The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-03-15
FRANK E. HOWE, Editor and Publisher
n owsp per Obligations.

| ton the duty OF which is To help along
churches and other struggling socie'
ties, to print news no matter how dis.
ag eeable about other people but To
leave out news that might be painful
to them.
The following from paper read re-
Gently by the publishes of the Adrian,
Mich, Telegram. is fair statement
of the case:
II believe in the public press. |
believe as a rule, no other institution,
No other individual or organization,
does one-half so much for the public
without money or without price as Il G
mod rn newspaper. There are many
who do not realize the real situation.
They look on the public press as a
servant, subject to the beck and call
OF any one who wishes to use it.
''If the press we're to listen to all Il g
demands upon it, it would climb the
mountain of progress feet first al d
come tumbling down end over end. II
would bs compelled to make the i'm
possible possible. During hot politi-
cal times the radical Republicans
would have it wipe Democracy off the
face of the earth. The radical Demo-
crat would want it to open the gates of
perdiction and kick all the Republi-
cans in. The saloonist would want
the prohibitionist toasted TO a finish
each issue. The prohibitionist would
want it TO lombard the saloon with
fuse and Calling gun twenty-four
hours in day, seven days in the week.
every man who has q grievance
against neighbor wants that neigh
Dor ripped up the back to beat the
band John Smith will climb seven
teen flights OF stairs TO get the press to
give Bill Jones few hot blasts of
what may be expected in the future il
he doesn't mend his ways. Next day
the same John Smith would climb back
seventeen stories higher, if there were
that many, to keep out OF the paper
the story that he had been fined for
drunkenness and paid SIG and costs
for his folly.
''In other words, a great many
people do not realize the mission OF a
newspaper. They seem to feel that it
is a flaming sword to protect them and
a spiked club to combat their enemies.
do not so regard the press. In one
sense il is the servant of the public.
In another sense It is a business enter
prise A man buys a newspaper bust
ness just as you buy farm. He
prints papers to sell just as you raise
hogs. cattle, sheep, corn, oats or tur-
nips. There is no more reason why he
should give away his subtance than
that you should give away yours.
"But you can never know how hard
it is until you go through the tread.
mill What slush we sometimes pub
lish-golden wedding poetry that isn't
even passable doggerel; verses about
those departed, written by friends, that
contain neither rhyme, sense nor senti-
ment; sickly obituaries three weeks
old! But there is a mot er's tears en-
twined about the so called Vers or
the obituary, and the case ceases to
be a question of intelligence. 1t is
matter of heart, matter OF feeling,
and when you find an editor who is not
to be moved by woman's tears take
himout and shoot him. He is a disgrace
TO the profession. And yet the time is
coming and must come soon, when
such slush must be kept out of the
public print. No large city daily now
publishes obituaries except with the
of death.
E ~ want to say here that practically
of the Objectionable arti-
cles that appear in the average paper
are printed to please patrons and
against the better Judgment of the
editors. Many successful business /
man has no literary taste. Many a
splendid farmer is not composer for !
the press. II is often difficult to get !
the real writer's to prepare articles for
the press On the other hand, it is
almost impossible to DRIVE away the /
poor writers with club. And it is !
by accepting poor articles rather than /
hurt the feelings OF poor writer's that |
the editor is Often considered either
untrue or untitled for his calling"