The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-06-11


may not have for many years to come"
The Civil war made the American
newspaper great. The nation was in a
state intense anxiety. The people insist
ed upon having the news. .and this insist
| ence naturally led to and stimula. ed the
establishment of more convenient and
expeditions means of conveyance. From
| the time of the war the American press
has grown into great political power
until today there are published in the
| United States almost $4,000 different
newspapers, of which 1000 different ones
are published every day
| A great newspaper is the most eabor-
ate organization of modern times. 1t
| adorns the fireside of multiplied millions
of American freemeh The newspaper
requires the skill and labor, both mental
ard physical, of men willing to face
hardships and privations, and even dis
ease and death for the sake of their voca-
ton. You will find reporter where no
one else would dare to go. In the midst
of famine and plague, you will see him
calmly noting the onward march of
death. You will find him in the heart
of the desert, and in the thickest of bat
| tie, when the bravest tremble with fear,
you will see him unconscious of danger
noting 1.-The fate of armies, and the vary,
ing tide of war;
The business of a newspaper is to give
the news, and the best newspaper is the
one which presents the news in the II ost
readable style.
Criticisms have been lavishly bestow-
ed upon our American press by native
as We'll as foreign readers The most
common criticism is that which has to
do with an alleged lack of accuracy.
The professed function of the press is to
give the news, to record facts, to en-
tighten and to inform, and if through
carelessness or dishonesty information
is given that is wholly or partially false,
the newspaper is untrue to the principle
to which it owes it's origin. By reading
the daily journals one may often find
mistakes, and occasionally one may cite
gross falsehoods.
Another Office of the newspaper is to
give advice. In a good newspaper adj
vice of every conceivable kind is found
The newspapers largely control elections.
Editorial pages sway the party politics.
When a reader takes up good newspaper
he is left in no doubt as to the man for
whom he shall cast his vote until he
takes up the opposition paper. Can he
find advice on elections in all papers!
No. In some he will read the size of the
head of one candidate, and where an
other gets his money. Men who do not
know what is best for their own or their
country's welfare, are often influenced
by the paper. The paper leads him to
think its political views are right, and
naturally his would become similar to
those of the paper.
The modern newspaper is the advance
agent of learning. We all acknowledge
the educational possibilities of the daily
press, and with better system of selec-
tion to supplement those of indiscrimin-
ate collections, the daily and the weekly
press might become an educational factor
comparable to our great universities
This statement holds because the news
paper reaches into every laborer's cot
tage ir the land, and is welcomed there
with avidity. The Americans, the great
mass of wage earning people, ARE reading
public, and their main source of informa.
tion is from the newspaper. The labor
ing man reads his paper, hatever is in
it, and he can not read without becom.
ing influenced in thought and character.
One great fault found with our Amer
can newspapers is the criticism they
bestow upon our pubic men. By looking
back at the newspaper assaults that
have been made upon our presidents
we find instances of this kind. Thus we
read of Washington as an embezzler, OF
Jefferson as an anarchist of Adams as a
tyrant, and of Jackson as an assassin
Van Buren was accused of stealing gold
spoons from the White House. No
president has ever deserved all of this
personal abuse from which he has
suffered, for it is doubtful if any presi-
dent of the United States has not earn
estly and conscientiously endeavored to
discharge the duties of his great office
with dignity and patriotism.
The liberty of the press is regarded as
a matter of supren-- importance. Mil
ton says: "Give me liberty to know, to
utter, and to argue freely according to
conscience above all other liberties" The
liberty of the press was plant of slow
growth. 1t was not brought about in
one day, but many years.
By reading the ancient history, We
learn that our forefathers were band Of
robbers whose highest ambition was to
find Rome to sack What is il that
has raised our aims, our ambitions above
theirs? What lifted that pail of ignor
ance which enshrouIed the minds of the
people during the dark ages? What ac
complished all these things, il not the
press?
"Mind moves rocks and seas, but the
press sways the world of thought itself,
"Man calls to man, but not in vain