The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-12-13
NEWS OF RICH MEN.
Complaint That Col. J. J. AstOr and His Lost Yacht Got Great Pub-
 Iicity Because He is Rich.

His Lost Yacht Got Great Pulp
 Iicity Because He is Rich.
 Editor and Publisher.
 The publicity given by the newspa- pers of the country, and especially the New York papers, to Colonel John Ja- cob Astor and his yacht that was lost and found in the Caribbean Sea lately, has aroused some criticism among peo- pie of apparent soundness and good standing. The Times and World both printed letters protesting against the attention given Colonel Astor, assert ing that such publicity would not have been given if he were not a wealthy person. The letter writers also point ed out that the United States govern ment used lot of money and men and ships to find Colonel Astor. while seem. inEly neglecting poor men who were lost or shipwrecked.
 The Times printed the following ed- ltorial in reply:
 One of our readers. in a letter print ed in another column of this page, takes us very seriously to task because on Wednesday morning we gave a lit- tie over a column of space to the news that Colonel John Jacob Astor and his yacht Nournahal were safe, and lit- tie less than half a column to the story of a tenement house fire in which two
 
 lives. By so doing, our critic thinks. we showed excessive interest in the rich and a callous indifference to the poor, and he warns us that if The Times and other newspapers continue in this evil way.people will be aroused to a passionate antagonism to wealth which will have dreadful consequences.
 "If we felt called upon to defend our selves from this accusation we might hxy ax,i, that the fire story was very late and could not have been made any longer than 1t was, while the story of tho yacht was prepared at leisure and could be given at the length We thought 1t deserved as piece of news. We prefer, however, to stand by the two stories as they were printed. What this critic and many others cannot seem to understand is that Journalistic approval and disapproval of men and things are not, and should not be, manifested by the relative amounts of space allotted.
 ''when a good man does a good thing which is also news The Times as it has proved thousands of times. is glad to give him at least as much space as 1t gives to the bad man who does A bad thing which Is also news It is not our fault that the ordinary  highly admirable. Is not news. while violations of laws and proprieties are much more apt, though reprehensibie both to deserve and to need telling In print. So the steamship which makes an uneventful voyage pleasas its pas senrers, but 1t does not interest the rest of the world, while one that goes on the rocks in a storm sets every ca ble and telegI al ph wire to hummine with long accounts of the wreck Again, while the Nourmahal was lost | she and her passengers were wortt ! columns a day, but she and they pass i ed instantly from special attention thu | moment her safety had been duly an l nounced. As for Colonel Astor hil wealth doubtless makes him a subjec l of freouent comment, but we have no ticed no special reverence In such jour nalistic comment as has appeared sinc' 1 his wife divorced him.
 Our critic Is, of course. entirely anS 0rotesouely wrong in what he say about the governments indifference tt fishermen and the merchant marin' generally. Its vessels are constant! at work for their protection from thu dangers of the sea, and 1t is owing ti the very constancy of that work tha mention of it Is infrequent. IL ha ceased to be news"