The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-08-25
EDITORS, Dead AND ALIVE.


personal Journalism is past. THE obi
tor" he maintains. should still be In
control. and his personality should
dominate the paper for which ho writos.
Any other typo OF editor. he thinks,
Is dead one" and we are altogether
wrong. he says. when we aver that the
successful paper is impersonal.
In explaining his position. the Ca
zette dwells at length on the place and
influence of the country editor. and ho
says nothing in praise of that worthy
to which we may not add hearty
amen. The country editor, says our
friend. Is still personal and potent be-
cause Of his intimate touch.
Granting that our brother knows
moro about the weekly press than we
do. he makes us envious. We have
always felt that in tho country news
papers. which nowhere reach higher
standard than In Virginia, are to be
found the closer communion between
reader and editor, the most precise
reflection of the best public sentiment
OF tho locality where the paper Is
In our hand when we dealt with these
brothers OF the press, and we never
let week pass but that We read
with pleasure all that they have to
say.
But when 1t comes to tho doings OF
the press in the cities, we feel that
The Times Dispatch may speak from
It's own experience. To be sure,
we Of The Times Dispatch may not
have attained to those years our broth
er has reached, whence we may look
down on the rest of the newspaper
world as very young" but some of us
have edited weekly papers. and some
Of us have risen from the ranks
through twenty or thirty years OF
work, and some Of US have served as
managing editors for smaller dailies.
But we are all convinced that we
should submerge our personality in that
of the paper and that what the peo-
pie want is not the observation Of one
man. but the conclusion of a little
army who are working together. Were
the editorial writer's. for instance, to
rely solely upon their own knowledge
and judgment of events. they would
often err. for no man who remains
glued to typewriter all day can think
all the thoughts Of the men on the
streets. We must rather consult the
men who gather the news, the men who
edit and the men who mingle in the
highways with thousands of their
brothers. In SO doing, we get a unified
but composite view which it would be
to claim as the private
property Of those who write the edi-
torials. We feel that we are pledged
to serve the people, not as so many
separate persons, but together as The
Times Dispatch.
Nor is this logic shaken by our con-
temporary's argument that the great
papers of the past have been those
with an editor whose personality was
known to all his readers. This was
true generation ago, but where is
there modern journal in the cities.
excepting, OF course the Louisville
lniliar figure to all? Does our contem-
porary know who writes the editorials
for the Chicago Tribune, the New York
World. the Springfield Republican, the
Kansas City Star-the great papers Of
the country-and does he think that
the voiced opinion of these great jour
mails is that OF few editorial writer's
alone? He does not and cannot. for
these papers have found themselves
powerful because they are impersonal
We envy you your happy and exalted
estate. brother, but we cannot emulate
you. We must work together and not
alone.