Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-04-11

which it contained not only accurate but infalble
Such power this brings vast obligations to the pos
SCISSORS of it. The question is sometimes raised whether
the novel and the play should have any obvious moral
purpose whether it is not the exclusive function Of
these products of literary genius to amuse and enter
TAIN The truth is that neither the drama nor fiction
can avoid making effect which has distinct moral
quality No portray Of life pass out of the sphere Of
preaching however frantcay it's author may protest
that he has homietical intention By the same token
the press perpetuay influencing the moral character
of its readers 1t is impossible for it to escape this office
The barest chronicle of events without single COM
ment becomes power for good or i'll in the lives Of
those to whom it is sent There will be sharp differ
among journalists as to the proportion of conscious
effort an editor should make to incline his sheet to the
side Of virtue James Bryce has said concerning the
American newspaper, which he warmly commends In
some particulars ut does not even contine itself to
events that have happened but is apt to describe others
which may possibly have happened however slight the
evidence Of them In instances rectitude suffers
a worse collapse than this. The newspaper which at
tempts to redeem dozen pages Of putrid gossip BY
column or two of respectable matter has, to say the
least forgotten it's responsibility to place good ethical
standards before society. Addison viewed the multiple
cation of newspapers in his time with degree of
alarm He said that the people were being made poll
ticans by the publication in the press Of state matters
and he affirmed, Gone cannot be sorry that such
pernicos machine is erected among them" That dis
NAL moan finds no response among those who see that
one of the finest safeguards Of liberty in democratic
form Of is that freedom of popular discus
sion which constitutes the newspaper the voice Of the
people, It is not difficult to discover that in the
way the press is mighty aid to religious liberty and
to the diffusion Of broad phanthropic and moral ideas
The pulpit, therefore, only regard the press as
it's most potent helper in forwarding the interests of
righteousness It's public disclosures Of Wckedness in
high places it's constant battle for improved social
dtions it's ready espousal Of the which close
to the hearts Of the oppressed it's determination to
brace men for the hard tasks Of life make it agency
for good almost beyond the reach Of adequate descrp
ton Through its assistance the audiences Of the Chris
tan ministers extended far beyond the walls Of the
edifice in which he speaks The relation Of the pulpit
and the press should be that Of mutual
He must be presumptuous clergyman, indeed, who un
dertakes to tell journalists how to conduct their
papers, and he is editor Of undue temerty who as
sues to instruct the pulpit in the discharge Of its
peculiar functions The requirement is for such moral
support Of the pulpit by the press, mingled with j
dcious criticism as shall make the church increasingly
fruitful in good works. and for such recognition and
Of the press on the part of the pulpit shall dignity
and exalt that marvellous institution of society,"
49, mad. ne resolve to guard the assisted in serving by Mrs g. g.