The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-19


The elements of a criminal libel differ some
what from one which, may be redressed by
civil action To maintain a criminal prosecu-
uon publication4such Is necessary In a
civil acton, need not be shown, but 1t Is
deemed sufficient publication If the libel is
communicated merely ito the person libeled,
since ne might be incCnsed to commit
breach Of the peace whether others knew of
the charge or not.
This raises the yvery interesting question
whether an American woman can be guilty OF
crimtnally libeling IN man. The chivalry and
gallantry Of the American man, and his tend
erness for women,ais so we'll known, that it
Is Impossible TO suppose that SUCH man
would assault woman, or challenge her to
combat, thereby creating breach of the
peace, no matter what she said to him. This
point has never been raised or decided that
L am aware Of, but as there has been some
recent arrests in st: Paul and Fargo of wom-
en- journalists for this offense, deem it my
duty to give them the hint, to be acted upon
Wnen they have no better defense.
Having found out what constitutes libel
we VIII consider the subject In its bearing
upon the press OF the country. No one knows
better than the members of this club that it
Is matter OF profound interest to the public
press, not because journalists are more given
10 Hpehng than other people, but from the
nature or their work they are more exposed
10 De drawn into the commission OF the Of
iense than those engaged in other pursuits
because the dissemination Of the libel Is re-
garded In the law as guilty the original de-
Iainer. we also know that this character or
actlon is almost exclusively confined to the
Pi0So a. IHe present day, ana JnaC JHey usual
~ arise from mistakes of subordinates who
collect news for the paper
Whether this dearth of libel suits between
CITIZENS not engaged OH the public press arises
from the prevalence of such good morals that
people seldom utter nbels. or whether the
standard of individual character has fallen so
nuch below that of the press that their libels
are unnotlced, will not attempt to determine
put 1t remains fact that the courts are
troubled very little with them. Let this
occasion give the benefit of the doubt to the
press, as people generally do who sit as judges
In their own controversies.
Whlle speaking of the danger of the Journal
ISL being led into the commission of the Of
tense OF libel through the mistake of Others
| may add that sometimes he Is the victim of
frauds and conspiracies in this respect l
neard OF case where a man deliberately
composed libel about himself, and ingenious
ly gave it general circulation through the AS
ISOLATED Press, and then made business of
threatening prosecution against all the lead
Ing papers in the country, and, wherever he
could, making settlements and compromises
with them, until before the deception was dis
covered he had amassed quite fortune.
1t was this liability to do injustice to the
press that gave rise to the modern laws which
allow newspapers the opportunity of retracting
charges when unintentionally preferred to the
injury OF innocent people, and thus prevent
prosecution. This legislation is long ad-
vance in the direction of justice, and while
every well-disposed citizen will raise his voice
and exert his influence to uphold and defend
character, as the most precious Of mans pos
sessions, by Furnishing the willful defamer
! he should be equally careful to protect, when
innocent, his much exposed fellow citizen,
the journalist If further legislation in this
direction is needed let us have it, and
know of no more potential influence that can
be eXerted over legislative action than the
press itself
W. e. Eaton, of the Saltwater
Gazette, touched upon the patronage of
home Industries. and brought out
number Of pertinent thoughts to fur
Their the feeling of local reciprocity.
Col. w. NJ. Liggett, Of the state eX-
/ ptrimental farm, addressed an invita-
ton to the members of the association
to visit the college at Hamline tOmor-
row. The colonel in behalf of the
| faculty, offered to provide liberal sus-
tenance and entertainment. Owing to
limited time, and the fact that the
afternoons programme would have to
| be carried over to the morning ses-
sion, the association regretfully de-
clined the invitation.
G. F. HendryX, editor of the Sank
Centre Herald, ripped up the editorial
| bretheren in his paper upon News
paper Ethics The editor believed that
| dealing with personalities and ex
! pletiVes when one editor mentions an
other was harmful to the best in
terests of the press and had a bad eff
feet upon the public at large.
H. P Hall presented a eulogy Of
! Is \
! president of the association. The
| eu1egyl will be spread upon the, minutes
! of the association!
Condo Hamlin touched upon the
Social Relations of City and Country
Editors" The speaker said the rela-
! lions between the city and country
! editors are not as strong as they
| should be. No branch Of the profess
sion would be better pleased at a closer
| relation than the editors of CITY pa
pers. Mr. Hamlin said the editors Of
| the city would be glad to see the coun-
try editors in the offices of the metro
| I.olitan papers Oftener. The visitors
were, Of course, liable to find the peo-
! pie busy and up to their ears in work.
| but if they would accept the apologies
and the excuses in the spirit they
would be offered, and come again when
business was more slack, opportunities
would be offered for many profitable
chat.
Along the same line, G. S. Mitchell,
Of the Alexandria Post, spoke Of the
decadence, as he saw it, Of the indivi-
| duality Of the metropolitan editor, and
/ the elevation Of the country editor He
said there was a time when any one
of the Twin City papers was known
| by it's editors There was a time when
every utterance had been respected and
! looked upon as the utterance OF some
one leader and guiding head. Now it
was different The paper was looked
| IDOn more as news medium, ma
chine. The time was past when the
country editor followed the lead of the
city paper He was far more 1ndepen-
dent in thought He mildly scored
the city press for the odd mixture of
wheat ard chaff'' to be found in print.
C. w. Stanton, in discussing the same
topic. said it carried too wide range.
1t was difficult to discover the social
relation between the city and country
press. He believed, however, there was
| a close social relation between one
country editor and another. and the
country editor and the public he repre-
! scented.
The open discussion Of this and kin
d1,ed topics so fully occupied the time
of the association, that several of the
, papers and the election Of officers
went over until 10 o'clock this morning,
when the concluding session will be
held.
The annual report of the treasurer
! showed 1854. As. expenditures during 1876,
and a balance On hand of $250.36 There
was S507 Al on hand Feb. l. 1896
The social session Of the editorial
| convention was called to order last
evening shortly after the close of the
various thea trical performances, 20
! which the visiting newspaper men had
| been sent.
The session was a great success. The
/ ladies were guests ard the committee
| rooms and ordinary of the Windsor
| held a very merry crowd until long
after midnight. There were impromptu
addresses by a number of gentlemen.
Little events like those are the bright
spots in the life of H. P. Hall. He
"A fyxrO NJ