The record-union., 1897-03-13
A VICE, AND REMEDIES FOR 1T.

The New York Post" a clean and
highminded paper that never INDUCES
in indecenCy and may be placed in the
most innocent hands without fear of
communicating anyone, in discussing
the bill before the New York Legisla-
ture to prevent the publication of the
picture of a person, or caricature of
his features or body without his con-
sent, says that exhortation will not
make the press decent or moral; that
the only argument that can reach the
vicious and sensational newspaper is
the argument that touches the pocket
nerve. the exhortation of the almighty
dollar. Cut off the profits of crime
breeding papers and you will be sur
prised TO see how moral they viii be-
come"
There is truth in that. But we cam
not concur in the statement that the
dollar argument is the only one. On
the contrary, there is another, namely,
fear. Let a few citizens of courage
lllcfAS up llItii IilillIS lIldl Tic vel Aii 81
time they are caricatured in the press,
held up to contempt and ridicule, Ii
beled and misrepresented to their grave
injury, that they will take a club and
beat the scurrilous dog who besmears
them until he yelps for mercy, and as
suredly there will be a drawing in of
horns
OF course some of these rascally fell
lows will fight, and of course, whoever
takes the club must expect the club.
But a. broken head is better sometimes
than a law suit, and death in the cause
of honor and character is preferable to
life upon ones belly under the domina-
ton Of the gutter press.
There is, however in this suggestion,
tenance; therefore. our suggestion dies
at the hands of our own conviction of
right. Nevertheless, we doubt very
much If half the world will not hold
ingly If some one who is grossly in
5ured does some day beat the hide of
the publisher Of a filth transmitting
sheet until it bushes and blackens I'M
der the deserved castigation.
The Post" however has strength
in its argument when II says that if
the very PEOPLE who complain most of
these disseminators of vice and vicious
90
that bring reproach upon the whole
profession Of journalism, would one and
all refuse 10 buy the sheets or advertise
in them or in any way contribute TO
the daily sewer pipes Of rottenness
would sound the keynote of a new
policy
SO that after all, the remedy Is in
the hands of the people who most com
plain. That there is a movement in
that direction is noticeable. In New
Jersey the two chief offenders Of the
New York press have been excluded
from the free libraries and reading
rooms under official control. Up in
Portland. or, a san Francisco offender
has been pitched out of the reading
rooms of the Portland Library Associa-
ton The trustees of the association
say in defense Of their action that they
would just as readily allow the young
people visiting the rooms 10 ravel In
the nastiness of the Police Gazette"
as have them peruse the sheet referred
to, since that Journal is doing such
a work corrupting the minds OF youth
and promoting crime and vice by sug-
gestion
This is a grave mistake and does
the Police Gazette infinite injustice.
For the San Francisco sheet apes re-
spectability and capers in the position
of an influence moving in the greater
of public arenas. But the Police Ca
zette'' makes no pretense of decency.
1t is precisely what it claims to be. II
has the honesty Of frankness and de-
spises false pretenses. 1t is nasty and