Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-23
Newspapers That Are Not
yellow" Still Prosper.
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
GOOD RESULTS TO FLOW FROM
THE PULITZER SCHOOL.
High Standards Among Washington
orrespondents-John Hay
as Journalist.

An Address Delivered by Crosby s. Noyes Before
the Worlds Press Parliament, Festival Hall
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, st. Louis May
81, 1904.
The great international exposition, which
the brains, energy and grit of the men OF
st. Louis have created, has irresistibly
drawn to 1t many men of many minds In
convention assembled, and among them the
worlds journalists. The interchange OF
facts and opinions among the delegates TO
the Worlds Press Parliament In the course
Of this weeks meetings naturally develops
much discussion, with the newspaper as a
text and pertinent practical comment con-
corning the conditions and tendencies OF
newspaperdom in the various nations here
represented may reasonably be expected.
There has been much speculation as to
the form and character of the newspaper
of the future.
Some maintain that 1t will be In magazine
form, capable of being held in one hand
and easily read, with news and other mat
ter compressed sufficiently to meet the re-
auirements of this form of publication.
The present indications, however, are not
promising for the adoption of this handy
volume style of newspaper. The DISPOSE
ton now is (more especially in the Sunday
paper) to pile bulk upon bulk in the way or
expansion, instead of contraction. Publish
ers are contendng who shall Issue the
greatest number of pages of a clumsy
unmanageable unintelligible mass of mud
clement
There results this hysterical form of jour
nalism, with its higgledy- piggledy arrange
ment of news matter in all styles and sizes
of type inclosed in boxed compartments,
and with every possible fantasticism OF ar
ray calculated to catch the eye and distract
the brain of the reader; its tumble of gau-
Oily colored,n badly drawn pictures OF MUIR
derers adulterers and benefactors, profess
sional beauties. vile gutter hays and freak
show monstrosities; its CHASTITY parade OF
the criminal doings all over the world; lts
job-type headlines, half a foot high, used
without any sense of proportion, whether
to announce great battle or an unverlned
rumor, coming from Shanghai or WERNER
wei or Chefoo, of a skirmish between scouts,
in which nobody was hurt; Its ingenious
puzzle war maps, in which the problem Is to
discover where among the badly printed
tangle of black blotches Mukden and Har-
bin and Feng Wang Cheng and Hung-yo-
Chang and Hang Wing-Chow and Yeng-
Chow-Wo are concealed.
But there is no danger that this lurid, in
fiated journalistic topsy-turveydom will
have any permanent sway. 1t will soon be
reegated to the limbo of the absurd fash
ion of hoop skirts and balloon trousers of
years ago. The clean, thoughtful. carefully
edited family newspaper tndt prints all the
news worth printing or mt to print, with
good type, on good paper, with an orderly
arrangement of news, editorial and adver-
Using matter so classified that the reader
can readily find what he seeks, will always
hold tire confidence and enjoy the pa
trOnage of the great mass of the sensible,
practical. thinking people of the commu-
nifty, and il will always maintain Its hold
in the family circle-in the homes Of the
people.
1t will be noted that the sensational jour-
nalism has made no inroads upon the pros
perity of the sane, conservative journals.
The New York Herald, which has con-
temptuously rejected all the sensational
fads and methods of the new Journalism,
has sturdily maintained its old conserva-
tive form of publication, with the outside
pages wholly devoted to advertising and
the news with moderately displayed heads,
placed inside, was never prosperous al
today, and 1t ranks as the greatest money
maker and the most valuable newspaper
throughout the land the best paying and
the most influential journals are, as Henry
Watterson says. 1.-The decent, healthy, re-
liable daily newspapers keeping constant
falth with their readers"
Verbosity and Ponderosity.
But while verbosity and ponderosity
may run riot elsewhere In the paper 1t il
consolation to know that sanity and
clarity rule on the editorial page. In
AaANSN VI ONi PAOiiihcht JUL TIE eOltO-
rails are concise, direct to the point and on
the average not more than half a column
In length, supplemented by snappy pun
gent. epigrammatic paragraphs of two or
three lines, that are apt to be more effect
i've than a labored editorial column long,
And whatever may be the mutations in
the fashions of newspaper writing, there
VIII never be a return to the ponderous
essays called editorials of fifty-sixty years
ago. when an article of less than a column
In length was considered fiippant The
essay-editorial required a long time for in
cubation The National Inteligencer of
March 20. 1913 gave the news of the revo-
luton In France and the abdication of
Louis Philippe without word of editorial
comment; but on the 2Ith of March a week
later. 1t had an editorial on the subject
covering the whole of one of it's blanket
pages and a column on the next page
Nowadays the editorial comment must APP
pear abreast of the news event chronicled
Reliable and Clean Throughout
The respectable. fit newspaper should
be clean and reliable, not only In its edito-
rial and news pages. but In It's advertising
columns. The editorial department should
not only be independent of the business
Office but should itself control the latter to
the extent OF insisting upon the exclusion
OF Indecent or fraudulent advertising No
abortionist or dive keeper should be per-
united 10 advertise his practice or his al
!urements TO vice. masked under deceptive
heads. No admission should be given to
the Green Goods Gold Brick sharper
who promises wealth beyond the dreams
or avarfce" TO any one who will send him
twenty-five cents and postage stamp
This class of vile and fraudulent adyer-
Using, so attractive to the counting rbom
because II pays well, should be rigidIy ex-
Guided from the paper that goes to the
homes Of the people Iii VIZ
Value Of the Scissors. ~
The value OF the scissors I'M providing a.
supply OF mighty interesting reading
should be recognized.
A bright, keen-eyed scissors man who "a N
run over the exchanges rapidly and select
a budget of readable miscellaneous matter
Is most useful member of the newspaper
force. 'p"Pei
The New York Sun, Tribune and r,mes
are examples OF papers OF first-cIass ability
in the way of editorial writing and original
matter that have made good use OF the
scissors In furnishing their readers with a
most attractive and instructive class of Sc
lected matter.
The well-furnished newspaper while
catering for classes should deal very large
ly with matters of universal interest One
Lass of readers cares mainly for general
news. others for politics. the fashions, ath-
letic sports, the race track, and so on; but
every human being is interested In what