The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-16

they DelleFe 10 be 1or Inc pest INTERESTS
of the country and of their COMMUNE
ties.
doubt very much whether an endowed
paper could render any great service to
the people that is not rendered by the
press of the country.
CHARLES r. WILLIAMS.
By John A. Sleicher, president and edi-
tor Leslies Weekly.
| have long been impressed with the
belief that. Mr.. Carnegies idea of ma
tional, non-partisan, non-sectarian news
paper. literally endowed would be a
great benefit. 1t Is true, as you recite,
that the American newspapers, as at
present conducted. are competent to deal
with all questions which may arise. in
the best interests of the people, but it is
not true that they are thus uniformly
dealt with. The tendency to place a prem
ium on sensational news has stimulated
the imagination of the reporters and
whetted the appetite of the readers for
still greater sensations. The outcome has
been the muck raking and yellow press.
Many newspapers do not fairly give
both sides of public questions.
They are Influenced either by personal
or partisan bias or by selfish consider
atoms as any other business usually is.
w iiiic tic cditoiidi page nid o1tNC " NC
fair and just The business office is al
ways counting the house.
If sensations pay the natural inference
is that the reader and the advertiser.
whose patronage supports the publication,
give preference to the sensational sheets.
A newspaper abundantly endowed so that
it could be absolutely fearless in the ex-
preston of its opinions could afford to
try the experiment that the late Henry
j. Raymond of the New York Times is
said to have had in mind just previous
to his untimely death. namely. the en-
ployment of the most talented and ex-
perienced writer's on the repertorial stan.
The men who reported the every day
news would thus bring to bear, in the
performance of their tasks, not only the
culture of a higher education but also a
well seasoned and conservative judgment
which would not tolerate the subsection
OF the truth to the demands of the SEN
sational.
The public reads too much and thinks
too little and therefore writer's for the
press should be thoughtful. judicial
minded and profoundly impressed with
their responsibility. The public too often
is given an altogether erroneous idea
both of men and affairs.
A few years ago all the press was
filled with laudations of our great cap
tains of industry and the wonderful and
widespread results of their energy and
enterprise. The people welcomed them
everywhere as men of genius, deserving
the highest honors. Suddenly the muck
raker and the yellow journalist appeared
and the same captains of industry were
pictured as notorious accumulators OF
tainted wealth, the chief beneficiaries OF
g protective tariff. the oppessors of the
people, the promoters of trusts and the
creators of high prices. II defense was
made 1t was not printed or, if printed,
1t was only as an excuse for repeating
the accusations or something worse. The
reign of reason gave way to a reign OF
sensation. The people applauded and the
demagogue, quick to take his cue, APP
peared, demanding restrictive and oppres-
sive legislation against the railroads an1
Industrial corporations. The statue books
were crowded with new laws, so hastily
and thoughtlessly framed that the courts
have been kept busy ever since endeavor-
ing to interpret them Is it surprising
that prosperity halted?
Mr.. Hearst, coming out of the walks of
private life. shows to u.s. through the sue
cess of his publications and through his
own prominence in public affairs, what
can be done with unlimited capital by
anyone who earnestly and vigorously
seeks, through the medium of the press,
to impress his views upon the public.
have no doubt that 1.-The captains of
industry who have their side to present
and their arguments to make, would have
stood in an entirely different attitude in
the public mind IL they had met the
charges and insinuations against them
openly. earnestly and defiantly. If they
have suffered it Is because they have no
d0na Daan n a hui
resides sense of fair play and to thi
the appeal should have been made. Err
rors, mistakes and wrongs should have
been admitted. No business and no MAI
is free from them. The defense should
have been set forth SO clearly, Logically
and conclusively that the great jury OF
the people would have listened to it. Mr.
Carnegie may think 1t is not too late tc
do this now. He is right in that conclu-
sion, tardy though 1t be-
JOHN A. SLEICHER.
BY John E. Wright, editor ST. Louis
Times.
Three years ago I wrote to Andrew
Carnegie suggesting a plan for an en-
dowed newspaper He did not consider ii
feasible then and probably would not now
To my mind the problem is that OF
finding a man big enough and honest
enough and fearless enough to edit such a
paper, and board of directors made UP
of men possessed of the same qualities
Whether or not they could be found ]
do not know.
There is great opportunity here, great
err than anyone not engaged in newspaper
work could imagine, but he who would
attempt to seize 1t must be possessed
of an optimism that Is rare and fear
hot ic oil oI 40 ,nt ha
lieve we shall see a great endowed news
paper before January ! of the millennium
year. JOHN w. WRIGHT Editor.
BY Hon. Daniel r. Anthony, Jr. edl-
tor Leavenworth (Kans.) Times and men,
Der of Congress.
In reply to your direct question as to
whether the great American newspapers
as at present conducted are fully COM
petent to deal with all questions which
may arise In the best interest of the
people, l would say that / think the
newspapers of this country are fully COM
petent to handle such questions and for
the most part they do present the truth.
But the cold, plain truth is that within
the last year some Iof our greatest news
papers have deliberately entered into a
campaign to deceive and prejudice the
people of the country upon some of the
great people questions of the day.
The attempt by these great newspapers
to deliberately misrepresent the purposes,
intent and scope Of the recent tariff law
enacted by Congress and signed by Mr..
Taft has no parallel to American history.
The indictment stands that these news
papers made concerted effort to secure
free pulp and print paper at the hands
of Congres- nd failing to secure all that
"a IL =
the movement to lie about and misrepre-
sent the tariff LEGISLATION and the nresent