The San Francisco call., 1905-03-26
Ideals in Practice
Fables for the Foolish
q.
Gl1

to put his ideals In operation he COM
menced with the one which forbade the
publication Of malodorous news This
would be a first-class idea II we wers
living In a world OF perfect human be-
ings. But the fact OF the matter Is
that imperfection Is 50 general a. TO
be almost habit with most OF Us. Mr..
Jones soon saw that his editorial
scheme was so fun OF blowholes that
IL looked more like slab OF Rrmor-
plate than an editorial policy. People
turned with a sickening alacrity from
the account OF the Christian Endeavor
convention on the front page OF Jones'
paper TO ths rival sheets where they
could find description with diagrams
OF the murder In Chinatown the rixht
before. They were more interested In
learning how Kid Mccoy led for the
point OF the Jaw with his left than In
reading the latest exploits Of thu Car
negie Institution. This II eeplorable.
but It is also human.
Horace Greeley sighed and turned the
face OF ideal number one to the wall
Then he took fresh courage. Surely he
could tell the truth That small solacs
must at least be left to him But sven
this proud distinction was to be denied
He was destined to discover that peo-
pie are not so much interested IN know
Ing the truth as they are IN reading
a good story. Newspapers would tell
the truth II they could. that Is, those
which have not forgotten how, but their
readers wouldn't stand for II. For ex-
ample, young woman elopes with her
fathers coachman. No one would care
two cents about 1t If they were told In
cold-blooded English that she was q
homeiy, freckle-faced young person
with barely sense enough to hoist an
umbrella when 1t rainA Truth is usu-
Therefore, the bright young man who
reports the story makes the elopersss
a brilliant beauty with the wit and wis
dom of Minerva, and the personal
charm Of Helen OF Troy or Mrs. Chad
wick Of Cleveland. Then every one in
town buys the paper and talks about
1t for at least two hours News 10 nks
Thanksgiving turkey, very palatabls IL
1t Is properly dressed and attractively
served
The idea that a newspaper should be
completely Indifferent to the condition
of its balance sheet received q severe
jolt inside OF a month after Horace
Greely donned the editorial toga- In O
scathing editorial he held thu lsnonads
trust up to public scorn and rfdiculA
The next day the business manager
came into the Office with wrath In his
eye and letter In his hand and de-
manded to know IL Horace Greeley
were not aware that the lemonade trust
was one OF the heaviest advertisers.
Horace Greeley didn't know II and ven-
tured the opinion that he didn't see
how 1t concerned him. anyway. Then
the manager made answer with blight
ing sarcasm that he supposed the long
cared individual who wrote that sdito-
rial was good for the payroll Saturday
night This was crushing blow for
Horace Greeley. It had not occurred
to him before that he had a very direct
personal interest In the financial condi-
tion OF the paper whose Office he
graced with his presence.
But why prolong this sordid recital OF
human weakness and error. You all
know how IT Is yourselves. Given q
choice between an ideal and three
square meals. and. human nature being
what IL Is, nine hundred and ninety
nine out OF every thousand win take
the meals. That was what Horace
Greeley did To-day, In addition TO
writing careful. conservative editorials
which are not calculated to wound the
feelings Of the most sensitive inter
est IN the country, he Ii lecturing
enthusiastically on ideals In Journal
ism.
II must not be concluded rem these
few brief but burning thoughts that the
good old maxim "ain high Is not good
advice; but when II Is necessary TO get
meat for dinner a man sometimes has
to shoot at something close to the
ground.