The record-union., 1897-08-07
THE MAIL" IS RIGHT.

The Stockton MALI reads the flunky
journalism of modern times a lesson,
and uses the Hobart appendicitis in
cident as a striking illustration. 1t
says:
Mr.. Hobart has had pain under his
vest for few days, and this monen-
tous happening has been telegraphed
to all the newspapers, has filled col
umns in the San Francisco journals,
and has furnished occasion for alto
gether the most shining exhibition of
journalistic snobbery that has excited
the admiration of folk in a long time.
The Mall does not appear TO under
stand that the flunkeyism of newspa-
pens in San Francisco IS simply a re-
Election of the flunkeyism prevalent
throughout the country. 1t seems a
hard charge TO make, but it is true.
But the fact that Mr. Hobart has mill
lions, or is spending millions, excites
an interest concerning him and his
pain under his vest The Examiner
interviewed some of the acquaintance
of Mr. Hobart, and one Of these fur
ished the most startling information
concering the young man and his gen
eral usefulness to society. This as
tute interviewer declared that the Bur-
lingame Club could i'll afford to spare
Mr. Hobart; that his generosity was
boundless; that on one occasion he act
ed as a judge in a polo game, when
there We're other persons in the game
whom he did not know and for whom he
did not care a straw This the interview
I'd gentleman regarded as the very acme
of public spirit. There was a breadth
of philanthropy, a condescension, a no.
bleness of heart and purpose which
would endear the young man to all fu-
ture separations. Another distinguish
ed achievement: He had increased the
population of San Mateo by fifty-six
hounds the beginning of development
which would cover that country with
contented homes and populate it with
a thrifty and ox-hound loving peo-
pie
1t goes without saying that Mr.. Ho-
bart as a poor man would possess no
public interest, and especially he would
not be an object of interest to the
turnkey portion of the press. And yet all
romance and all fiction have value and
interest in the curiosity which besets
every mind concerning our fellow men.
Fiction is bound by the realm of prob
ability, and the true fiction simply pre-
sents TO us a series of personalities with
introactive influence on each other s
lives and destiny which. when worked
out in parallels with the truth, possess
for us that interest which must for
ever attach TO the influence human
passions exert ON human destiny. But
it does not follow that because this
human interest has a noble place, the
ignoble exhibition of it in the new jour
naIisrn is deserving of any other senti-
ment than profound contempt.
The difference between the sensation
al journalism of San Francisco, of
which the Examiner is the great
of literature or the biography Of great
men which enriches modern libraries.
is the difference between the village
mischief maker and busy body and
Thomas B. Macaulay. This prattle
concerning young Mr.. Hobart moved
upon the plane of the village tattler,
and had its inspiration in the licked
feet littleness of modern Journalism.
His pains and his aches, his polo and
his hounds, were matters of ineffable
diminuitiveness, from which all men
who have arisen above a certain line
of intelligence turn with disgust.
1t is noteworthy that the fiunkeyism
has its most conspicuous manifestation
in the columns of the sheet which pre-
tends to the greatest sympathy with
the common life. and which in its edi-
toriaI aspect continually denounces
CORPORATIONS. trusts and minionaires.
The marvel is that men of talent can be
hired 10 perform the kind of espionage
upon the private lives Of people neces-