The Idaho Republican., 1913-02-28

stand; to comfort and help the weak
hearted; to raise up those who fall;
and finally to beat down Satan under
our feet 1t is so much better to help
to build up than to lend our energies
to tear down. Benefit to our fellows
| as we'll as the surest means of win
ming honorable success for ourselves
comes from seeking to render help
| rather than placing hinderances in
the road of our fellows. We can
remain at the same time just as
steadfast in our aims and PURPOSES
| If Republicans just as sound Republi-
cans, if Democrats, just as Jackson
ian. In our own beloved State we
find abundant evidence to bear me
out in this contention in our most sue
cessful and ueful newspapers, such
for instance as the judiciously edited
Statesman of this city, (Boise) which
| honor as straightforward Republi-
cannewspaper, independent of cliques
o. factions, and which would not
f,atter Nepture for his trident AS
such a newspaper the Statesman pub
fishes the news and the gossip too
when it's quality makes the news of
the day, regardless of the papers pre-
ferences or predictions.
l think we as journalists make the
worst kind of a mistake when we
seek to toady to the politicians. If
they are the sort all too frequently
prominent who feed upon flattery
you can never give them enough be-
fore your supply runs out, and if
they are of the right sort they don't
care for such adulation.
Above all things, never ask and
accept favors that bind you to do the
bidding of any politician. Be in
depenent of them, however partisan
in you allegience to party They will
think more of you thousand times
more
| find myself about to use a don't
right here | refer to the employ
ment of the megaphone. | know an
editor who once used megaphone
to tell the people of their wrongs at
the hands of political gang and that
editor the very next year was footing
the same hour in the interest of the
same gang. The megaphone, as an
editorial mouthpiece denotes insin-
cerity. He who blows it through his
columns generally has his price and
his readers soon find out that fact
and take his measure accordingly. My
brethren. would beg you be sincere
in what you say that your readers
may rely upon you as their friend.
never knew follower of the race
track who made it his business to
pick the winners, without knowing a
thing about the horses, I never knew
a hound which habitually cuts the
pack back in the fox hunting country
where that sport is much in vogue
that was esteemed by sportsmen.
The so-called independent newspaper
that does the same sort of thing has
no standing to speak of. Stand to
your guns in political battles my
brethren, and don't pick winners.
| fear I have taken too much of
your time but let me quote from a
great journalist to the point l have
tried to make in this regard. Journal
ism has come to be regarded as the
most powerful of all professions in
civilization, said, Mr.. Whitelaw Reed
just before his death, which occurred
recently. | am not so sure that in
its instant influence for good or evil
it is not more powerful than all other
professions combined
"By presenting the daily life and
thinking the daily thought of the
world sincere and intelligent journal
ism has impressed upon the mind Of
mankind realizing sense of the i'd
entity of human purpose every
where. of the likeness of all organ
ized communities, of the horror and
the wastefulness of war, and so it has
cleared to the way to future peace
and orderly progress.
Looking back over the long period
of my active service in journalism |
can say without hesitation that disin-
terested patriotism and moral princi-
pies are more than ever guiding the
work of the newspapers which are
recognized as the responsible agen-
cies of public opinion in the great
nations that we are accustomed to re-
gard as belonging to our own group
or family.
"It is a fact beyond dispute that
the utterances of the really powerful
neWspapers of America are inspired