Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-01
DAILY PRESS GREAT
EDUCATOR OF TODAY
REV. A. S. PHELPS SHOWS THE
ROLE 1T PLAYS
Arouses Interest in and sympathy
with Human Life, Leaving Read
ers to Draw Their Own
Morals

In speaking on the topic, "How to
get the most out of your daily paper,
Rev. Arthur S. Phelps. pastor OF the
Central Baptist church, paid high
compliment to the daily press. He
said:
1.-THE trial by the government Tor
libel of two prominent eastern news
papers and the emancipation of the
press in Russia and China are turning
public attention to the place and hnlts
of journalistic influence. 1 have writ
ten editorials and set type in news
paper office. ia
that the daily paper is subject IN
which everybody is interested, and,
though some are too poor to subscribe,
vet everybody knows how TO edit a
paper Its growth in popularity has
been remarkable. From the hand press
in which two men could turn Off 250
impressions an hour to the modern
presses which at the beginning OF the
century could print and fold four
mage paper at the rate of $4,000 per
hour, the development has been ex-
traordinary. In 1850 there were ten
copies to each individual; forty years
later there were thirty-two to each in
dividual. The form of the daily paper
would be far more convenient IL IL
were made smaller and stitched ike
magazine.
"As a medium of news it is ind1s-
pensable. Adam didn't know what the
animals were doing behind the next
tree; we know what is going on IN
Australasia. The reporter is as old as
Baruch in jeremiah We nominate the
reporter to a high place in the Ananlas
club, but in our hearts we know that
most of what we read in the paper is
so. It's terse Anglo Saxon, conciseness,
interest and entertainment have given
it a UNIQUE place in English literature.
1t is not called q sheet because 1t
wraps its reader in slumber.
Daily as Moral Force
But ii is with the daily paper as
moral force that we have specially to
do. The press forms opinion. but is too
divided among itself to control opinion.
We should have no intelligent view of
such questions as the mayor recall,
apart from the press columns. Many
a man has been converted to God
through reading sermon reports IN
prison. Roosevelt well says: There is
no higher and more honorable calling,
no calling in which man can render
greater service to his fellow country
men,
1T has been said that the majority
of Americans read nothing but the
daily paper The sensational sheet
do not mean the enterprising original
ity of modern genius-is despised by
none so much as by its own contem-
poraries. 1t is hyena whose natural
| food is carrion. 1t ticks the sores of
Lazarus at the gate instead of the
crumbs that fall from the Masters
| 10 editorials wore more in ear
nest they would be oftener read. The
sensational sheet kindles morbid in
terest in degeneracy and crime. We
are responsible for this stuff. Let the
reader say, I thank thee, God, that
! had manhood enough to skip that
rotten item!' An actress was forbidden
Friday to let her suggestive shadow
fall on the curtain. Such shadows
should be forbidden by the public to
fall on the columns of the daily paper
| agree with Warner that, with all its
faults, the morality of the newspaper
is higher than that of the surrounding
community.
Its real fascination is in the interest
it rouses in human life. Instead of
poking your nose into your neighbors
affairs it should teach you to thrust
your shoulder under your neighbours
load. 1t rouses sympathy with poverty
and suffering and all the more power
fully so that it forces US to draw our
own morals. 1t reveals, like cham
Der of horrors, the consequences Of
unbridled passion, jealousy, free love,
lust, drunkenness, hate, political in
differentism.
MANY immoral papers are strength
ening the cause of temperance and
public righteousness by the items of
their Associated Press columns. Are
you reading to purpose? These
crimes are in you in the germ. What
is gained by flattering yourself?"
Mr. Phelps begins next Sunday night
series of sermons on Men that got
left behind"