The Newberry herald. (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, June 14, 1876, Image 1
A Family Companion, Devoted to Literature, Miscellany, News, Agriculture, Markets, &c.
Vol. XII. WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 14, 1876. No. 24.
THE HERALC
is PU13INHEI)
EVERY WEDYESDAY MORNING,
At Newberryq S. 03.
BY TH{OSt F. GJRENK19%R
Editor and Proprietor.
Terms.9 $2.50.p"r jAnul9k
Invariably in Advance.
27N,e~ el to*pd at the expiration OJ
Uop The X4 mark denotes expiration of mb
sception.
ADDRESS
CAPT. FRANCIS W. DAWSONq
(Of the Charlwston News and Courier,)
-_T0 TE
STATE PMWS ASW=TIN101
Delivered at the Annual. Meeting in
SpartanbuT.q, S. C., May 10, 1876.
GeAtlemen of the South Carolina
'Press Association, and Ladies and
Gentlemen:
"The Press is a mill that grinds
all that is put into its hopper. Fill
the hopper with poisoned grain and
it wlllgrind it to a meal but there
is death in the bread. 7-Bryant.
Whether the newspaper press
shall build up or pull down; whether
it shall StinmulateLaorality or enqp
age vice; whether it shall give health
fulness to thought and vigor to ac
tion,or palsy the hand and fetter
the toune of them who wouLld ex
pose the myriad forms of modemn
P smdepends mainly upon
the ebaracter and pDurposes of those
heavens where each word, as it i~
uttered, sets its eternal seal. And
so, oat of his own mouth, shall ev
must he be imbuedwith a deep sense
of personalresponsibility; It is his
first debt to the public.
"This responsibility is not a sen
timent. It finds practical expres
sion in every department of a news
paper; in conscientious working, in
doing nothing and writing nothing
that is not, in him who says or
writes it, generous and just. It
forbids whatever can defile or de
base ; any dalliance with impurity,
any gloating over sickening sto
ries of crime. The newspaper must
give the news. Little is gained by
attempting to suppress it. But
between the coldly exact statement,
which is assumed to be indispeisa
ble, and the highly colored pen pic
tures of which some journals are
fond, there is the difference that we
see between a nude antique and the
meretricious suggestiveness of Op
era Bouffe. And in editorial writing,
in expressing the thoughts and opin
ions of the newspaper, the sense of
responsibility should be even more
keen and constant than in determin
ing what shall go to counting-room
orfiresidein the guise of news. What
is said by any of us in the streets
has little effect upon the fortunes
of a people ; it is heard and re
membered only by the few. But
what is printed in a newspaper be
comes known to thousands; and for
it,the community known to read and
support that newspaper are held
accountable. It matters little, in
these disjointed times whether the
community approve or disapprove
of what is written; whether the
newspaper represents or misrepre
sents them. Their enemies take
their approval for granted; the
wish again is father to the thought.
For the reason harsh and bitter
words in the public prints are sins
against the public. They are made
the excuse for. new wrongs and
fresh oppressior. They thrust peo
ples assunder, and are the breath in
the nostrils of the demagogue.
Blame not the Southern newspaper
if it speak less hotly and defiantly
than the private citizen is tempted
to do. It counts the coast to the
public. A day will come, perhaps,
when lips need not be sealed ;
when manly indignation and bold
rebuke will not be misunderstood.
That day has not come yet, and un
til it does come the conscientious
journalist must think first of the
welfare of his public, and last of his
own inclinations. There is another
day that will never dawn ; the day
when it is wiser, as it always is eas
ier, to be headstrong and heedless
than temperate, jtLdicious and full
of thought.
The sense of his rssponsibil
ity will govern the journalist in
small things as in great. No recog
nized cheat or fraud should be al
lowe I to make the press its instru
ment or decoy. The ingenious
knaves who prey on the public
have little scope, unless, through
unaccustomed or un susp ect e d
channels, they can reach the pub
lic ear. Close against them the
columns of the press, and the big
gest swindles of the day will plague
their inventors more than they
will harm the public. A corollary
of this axiom is that advertise
ments-announcements of any kind
for whose publication money is paid
-shall be so printed that their
true character is known and cannot
be mistaken. A particular part of
every newspaper is allotted to paid
announcements. Shrewd advertisers
always prefer that their advertise
ments shall go in some other part
of the paper than in. the regular
advertising columns. Their object
is to give to their announcements a
weight that they would not have if
their true character were known.
