The Forrest City times., 1908-05-29
TRUTH AND THE PRESS.

he footsteps of the small bore poll
 bcians, who would prevent discovery
 Ii their own littleness by protesting to believe that the press of the United
 tates is not truthful nor dependable.
 avs the Commercial Appeal.
 Do you follow the practice of newspaper men in this country" ask bd Uncle Joe of the Japanese news baper men, calling on him recently, ,and send in baseless fabrications to xour papers. when there is lack of news?'
 "No," was the reply of the Japa- nese. we contine our work to actual happenings
 If that is true" answered the man who has been made by the news papers you can settle many interna- tional questions by expatriating your selves, and founding that kind of Journalism in the United States and the balance of the world"
 Speaker Cannon in his alleged witti- cisms and humor has seldom been anything but coarse; but heretofore l he has managed to keep away from the jest that displays ignorance as well as untruthfulness.
 Certain little men in public life af- feet to disbelieve the American news paper; but the normal man, those possessing average intelligence and honesty, and those on the higher side of the average line are thoroughly convinced that the American press as a whole, like the Japanese press, confines its work to actual happen ings True, there are exceptions. We have the fiamboyant newspaper, the yellow rag that sacrifices truth to sensation, but this sort of jackal is known by its bark, and is the excep- tion, not the rule, in the American newspaper world.
 can find an atheist in the pulpit, a thief among the bankers, a corrup- tionist in congress, vice in almost any
 
 chosen abode of virtue. It would, in- deed, be remarkable if, when all other pursuits show the blot of an excep- tion to virtue, the newspaper estate should be absolutely free from such | dirty flaw Yes, among newspaper workers, as among lawyers, doctors, merchants, bankers, farmers and | clergymen. there will crop up the leprous exception that leaves the blot on the escutcheon. But the excep- ton is not the rule; far from it espe- cialiy in newspaper work, where the capital which the worker brings is an ability to set forth things as they happen.
 The old expression, Ut is true, be- cause l saw it in the paper," still holds good. In nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of thousand, it is true-as true, at least, as far as the item proposes to state the facts, and it distinctly tells when the mat ter is hearsay and when it is official and direct.
 And so with the papers of this country. Where there is one sacrifice ing the truth to sensation, or to some ignoble interests, there are hundreds stating facts-thousands of facts daily, truthfully and fearlessly
 One great statesman, Bismarck, used to sheer at the German press. He called it "reptillian." If Bis marck was right then, the Prussian press could only have taken on this character with the consent of the Prussian people. The average of the press is about the average of the peo- pie supporting it. One or two or sey- eral newspapers may thrive below this average, becrvse there are minds still under the mudsills of vice among the people. Here and there we may ind papers far above this average, because there are, also, minds upon the higher heights; but as rule the character of the press of the country Is moulded by the character of the people of that country.
 Uncle Joe, in singing his low asper- slons upon the American press, defiles the American people; for, if the press of America is not reliable, it is be- cause the people of America are not reliable. The one is an exponent of the other. Uncle Joe and many | others, even some in this city who af- iect to believe the newspapers unre- llaole, may put this in his pipe and | smoke 1t, and, perhaps, it will teach | nm that truthfulness is, after all, l more to be desired than such shallow | Jioes as this one against the integrity | oi the American press.