news. 1t is as old as the orgies
of Nero On the Tiber: as old as the
nameleSS vice of Pompeii, that God
burned and buried beneath the kissing
lava out of the wrathful throat Of We
suviuS. 1t is as old as the sahme of
Noah and the murder of Cain, and the
man who daily introduces it into his
home is opening up direct communica-
ton between the cradle and the sewer,
between the nursery and the poisonous
swamp. ard the result is the immediate
Introduction of moral typhoid into his
fo Jc = Of J,-D,
to have the suicide of some embruted
wretch presented to us with the picture
of the man at the moment he takes his
hapless life? 1t is simply an attempt
to fill the private purse by public ruin,
to make life hideous and degraded, and
to poison the wells out of which the
Nation must drink. All honor to those
journals in our metropolis which are
launching their broadsides against this
thing. Success to their work, and let
every honorable and reasonable man
stand by them.''
Commenting upcl this speech the
New York Times" says
The Rev. DR.. Faunce hit the nail
on the head in his Carnegie Hall ad-
dress, when he said that the new jour-
nalism is as old as sin itself 1t is sim
ply human nature Haunting its ignoble
propensities without shame in the eyes
of the world. A large part of man.
kind is debased in soul and deed. A
much larger part is vulgar in taste and
thought. The new Journalism exploits
the business of bringing these two
classes into their natural relation. The
first class furnishes the matter which
the new journalism lays before the 9TH
er class. Its reports of crimes and
scandals beget new crimes and scan
dals. 1t is in this sense, if not pecun-
fairly. self-sustaining institution. The
cure is the absolute exclusion of the
new journals from the home and the
family. A course of rigid moral sani-
tation is demanded. No intelligent
householder now tolerates defective
plumbing or permits sources of pollu-
ton to exist near his water supply The
work of the moral board of health
ought not to be as difficult as the work
of physical sanitation. Shame rather
than fear must be appealed to. Re-
spectacle men must be made to blush
and hang their heads when caught
reading these polluting sheets or hav-
ing them in their houses"
The New York Mail and Express"
says on this subject:
Last week two New York papers
We're cast out with tongs from the
chief public library OF Newark. Sim
ilar action has since been taken by the
Princeton Theological Seminary and by
the General Society of Mechanics and
Tradesmen in this city. This is we'll
so far as 1t goes. But to reach the
root of the evil such newspapers must
be shut out of the home until their cir
culation is SO decreased as to render
them yalueless as advertising mediums
and a dead financial weight to their
proprietors. Then they VIII cease pub