The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-01
GAINS CONF|DENCE
|. BY DESERVING IT
Charles H. Grasty Delivers Adj
dress on "The Modern
Newspaper"
CoNy0cATlON AT UNIVERSITY
New Students Welcomed to In
stitution by President
Alderman.
CoNy0CATl0N AT UNIVERSITY
Especial to The Timcs-Dispatch.l

| Charlottesville. Va. September 90
, The annual convocation and opening
exercises of the eighty eighth session
! OF the University of Virginia were
held in Cabell Hall at noon to-day, pre-
ceded by the usual academic process
sion. President Alderman presided. Tho
students were assembled in the al
ditorium in class groups. The attend
ancc was unusually large, the regis
tiation OF students al the present ses-
sion exceeding by iJ0 that OF last
| year.
Inc address was delivered By Chas.
| II Grassy, publisher OF the Baltimore
sun. iiS theme was The Aiouerr
! He"spaper lie sketched the amer
] newspaper. Ind found IT TO be not so
much difference Of point OF view
| IN inc newspaper oiiica as different
constitution Oh Things. II we had some
| tHihs IKE the English system OF poll
tics' ne said. different paper could
DC gotten out The EnglIsn paper can
print every morning the oetails or
Parliamentary debate covering man,
| c0!uInhs which appeals TO the element
al love of contest as wildly as a great
football game. They stand up their
cabinet ministers and shoot questions
at them. The government Is unuea.
constant fire and In risk OF being over
thrown at any moment by an adverse
vote. NO American reader would stand
columns and columns OF this sort Of
thlhg. Here journalism must get right
Gown TO the people on pain OF Der
ishins More OF the craft than is gem
orally understood would like TO do Let-
Ter Tor culture, civilization and mo-
rality
Success Is the fundamental thing in
newspaper life. the speaker declared
Mir. Grasty said he had never known
now spaper to De influential unless it
! was successful, and he had never
known successful paper that had
not been influential. Contrary to pop
ular belief. the susiness of the news
paper Is made In the editorial rooms
Public confidence Is the root OF the
whole matter, and 1t can be got only
by deserving 1t. A sincere and reliable
newspaper in touch with real human
interest Will be read from end to end,
advertisements and all.~
Unforgivable Crime.
Mt GEasty regarded the greatest
| ming newspaper to be that of the
friendships and human associations.
Inc hrst DUTY OF a newspaper being
TO- print the news. the unforgivable
crime of Journalism is the suppress
sion Of news. 1t u fundamentally
| wrong to keep out Of the newspaper
any news that is ut to print. 81
think" said Mr.. Grasty, that most
me In the opinion that the most dead
~ menace to independent and truthful
Journalism lies in the power OF the
advertiser. The big advertisers are
small. and the effect of their leader
| ship on other advertisers so potent
that they are apt to arrive at a des-
potic conception OF their right to keep
out news. to have items put in that
are not news. and sometimes to die
tate editorial policy itself"
| He gave Victor Lawson, OF the Chi
cago News. as the man who has como
nearer than any other to getting to
the bottom OF the matter OF indepen-
dence OF the advertiser. He has been
greatly aided in the long run in tho
development OF what has come to be
the largest weekday business in
America by the rigid practice OF CIV
ing the advertiser advertising space
and nothing more. at the regular
printed rates No free write-ups. no
point of view have ever marked the
policy Of the Chicago paper.
The 6keaker said that when the
! question Is bluntly put whether the
typical modern paper is a mere one
cents or two cents worth of the kind
OF reading matter that the reader de-
! faults of the newspaper. no answers
in tho negative. "A great newspaper
at one cent is a modern economic mira
Gle. The price Is putting the news
paper into the humblest homes. 1t Is
carrying the avenues of thu world and
stimulating men and women to thought
and action. 1t is part of our huge
| system OF communication and pub
! licity that makes the whole world one
| great household, and that dispenses
with the soldier and the sword in the
march of Ideas and civilization"
Students Welcomed.
! President Alderman briefly but i'm
| prossively welcomed the largest stu
dent body in the history OF the uni
Versity to the privileges and oppor-
tunities of the great institution. It
| was not his purpose, he said, to uso
the occasion in any discussion of the
intimate affairs OF the institution nor
! to speak commonplaces to them 1t
should be clear to all that this beau
and soul. Each man hero has taken
| an obligation to become a gentleman,
| to work out by the friction of daily
| life what that high term means Right
| living, high thinking. truth speaking
| hard work, generous comradeshios
| form the material of your life. II
hope" said he, that great love and
| respect for alma mater and a great
desire to serve her interests practically
may grow up IN every heart here"
| DR.. Alderman said that the crafty
the efforts of students and alumni and
to the feeling that there existed here
in this Commonwealth a great ma
tional institution. He declared that
| the time had come for every son Of
the university to work "to the end that
we gather here ut least 1000 thorough
ly prepared college men.
J For number OF years pnst all
i emphasis had been placed not
! upon numbers. but upon set
ting sure standards, and max.
irr ttDI, al