Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1900-04-25
sHELDoN's CHRISTIAN DAILY.
A Paper Defends It from the Adverse Criticism to Which It Has
 Been Subjected.

Camp Verde sends the following:
 'As there has been published of-late some adverse criticisms on Charles NJ. Sheldon's experiment witn the Topeka Daily Capital. l. request that you will give space in the weekly Journal. Miner for the enclosed clipping from the Christian Endeavor World.
 We don't all see things in the same light because we look at them from different points of view:
 "'The issues of the Topeka Capital under the editOrship of the author of In His Steps" are now before our readers. What is to be said of Mir Sheldon's great experiment?
 .''rhat it was a great experiment no one will deny. Never before in the worlds history has an influential daily newspaper been turned over a week to the absolute control. in all its many departments. of q Christian idealist. | It is no wonder that hundreds of thou sands. yes, even lailli0Ifs. have been watching the experiment with eager in- l terest. The secular press, and espe- | cially the Sunday papers, have been hostile to it. as was to have been eX- Decied. Their columns have been filled with the most ignorant sland 1 CTS. When Mir. sheldon was not held | up to> ridicule as a conceited fool. who would have q little sense knocked into | his head by a superb failure. he was pictured as adaring religious adven- 1 turer. who had made a lucky hit and | had taken up this new method ] to keep himself before the | public. The facts of the case are | advertising to keep himself before | the public. The facts of the case are | precisely the reverse. Mir. Sheldon l did not suggest the experiment. he | entered upon it with great hesitation, | he was conscious of his lack of jour | nalisiic training. he did not expect to l accomplish wonders. he only saw an opportunity to emphasize something | that in the judgment of the en. | tire Christian world greatly needs em- phasizing. and in the spirit of prayer | he undertook the task.
 Tn our judgment. the experiment | mas accomplished glOriously all that it | could be expected to accomplish. No | One-certainly no practical newspaper | man-eXpected a new journalism to | spring full-fledged from a weeks eX. | pertinent. In all the range of human | effort, no calling is so difficult as the | journalists. None requires so long ! and arduOus an apprenticeship. In | none is success so impossible to at | tain except as the price of time and | of toll. Editors are born and not | made. and the lOftiest character in the | world, coupled with the most vigor- | ous and original mind, may not sue | ceed at all in the editorial chair. Mir | sheldon conducted the Capital during | his week with dignity and decency. | with a clear head and a warm heart | He was not led away ny 'fads" of any | sort. He exhibited a sense of balance | q wide view of the field of human ac- tiVities, and a depth of insight into | human needs. that alone suffice to | make his issues of the Capital praise | worthy. Undoubtedly some things | were lacking. You cannot in a day | abrogate q type of journalism that has | been century in forming itself. and | put in it's place a perfectly substitute. | The Christian daily, when it comes | tO stay. must possess all the resources Of strengthening possessed by the | daily that makes no pretences to re ! ligiOn. It must have the same timeli. | ness. Its every issue must be unmis- | takably for the day of it's date. and | Impossible of issue on any other day. | Quotations, however excellent. must | be few, and fresh. The telegraph | must be used more than the scissors or the ink-well. What is entirely ap- | propriate tO the Christian weekly | would be absolutely inappropriate in | the Christian daily. It must spring | from the day, and suffice for the day. | or il can never compete with the secu- | lar daily. To do this to scan the wide | world with Christian eyes. and listen | in every nook and corner with Christ | ian ears. to gather it all into one i focus under the white light of Christ | ianity. to weed out what is harmful | and present what is helpful. and to | set it forth with the vim. the dash. | the virile force of acute. thoroughly l trained. maSterly brains-thiS marvel | Is not to be bought with money. is 1 not to be purchased with prayerS. | though wealth and consecration are | both essential to the final result: but time is positively needed. and- the | same slow growth, born of many fail | urcS and half successes that has won for the present journalism. in spite of its glaring faults. the practical fealty of the great majority.
 "'What. then. has Mr. Sheldon sue ceeded in proving? In our judgment this: that the Christian world is pro fOundly interested in the matter of clean journalism that Christian men everywhere are ready for the Christ ian daily. and that the opportunity only awaits the courageous heart and mind and purse. We believe that ed itors all over the country see this far more clearly now than three weeks ago. We believe that Mir. Sheldon's experiment has been great object lesson to them, and that if it had no further result this result would amply justify it.
 ." But we believe that it will further results. We believe that first in one city. and then in many. the Christian daily will soon appear. Sometimes il will come from the reorganization of the best paper already existing. some times from the establishment of a new one; but in some way or other. it will come. And when the immense power of the daily press is used openly | fer God, what imagination can prophecy inc victories it will achieveT