Evening star., 1915-07-07
PUBLIC CONSCIENCE
IN EDITORS KEEP
Percy Andreae Gives Interna-
tionaI Press Congress
His Views.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
PAPERS HELP AMERICAN
Task Is Great in Molding Immi-
grants Into True, Loyal Citi-
zens of United States.

SAN FRANCISCO. July 7.--Percy An
dreae of Chicago. vice president of the
American Association of Foreign Ian
guage Newspapers. addressing the In
ternationaI Press Congress here today.
function of the press in America was
to act keeper of the public con-
science
This is no mere metaphor. he con-
tinued. There never was a time when
men well women were so fiercely
intent upon appealing to the public
conscience and assuming to speak in
it's name. And who is to distinguish.
amid this babel of tongues wasging in
the name of the public conscience.
which voice is truly the voice of the
people and which is not?
Il; is the incessant conflict between
the contrary winds of alleged public
opinion that does more lasting dam
age in our day than even those colos-
sal social upheavals which occasional
ly result from the Clashing interests
of race and race. Not because the
conflict of human opinions is in itself
injurious. for we know that 1t is not,
but because. when opinions. however
honest. masquerade in a false guiSe,
they are misleading, and perplex and
bewilder the public conscience instead
Editors Qualifications.
who, then. is better qualified than
the trained and experienced newspaper
editor to point the distinction be-
tween the mere passing winds that
bend and twist the public mind for a
fieeting moment and the real storm
wind that originates in the public
r,l,i tlff a
most depths and giving it new and
lasting shape
The distinction between the foreign
language press in America and the
American press, Mr.. Andreae thought.
lay in the efforts of the former to
make a good American of the immi-
grant and the duty of the latter TO
keep him good American. In this
connection. he said:
Il am not at all sure which of the
two tasks is the more difficult. The
foreigner when he reaches these shores
comes in many cases with that one
sided conception of American liberty
which renders him blind to the fact
that the exercise of his liberty is con-
ditioned upon his due regard for the
liberty of others. In his first exaltation
upon being delivered from the shackles
of his old life he is apt to suppose that,
since the order of things he has left
behind him meant the denial of indf-
freedom into which he enters here i'm
plies correspondingly an absence of all
necessity to submit to the exigencies
of social order. He has to learn, in
other words, that while order may ex-
ist without liberty. there is no liberty
conceivable without order. 1t is the
task of the foreign language news
paper TO bring this fact forcibly home
10 him, and l am making no idle boast
when i say that it has succeeded in ac-
complishing this self-imposed task in
a remarkable degree.
Making True Americans.
one of making true American of the
foreignborn immigrant. Whether.
after becoming merged in the general
citizenship of the country. he remains
true American or not depends, as ii
depends in the case of every one of US.
be he foreign born or native. upon our
press than that of keeping the mind
OF every citizen of this country unal-
terably fixed upon those fundamental
principles Of government laid down by
our immortal forefathers-"
In conclusion Mr.. Andreae said:
1T is fit and proper that the press
should bow to the public. because the
public is sovereign. But when we so
bow let us first be sure that 1t Is the
sovereign public we are bowling to and
not mere bogy. ingeniously dressed
up to resemble it. And. above all. even
In bowing. let US remember that
though right or wrong, the public
ever remains the supreme sovereign,
the press. too, can never divest itself
of its own supreme responsibility
toward that sovereign, upon the faith
full fulhllment Of which he relies, and
for the neglect of which he is ever
ready to exact a stern accounting-its
responsibility as the keeper of the pub
lie conscience"