New-York tribune., 1921-12-23


less thought about the profession of
journalism in which we are engaged
and to which we have dedicated our
lives than about any other topic Of ia
miliar discussion.
l assume is to be profession. Yet
it is without any code of ethics or sys-
tenn Of self-restraint and self-respect.
1t has no sure standards either Of
work or duty. Its intellectual land
scapes are anonymous, its moral des-
tinations confused, if not impalpable.
The country doctor, the village lawyer,
knows his place and keeps it; is held
by certain obligations and inspired by
certain traditions; modest and keeping
within bounds, though he may be
learned and skillful, having the con.
sciousness Of superiority. The journal
ist, be he OF city or town, has few if
any mental rerspectives to fix his pro-
fessional horizon, no canon laws to
guide his wayward footsteps, neither
chart Of precedent nor map of dis
covery upon which his sailing lines and
travel lines have been distinctly marked.
He is law unto himself, too often a
free lance, only the more self-assertive
because he lacks assured position and
is without authority.
"UnstabIe as Wnter'
There are those who even profess to
disdain the name Of journalist, while
proclaiming the power of the press. The
affectation of infsllibility assumed by
the more pretentious to hide the sense
Of insuficiency, if not Of inferiority,
communicates itself to the obscure and
initiative, sometimes degenerating into
foolish and childish bombast. Accord
ing to once-received opinion, anybody
could keep hotel and edit news
paper. Our reading, like our victuals,
was i'll dressed, the point Of view, like
the bill of fare, wanting discrimination
and variety, with frequent changes of
editor and landlord. agree that we
have reformed this measurably, though
the newspapers have scarcely made as
great progress as the hotels. They are
yet what DR.. Rush called them, "ve-
hicles of disjointed thought" carrying
the curse Of Reuben: unstable as
water, thou shalt not excel"
There seems continuity nowhere. The
panegyrist of yesterday becomes the
critic Of to-day, the assailant of to-
morrow, and as the average purveyor
for the press measures his words no
more than the average dairyman the
water he puts into his milk, newspaper
lucubration decreases in Importance in
the proportion that it increases in
carelessness, the space writer having
his daily grind to do and pursuing
lines of least resistance, not always, in
his worry and hurry, heedful Of justice
and accuracy AS / am myself an old
offender and have in my career perpe-
trated all the sins enumerate, let me
at one and the same time serve my
warrant and crave your pardon.
The press everywhere, in England
and in America, even in Germany and
in France, where the personal equation
still sets the pace, has deteriorated in
weight, while celebrating it's methods
and augmenting its enterprise; has, as
we would say in Kentucky, lost in bot
tom what it may have gained in heels.
We hear it said that it gives the public
what it wants. Taking that public as
it's own creation, it has either over
educated it or undercut itself. But it
seems to me that this is an incident
of period of transition.
The old order of personal journal
ism, with its ideas Of individual ac-
countability, often mers egotism and