The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-11
THE DECLINE OF THE "NEW
JOURNALISM"

ton Of the power Of public opinion and
the ability Of the people to rectify
crimes against decency and morality
without the aid of statute is before
us in the severe punishment now being
inflicted upon two newspapers in New
York city, that have assumed the term
new journalism" as a cover for the
rank indecencies and criminal outrages
that they have perpetrated upon the
people. The New York World and the
New York Journal long ago passed the
bounds of public liberation. They have
probably made themselves amenable
many times to the laws against pub
fishing indecent matter and sending OBJ
scene literature through the mail. They
did this under the pretense that it
was enterprise" and they undoubt-
edly secured thereby, temporarily,
large increase of circulation. 1t is quite
within the power of any newspaper to
do this at any time. There is a GER
tain charm about the forbidden and a
curiosity 50 universal to see how far
people will go that a newspaper which
chooses to. follow day after day the in
clined plane that leads down to the
inferno of foul sensationalism can I'M
questionably increase it's daily sales.
The vengeance of an outraged public
is so much more slowly aroused and
its punishments are so long delayed,
that for time everything seems to go
beautifully. The purveyOrs of filth have
the field to themselves, remonstrances
are in vain, and money and notoriety,
each aiding the other, are added day
by day.
But experience ought to have shown
by this time that the penalty is sure
to follow. There was, not many years
ago, a newspaper in Chicago that rails
ed its circulation, it is said, to over
10000 copies daily by publishing a di-
rectory of vice and a list of infamous
personal notices, the like of which was
probably never printed elsewhere in
the United States. AT that time the
competitors of this paper felt the in
jury to their own business and rebelled
against public that seemed willing to
cater to iniquity and to give hand
some financial support to crime. Yet
that paper is never mentioned by name
today, has practically gone out Of ex-
istence, and the sentence of the editor
to two years Imprisonment at hard
10 i11cs
supreme court Nemesis has been
slower in overtaking the New York
journals, but the blow is now falling.
and the end is sure to come.
Public libraries and reading rooms
the country over have been deliberately
and publicly checking the World and
the Journal from their lists. The move
ment has now become almost universal
Last week these papers were turned
out of the Minneapolis reading room.
They have never been admitted to that
of st. Paul The roll of honor of those
that have eXpurgated their lists would
now fill a half-column or more of fine
type. This represents a public opin-
ion and an educating influence that
will be reflected in similar action on
the part of hundreds of thousands OF
readers. In plain terms, these news
papers have reached the end of thei,
rope. They have gone as far as they
could in publishing and illustrating the
annals of crime. There is no deeper
denth for them to reach without bripo,
ing themselves directly within the
necessary vengeance Of the law. Thos,
who have taken them to watch thei
progressive decline and to wonder wha
new infamy they would spring upol
the public next day have grown wear!
of the saturnalia, and their curiosit,
is stated by the knowledge that thes
newspapers must hereafter be NOR
cautious rather than more daring.
The good work that has been begun
will go one in ever widening circles. In
dividuals outside of the criminal an,
semi-crininal classes will presently b
ashamed to be seen reading news
papers that have been marked "ta
boo" by right-thinking people. A de
cree Of accommodation more power
full than any ever launched agains
the hereto has been directed agains
these offenders against decency, an,
the punishment in waiting for them /
one immensely more severe than an