Evening star., 1952-03-30


editorial subconscious mind ever
since. For II The Star has displayed
any one political tendency over the
years. that tendency seems to have
been to take q sympathetic view Of
the tribulations of the men bearing
actual responsibility for the conduct
OF our Government.
GO MUCH for the positive side Of
~ the early picture. The Star
spoke with its own voice-no any
ones else--and what 1t said, gener-
ally, was entertaining and fair.
minded. Judged by modern stand-
ards, however, the paper Of those
days had shortcomings aplenty.
For one thing. whatever The Stars
editorial non-partisanship may or
may not have meant. it clearly had
nothing at all to do with impartiality
in the handling of political news.
Some Of the political stories were so
atrociously slanted that the toughest
editor Of the modern partisan press
would have to confess himself OUT
done.
AS late as 1870, when one Matthew
G. Emery was elected Washingtons
last Mayor. the headline on The
Stars exultant story ran IL banks
deep and included Al exclamation
marks. Victory! victory!! Vic
tory!!!" The Star chanted. Emery
Elected by $500 Majority-Ca Carries
Every Ward in the City!!!-By- bye
Cook!!!-Farewell Bowen!!!-A Long
Eternal Adieu to the Whole Swim
ding ng!!!-Hail Kerlumby ~
Yah! Yah!! Yah!!!"-and so on.
Tar, far down the page.
That was not the careful, uncolored
report of an objective recorder of
the news. It was the cry of the vic
tor. shouting his triumph from the
housetopS. It would have made q
good college cheer.
The Star was q lusty youth, TAX
ing a joyful part IN the rough and
tumble Of local politics Of the day.
When it fought. it fought not only
through its editorial page, but through
It's news columns as well. The edi.
tors OF the period were not yet pay
ing much attention to larger, and
more exacting responsibility to the
public-that Of reporting the events
Of the day impartially, regardless of
whether or hot those events con-
formed to what the editors thought
they ought to be.
n UR editors also seemed a little
- doubtful as to how far they
should concern themselves with the
accuracy Of the news. Though The
Star could pride itself on being more
reliable than its competitors, there
is no doubt that its attitude on this
point was more relaxed than it is
today.
It cheerfully parroted stories ap-
pearing in other papers-stories it
had no way Of verifying. It was
known. on occasion. to kill some-
body Oh in an obituary and then
resurrect him the next day-after
the supposed corpse had put in an
appearance, his health sound and
his dudgeon high.
When things like this happened.
The Star assumed the outraged atti-
tude OF an innocent bystander. It
had been hoaxed-somebody had
told 1t lie, which it had accepted
without further question as the truth.
Such was the unblushing, and pre-.
sumably satisfactory, explanation.
Perhaps it was not wholly without
reason that the column adjoining
The Stars editorials for years was
headed: Washington News and
Gossip"
Then. as now, The Star prided itself
on its role as family paper, and it
pledged that nothing in its pages
would offend against the stricteSt
canons of taste. Some Of the news
items Of the period indicate this
pledge was not taken too seriously,
When protests were registered, Wal
ZACH slyly explained that he had to
print scandalous stuff in order to
please the preachers and women.
They will have it." he said. sup
pose no publisher Of today would
dare deny there was some sense to
that reply. We tolerate less license
in our news stories now, but the diff
ference Is only one Of degree.
A DVERTISEMENTS were another
"A matter. In Wallach's time,
management obviously did not
even try to apply standards Of taste
to ads appearing in the paper. There
was nothing to stop the makers of
Helmhold'S Extract of Buchu from
addressing to the ladies full col
umn of page-one adyice-advice so
intimate that DR.. Kinsey himself
might well blush to read 1t today.
The, patent medicine blurbS were
the worst. but in all types Of adver.
tising the slogan clearly was "Any-
thing Goes" The businessman had
paid for his space-he was entitled,
under the rules of the game, to I'LL
it as he pleased. He could lie, cheat
and misrepresent himself till the
cows came home. The Star, like
other newspapers. would pocket his
money. and wash its hands Of the
whole affair.
In those days, for that matter.
there was no clean distinction be-
tween the news and business func-
tions Of the paper. It often was quite
impossible to tell an ad from story,
geographically speaking. Nor did
the editorial side see any impropriety
In allowing its news policy to be In
fluenced by the advertising dollar.