Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1900-09-16


 fore As he glanced over the columns could not eseaae t.se conviction that Jesus could not permit some of them in his parer. What world Jeaus do with l that other long advertisement of liquor
 Raymond enjoyed system of high h
 eense, and the saloon and the billiard
 hall and the beer garden were a part of the city s Christian civilization He
 was simply doing what every other business man in Raymond did, and 1t
 was one of tho best paying sources of revenue. Vh&t we1ld the paper do if
 it cut these o1t2 Could it live? That was the question. Blt-was that the question, al ter aliY What would Jesus dor That was the question lie was an
 swering, CT trying to answer, this week
 Would Jesus advertise whisky and to-
 baeco in his paper?
 Edward Norman asked 1t honestly.
 and after q prayev for hel7l and wisdom
 he asked Clark tc come into tae office.
 Clark came i'll feeling that the paper
 was at q crisis and prepared for almost
 anything after his Monday morning ex-
 perience. Tais was Thursday.
 .'Clark, '' said Norman, speaking
 slowly and carefully, T have been
 sozst.i1g tt eur advertising columns and
 have decided to dispense with some Of
 the matter as soon as the contracts run
 out. l wish yea would notify the ad
 vertising agent rot to solicit or renew
 the ads. l have marked here. y
 He handed the paper with the marked
 places over to Clark, who took it and
 looked over the columns with very
 serious air.
 This will mean great loss to The
 News. How long do you think you can
 keep this sort If thing up?" Clark was
 astonished at the editors action and
 could not understand it.
 "Clark do you think if Jesus were
 the editor and proprietor of daily pa-
 per in Raymond he would print adver- tisenents of whisky and tobacco in it?'
 Clark looead at his chief with that
 same look of astonishment which had greeted the question before.
 Well. no; l don suppose he would. But what has that to do with us7 We can do as ho would Newspapers can't be run on any such basis. '
 Nhy n05sa' asked Edward Norman quietly.
 Why netf Becanse they will lose , more money shan they make; that's
 all Clark spoke ont with an irritation , that hareaily felt. We shall certainly bankrupt tAe paper with this sort of business policy.
 DO you think so?' Norman asked
 the question not as if he expected an answer. bat simply as if he were talk ing wi3a himself After as pause he said:
 Ton nav direct Marks to do as l said I believe il is what Jesus would , do and, as told y0u Clark, that is what I hass=as if#so7sissd te try to do for a ; year, regardless of what the results nay be to me. Ieannet believe that by ) any Kind of feasoning we could reach 2 conclusion Jusfifying Jesus in the ad- ) yertiBement in tfis age of whisky and tobacco in 6 newspaper. There are some : other advertisements of doubtfal ) character 1 shall study into. Mean 7 while feel conviction in regard to ) thess that cannot he sileneed. :" G5ark went back to his desk feeling as fl he had been in the presence of d ) very peculiar person.
 } Ee could not grasp the meaning of it ) all. He felt enraged and alarmed. He was sure any such policy would ruin the paper as soon as it became generally ! known that the editor was trying to dc
 efything by such an absurd moral standard. What would become of busi- } ness if this standard were adopted? It would upset every custom and intro , dpce endless confusion. 1t was simply
 foolishness. # was downright idiocy
 so Clark said to himself, and when Marks was informed of the action he seconded the managing editor with some very forcible ejaculations What was the matter with the chief? Was se insane? Was he going to bankrupt the whole business2
 But Edward Norman had not faced his most serious problem.
 When he came down to the office Fri
 day morning he was confronted with
 the usual programme for the Sunday morning edition. The News was one of the few evening papers to issne Sun day edition and it had always been re- markedly successful financially There was an average of one page of literary . and religions items to 80 CT 40 pages of sport. theater gossip, fashion so
 cioty and political material. This made very interesting magazine of all sorts of reading matter and had always been
 welcomed by all the subscribers, church
 members and all. as Sunday necessity Edward Norman now faced this fact and put to himself the question. What would Jesus do?' If he were editor of paper, would he deliberately plan t,
 put into the homes of all the church people and Christians of Raymond sucl. a collection of reading matter on the { one day of the week which ought to be
 given un tn sn,nethinp hetter and hnli