Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-02-25
Trials Of Newspaper Work.

the world than any other profession.
Through every newspaper Office, day by
day, 90 the weakness of the world, the
yanities that want to be puffed, the re-
yenges that want to be wreaked, all the
mistakes that want to be corrected, all
the dull speakers who want TO be
thought eloquent all the meanness that
wants to get its wares noticed gratis in
the editorial columns in order to save
the tax of the advertising column, all
the men who want to be set right who
never were right, all the crack Drained
philosophers, with story as long as their
hair and as gloomy as their finger nails,
all the itinerant bores who come to stay
five minutes and stop an hour. From
the editorial and reportorial rooms all
the follies and shams Of the world are
seen day by day, and the temptation is
to believe neither in God, man, nor
woman. It is no surprise to me that in
your profession there are some skeptical
men. | only wonder that you believe
anything Unless an editor or a report
er has in his present or IN bis early
home a model Of earnest character or be
throw himself upon the upholding grace
of God he may make temporal and eter-
nal shipwreck.
Another great trial Of the newspaper
profession is inadequate compensation.
Since the days Of Hazlitt and Sheridan
and John Milton and the wailings Of
Grub street, London, literary toll, with
very few exceptions, has not been prop
erly requited. When Oliver Goldsmith
received a friend in his house, he (the
author) had to sit on the window, be-
cause there was only one chair. Lin
neus sold his splendid work for a
ducat De Foe, the author Of so many
volumes died penniless. The learned
johnson dined behind screen because
his clothes were too shabby to allow
him to dine with the gentlemen who on
the other side Of the screen were app
plauding his works. And SO on down to
the present time literary toll is a great
struggle for bread. The world seems 70
have a grudge against a man who, as
they say, gets his living by his wits,
and the day laborer says TO the man OF
literary toll, lyon come down here and
shove a plane, and hammer a shoe last,
and break cobblestones, and earn an
honest living as do instead of sitting
there in idleness scribbling." But there
are no harder worked men in all the
earth than the newspaper people OF this
country. It is not a matter OF hard
times it is characteristic at all times.
Men have better appreciation for that
which appeals to the stomach than for
that which appeals TO the brain. They
have no idea Of the immense financial
and intellectual exhaustion Of the news
paper pi ess. Oh, men Of the press, it
will be a great help to you if when you
get home late at nii.t tagged out and
nervous with your work you would just
kneel down and commend your case to
God. who has watched all the fatigues
Of the day and the night and who has
promised 70 be your God and the God Of
your children forever!
Perverted Appetites.
Another great trial of the newspaper
profession is the diseased appetite for
unhealthy intelligence You blame the
newspaper press for giving such promi-
nence TO murders and scandals. Do you
suppose that SO many papers would give
prominence to these things if the people
did not demand them? If | 60 into the
meat market Of foreign city and find
that the butchers hang up on the most
conspicuous hooks meat that is tainted,
while the meat that is fresh and savory
is put away without any special care,
come to the conclusion that the people
of that city love tainted meat. You
know very well that if the great mass
of people in this country get hold OF
newspaper and there are in it no runa'
wav matches, no broken up families, no
defamation Of men in high position,
they pronounce the paper insipid. They
say, 1T is shockingly dull tonight. L
believe it is one of the trials Of the news
paper press that the people Of this coun-
try demand moral slush instead Of heal
tby and intellectual food. Now you are
a respectable man, an intelligent man,
and a paper comes into your hand. You
open it, and there are three columns OF
splendidly written editorial, recon-
mending some moral sentiment or evoly-
ing some scientific theory. In the next
column there is miserable, contempti-
BILE divorce case. Which do you read
first? You dip into the editorial long
enough to say, "Well, that's very ably
written, " and you read the divorce case
from the long primer type at the top TO
the nonpareil type at the bottom, and
then you ask your wife if she has read
it. Oh, it is only case Of supply and
demandl Newspaper men are not fools
They know what you want, and they
give it to you. believe that II the
church and the world bought nothing
but pure, honest healthful newspapers
nothing but pure, honest and healthfui
newspapers would be published. IL you
should gather all the editors and the re-
porters of this country in one great con-
yention and ask of them what klnd OF
paper they would prefer to publish L
believe they would unanimously say,
ave would prefer to publish an elevas-
ing paper" So long as there Is an In
iouituus demand there will be an In
iquitous supply. make no apology for
a debauched newspaper, but ! am say
ing these things in order to divide the
responsibility between those who print
and those who read.
Another temptation Of the newspaper
profession is the great allurement thai
surrounds them. Every occupation and
profession has temptations peculiar t
itself, and the newspaper profession Il
not an exception. The great demand
as you know, is on the nervous force
and the brain is racked. The blunderinl
political speech must read we'll for th'
sake Of the party, and so the reporte
or the editor has 10 make it read well
although every sentence were catastro
phe to the English language The re
porter must hear all that an inaudiol
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