The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-10-14
fOfficisl City, State and County Newspaper)
Nav Serve a Purpose

May Serve purpose
Ed;,;np &C the Sioux Falls Press by the ciuo
women of that city may have served PURPOSE
Mark Twain once said that everybody was Taking
about the weather. but no one ever dld anything
ah,nt il It has long become a tritc and probably
too cynical a by-word among newspaper men t""'
most readers believe they could edit newspaper
better than the men who may have grown callous
and probably hard boiled in the busness-there IS
really a great divergence Of opinion as to wnether
newspaper work can be dgnifed under professions.
The women who invaded the composing ana eu'
torial rooms Of the Sioux Falls paper must nave
,,;y.d some 81 the obstacles encountered by those
who daily mirror for some sixty million or more
readers the great human drama we call life
II is n3. an easy task to- edit newspaper. but ~
is not wholly thankless, joyless or unrcmunera-
tive job for every servant should be worthy OF MS
hire but it is business the routine OF when the
man in the street has little or no conception ana oy
the very reason Of newspaper operation he cannot
have He goes into a store and bank and the
operation which cashes his check renews his note
is a visible one The same is true Of the grocery
or department store. Close contact has famarzed
the customer Of these businesses with the processes
through which he receives merchandise and service
Of various kinds.
Not 50 with TIE newspaper Only few readers
can come in contact with the making OF modern
daily newspaper The old days Of personal journal
i'm have gone Just as personal contact with owners
has in business. Few propretors today with
the growth Of business wait on their GUS
toners, wrap the bundle. swap yarn Or two.
II is physically impossible, economically so, too,
IL service is to be facilitated and volume Of bust
ness handled that will rebound to the mutual benc
fit Of owner and client alike. Of course something
has been lost Of fine nature by the absence Of per-
sonal reader contact in journalism well in
merchandising but time and tide wait for ono.
There is a great, insistcnt discriminating bowling
public demanding better and cheaper merchandise.
better, cleaner newspapers, improved service so
that time once consumed in trcsomc shopping may
be put to better usage than swapping yarns over
u sugar barrel joking around the base-burncr
with cheese and crackers primers.
But. letting the into newspaper plant
the mysteries Of the "hell box ard the printers
devil may some purpose. 1t is not new in |
novation. Ministers have been called into the cdi.
torial sanctum and told by worried editors to get
cut edition Christ might edit the paper were
He earth today. There gentleman down |
in Missouri Nebraska recently who thought he |
big enough to double for divinity and b. got
newspaper which supposed to reflect all that |
holy and obliterate all that evil, low,
mineral. In other words the editor refused to
see evil. say evil hear evil. OF course the
order too big for any t. fill and his
conception of newspaper that Christ might edit
was bjth sacrilege and a libel on the Great
Teacher, who in the lowest criminal tn,
possibilities Of birth and forgiveness Of sins
Mayors Of cities have been asked to issue papers
which in their estimation would best serve civic
needs. Tons Of perfectly good ncwsprnt have been
wound from the giant webs of the great presses
weaving the warp and wool Of the mayors Journal
istic dreams. The finished product in nearly every
instance has not been impressive. and more often
the: newspaper product Of the club women the min
listers and other amateurs at the game, has been
dull, embarrassing and of little reader interest.
The descent Of uplifters and reformers upon news.
papef offices is not wholly useless They serve to
impress the laymen the tremendous problems be-
fore all newspapers to keep the news, as Edgar T.
Cutter, superintendent of the Associated Press for
the Central Division. told the Bismarck Kiwanians
recently, "pure at its source" There is cOncep-
ton that the newspaper business has but one object
Us voiced by pioneer personal journalist: ITO
raise hell and sell newspapers" That concep-
ton has gone completely from the newspaper
code. There is hardly day but what some news
item OF salacious or filthy nature finds its way
20 the commodious waste paper basket that is q
and voracious public servant in most |
editorial offices.
Arether common misconception exists too and
that Is an impression or conviction in some Quar-,
te1 that IN editor has right to express his per
sonal views in the columns reserved for editorial
He may honestly differ with large per. (
centage OF his readers-rnust, on many occasions or
Else serve up daily paper az flat, as insipid n
The "funsfal baked meats" that did coldly furnish
forth he wedding tables Of d famous shake
'pseesan character. Practically every Associated
Prs5y newspspsr reaching some sixty million read
~ over network d 10000 miles Of leased wires
E49pGcr xtFives bard - keep it's news pure ct the
loisses - gr1tsst as9st newspaper has Is fair-1
asss H. ~ treateo* q news - the editors and
s1sN vlslsss scss:t