The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-11-20

auOPbCO Wy Auc Gun NO nOos
rapid pressman could not pull i'm
pressions enough to meet the morn
ing call. One of the New York pa
pers now claims daily average
circulation of $4,000, and d Sunday
average circulation of $4,000; and
that the press work was accomplished
by three great octuple presses, the
largest ever made, added to press
equipment now unequalled in any
daily newspaper Office on earth; be-
ing the equivalent of fifty-seven
single presses, designed for an out
put of 744 90 eight page papers per
hour"
POWER OF THE PRESS.
Who can comprehend or estimate
the power of the press in its daily
emissionsi a power for good or a
power for evil. We may expect it to
be no better than its makers, and no
worse, upon the whole, than its aver
age clientage. We often think that
many matters are published which,
though not morally harmful, are un-
interesting and wasteful Of room; but
somebody is interested, and they are
| published for the sake of such. We
get the news more cheaply than ever
before, sometimes apparently con-
Trajectory; but we finally reach the
facts if we can suspend judgment for
a day or two. We dislike the appar-
ent onesidedness of intelligence in
volving human character, which gives
ground for despair of our civilization,
as we read of fraud and murder, po-
litical corruption and all sorts of
crime, announced with sensational
embellishments, with no display of
contrary virtues, save in the rarest
and most exceptional instances.
There seems no relief from the black
ness of vice and moral offense. So,
from time to time, and oft with far
ing headlines, announcement is made
of railroad disasters and ocean wrecks
with great loss Of life; so that one
might think that travel By land and
sea is extra hazardous, especially as
we have no word of those who escape
not merely, but of those who never
become liable to danger. 1t was said
by a writer that in certain year
when not a passenger had lost his
life in a railway disaster in the state
of Massachusetts, a score of persons
had been killed in the city of Boston
alone by falling downstairs. Shall
we say that it is extra hazardous to
live in a house OF more than one
story7
CORRECT LIFE THE MATTER OF CoURsE E,
1t is true that there is much wicked
ness in the world; but the world is large
and numerous. The rogues, though
many. are lean minority of our seventy
or more millions. The honest outnum-
Der the thieves and swindlers vastly.
But their story does not thrill, as do
those of the offenders against property
aud social order. Ii the story of human
| virtue could ever have fair show with
that OF human weakness and passion, ii
would be seen that, after all. correct life
is the matter of course; is therefore NOT
surprising or sensational; and is on that
account taken for granted, and rarely
finds publication. The crimes appear in
the front because though frequent they
are unusual. Yet with all its faults we
could i'll spare the newspaper.
! IS THE WORLD BETTER?
But have we any ground for affirming
according to our wish, that the world
has risen on the scale of moral force? Is
the world better? We read what the
papers have to tell us, accented by the
art of the printer, of crime and barbar.
ism. What fxightful scenes are often
| VI lOuE
and social feud. in which participants
think they do God service, and falla.
ciously suppose that crime can be
checked by crime What can we do but
confess that there are still. as there have
been all along the years, evidences of
savage life even in this country, of which
we fondly boast as the most enlightened
Of the earth? 1t is said that the human
embryo presents in its several stages OF
development all the characteristics sue
cessively of the several lower orders of
animated being. Similarly, human civ.
ilization shows the progressive stages of
its development but in co-existent
strata. Thus we cannot deny, we gee.
the fact of elements Of savage and bar
bsrous life in our land. These low
grades are not apparent in the majority
Of our people; in the great body Of those
who occupy our homes. These protest
against the evil. There is struggle for
the best things, and Notwithstanding
the sneer of the cynie and the despair of
the pessimist, there is evidence Of pro-
gress in virtue and brotherly kindness.
The excellence of the former time ia
overtopped. / remember when the pro-
4 test against intemperance WAS feeble in