The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-20
SLE|CHER TALKS
 ABOUT DELUS|ONS Editor Of LeSIie'S Weekly Ad-
 dresses Convention PAPERS MUST BE TRUTHFUL MT. sleicher Questions the Decision of Interstate Commerce Commission
 On Exchange of Advertis-
 ing for Transportation.
PAPERS MUST BE TRUTHFUL

was the principal speaker at this morn ing's session of the National Editorial association. His subject was "The At titude of the Postoffice Department To- ward Newspapers and Second-class Mat ter'
 Mr Lawshe said that the present rate on second-ciass matter is justified, but he is not in favor of an increase ia the rate.
 It has been stated that express com- panies carry newspapers cheaper than does the postoffice department. This MT. Lawshe denied. He predicted that the publishers of the United States may con- tinue to enjoy the present second-class rates of postage and that the business men of the country may secure in due season the cent-an-ounce rate.
 I Mr. Lawshe stated that the enforced return of unbelievable copies at the third class rate at the expense of the offending publisher is a reform advocated by many wideawake publishers ana one which he has recommended.
 The address of Don c. Seitz of the New York World on Combines and Prices as Related to the Existing Tariffs on Wood Pulp and Print Paper'' was read by Wal ter J. Driscoll of the St. Paul Dispatch. MT. Seitz severely arraigned the paper trust, pointing out the alleged injustice worked to the papers of the country, and especially to the country papers.
 1 The morning session closed with an ad- dress by John A. Sleicher, editor of Les- lies Weekly, on "Delusions." MT. Sleich- CT said:
 Tt has been said in England that the world is being educated by the half penny press and we know that in this country the one-cent newspapers are giv- ing the masses most of their instruction. Teaching is not always education, for everything depends on what is taught. What are we teaching-right or wrong, truth or error justice or injustice? One of our delusions is that the public has an infallible conscience, and that news papers that follow public opinion cannot go wrong Conscience is not infallible. A morbid condition may hide its infirmity behind the guise of conscience and make it the accomplice of guilt. Newspapers are often responsible for creating vic
 
 from it's evil consequences, like the boy who lights a fire on top of a haystack and has to fly to save his life.
 l Claiming to be impartial nothing is more one-sded than the ordinary news paper story The reporter gathers his l facts in hurry from the side that he can most easily reach. If he can reach both sides, he will take the one with the sensational quality. He is not a judge dealing in equities, but only a reporter representing the ravenous appetite of a sensation-seeking public that must be l fed-a public that has little time for newspapers that believe in the educational and uplifting. This should be left to the l pulpit, and while the yellow press four ishes the religious press struggles to ex- l ist, and the pews of the churches are l fast becoming empty.
 l Tt is a delusion to imagine that if you see it in the newspaper it must be so. l It is not so half the time, and is only 1 half so all the time Say, if we will, that we give the people what they want, yet l the fact remains that while, with our cables, telegraphs, and telephones, wire less messages, our Associated Press, auto- mobiles, limited flyers, and unlimited fa- | cilities, the newspapers have, as never | before, conveniences of access to sources 1 of information, yet they are not as ac- curate as they were 90 years ago. They printed less matter and covered mar rower field, but news was news.
 ."The public persists in the delusion that newspapers are printed for philanthropic purposes. The publishers, who have the | bills to pay, labor under no such false 1 notion. Newspapers, magazines, weeklies 1 and quarterlies are published for profit, all of them and all the time. They are 1 business propositions Their purpose is |. A,-r l ago. Why has their character changed Because their readers have changed. T.e 1 public has come to believe that the news paper has taken the place of the theatre l and circus as well as the school and the pulpit; that it must embellish the news | until it reads like fiction, and advocate | a code of morals that will take the starch out of the Ten Commandments Newspapers that cater only to the good l are therefore as lonesome as solitary tombstone in a newly opened cemetery. But let us seek the light.
 | OIt is a delusion if you imagine that l am assailing journalism. The press will be what it is until public opinion rests upon a higher plane. The reader buys | the newspaper that appeals to him. He prefers one that supports his political views, that fatters his conceits and that patronizes his prejudices. It may be in accurate unfair and misleading, but that l makes no difference to the man who Is a partisan in everything.
 You boast of the power of the press but you are the victims of inequitable l libel laws that you have not the power tc repeal. You are outraged by absurd and | arbitrary postal rulings, not enacted into law, under one of which you are forbid den to extend such credit as you desire | and such as every other business gives tc it's patrons. You are debarred from mai privileges without a hearing until you have already been made to suffer. A 1 senator of the United States. who hac | given financial aid to a struggling maga. 1 zine told me he had lost over S30000 be- | cause of the harm done to the publica tion by the arbitrary ruling of a sub ordinate of the postal department. Yet the constitution declares that 'congres. shall pass no laws abridging the free
 dom of the press.
 By d very questionable ruling of thu interstate commerce commission you were suddenly forbidden to do what you hat
 always done namely, to exchange space
 in your publications at full rates fol
 railroad mileage at full rates. The pub
 lie service law of the state of New York
 with the cordial approval of Governo
 Hughes, was amended before it's passag
 so as to specifically legalize this ex
 change All credit to the stalwart mem
 bers of the New York State Editorial as
 sociation that they promptly resented tn
 attempt to pass a public utilities bill tha
 would interfere with the conduct of thei business. l do no speak for free trans
 portation for do not believe in it. w are better off without it. I speak of al
 exchange of commodities on fair an
 equal basis, in which no favor or pref 1 io inv