Their reason for concealing the fact
that these announcenents are paid
for, and are neither more nor less
than advertisements, is a sufficient
reason why these announcements,
and all of the same class, should
be marked and designated as adver
tisements. Then the advertiser can
vaunt the merits of their wares as
they please and the public read and
judge for themselves.
This rule applies to all pur
chased or purchasable praise or
censure of any person or thing.
The newspaper is expected to give
the public .its candid views ; and
jwhen we print for price any opin
tertained we must be open to the
imputations, that we have sold our
influence with those who only trust
us because of our fancied disinter
estedness. It is hardly necessary
to say that announcements that are
evidently against g o od morals
should not be taken at any price.
The journalist who prints-bqch no
tices as those which are flaunted in
the wealthiest journal in America,
is no better than a pander.
These are illustrations enough
of the application of that sense of
practicable responsibility which
is demanded of the journalist; and
with that responsibility must be as
sociated its handmaidens-Fear
lessnes and Indegjndence.
The truth is seldom welcome;
the whole truth is commonly un
palatable. To dare to tell the truth
is, generally speaking, to dare to be
unpopular. Untruth is more attract
ive at the first glance than truth and
not in the 19th century more than in
the 16th. Wise Bacon said: "This
same truth is a naked and open day
light that doth not show the mas
ques and mummeries and triumphs
of the world half so stately and
daintily as candlelight. Truth may
perhaps come to the price of a pearl
that showeth best by day; but it
will not rise to the price of a dia
mond or carbuncle that showeth
best in varied lights."
Is it not, however, the place of a
journalist to play the pedagogue,
md treat the public in administer
ng the naked truth, as children who
3an be "kept in" or birched, if they
nurmur or sulk. It is his duty to
remonstrate, to rebuke, and to con
lemn, when pernicious plans are
doot, an d pernicious counsels
fhreaten to prevail; when what is
learly and palpably bad or injuri
>us is advised or contemplated.
Lhis is Ao pleasant task. It is eas
er to float with the popular tide
;han to pull against the stream.
ind to pull agaisnt the stream is.
bhe inexorable duty of every jour
2alist who believes that the tide is
getting away from the shores of
ruth. Hence the need of fearful
aess in journalism.
Whether a newspaper must, with
aut reservation, proclaim whatever
its conductor believes to be true
md knows .to be unpopular is a
~noot question. It has a double
bearing. Continued unpopularity,
iowever gained, ensures failure in
journalism Shall the journalist
then unhesitatingly say and do what,
in his judgment, will ruin the busi
cess of his newspaper, cause the
oss of its capital, and deprive him
of the means of serving and
hding the public ? This ques
tion each journalist must decide
for himself. I am free to say, how
ver, that in my opinion telling the
whole truth, frankly and kindly, not
with dogmatism and temper will in
olve no newspaper in lasting loss.
This requires nerve, and financial
strength to stand the temporary
oss that will surely come. So too
there is need of adroit management.
To make a blow effective we must
be able to tell when the iron is hot.
And persuasion oftentimes succeeds
where dictation only excites opposi
ion. In the old fable of the man
and the cloak, the mild rays of the
sun were more potent than the blus
tering winds. The lesson is a
wholesome o n e. Nevertheless,
stern, sharp, truths, cutting like a
sword, crushing like a hammer,
are frequently requisite. When a
member of the body politic is cor
rupt to the bone, it is idle to talk
of slave or potion-the time for
saw an knife has come.
To tell the truth one must know
it. How shall the journalist know
the truth ? There cannot be two op
posing and equally truthful views
of the same subject. As to one
thing there is only one right and
one wrong. Yet journalists stand
on different lines and with perfect
sincerity advocate diametrically dif
ferent views of the same question.
