The Detroit times., 1912-03-18


strict Sabbatarian, day OF all the
days the best" as IL is upon the de
\ liberate judgment that the sunday
/ paper is OF all papers the wogst
IL Is a discordant note in our day OF
rest: IL Is a blemish upon the lands
cape: IL opens when everything else
e-to-a-M lsa-eliStnm-- il
/ closed up; IL is doing business when
/ other ayocations cease; II Is the pro
uCtion OF daily literature by the
pound; its art work breaks in upon
the quietude and meditations OF lien
with a riot of color; il bulks SO large
/ II barbados whole families In their
homes while the pulpit and COD ;
out-of-doors beckon: and the next
day the children have 20 stay home
from school To gather IL up.
Joseph Pulitzer said the ministers
were concerned about the kingdom
! OF heaven IL remained for the news
papers 10 look after the republic OF
the United States, Why shouldn't
the newspapers rest the seventh day
and give both the kingdom of heaven
and the republic OF the United States
a chance 10 recover from the inhic.
ton OF the Sunday newspaper with
It's coarse humor and chromatic inki-
ness?
Can you imagine public speaker,
no matter what his views on the
woTkableness OF prohibition or the
logic OF local option might be, whether
strict or liberal, concluding his re-
marks by inviting everyone 10 have
a drink? Yet that is what the editor
does who urges the moral and physi-
cal benefits OF moderation or absti-
hence editorially, and in his adver'
Using columns sets out every form
OF indulgence most temptingly, all
the way from youth-restoring Duffy's
Malt Whisky 10 the three bottles OF
free beer which you can get in De-
trCit by calling up the brewery and
saying II is your family newspapers
advertising treat.
Chronicling the direful fruitage OF
the liquor traffic, admonishing the
weak and immature TO shun il as
they would a plague, and then APP
nealing 10 all 10 step up and have
something, accompanied by assur-
ance OF quick cure from the inebriacy
sanitarium-was there ever more
graphic illustration of the system OF
the MUSE who married the under
taker in order to catch them coming
and going.
What public speaker, apart from
the four-corners nostrum-vendor or
cheap jewelry exhorter Of our boy
hood, is ever heard haranguing his
lfellow-citizens in the interest of cures
that kiIl--and IL of rapidly.acquired
riches that fade away?
Naf tbio annual n rho afflicted Or
the venturesome is glazing and pain
| full part of the editors daily discourse
I 10 his readers
While those who take in vain the
nostrums he commends. or TO their
mortal injury. and while widows and
working girls lose their all in the get
richq quick schemes that he sanctions,
and even while the charlatans and
crooks are brought 10 book by the
! law, he continues to entice his audi
ence with some new form OF assur-
ance that health and wealth await
| them IL only they will harken TO what
/ the editor is paid for saying TO them.
J What think you-hayent | as much
warrant for representing medical i'm
posters and financial mountebanks
I from the platform tonight as | have
in the columns of my newspaper to-
morrow.
And could you marvel that the next
speaker in your series OF meetings
is able to lull you into sense Of opu-
Ilency with his rhapsody on Florida
/ lands that are measurable only by
the gallon, If you give me your con-
/ tidence despite my efforts TO betray
tyou?
| II you don't want your publisher TO
| poison or exploit you, why do you
admit him into your presence from
day to day?
/ And the man whose sense OF the
! platforms mission and whose idea OF
service TO his audience prompts him
! to peddle private scandal and deal In
/ ISLANDERS and detractions that hang
| only upon someone's say-so-did yon
| ever hear OF such an one holding the
| publics approval for any length oil
/ time?
Then how passing strange that ed
] itors who deal In such idle and ven
omous. things as unlovely old ladies
gable about over the back fence-ths
sharp-tongued They do say, or
Have you heard" OF character -assas-
/ sinating gossip-haYe been looked
upon as a guild privileged to invade
/ the privacy OF the home and smirch
( the good name OF men and women
If il is written of the possessor OF
single tongue, "by thy words thou
shalt be justified and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned" how terri
bic the responsibility resting upon the
milllon-tongued newspapermaker to
choose between the publicity that
bights and the publicity that blesses
For it is the editors duty to give
the plain, unvarnished truth. often
painful. often disagreeable. II it is
something the people should know &c
| be and to continue 70 be free.
Let there be light" means start
the printing presses. The editors
contract with his readers is, "tbe
! truth, the whole truth and nothing
t but the tF4th ;.
This does not mean unconfrmed
rumors or persistent reports or IN
! formation from a source that cannoi
be questioned.
II means the unfolding OF the day;
history. grief and mirth bane auL
blessing, chronicled with accuracy
and a fine sense OF proportion, aut
interpreted with intelligence and il
! the spirit of service and guidance.
IL means that the editor is an his
! torian. an interpreter, not spy
| slattth or scandal-monperer