The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-17
THREE VIEWS OF NEWSPAPER
WORK AND THE POWER
OF THE PRESS.

More and more has the newspaper be-
come a power in American life. 1t is
everywhere recognized as the mightiest
agency in moulding public sentiment.
Even the President of the United States
in enumeratng the best methods of re-
straining trusts put Publicity at the head.
How is publicity secured? Not through
the Congressional Record; not through
Government reports; not through Pam
phlets and Documents. These are well
enough in their way, but the small num-
Der who read them would preclude their
meeting the need of publicity. 1t is the
daily newspaper that everybody reads
morning or afternoon, or both, that car
ries to the most of the people all they
know about public questions In his
speech at Founders Day at Tulane last
week Hon. Edward M. Shepard gave
striking utteranee showing the power and
influence of the press. He said:
Think how the news of the events.
intentions, and even opinions of each peo-
pie, great or small, in our time reaches
all the rest Think of the consideration,
sympathetic or antipathetic which each
people gives each day to the behavior of
every other people on the day before, or
TO the plans of the whole world for the
day to follow In our time the miracle
in Illustration of mans arrogance wrought
at Babel is again reversed and we hear
every man in language instantly made in
telligible to us all, Parthians and Medes
and Elamites and the dwellers in Meso-
potamia and in Judea and Cappadocia, in
PoDtus and Asia, strangers of Rome and
Arabians-truly we do hear them all
speak. as 1t were, in our own tongue, the
wonderful works of God. Every morning
the citizen Of New Orleans, llding to his
work or at his breakfast, beholds a mod
orn marvel to which usage has made him
dull His newspaper puts before him
pictures of the world as it was the day
before. world at work or a. play, or in
thought a world continuing, planning
or dreaming its own future.
ITO my mind the outpouring of the
sentiment of the world over President
Cleveland's Venezuelan message, seven
or eight years ago, was the first dis
tinctly clear exhibition of this popular
force. For in that outpouring every
quarter of the earth had a share. BY
that time the improvements in railroad
and ocean steamship travel and the eX-
tension of ocean telegram cables had
brought closely together all the great
nations and colonies of the world so
that each learned daily of the dongs
and sentiment of all the rest.
What a stupendous power journalism
has been of late. How it has welded
together, in the belief of men, as God
has welded together in underlying real
ity the interests and the welfare of all
the various peoples of the globe. AL
though a few prophets, few moralists,
a few far seeing men of business had in
earlier times known the profound truth
Of that reality, although from the be-
ginning ii had been taught by every
divine oracle until our time the reali-
cation had not reached the toilers of
earth and seattle sentiment had not
gained the overwhelming and lasting
power accorded only by the voice Of the
masses of humanity speaking as one
man.
within the past few weeks an event
not in itself of capital Importance has
given us another illustration, perhaps the
most striking yet. of the power Of a
world public sentiment now fully come
of age, Blu, a month or two ago a few
shot thrown by German gunboat into
small South American fort brought an
cutlery the very next day from the whole
world around Venezuela cried out to
the United States, and within a few
hours after the unheroic bombardment
h1d
Within forty eight hours it was topic
In the British Parliament; within a few
hours more the comments OF statesmen
there and oablegrams from Washington
were in the Foreign offices of Berlin and
Paris The German war lord stayed his
hand when he understood the world sen
timent. and seemed willing to be soothet
by check from an American iron
master. and his British ally was at one,
ashamed"
The Scotland Neck Commonwealth. il
very Interesting article on ''The Strain
of Newspaper Work" has the following
However much they are criticised b,
an exacting public. there is not set Q
men in the world more set upon 70
things they can not help than newspape
men. Take. for instance. the work of re
porting daily the proceedings of two o
three sessions of the Legislature from
both branches of that body. Ever,
member who introduces a good measur
expects it fully reported. and every con
stituent Throughout the State expects t
read in the papers everything his repre-