Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-18

only for an introduction, and l Will pro-
ceed, therefore, to my appointed task,
But as preliminary to that pleasant
duty / desire to say that the greatest
power for good or evil in community
Is lodged with the newspapers OF that
community. great newspaper is a
great public trust, not the sole and alb
solut property of the owner OF that
paper to use for his selfish purposes
and according to his personal whlms;
and 1t should be conducted in the IN
terests of the public which it is sup
posed to serve. Conscientious news
paper men appreciate and feel the
moral responsibility that goes with
the job. The larger the paper, the
wider its circulation and influence, the
greater becomes the responsibility |
Newspaper men, like Judges, are simply
| human and are apt to make mistakes |
but when the owner of a great metro |
politan daily deliberately sells his news
or editorial columns for money or
social recognition, or political prefer |
ment, and allows designing, un-
/ scrupulous and plausible knaves to
| work upon his intense egotism or
vanity for the nefarious purposes of
their INSCRIPTIONS masters, or uses
| that paper to vent his spleen in per-
sonalities and animosities, and opposes
every beneficent and progressive move
ment tending TO restore government to
the people, thereby perverting the
| news and deceiving the people he not
| alone violates his great trust, but
actually commits a crime. And sooner
| or later he and his prostituted sheet
| will be tried at the bar Of public
| opion and condemned to oblivion as
/ they ought TO be.
That description fits one kind of a
newspaper that we have here in the
! city OF Los Angeles, but we have to be
] tina Dlyfn1 that there nPWGnanprS of
another sort. We have two news
( papers that since the beginning of this
! great movement for better city govern
ment have loyalty and unselfshly, and
| without price or reward, or expectation
! of reward except the reward that is
sure to come from public appreciation,
| supported the organized efforts of good
citizens to bring about the consum
| nation which we are celebrating to-
night l refer to the Los Angeles EX
press and the Los Angeles Herald and
it gives me particular pleasure to in
| troduce as the toastmaster of the even
ing the versatile and brilliant editor
Of the Los Angeles Herald, Mr.. Thomas
e. Gibbon.
Tribute to Herald
Judging from the enthusiasm
shown when the names of The Herald
and the Express were mentioned, the
policies of these two journals have
become popular with the people. Cheer
upon cheer was sent up for The Her
aid and Mr.. Gibbon, when he arose
to assume his duties as POSTMASTER.
He first read a telegram from Clarence
NJ. Taggart, city tax and license col
lector elect. Mr.. Taggart, who is visit
ing his parents in Garden City, Kan,
| expressed his regrets at not being
able to be present.
Toasts were drunk to the president
and to Los Angeles and Mayor Alex
ander.
Three lusty cheers were given the
mayor as he rose to speak Every
man rose to his feet and wildly waved
napkins as token to the city's chief
executive. Mayor Alexander said in
part:
Address in Full
"The topic assigned to me is the
very agreeable one of The City of
Los Angeles 1t would take too long
| to say all the good things of our ciy
that l would like to. In the brief time
! allotted to me l can mention only a
few of her charms.
Los Angeles is a home city. A large
proportion of our population settled
| here because of the many advantages
for home seekers. No city in the world
has a finer climate. 1t is warm in
| winter ana cool IN summer however
! hot our summer days may be, the
nights always are cool and on Christ
mas, after ride through our suburbs,
with the halls as green as the prOverb-
! ial Emerald Isle, we may enjoy ice
cream with our dinner.
Los Angeles is a clean and a moral
! town, and is blessed with a citizenship
unexcelled in any section of the world. |
For proof Of this statement we have |
but to look at this great gathering of
good government workers, with its
tireless able executive, our highly |
esteemed citizen. Never Lissner: and