The record-union., 1897-08-07

sary to filing the columns of the jour
nal they serve with this inconsiderable
tattle about people who, Invested of
their wealth. would themselves be most
inconsiderable. The intellectual plane
upon which journalist moves who
serves this species of journalism. is in
finitely below the 'Jeems' OF the serv-
ants hall. They must be conscious that
they are simply caterers to the literary
tastes of the chamber maid class Of
readers.
Notwithstanding this, in its numeri-
cal aspect, the Journalism which ca
ters to the tastes of the ignorant and
the vicious achieves by far the greatest
success; and the reason for this should
be plain. The ignorant will not sub
scribe for a journal which fails TO
give emphasis to the fact that a profit
gate millionaire has imported fifty Eng
lish fox hounds, while people of intelli-
gence to whom this exhibition of fun
keyism is disgusting, do subscribe
This is equally true of the journals
which take occasion to fill their COLI
umns with the filth and obscenity with
which certain judicial trials are reek-
ing. The vicious are attracted and the
virtuous are not repealed. In nearly all
the so-called Christian homes Of this
land the vilest and most sensational
sheets find a species of welcome. 1t is
a kind of Phartsaical. expostulatory
welcome,-the unwelcome of a con-
sciousness that the sensational journal
is a mental poison, but the conscious
ness is not quite strong enough to ex-
pei the vicious publication from the
home altogether.
The publisher cares nothing for that
species of condemnation which does
not reach the extent of refusing to be-
come a patron. This is equally true
of the people who compose the great
common life of the country. 1t is a
common practice of the new journalist
to mention a man who has money as
Millionaire Jones' and Millionaire
Smith," to refer to each of these in
their domestic relations as the million
aire reached town yesterday" or the
doctor was called to the millionaire's
bedside" The masses who are inter
ested in the establishment Of the great
tenet of human liberty that men should
be judged by standards relating 10
what they are, not what they own. toll
crate this low yarletry in journalism url-
conscious that flunkeyism to the rich
is a far greater conspiracy against the
doctrine of the equality Of manhood
Our esteemed contemporary, the San
Francisco Chronicle" is mistaken
when it intimates that the Clarke road
law might have been all right had its
companion bills been signed by the
Governor. 1t had no companion bills.
It stood alone in its monstrous proper
tions. What were known as the COM
panion bills were those prepared by the
old Bureau of Highways and modified
Wy ll1t JOlil dCllOn VI tie <aoSCiiiOis ciAN
Senate Committees on Roads and
Highways. These bills fitted into and
supplemented each other. so to speak,
providing a comprehensive State and
county road system and without con-
flict, as Is believed, with the general
provisions of the County Government
Act But while these bills passed, they
were all vetoed but one, that creating
the Department of Highways. Had
they all been signed and the Clarke law
also been approved, the conflict of the
latter with the County Government Act
would have been the same. Again. it
is remarked by our respected contem-
porary that the Supreme Court threw
down the Clarke Act because it was
PACED earlier in the statute book than
the County Government Act, and there
fore the presumption must be that the
latter was the later law. This is mex
act. The fact is, and if it did not APP
pear before the Supreme Court it was
the fault of the lawyers, that all bills as
approved are chaptered in the Execu
| tive Department, and the Superinten
dent of Printing places the chapters in
| their numerical order. The County
Government Act is chaptered a higher
number and hence appears in the
statute book later than the Clarke law,
as in fact it is. The result is the same,
of course, but it is as well to understand
the mode of handling bills en- route to
the printer.
| just now If yesterdays cable ac-