This must be so. Time corrects the
evil. What is wholly true will live,
and the newspaper that preaches and
practices it will live likewise. The
pretended truth will die. Shall the
newspaper that expounded it, and
taught as true that which is shown
to be false, likewise die the death?i
Not unless it holds fast to the un
truth, when its falsity shall be made
-maniet e mnewsapers do this;:
their commercial instincts forbid
it. Obstinate perseverance in the
practice of what has been proved
to be untrue is left to knaves and
fools.. Their journals die; or die
for them, in changing hands and
management. a
To the sense of responsibility
and the fearlessness of which 1 have
spoken, the journalist should add
independence-n o t independence
of the profession of journalism,
but independence in the sense
that he shall have no calling or tie
that can, under any oircumstances,
place his personal interest in oppo
sition to those of his public.
Where newspapers are poor in
purse, because newspapers readers
are few, only a newspaper here and
there can afford to engage the entire
services of an editor fully qualified
for the high duties of his place.
The custom is to hire or beg the
spare moments, or leisure hours,
of some gentleman of ability, some
fluent writer, who has opiniofs
and likes to circulate them. In my
judgment, and speaking of the
South Carolina of to-day, it is wiser
to hire the whole time and thought
and work of a far inferior person.
The latter can be independent, and
except in rare instances, the former
cannot. Suppose, for sake of ar
gument, that the Judge of this
Circuit is tyrannical, incapable, or
corrupt, and the newspapers in the
circuit are edited by lawyers who are
dependent o-i their practice at the
bar. Dare those lawyer-journalists
exp6se the faults of that Judge, and
condeng them as the public w
requires that they be condemned ?
To denounce the Judge is to be out
of favor with him. To praise him,
as Judges go, is to stand well with
him. Lawyers known to be disliked
by a' Judge are shunned by lit
igants. What these want is to
gain their causes; and they natu
rally incline towards the lawyer who
is supposed to have the ear of the
Judge and is familiar with the
court-house brick stairs. The law
yer-journalist, in the case I suppose,
is forced to choose between bold1
speech for the sake of the newspa
per which amuses him, and silence
of himself and his family. Is it to
be expected that under such circum
sances, the lawyer shall think al
ways of his duty to the abstract
public, and never of his obligations
to himself ?
Like cases in which absolute free
dom from other ties and interests
is essential to independence in jour
nalism will readily suggest them
selves to~you. I will mention only
one of them. So long as a journal
ist is in the active pursuit of his
profession, he should not consent
to be a candidate for any public
office. I do not so exalt the profes
sion of journalism as to think that
the editor of a newspaper is more
than Governor, Senator, or Pres
ident. Nor is it meant that because
an editor is a candidate for public
office, he will necessarily be un
faithful in journalism, or sleep on
on his post. The objection is
fundamental. Unless the public
have implicit faith in the unselfish
ness of a press, that press is shorn
of its power; and the- public will
not believe in the unselfishness of
a journalist who is the champion
of a party which isto give him, if
the party prevail, some office of hon
or and profit. Though he be pure as
an angel, he shall not escape ! And,
in truth, he must be more than a
man to do his whole duty, bravely
and vigorously, when, upon making
friends here and avoiding making
enemies there, shall depend his
nomination and election. No act
in the busy life of Horace Greely be
came him more than his prompt with
drawal from the newspaper he had
founded, as soon as he was nomi
nated for President. It had been
better for him, if, true to the mis
sion of journalism, he had neither
coveted nor obtained the fatal prize.
Still another quality is demnpnded
of the journalist; something more
than responsibility,fearlessness and
independence. It is. Honesty, the
Keystone of the arch. The Press is
no Pope. It makes no serious
claim to infallibility. What it must
claim, what the public requires of
it, is honesty of purpose. This is
the paramount need of the journal
ist. Without it, Responsibility and
Ferlesness a n d Independence
count for little. Remember, that
insincerity in journalism is more
injurious than in private life,
because the printed and published
equivocation or deceit goes forth
to thousands who see it and are af
fected by it. When then a journal
ist publishes what he does not
believe or defends what in his heart
he condemns, or cringes to preju
dice for. his own or his party's
good, he is as many times a falsifier
and deceiver as there are sheets on
which his words are printed. A
journalist, of course, should be loy
al to the political party with which
he is in sympathy. There is no
thing dishonest in that. But polit
ical parties are, in their purity, the
exponents of well-defined and un
derstood political principles, and
the Press should not allow those
principles to be overlooked or for
gotten. In being the supporter
of a particular party the newspa
per is, or should be, the exponent of
its principles; not the mere mouth
piece of the leaders of the party
defending them and their aims,
whether constant with party p.i1
ciple or not. A newspaper,whatev
er the fervor of its personal allegi
ance, cannot be false to the govern
mental principles which are the rea
son of that party's being, and still
truly be the representative of the
party. It must talk plainly and
constantly when a party is so con
trolled that the objective of its
managers is opposed to the purpose
for whici the party was formed;
and that purpose is, and always
must be, not the preferment of in
dividuals, but the good of the State
and the Nation.
