Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-06-14
1.-THE PROGRESSIVE PROCESSION AS
SEEN FROM NEWSPAPER WINDOW
Splendid Address Delivered by. Charles H. Grasty,
Of the Baltimore Sun, Before the South
Carolina Press Association
Tuesday Night
Tuesday Night.


I government and tariH reduction and
our perfectly barbarous currency sys-
tenn, our boasted up-to-datedness re-
minds me Of the story Of the late
Samuel Spencer, president OF the
Southern railway. He was riding on
one of his own trains and on arriving
| in Atlanta pulled out his watch and
saw that the train was on time to the
dot. He sent for the engineer and
lcomplimented him and offered him
tend note in token Of his ap-
probation. The engineer said no, he
couldn't take it; that, "as a matter of
fact, this is yesterdays train.' We
are riding on yesterdays train In
many respects. 1t Is true that in our
rough and unready way we nave
gained some ground. But we should
always remember that we are the
advance guard of the globe-girdling
Aryan race and we have had first
chance at the virgin continent OF the
temperate zone. 1t is time for us to
be looking about as to whether our
stewardship prospers. With so much
failure and futility in many of the
details Of government, we are proper
ly put on inquiry as to whether the
people are geared right with their
governmental machine. Is the big
engine Of government coupled up
with the big dynamo Of patriotic pub
lie opinion? Has somebody tapped
the wires that carry the current. We
have the best average people. We
have the best plant, so to say. Is our
backwardness in many essential
points, as compared to many other
countries, due entirely to our youth
and, II so, what are We doing to make
sure that we shall get better as we
get older? -.
Assuming, as do. the purpose and
sagacity possessed by the people,
those propositions, 1t seems to me.
point to the real significance Of the
stirring in the country that Is called
the progressive movement. 1 cannot
discuss such questions as the initia-
tive, referendum and recall with
technical expertness, but I can tell
you how the procession that is now
passing by looks to him who watches
it from the newspaper office window.
In spite Of the constant criticism and
chastisement that we newspaper men
are subject to by public that we try
hard to serve-and sometimes think
that the people punish us because we
are theirs and they know 1t, and they
are actuated by the sentiment ex-
pressed in the homely phrase by
Marse Henry that things have come
to a hell of a pass when a man can't
wallop his own jackass'-we are
struggling faithfully to pull the load
of popular Indifference uphill. The
same causes that tend to diminish
popular interest in government and
to make government unresponsive to
such interest as survives our dead
and-alive system are constantly and
injuriously affecting the newspaper.
admit a selfish viewpoint. The dull
ness Of our politics deprives us Of a
class of news that not only would
make our papers more interesting,
but give more power to journalistic
leadership and vastly increase the
activities and value Of journalism in
public affairs
Demand for Sensationalism.
Now, the most common indictment
that daily journalism has to face Is
that 1t is too sensational and that 1t
deals too much in crime and scandal.
The discussion of the progressive
movement gives me the chance to
show how the defects in our system
are responsible in part for so-called
yellow journalism. Few Of the edi-
tors who are printing sensations like
that part of their job. They are driv-
en- to it by competition and public de-
mand. Journalism must get right
straight to the people on pain of per-
ishing. Many American newspapers
go below the line of average public
taste Most of them stay above.
Look at the English newspaper; by
reason Of the difference in relation
between the public and the govern
ment it can afford to devote much
larger proportion of it's space than we
do to the affairs of government, and 1t
is kind of matter that interests the
human being. The London paper
prints word for word every morning
debate in parliament that makes an
appeal to the elemental love of contest
in human nature quite as strong as
great football game or big prize
fight There the giants of politics are
hard at it all night long, pounding
away at each other and at the gov
ernment. They are standing up the
cabinet ministers and shooting ques-
tions at them, and. under the rules of
the game, the ministers are obliged to
answer. The administration Is under
constant fire from the opposition
benches. At times the government
loses it's majority, is overthrown by
adverse vote, and then there is an
election, and the election is on a real
and living issue.
The people decide directly, and while
they are interested and the facts are
fresh. In parliament and before the
country, year in and year out, the
fight is one for blood. and the English
paper gets the benefit Of news that Is
highly sensational, but fit to print in
the very best sense.
| Now, contrast that condition with
the one that confronts a press that Is
obliged to cater to human interest or
stop running l want to ask you If
anybody in this audience would read
three. or four, or ten columns Of a
congress debate. In the first place,
we have so many congressman and
they meet in such an enormous hall
that they cannot hear each other. I'm
der such conditions there can be no
debate. 1t is simply a matter of leave
to print. But deeper seated, of course,
than that is the fact that we wind up
the government every four years like