Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-06-09
HFsTERIc HEADLINES.


The Lesson of Big Type Taught by HYeilow
Journnls,"
New York Observer.
We must incline to think that the |
hysteriu headline will not endure, ex-
cert in thu most sensational OF the |
yellow journals. and even there we arc |
likely to ser tliminution in the si2e |
of the type as time goes on. 1t was in
trodured. to begin with, us a stimulant |
to tho popular imagination, Ii was in
teaded to act, and it did act, on the
public mind much ne rich seasoning or
tonic acts upon thu human palate and
6ystcm. IL was analogous to the great
and various company OF medicinal prep
Rrstluns, the maits, the nerve foods,
the beef extracts, the cod liver emul
sions, and al those other excitativea
thai are supposed TO stimulate tho ap-
petite aud give tone" to the body.
The newspaper reader had become run
down, He took his daily iDurnal with
his morning meal IN perfunctory way.
fio ynwued oyer it's quiet presentation
Of the news. Then some enterprising
newspaper men saw a cnance TO rouse
him from this mental suggiHhness, The
headlines began TO grow. and. bursting
their old confines, swept from column
to column until they stretched across
the page And the lethargio newspaper
reaGer discovered that his appetite was
increasing proportionally, lie de-
nounred the sonsationalism that per-
mitted such msthois, hut he kept on
| buying the hysteric headlines. Ills
craving sor big tyre became abnormal,
and the old fashioned papers seemed
slow and unprogressive. He found HIM
Helf Disappointed, at last, when the news
! Of the LAY did moi seem, even to the vel
| law iournal itself, sullicisntly important
To warrant the biggest type in the Office
His appetite had become deranged and
diseased.
THO reaction will set in when il is
evident to the yellow journala that the
public is tired of Mysteries. But 1t will
10 IN indefinite time before the traces
OF this attempt 10 atimulate the news
paper reader are entirely elTaced. And
perhaps, 1t is lust as well that such
is tho fact. We snail res every first class
paner making feature" of the most
important news of tina preceding q
hours. Every effort will be made to
give us the vital news OF the day at a
glance, conspicuously aud cuucisely.
Tho first page OF a paper need not be
HlHHb d HleTb DHlletlu uuHrl 10 encGt
this end, hut We shall not have TO hunt
through IL or 20 pages to get the gist
OF the sheet, 10 other words, there
will be moro complete system OF news-
pHpor editing than formerly and the
reader will not have to perform this
function for himself. News will not lie
served slap dash like food at country
clearinghouse. The assassination OF a
president will NOT be dismissed in a
paragraph Of thu bottom OF the ninth
page, or the declaration Of a war with
England in brief statement in some
obscure position where the eye will
have to search for it. During the Civil
War many daily papers devoted their
most conspicuous pages to poetry and
miscellany and printed their military
dispatches On an inside page. Antietam
| and Gettysburg might DO in progress,
but selections from Aunt Ruth's Flora
! Album and Tales of Adventure from
South Africa must not he displaced
from their old time points OF vantage.
Let ua not he discouraged over the
hysteric headline. 1t has its mission
> to perform. and every day it is per
? forming il. By-Hnd by we shall see i
modified in the more sensational sheets
but not before it has made the bstte
5 class Of journals moro attractive b,
it's influence. 1t is hRneful, doubtless
Q in the extreme, but il has shown u
all, newspaper makers and newspape
readers alike, the value and importanc
I of presenting the great news of th
0 moment in such way that it can b
q appreciated at a glance.