Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-22

pents across the,thresholds Of the home,
ana laying bare with vulgar display the
most sacred condolences of the family
circle; holding up to coarse ridlcule the
precious heritages OF sanctiied living;
protaning the temples of virtue dealing
IN salacious scandals and gorging to sa-
tlety those who have insensate hunger
Tor pruriency and sensuality.
Realizing at length that sensational
ism had about exhausted Itself, they
We're driven to new devices to maintain
their circulation and keep general at
tention centered upon them-in the
meantime being Joined by certain week
ly and monthly publications.
They relapsed from yellow into
Red Haunting the crimson hue of an
archy beside the saffron shade of pruri-
ency. They appeal to ignorance, dis
content, malice and malevolence; they
array failure against success; inflame
incompetence against capability; they
teach that honor and integrity have
fled from high places; that our national
congress is den of thievse; that our
judiciary is contaminated; that our ad-
ministrators are In corrupt league with
scoundrels and traitors; that our entire
commercial and financial life is infected
and surcharged with degrading dishon-
esty; that rascality is everywhere ram
pant, permeating every avenue of trade,
American democracy has become de-
PRAYED, festered by the virus of univer-
sal wickedness and boundless corrup-
ton.
Fortunately, this phase Of red jour
nalism-which ought to be dealt with
under drastic penal laws-is confined to
very few, and the healthful tone of the
American press may i'm the end success
fully resist this menacing attack: yet
al nh uciy no .
ing Importance of sane journalism and
sane, self-respecting, sincere journal
lists.
THE harmful influence of this base
slander on the American people in the
present instance will be checked, but its
baneful effect has stimulated the agi-
tator, emboldened the traducer, and has
inspired the iconoclast with new hope"
Who is responsible for the mainte-
nance of this class of journals? In al
most every city and town of the coun-
try there exists at least one paper
which merits the severest condemna-
ton and which is notoriously without
conscience. Whose fault Is 1t that such
journals continue to be operated with
profit to their owners? The revenue
that maintains them does not come
from the readers because the price at
w
must necessarily be sold in order to
obtain wide circulation, is so low that
circulation is a loss rather than a profit
to the publisher.
The respOn sibility rests with the ad-
vertisers who, for selfish reasons or
from craven fear, continue to furnish
the means whereby the interruptions
and the dangerous newspaper is en-
abled to exist.
Business men who openly deplore the
low tone of a newspaper; who ex-
press regret that 1t continues to ex-
ercise it's malevolent influence; who
refuse to read it themselves or be inf1u-
enced by it's utterances. will, without
hesitation. place the very breath of life
in 1T by giving it their advertising.
Men of the highest standing, active in
all good works and desirous of doing
their share toward the moral improve
ment of the city in which they live,
will, nevertheless, contribute regular
ly, through advertising. toward the
maintenance of newspapers which per-
| sonally they regard with loathing and
contempt.
| without the he'll, of the advertiser
usually man of standing and respect
| ability, even Hearsts papers would
| soon prove too Improbable to publish
| The selling price would have to be in
| creased, and this would Immediately
| curtail the number of readers. Ir
other cities than New York where daily
papers, proportionately as dangerous tC
the public welfare, flourish, the with
drawal of advertising, even of the ad-
vertising of the better class, would
almost instantly exercise a corrective
influence, yet the business man fails tc
apply the only remedy that can contro
| the evil.
! The only way to, touch the con-
science of the yellow, the red and the
streaked newspaper is through Its
pocket book; the only way to reach its
pocket-book is through its advertising
receipts, and the only way for business
men to affect the advertising receipts
is to absolutely refuse to be represent
ed in newspapers which fall below the
] required standard in the chara cter OF