The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-06
THE HUMAN NEWSPAPER.

Whatever knowledge we have we
have obtained in two ways, writes
Thomas Dreier in October Nautilus.
The first is inheritance; the second is
acquisition. With that which we OBJ
| tanned from our ancestors we had moth
| ing to do. We are not concerned with
the past. We are vitality interested in
the present.
All knowledge must be obtained to-
day by one or more of the five senses
Through the avenues of seeing, hear
ing, touching, smelling and tasting
come all our sensations. The quality
and number of sensations depend upon
the kind of sense organs We have.
The man with weak eyes can never
obtain through sight the knowledge OBJ
tanned by the man with eyes that are
strong. The man whose sense of taste
has been impaired say, by indulgence,
cannot obtain the sense satisfaction
Of the man whose taste is cultivated
and trained to report accurately.
Our senses are to the mind and body
what reporters are to a great newspa-
per. Each has his own special depart
ment. One covers police. another poll
tics, another sports, another books an
other the drama and entertainment.
and so on. Each is a specialist. The
more efficient the better trained, the
more educated each reporter is in his
special department of reporting, the
stronger will be the stories and arti-
cles he will turn into his paper.
The strength and power of the paper
is but the combined strength and power
of the work of the reporters.
The truthfulness of the paper is the
sum of the truthfulness of reporters.
The new story written by the reporter
with weak eyes will lack strength and
accuracy just as the eyes of the re-
porter lacked strength and accuracy.
AS the matter which is printed in the
newspaper is the result of the work of
the reporters is the matter printed
on the mind the work of the five senses.
To build the muscles of the body we
require wholesome food and proper ex-
ercise. No matter how wholesome the
food, no matter how much or how lit
tie we eat We cannot have strong,
healthy bodies unless we take proper
exercise.
So with the mind No matter how
T1cn the mental 1909 the senses may
bring to the mind, no good can be ac-
complished unless the mind is exer-
cised, is used in serving some purpose,
is employed in doing some work.
Let us use our Newspaper figure to il
lustrate. If a newspaper employed the
greatest staff of reporters in the world,
if each was a master in his line, if each
one had no superior anywhere, if he
wrote stories and articles that had new
er been equalled, if the stories sent in
were such as to command the interest
of the entire city-if these reporters did
all and were all things, and these ar
ticles were printed in the paper in the
most attractive typographical manner,
and the papers were then stored in a
vault in the basement, would that
newspaper have any influence, would
its circulation grow would advertisers
clamor for space in its columns, would
it produce a profit, would it pay divi-
dends. would it be of the least value
to the city or to anything or any one
else?
Just so is that mind and body VAL
ueless unless it is used, unless it serves
people, unless the mental food and the