The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-20

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Woman's Charity, Women in Council,
! Worcester Woman's, Women's Parlia-
mentary class, Brockton.
Another experiment was also made
| in the manner of receiving the newly
admitted clubs, the representatives of
which were formally presented to the
federation, after which they gave two
minute talks about the work and ma
| ture of the clubs they represented. The
new clubs since the June meeting are:
The Newton Nuclei Club, represented
by Mrs Bates; the Popular Authors
Literary Club Of Winthrop, represent
| ed by Mrs. G. A. Halves; the South
Deerfield Literary Woman's Club; the
Social Union Woman's Club of Cam
bridge; the Sunderland Club, and the
Berlin Tuesday Club
During the day a message of frater-
nal goodwill was dispatched to the IL
linois State Federation, which was in
convention in Chicago, and one of a
similar import was received from Mrs.
rold-Helmuth, eX-president of the New
York Sorosis, who was to have been
present An invitation was received
from the New Bedford Standard to in
spect the office, and in the Afternoon the
free public schools were dismissed, that
the teachers might be present to hear
the addresses.
The first event of the afternoon was
an earnest paper by Miss Helen NJ
Winslow, editor of the Club Woman,
who considered THE Relation of Club
| Women to Journalism" meaning in
particular yellow journalism This pa
per was prepared by Miss Winslow for
the Denver biennial, and in it she took
the decided stand that women and clubs
should give their support to those news
papers which best represented their pc
culiar interests, that they should eX-
olude from their homes sensational
journals, and that Women's clubs
should assert species of censorship
over the local papers as to news, ad-
vertisements and diction. She wished
that intelligent women would teach the
editors that receipts for crocheting and
doughnuts were not what women cared
about reading in the press. Question
able advertisements she thought did
more harm in country than in city pa
pers. She would have women remem-
Der that they are assisting to support
sensational Journalism when they buy
even one paper.
Attorney General Fl. NJ. knoWfton OF
New Bedford followed Miss WinsloW
with a scholarly and impressive ad-
dress on "Sensationalism in the press.
In opening his remarks he declared that
the newspaper on our breakfast table
IL the chief marvel Of the age, the big
gest sensation of this sensational age.
He defined sensationalism in it's higher
Specification as that which thrills
mems souls saying that every great
deed every uplifting word, is sensation
al. The sermon on the mount was SEN
sational, so were Hobson's and Dewey s
victories.
But there is pernicious side to sem
sationalism, and this is reached when
newspapers pander to what is low in
order to increase their circulation, when
they resort to headlines which are dis
proportionate TO the value of what fol-
lows, to the exploiting Of crime and in
decency, and the invasion of private
life. Papers who do these things act
upon the maxim attributed to Horace
Greeley: Raise hell and sell papers. "
1t was a cheap and time-serving policy.
The modern is better, Get the news
and sell papers"
1T is undoubtedly true" said Gen.
Knowlton, IN concluding, that there is
large class in every community
whose morbid appetite is fed by such
trash as sensational Journals have to
offer The mistake the sensational jour
mails make is in supposing that these
people make up the majority of SO
ciety. 1t is not so. They make the most
noise and show; but the real work of
the world is done by quite another and
quieter class, whom such journals
never reach. They are the men and
women who act who build, who go
forward. Day by day the number of
them increases. Industry, conscience,
duty, are the watchwords of progress
and growth. The great army of civiliz-
alton is immensely greater than the
ranks of the irresolute, the triflerS, the
gossips Newspaper men. and what per
haps is more to the point, advertisers,
are beginning to appreciate this fact.
The great newspaper of the future, of
the present, in fact, is not that which
feeds gossip and scandal to idlers, but
which tells the news to the great work
ing world"
A witty and sensible address by Mr..
Stephen O'Meara, editor of the Boston
Journal was the last number on the
program before the subject should be
thrown open for discussion. Mr..
O'Meara did not confine himself to one
line of attack, but drifted over the en-
now into this, now into that fallacy or
prejudice. He said, for instance, that
the ideal paper described by the presi-
dent-one which was as good two
weeks hence as on the day it appeared
was exactly the kind that was print
ed in Boston 100 years ago. Was it rea-
sonable to suppose that the newspaper
during this century of invention and
development? In the past 60 minutes
he had heard principles expressed
which would wipe off the face of the
earth 99-100 of all the papers. AS for
Miss Winslow's eXhortation to the club
women, to pick their paper so as to
eliminate what was Objectionable, he
wanted to know what would become of
the boys who wanted to read base ball
and the like? He thought women had
no more right to inf1ict their personal
tastes upon their households with re-
gard to newspapers than in matters of
food. mo one" said Mr. O'Meara,
knows better than the publisher how
hard 1t is to suit all kinds of readers.
They have to provide for all varieties
OF the social, financial and intellectual
scale; therefore, to wipe out all the little
means of improvement or pleasure
which others enjoy is hopelessly inn
practicable The practicable thing is
mot to idealize the newspapers, but to
LOOK over all there are in the field.
then select the oleanest and safest; if
IL lacks what will interest your boys,
strain point and take something else
You should discriminate between
what is bad and what is only poor
taste. When you look at the inherently
wrong IN Journalism, you find it COM
partively small and Insignificant 1t
behooveS you to show liberality to the
agency which is doing more than any
other force for the cause of women.
Sensationalism is nothing new; in the
sense of the new and startling we find
it everywhere. The electric car is SEN
sational; this meeting is sensational.
There is an erroneous amount of eX-
aggeration as to the amount of inVen-
ton and distortion Of news that is done
by newspapers. 1 believe L could count
on the fingers of one hand the newspa-
pers that deliberately fake or distort
news. All papers make mistakes, and
how can they help it when news is i'm
possible of verification, as was the de-
struction of the Maine, for instance