The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-15
NEWSPAPERS
AND POLITICS
concluded from Page IL

of criticism and of influence. The two
great factors i'm our political life are the
party organization and the press. The
press is the educating force; the org mi
cation Is the instrumcntality of practical
operation. The former moulds opinion;
the latter is the agency for making 1t
effective I'm government, The tendency CT
the party organization is to develop into
a machine under the control of a boss.
with the absorption Of the mass of the
people in their own affairs, with their dis
position to leave public affairs in the
hands of the few, ana with the cohesive
power of patronage political control nat
urally Eravitates to those who make 1t a
business. Parties are the necessity and
the life of free government. Domination
Wilhlh party is the natural outgrOWth of
general apathy and special application,
or personal aptitude ana superior oppor-
tunlty, The one available check upon
TINS inevitable tendency is the press II
1t does not educate ana arouse the people
there is no effective protection. As De
Tocqueville said more than sixty years
ago, Nothing hut Il newspaper can drup
the same thought into ten thousand minds
AT the same moment" The vigilance, in
dependence, courage, publicity and articu-
Hte public opinion of the newspapers
must he the real safeguards of the social
'''' iO'i'i'tll NdDlit'
PARTY STANDARDS.
30 the newspapers fairly fulfill this
MISSION The personal and machine
domination which spreads its arms i'm
every other direction like an octopus
haturaIiN seeks to strengthen itself by
Substituting or slenCing them. In the
old days of limited range and resources
II largely succeeded. Does it now? on
IN" contrary the remarkable expansion
ana financial success of Journalism as a
business enterprise have brought d visi-
hle emancipation and elevation. The
press has become far more than ever a
ruling power because this vital, MASTER
ful strength of its own makes it self
respecting, self-asserting, independent
anu courageous. 1t is no longer, as IL
was so largely in the old days, the mere
dependent or stipcndary IT no longer
feeds chiefly on the crumbs that fall
from the official table. Why should it
be swaycd by official patronage which
at the best is hut an insigniGcant nor
ton of its revenues WHY should II
curry such favor when the rewards of
great popular success are so immeasur-
ably greater? The party shibholeth un.
fortunately still secures much liberation
IN IN" press for hossism where there is
no real personal subscrvicnce The news
papers do not yet appreciate the full
power and dignity of their position. Tn
der our system where journalism should
at once lead and follow the worthiest
public impulses, the people will edit the
editors; but it is no less true that, arm
ed with the supreme commission of the
people, the editors could, far more than
they do, boss the BOSSES
This inherent power derived from nom
ular support has emancipatcd journalism
from tn" thralldOm of personal serVility
ana given IT character and influence, in.
teSrity and independence. We used to
hear great deal about independent
journalism as distinguished from party
Journalism. The advance of the press,
both on its professional and on its busi-
ness side, has done much to obliterate
that distinction. Independent journal
ism becomes party journalism through
the practical necessity of establishing it's
principles by practical methods. Party
Journalism becomes Independent journal
ism in its liberation from dependence
on individual or machine favor. Cam
ming described an independent man
with my apologies and disclaimer to this
club-as a man who could not be de-
pended ON. The Independent journalism
that is simply flippant and prone as
George William Curtis. himself an in
dependent, long ago said, to good natured
indifference. or that like the mock doc
tor of MoiCre, puts the organ of the bile
in the place of the heart, and that does
not care which side goes up or which
side goes down, is passing away. And
on the other hand, party journalism in
it's highest estate and in its true and
worthier Independence, is teaching the
lesson that it cannot be depended on to
uphold and defend party wrongs and
abuses.