The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-09-17

that they are not responsible. The pub
lie they say demands the news NOT of
one kind but OF all kinds and their pa
pers have 10 supply it. If paper was
conducted on other lines it would be
stupid and would not sell.
But one fact IS forgotten and that
IS that newspapers largely create the
pubic taste. 1t is like a manufacturer
VINO creates a demand for his goods bv
giving samples. A paper might lose
N some directions and for a time. But
the truth lies in the fact that news
paper men are not in the business for
the purpose of being teachers of right
eousness, they are in the business to
make money. They must make the
paper pay. That is all true: but is
there with all this power of the press
TO be no responsibility to anything bur
the dollar? American papers which
have been really great have become
great by having some lofty purpose by
being the advocate of some great cause
IN the struggle of human advancement
THE MACHINE ORGAN.
The most serious matter TO me in this
day is that the press is too often not
free. Jefferson said: "A free press is
essential to liberty" 1t seems as if
more and more that newspapers are
owned by men who run them on be-
han of certain interests. In a CITY
where much money is invested in pub
lie utilities various interests own the
papers. Or the paper is the organ of
a political machine and supports the
machine, right or wrong for its patron
age Such a paper is not free it is a
cog in the machine. It goes on support
ing the running of the machine whether
the officers are inefficient or corrupt
or not, whether vice and gambling are
protected by the machine, it matters
not. the paper grinds on in it's betrayal
OF the public good. 1t is true that men
know when the press is not free. but
that does not take away the danger,
nor the evil.
REMEDY SUGGESTED.
But the responsibility for these things
can not be placed wholly on the pro-
prietors and editors. 1t rests as strong
~ with those who patronize the pa
pers. If any paper should offend hon
est and self-respecting men and if a
few hundred of them were to order the
paper stopped the proprietors and edi-
tors would look carefully into the mat
ter. l am aware that subscriptions do
not pay the expenses of a paper but
advertisers soon know when a paper
has decreasing list of subscribers.
There is also in the same way a re-
sponsibility with those who advertise
If dozen of the large merchants ceas-
ed to do business with a paper which
they knew to be advocating measures
or men which were against public in
terest and good government, it would
have a powerful effect
The truth is the responsibility for the
best use of the newspaper for liberty,
fairness, decency and righteousness
rests with the people, with the class of
people too who desire the best and who
chiefly support the papers. The fault
is a general one and we can not put
1T upon newspaper men wholly.
CONTRASTING COURSES.
My friends, the press with it's stupen-
dons power certainly does not rise
above interests and personal spite to
the sense of the great responsibility
for the use of its power as it should do
and as it might do. When it is the or
gan of a political machine for it's pat
ronage, when it is the organ of the
interests against public rights when
for gain it will do it's best to perpetuate
wrong. when it retails disgusting de-
eSAiio VI NieC CIIIiic III OEdeT Id pail
der to vulgar taste, then it is prosti-
tuting it's tremendous possibilities for
good in the protection of human rights
and the furtherance of good govern
ment.
The press realizes it's responsibility
when 1t deals with questions from the
high standpoint OF the right, the just
and the true. Each one can do his part
to make the newspaper the ally of the
church and the school in all that makes
man better. We can do this by sup
port or non-support. Tt lies with the
people whether the newspapers shall
be the agents of greed or whether
they shall stand for all that makes good
citizens. good government efficient and
honest public officials, a righteous ma
ton. Whether they present life and
civilization as a mere struggle of ma
ter1al forces or whether they teach the
people the laws of God and His judg-
ments in the individual, society and
the world.