The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-23
BRYAN AND THE NEWSPAPERS.

even whether he again becomes the nominee of the Democratic party for that office, William J. Bryan of Ne braska has reached a station among American citizens which imparts to his views more than passing sig nificance. Upon his shoulders there. fore rests the obligation to speak prudentiy and wisely upon matters in which the general public is interest cd It is no longer his privilege to dal- ly with things of moment unless he is prepared to take all of the conse- Quenoes and throw away what he has gained fin good repute with the reck- iessness of drunken sailor.
 It is difficult to account for MT Bryan's attitude towards the American press, especially that part of it which is printed in the large cities of the country. It is the more difficult to &C., count for this newly taken attitude, first because he is not without news paper experience, and second because he of all men conspicuous before the public owes large debt of gratitude to the American press. The newspa- pers have fought his views with per- tinacity and have cartooned him with amusing fsrocity, but after all they have not ignored him, which is the penalty of having sacrificed the good will of the people. Had the newspa- pers agreed to ignore him during the past ten years not even his superb or- gan of speech could have overcome the deadening effect, which is only another way of saying that in spite of his personal panaceas for evils which stared everyone in the face and which the vast majority approved different methods to cure, he has grown stead fly in personal good will. If he has not come to be recognized as the embodi- inent of mortal wisdom, he has come to be understood as a perfectly sim cere man who is intent upon adding his knowledge, such as 1t is, to the emancipation of the country from political and corporate methods which are morally degenerating and commercially weakening. With this understanding of MT. Bryan in mind, and we believe 1t to be a just esti- mate of him, his attack upon the press cannot be reconciled with either mature Judgment or a calm condition of mind. It warrants in fact the sus- picion that for the moment his emo- tional nature has got the better of him.
 MT. Bryan says: Tt is calamity that 50 many of our great netropoli- tan newspapers are owned by some- body whom we do not know" Is it 8 calamity that any newspaper, whether metropolitan or provincial, is owned by parties whose names are not in the mouths of people? It is certainly not calamity If imper1onoi journalism, as is so often said, pos- sesses power for good which Is de- nied the older fashioned personal Journalism. The Journalism of Horace Greeley and Henry Raymond ard Charles A. Dana was not snuffed out because there Nas no ons to take their places There are writers on the press of the United States to-day many oe them, who are the peers ot those able men in their understand. ing of the service performed by theiI organs of publicity. The journalism O. iinl ersonality in the great centers C population has succeeded the journal ism of the individual because it f more effective and less subject tn tht demoralizing influences ot persona vanity. Interest having departed fir I the personality of the editor and tht publisher and the owner is now cen tered in the character of the product The newspaper reading public Is no such fool public as MT. Bryai would believe. It is an exceedingl, keen and well educated public ant finds its own way to the very heart o the newspaper under consideration Let newspaper come selflshly unde the domination of men who conduc it for the sole purpose of making i serve their ends and the fact will 500 more conceal it's character than th strumpet can conceal her bushes from her virtuous sisters. These ar things which right themselves in . world given to constant stud of the actual. MT. Bryan pays his audi ence very doubtful compliment whe he warns it against an evil which the are just as able as he is to detect tn existence of. He would appear in
 much better light, if he has the fact in his possession to justify the charg he hes brought, should he bravely ez pose the newspapers he has found |