The Washington herald., 1913-08-09
BY the REV. c. ERNEST SMITH,

Rector of 81. Thomas Episcopal Church
The resignation Of the Rev. Herbert
B. Gwyn as editor Of the Churchman.
Editors are born, not made. It is not
every parish priest who Is able to run
q great daily or weekly. and 1t is no
reflection upon Mr.. Gwyn to say that
since he has been editor of the Church
man there have been no indications
that the managers Of that paper had
discovered a Hugh Miller Thompson or
John Fulton. The question, therefore,
Of the cause Of Mr.. Gwyn's resignation
need not be debated from the standpoint
Of churchmanship: indeed, 1t has not al
ways been possible even for keen
mind to discover on which side the
Churchman's sympathies lay. The Liv-
ing Church Of Chicago. and the Southern
Churchman of Richmond, have their
own ,well-defined stand; their trumpets
give no uncertain sound.
Perhaps Of all positions today that Of
the editor OF a church paper is one Of
the most difficult, IL for no other rea-
son than that he is in charge Of a cause
where anything like real success seems
to be entirely out OF the question. We
speaking, and by no stretch of the imagi-
nation can any one Of them be called
successful or influential Any rector Of
q prominent well-to-do parish has only
to authorize a canvasser to go around
his parish in the interest Of a church
paper with all sorts Of alluring offers.
first year at half prices. &c, to find out
how difficult q matter II is to persuade
his people to become subscribers. In
a parish OF q Thousand Communicates .
successful canvasser will hardly bring
in a dozen new subscribers. and half a
dozen Of these are apt to drop out when
renewal time comes. We have actually
known a parish canvassed where the
rector was in full sympathy with the
paper. had given earnest notice from the
pulpit, urging the advantage OF taking
the paper in question with the net re-
suit of two new subscribers
There are certain reasons for this:
First-Episcopal Church papers are too
high priced; the cheapest is s. year. or
j cents a week. One of them costs 81 q
year. Contrast this with the London
Guardian or Church Times. both Of which
cost cents a copy. These two papers
are ably edited and full of general in
formation about the church. They have
thousands of subscribers, and in conse-
tsers.
Second-Episcopal Church papers do
not give sufficiently general information
about the church itself. and what they
do give is of the most fragmentary and
therefore unsatisfactory kind. One misses
the human touch. In the endeavor to Sc
cure economy this is perhaps unavoidable,
but it is certainly unfortunate. Most
church papers keep a correspondent in
every diocese for the purpose Of report
ing the church at work, but from personal
knowledge touching at least one of these
papers, the system Is a haphazard one.
The correspondent sends on his news
items, and he is fortunate II 10 per cent
escapes the waste paper basket: expenses
must be cut down. No doubt II the edi-
tors published everything they would
have to have much larger papers, but 1t
must be rather trying to a correspon-
dent to find that contributions from the
local clergy and laity, lengthy and ver-
bose very frequently. sent direct to the
paper, are inserted in place Of his own,
apparently for no other reason than that
these cost nothing. Necessarily church
papers do not command the services of
with any special ability
to report news, or with any particular in
terest in their work. Even correspon-
dents appreciate courtesy and some little
attention to the ethics Of good business
One result of this system Of gathering
news is that We get too much padding.
even sermons are not infrequently used.
entire or in large part. whose principal
claim to insertion appears to be that
they cost the paper nothing. The use of
pictures another form of padding. is