Just here I venture to remind
you of the difference between a po
litical principle and those moral
principles which form the moral
law. Whosoever steals is a thief,
and whosoever murders is a mur
derer. There is no room there
for dmnbt or misapprehesioi. But
political principles are only con
venient formulas, expressing what
are conceived to be fundamental
political truths. They are rules of
tiction; they are laws, but not
laws like the law of motion or of
gravitation, which are exact, and
admit of no dispute. We who are
Democrats, and are guided by the
principles of the Democratic party,
are con.fident that our principles,
and none other, are true. And
they who are, intelligently and by
conviction members of the Repub
lican party believe that they- alone
are right, and we are wrong. Nei
ther can be sure that they are
wholly right. The lapse of years,
the survival of the fittest, will tell
which of the two will best "insure
domestic tranquility, promote the
general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our prosperity." We should,
therefore, be careful that we do
not confound moral principle with
political principle; what is sure
with what is uncertain ; that we
blame no man for honestly and con
scientiously preferring one political
creed or party to another; that we
do not even censure him, who, with
no selfish object, is converted or per
verted from one party to another.
All that we can fairly insist on is,
that the man or the journal shall be
true as steel to the party whose
creed he or it professes. All that
we can fairly demand is, none
shall remain in our camp whose
opinions or fancies fit them, as they
and we know, to serve only with
our enemy.
I grant that the sense of respon
sibility, the fearlessness, the hon
esty and the liberality, whose nature
and application I have endeavored
to describe, are more difficult of
complete attainment in journalism
than in most professions. Mount
we never so high, the peak where
perfection sits is far beyond. Yet
in gazing upon it, and aspiring to
it, are we already elevated above
those who linger on the plains, or
are hidden in the valleys. The
way of the journalist is steep and
rugged ; but if it be seen that he
steadily press onward, that his eye
fixed on the heights above him, is
few or none will be quick to blame
if the bruised feet sometimes stum
ble and slide, or if he should go
astray, in some moment when the
clouds of political discussion hide
the straight path from sight. At
ast I trust so !
The press, as I have shown, owe
much to the public.; but the public
owe something to the press. They
1who read can no more evade their
obligation than they who write and
print can escape theirs. It is to
the interest of the reading pulMic
to encourage men of character and
standing, of brain and culture, to
remain among them as journalists
to encourage them by recognizing
the nobility and value of their work.
Journalism ranks high as a profes
sion, because its capacity is great
for good or evil. It preaches to
more souls than the church does;
it pleads more causes than the bar
do; it destroys or confirms more
diseases than medicine knows of.
Of it may be said what Sieyes said
of the Third Estate, the People:
"It was nothing, it is something, it
aspires to be everything." There
should then be, in the dealings of
the two powers, the Press and the
Public, no sense of favor on either
side, an entire absence of any feel
ing of pecuniary obligation. Fa
miliarly speaking, the purchaser of
-t newspaper no more confers a fa
-.or on the publisher of that paper
than he who buys a piece of long
cloth confers a favor on the mer
chant who sells it-unless he knows
that the article is not worth the
money, in which case he has only
himself to blame; or unless he was
deceived as to its value, in which
case he certainly will not buy a
similar article at that place again.
