The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-06-25
THE GLOOMY TRIP
THROUGH THE PAPER

Editors Note-The following edi-
torial, condensed somewhat because
of lack of space, is taken from The
Wichita, Kas., Beacon 1t is re-
published to show to what lengths
the critics of newspapers will 60 in
demanding that certain advertising be
omitted from the columns Of news
paper, and the absurdity Of trying to
spoil our lives by denying the right
Of anyone to enjoy whatever good
things he can get out of life beyond
the bare necesslties.)
A subscriber from Vassar avenue
sends a we'll written protest against
some tobacco advertising which has
been appearing in The Beacon.
She says that a paper whose col
umnS generally are clean and whose
ambitions for a high standard are we'll
known should print in its advertising
columns nothing advising the use OF
that which leads to the formation OF
useless habits
Her argument seems plausible and
we started through the pages of The
Beacon to see how much advertising
of this kind there is.
The first page we turned held a
large, breezy, pictorial advertisement
on the delights, rewards and consola~
tons of chewing gum. We paused to
study the attractive Typography OF 1t.
1t was the last word in modern adver
Using. AS we gazed upon it, the
desire for gum began to agltate oar
salivaries. Then we realized that the
advertisement was bound to increase
gum chewing. In fact that was why
it was written.
Then we remembered that modern
scientific conclusion declares gum
chewing to be more deieter1ous than
tobacco chewing. Its gastrOn onic
extravaeances attack entire families.
AS We reach the conclusion that
gum chewing should MOI he encourage
ed in any virtuous newspaper, an at
tractive announcement of a shoe man
contronts us. He is offering at bar
gain shoes with French heels four
inches high. Then we catch a vision
of an age of gum chewing women
mincing and totterlng to their fall up
on these unnatural stills.
Advertisements for foot ease" bun
ion cures, relief from corns, flash ac-
ross our vision, and we make mental
note that paper desiring to abolish
the harmful should eliminate the
French shoe advertising. You glance
apprehensively through the teeming
columns to see how many there are,
but before you've proceeded far your
eye falls upon the modern corset adj
vertisement, and you recall all the
things the dress reformer and the ply
stefan have said of tight lacing' and
you put corsets in the list of things
that people do not need.
And so we pass YEARLY through the
advertising columns we have in times
past enjoyed. We read an advertise
ment for pins and shudder at the
recollection that babies sometimes
swallow them: we recall that it costs
the hayward daughter Of New York
millionaire SIS a week for pin"
money, according to the reports of a
recent scandal; we glimpse at the pic
ture Of nifty looking pistol for 298;
placing homicide, suicide and foolicide
within the easy reach of ALL the pic
trred silk stockings, the temptation
to wear which, Jane adams tells us,
has led poor girls into indiscretions,
leer at us.
We've become abnormally sensi-
tive to the possibilities OF evil in near
ly all the things that are offered for
sale, from the motorcycle to face
paints.
We lay down the paper realizing
that no editor can print theln all and
be virtuous or refuse them and remain
solvent. As matter of fact. if our
weary brain does not delude us. there
are only about a dozen articles of
commerce that should be advertised" "