Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-13

IN the next EDITION or issue or said news
paper following said change or changes.
Section 8. Any person, firm, limited part
nershtp or corporation publishing news.
paper In Pennsylvania which omits, fails
or negiects to carry out the provisions of
sections and 4 of this act and make the
publication required by the preceding sec
lions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. and
upon conviction thereof shall be fined nos
less than $500 nor more than 81 600.
Section 6. All acts or parts of acts incon-
sistent herewith be, and the same are here
by. repealed.
Scope Of the Bill.
There is no interference with privileged
communications" The bill in it's application
is not confined to officials. but affects as
well the citizen or business man, whose con-
duct constitutes no part of the right of the
public to information. The corporation off,
Ger who has been falsely charged with
crime: the manufacturer who has been
falsely accused of being drunken brawler;
the woman whose domestic griefs have been
unfeelingly paraded. or whose chastity Is
improperly suspected; the student who has
been falsely accused of murder; the clergy
man who has been cruelty maltgned: the
quiet citizen whose peace Of mind has been
destroyed by the publica ton of evil gossip;
the merchant whose credit has been uffect
ed by groundless rumors: the sufferers from
reckless but not necessarily malicious pub
locations are given the right, not to pro-
hlbit ton. but to recover the dam
ages which they have sustained, provided
they prove negligence or lack of care on
the part of the publishing newspaper. All
OF these are instances of what has in fact
recently occurred.
Within few days in leading article on
the first page of daily journal, under large
headlines. upon rumor of unknown source
as to the name of suggested appointee to
the position Of prothonotary of the
preme court, when no appointment hid
been made and no utterance, official or
otherwise had emanatad from mamber
of that court, that high tribunal was sub
jected to a covert assault under the words
Machine After Control of the Supreme
Court
Abuse Of Mayor.
A mayor Of our chief city has been called
a traitor. a senator of the United States
has been denounced as yokel with sodden
brain. and within the last quarter of CEN
fury two Presidents of the United States
have been murdered. and in each instance
the cause was easily traceable to inhamma-
tory and careless newspaper utterance.
A cartoon in a daily journal of May de-
fines the question with entire precision. An
ugly little dwarf. representing the governor
of the commonwealth, stands on crude
stool. The stool is subordinate to and
placed alongside Of huge printing press
with wheels as large as those of an OK
team, and all are SO arranged to give
the idea that when the press starts the
ground.
Put into words, the cartoon asserts to the
world that the press Is above the law and
greater in strength than the government.
No self-respecting people will permit such
an attitude to be long maintained. In Eng
land a century ago the offender would have
been drawn and quartered and his head
stuck upon pole without the gates. In
America today this is the kind of arrogance
which "goeth before fall"
crYoh oh,,co 81 fhn rfxy;1o o.
the press is to go unpublished, if such tales
are permitted to be poured into the ears of
men and to be profitable, 1t Is idle to con-
tend that reputable newspapers can main
tain their purity. Evil communications cor
rupt good manners. One rotten apple will
ere long spoil all in the barrel. The flaring
headlines. the meretricious art, the sensa-
tional devices and the disregard Of truth in
time will creep over them ALL
Libel Suit for $25, 900.
Men are affected by proximity and pro-
fessional sympathy. When recently a YER
dict of $4,000 was rendered against a jour-
nal for libel this entirely proper item of
news only reached the public by the meth
DDS of hundred years ago. 1t was I'M
published, and each man whispered the
fact to his neighbor. 1t is equally idle to
contend that untrue statements and vicious
assaults produce no effect. and that the up
right are unframed. A whole generation
of young men are being trained to a IA
mfliarity with crime and to dsrespect for
government.
Bishops, too, hurry into print without in
vestigation and with only such information
as comes from muddy sources to express
their disregard for those whom the people
have intrusted with authority.
Both incidents indicate a tone which is
already too prevalent and Is being steadily
cultivated to the public detriment. Were a
stranger from Mars by some accident to
read our daily press he would conclude
that the world Is inhabited by criminals
and governed by scoundrels
1t is sad to reflect that some historian OF
five hundred years hence, misled by what
he reads, will probably study the statesman
whom we know to be able and strong, gen.
erous and kindly, keeping his promises and
paying his debts and depict him with the
features of an owl and the propensities of
a Nero or Caligula.
Motive for Libel.
The motive which leads to the degrada-
ton of the press is very plain and by no
means unusual. 1t is the same motive
which causes men to put deleterious chem
fcals into food, weak iron into the boilers
of engines and wood into the fues of
houses, the desire to produce cheaply In or
der that there may be profitable sale.
There is no animosity toward the poor
rl,N To-, ell ri nO