Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-24

= -HE least romantic, the most Tepelien'
thing upon our planet is crime. Yet,
so mingled is the web of human me-
'the good and ill together" that we are
prone to forget or gid over the stark real
tty of that which is odious, sordid, vile
"a pitiable infinitely pitiable, but never PIC
s.turesque! The splendid villains are all IN
~ fiction. For their true portrayal we must go
mot to the popular prints, but TO the DIG WISE
.,rdramatists and historians, or to 1bsen, that
s terrible truth-teller. If you would know "nat
B crime is read Ghosts" or serve season
IL as police reporter. To the extent that dis
s; ease, moral and mental, is matter Tor over
sion. to the extent that bilge-water is allur-
h ing and gallows-rope beguiling, to that ex-
tent is the reek of crime a fit subject Tor
4adripping sentimental1sm.
d. Curiousy enough, however, the IDEA docs
sy obtain that of all news, that having to DO
sfawith crime is most interesting. If by some
readers it is skipped or touched but sparing-
i sly, by many it is devoured, demanded, in
= their imagination standing alone,
Like Adams recollection of his fall"
Now whether newspaper treatment or crime
be the effect or the cause, or partly Dotn, OIL
this. unhappy taste, the fact remains tnaC
j much of the current chron1cllng OF muroer'
burglary, mob violence, and rampant scan
dal is produced under the spell OF tradl-
4 ton that such things make the best stories
and therefore should be turned to the rich
est possible account. Being virile craftsmen
who would count it crime indeed not to in
= terest their readers the writers whose tai
s ents are mustered to the task Will some
times pair $ not Willingly, but in the flush OF
a good workers enthusiasm, picture more
colorful than real. We do not mean that es-
sential facts and incidents are not reported
Alright but that in the magical atmosphere
of Entertainment which the newspaperman
so often feels beholden to conjure up, large
ly mayhap bece ':se his public SO often de-
mands it, crimes lineaments lose their drab
degradation. There is reason to hope, now
ever that JOUR- alism will mend in this as it
has in some other particulars Time was,
and not many years gone, when executions
of criminals were reported in minute de-
tail, column upon column, the more narrow
ing, the better; today those grievous Incl
dents receive as a rule, but briefest men
ton. The trend undoubtedly is toward fea-
turing news that counts in the larger life of
Z men, news of import and value, that reveals,
j if not the best, certainly not the basest, the
i least characteristic, and in tru-i, the least
!. interesting of human aspects. And this
4. ideal of forward-thnking newspapers will be
!, brought the more speedily to pass, the more
generously it is sustained and encouraged
by the reading rank and file
Public opinion, with all its potencies for
II good or ill, is neither the elusive fairy nor
the battling ogre it is sometimes imagined:
Z but is simply the collective thought and feel
ing of this, that and the other man or wom-
an who, like you, esteemed reader looks
i upon the world of which you be a part.
and by praise or censure, by word and deed
yea by unuttered Ii and dislikes, helps to
make up that total state of mind and urge of
/ spirit which is the communitys self. We are
all and each contributors to public opinion
& SO that every effort to judge clearly and
Z rightly is that much gained for common san
/, ity and common justice. That the press has
= It's peculia and exceeding responsibility
2 which all too often is more marked in the
/, breach than the observance, must be ac-
I knowledged. But surely the stream of public
opinion does not end with the press, albeit
+ sometimes supposed to begin there. Every
!, condonement of lawlessness, every fling in
i sordid scam l. every slopping-over of SEN
II timentality in the presence of things Grim.
ssinal goes to the creating of an atmosphere
/, j which justice is befogged and the pulse
= of human progress sore depressed. There
!, are two extremely unfortunate attitudes to-
ward crime: one Of savage revenge, the other
Il OF mincing sentimentality; the one lacks in
telligence and effectiveness the other lacks
true compassion and helpfulness. "Whatso
L ever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
was not writ in anger but in wisdom. Lei
1.-THE community think more of it's sowing
II and there will be less of tragic reaping