The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-19
POWER OF PRESS STILL IN ITS
 INFANCY?

Waterbury, Conn, x April 19, 1887. Editor, Waterbury Democrat:
 These are the days of an infini- tude of printed matter. The great presses of the world thresh out an output of paper that is beyond the powers of imagination to estimate. Compared to the reading matter Of a hundred years ago at the disposal of the reading public of that time, the output of white paper is 8 veritable Niagara. This despite the encroachment of the radio, 8 fac- tor that one might consider as en- ticing the mentally lazy from the printed page, but evidently the newspapers, magazines and books are holding their own, and all this again despite the alluring automo- bile, with its avenues of distracting elements that offer ways and means of seeking distraction from books and concentration on m ental l pleasures.
 Added to the radio and the au- tomobile are the movies, and yet despite those three gigantic factors in the life currents of the present day, the printed page still holds its own. It would require the resources of a Rockefeller Foundation to conduct researches to explain the how and why of this modern mir acle, or is it that the human mind is expanding more and more, and demands more mental food than in past ages and generations?
 Libraries are more and more in demand, and wherever found, as in the New York library, for example, are daily filled with great numbers of readers and seekers after some kind of knowledge all worshippers of the printed page, and confirmed readers all.
 And yet despite the army of writ CTS and producers of literature there are none who seem to inter- pret the great under currents of the life today that can throw on the screen concise information of what are the causes and reasons for the changing forces that are re- sponsible for the transformation. It may be said that the news paper still holds the front of the stage, its tremendous influence as an educator of public opinion is a thousand times greater today than 1t has ever been, and one questions if 1t is utilizing all that tremendous influence to the full of its capacity. The front page of a newspaper is -or should be the mirror of the world, 1t is the herald of the com- ing shadows that cast their shadows before.
 It may be well said that the power of the press Is still in its in- fancy. The world can very well do without its radios and its automo- piles, but 1t cannot get along with out its newspapers. So may it be said that all newspapers Should be without fear or prejudice, and printed in the interests of all .aliks instead of one faction, or clique, ex- elusive group, or coterie. Its per- quisite, unbiased news. NEWS FIT TO PRINT, Its bane and detriment -propaganda.
 It should be the mission of real newspaper to keep in close touch with the intellectual and scientific trends of the day, as they affect human life. Life that is held so cheaply today, and how can any thoughtful mind fail to pause and reflect when 1t becomes aware that every year, thirty-one and half millions of human beings pass through the change called death That every three years . number greater than the population of the United States leave this world for the next. That in the single span of single life of four score years | the inconceivable number 1.-two bil- lion four hundred million fellow humans pass from out the reach oi Itime and sense. And yet the news papers are full year in and year