Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1898-06-17
THE POWER OF THE PRESS.

OAtlAlA4UlOA Ia Jul SOuACJ " w uCI0HcE
a handful of men extemporize avillage
on the frontier, q newspaper Office is
II of the first buildings erected. A
pioneer community often supports two
or more local sheets, and every large
town and its adjacent country supports
several dailies and weeklies, while in
the large cities, multitndes Of month
lies and kindred periodicals. as we'll as
weeklies, dailies and Sunday editions
are published and scattered broadcast
throughout the length and breadth of
the land. Wherever n goes in city
or in hamlet,on trains, in hotels, places
of business, everywhere, in fact, except
to church or on a sea voyage, the news
paper and magazine are in evidence.
The publications issuing from the
press are not only widely distributed
in area, but they also cover every con
ceivable topic Of interest and of in
struction. thus appealing to all classes
and conditions Of readers. The grave
and the gay, the solid and the super
fetal, the wise and the foolish can all
find matter suited to their mental
capacity and tastes. Aside from the
strictly professional and the technical
publications, there r innumerable
magazines devoted to the more or less
exhaustive discussion and calculation
of every imaginable subject. The news
paper, besides giving the general news,
and discussing questions partisan,
political and ethical, covers, more or
less effectively, the ground covered by
the magazines. This wide range of
information and the condensed form
in which it appears, coupled with the
fact that newspapers and magazines
are cheaper than books, have caused
them to supersede books to a very
great extent. We are a nation of
readers, but we draw our mental
pabulum not sc mnch from books as
from newspapers and magazines.
Their compendious matter is a tempta.
ton to the busy as we'll as to the
mentally INDECENT. 1t takes so much
less time and effort to master q sum-
mary of q particular era in history, in
literature or in art, than it does to
patiently study Of these in detail.
It is so much easier to accept the
opinion Of the critics or the reviewer
than to laboriously study, reflect. and
weigh for ourselves.
The influence of the press is con
slant. When an influence is withdrawn
at intervals, there is a tendency for
the subject upon which it is exercised
to return to a normal condition, and
it thus takes longer to make or to con
firm an impression. There is no such
drawback to the influence of the press.
1t is with us not only everywhere, but
every day, Sunday not excepted, for do
not newspaper topics often find their
way into the pulpit as themes for
e%nterprising preachers homilies?
The influence of the press is exerted
unconsciously in the effect which the
perusal of news items and kindred
matter produces upon the individual
mind. 1t is consciously exerted in the
editorial pages. The chief mission of
the press is to regulate and to correct
public opinion. Hence, few editors
present both sides of a question, leav-
ing the reader to draw his own CON
clusions. Generally they are positive
and dogmatic in their assertions,
rather than guarded and qualified in
the induction. Most editors are
partisan. They are pledged to uphold
what aver men or measures their party
sees fit to uphold and to suppress, or
adroitly manage, any arguments or
facts which may initiate against the
succes Of their party.
In order, however, to secure and
maintain the ascendency which the
press has achieved something more
than the attributes mentioned is re-
quired. The effectiveness of any in
fluence depends chiefly upon the
degree of resistance which it must
overcome and upon its capability of
producing a desired effect. In me-
chanics allowance must always be
made for power lost through the
resistance Of opposing forces. Re-
formers of all ages have found the
effectiveness of their work greatly
lessened by resistance both active and
passive. The journalist, however, is
not hampered in this way. We all
yield ourselves willing captives to the
thrall of the press. No persuasion is
required to make us believe it is a
good thing. The newspaper has be-
come to us a necessity Of life. 10 this
receptive attitude of ours, and to the
fact that stronger minds dominate the
weaker, may be attributed much of the
power of the press. Recognizing its
possibilities for the manipulation and
control of public sentiment, men of
fine intellect, business capacity and
executive ability are attracted toward
journalism as a profession where,
ga small drop of ink falling like dew
upon a thought produces that which
makes thousands, perhaps millions
think"
Viewed from it's various standpoints,
therefore, can we wonder that of all
the human agencies which mould the
destinies of men and shape the course
of nations, none is SO powerful IS the
public press! Even in countries which
do not enjoy constitutional liberty, the
power Of the press is tacitly admitted
by the strict censorship maintained
over it. In this country and in Great
Britain the press is free-ln this
country emphatically so. The United
States is the paradise Of newspaperdom.
The editorial pen is not only mightiel
than the sword but mightier than
judges, priests and lawgivers. II
makes peace and incites to war; il
lashes the nation into fury, or lulls il
into repose, it makes and destroys
regulations; at its dictum values rise
and fall; it encompasses the defeat and
the victories Of parties; through its
influence policies are pursued OF
abandoned.
The Women's Christian Temperance
union early recognized the value o1
this powerful agency as a NEAR fol
heralding its work and its aims, as {
medium through which its appea,
could reach all classes or readers.
The high officials of the organization
approaching the results to be reapet
Constipation