The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-19

tiBlcS ullll the fOuFtn or MdlPn ana later.
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 CLEAN NEWSPAPERS.
 As dignlied Q protest as has como to our notice in some time appears In the form of letter 10 the New York Tribune printed upon It's editorial page lt Is written and signed by three respected citizens of the mo- tropolis with the aim of securing newspapers for our homes which shall at all times be free from lcwd or sug- gestive articles detrimental to morals offensive to decency and damaging to self-respect They make particular mention of the recent Thaw trial which shocked every community by its long-contlnued revelations, and they have very evidently been moved to action by the beginning of the Hanes brothers trials, to which tdcy refer without a doubt when they say: We are now promised another Ctrlal) of similar character by reason of the approach of certain sensational mur- der trials, in the course of which, as we have been creditably Informed, ma terial more interesting to the prurlent mind and consequently more danger ous to the home and more disgusting to the self-respectlng man, Is about to be presented in court"
 If what President Hadley so sensl- bly said in recent article is true, namely. that the time Is surely coming when men will judge and be judged quite as frequently and as certainly by the known reputation of the news l papers they customarily read as by ! they company they keep, then ccr- talnly the time is coming when the ! best of our American newspapers will institute a housecleaning in this re- 1 gard. They must do SO Their real- CTS will demand It. But perhays that demand of the readers Is not so far ahead as may be supposed. May not the letter referred to in the Tribune be taken as present evidence of it? These three writers say they desire tc see the movement started among newspaper readers and advertisers which will demand this much-ueeded reform and have the power to bring 1t about Among those who have al- ready snown their interest in such q movement arc Archbishop Farley Bishop Greer, Robert w. DeForcst Jacob Fl. Schiff and others.
 Such a movement is worthy of ser ous consideration on the part of the newspapers of the country generally not when forced to do so under flnan. cial compulsion but voluntarily. Tho tendency has been muCn too preval. ent in the past for each editor to eX. cuse himself and his paper for print. ing the nauseating and libdinous de- tails of criminallty on the plea tha' other editors and other papers, com. matter. There Is no better time tC start sucn a movement than to-day when another such sensational trial a' was the Thaw hearing has just beer begun and bids fair to hold its place in the courts for some days to come within the newspaper establishments too. TO bring pressure to bear iron without, from the readers and adver tisers, would be no easy task. Al these writers to the Tribune point out there are certain papers that must bt bought regardless of their reyoltinl details. We attempt to escape it.. they write, "and close our door to i for a short period, only to find that {, keep in touch with our usual socia and perhaps business needs we mus : continue our patronage of q iourna : which we are ashamed to brni home"
 If American newspapcrdom is C live up to the high ideals which 1t ha : pleased to set for itself, if must real ze that 1t Is quite as necessary tha the indecent and the morally offensiv be excluded from the news column as that the editorial columns be no influenced by the interests of thos whose advertisements or who's friendship is much desired. Let's hay, the minimum on the Hains trials