It is a business transaction. The
newspaper is siold at so much a
copy, and.its advertising at a fixed
price. They who buy either get
fall value for their money-so the
seller thinks. If the buyers do not
think so, they need not buy. Let
this be once understood; and the
public will no more expect valuable
favors from a newspaper, because
they are "old subscribers," "regu
lar advertisers," and the like, than
the purchaser of a barrel of flour
expects the seller to throw in a
demijohn of molasses as a mark of
his appreciation of the honor done
him in buying a good article at a
fair market price. This may seem
a very independent way of conduct
ing a newspaper. It is nothing
less. And in no other way that I
know of can newspapers be made to
occupy their proper relations to
each other.
But 'The support and countenance
that the public owe to the newspa
per is not entirely a matter of mo
ney. In buying a newspaper the
public do not buy men's souls. Yet
it is expected, many a time, that the
newspaper shall bow obsequiously
to the demands of its readers, and,
right or wrong, echo their com
plaints. Of what worth is such a
newspaper, a journalistic chameleon
that takes the hue of what it feeds
on? My friends ! the journalist
who says or does any single thing,
merely because it accords with the
likes or dislikes of its readers, is
unworthy of his profession, and un
true to his public. For this reason
should the publisher be at least as
tolerant in dealing with newspapers
as in dealing with each other. When
one friend differs from another in
opinion, does he denounce that
other as dishonest or corrupt be
cause of that difference ? Of course
not! They believe each other to be
upright and sincere, aiid lose no
whit of their common respect. This
is what the journalist exacts of his
public. Be sure that his aims and
objects are good, and you may be
pretty sure that he will reach the
right goal in the end. And if, work
ing honestly and assiduously, he
should fail, need he be outlawed
and branded ? We of the South
.know, only too well, that the cause
which is lost is not always the cause
which deserved to be lost'; and we
who suffer by defeat, and, therefore,
are quick to censure those who were
conspicuous in a disastrous fight,
should take heed, both press and
public, lest our inactivity or distrust
or obstinacy was instrumental in
making that a rout which else had
been a victory.
When then any body of persons
call upon the press to grapple with
great wrongs, to expose evil-doers,
to crush vice in the bye ways and
expose, fraud and rascality in high
places, those, persons must sustain
that press heartily and ungrudging
1y. ts revenuae rnbuiness income
is to the newspaper what the voice
is to orator, and his verse is to
the poet. It is, what, in man, the
body is to the mind. The newspa
per may hunger and be honorable;
it may thirst and be true. But it
is easier, my friends, to be honor
able and true if hunger and thirst
be satisfied, and there is, to them,
no care for the morrow.
In dealing with the press the
public should judge as they would
be judged, and do as they would
be done by; they should recognize
the many hardships and few re
wards of the journalist's life; they
should require only that the journal
ist be faithful to the best that he
knows, and, knowing that and feel
ing it, they should hold up his
hands in what is, at last, their bat
tle, and. must be their gain or loss.
For the journalist cannot prosper
in his profession unless the cause of
the public be his own. If he run
counter to their best interests, he
will go down as he ought to go
down. Only see to it, you who are
the public, that he go not down be
cause of your lethargy or your dis
trust! No doubt You recall the
sweet sad words of Dryden: "My
errors, I hope, are qnly those of
charity to mankind; and such as
my own charity has caused me to
commit, that of others may more
easily excuse." May it be thus with
all of us.
South Carolina, as a newspaper
reading State, is far behind New
England and the Northwest. This
is a misfortune. Each one of you
can do something to remedy it;
not for the sake of the newspaper,
but for yourselves. By reading and
digesting the well-considered -views
of others, you will enlarge and ripen
your own. By knowing what oth
ers around you have done,7owu will
learn what best -to do yourselves.
By looking across the mountains
and over the waters of South Caro
lina ; by watching those whose field
in art, in commerce, and in agri
culture, is broader than our own ;
you will extend your horizon,
strengthen your mer tal vision and
become sensibly higher, better, and
more liberal men. So can you, and
shall you embrace what is best,
cling to what is most wortyy and
noble and true.
Gentlemen of the State Press
Association, my last words are to
you. None deny the importance
of the work that, as a body, we
do; and "the degree of estimation
in which any profession is held
becomes the standard of the esti
mation in which the professors
hold themselves." Cicero has said
that "there is not a moment with
out some duty," and it becomes us,
it is incumbent upon us, in. every
duty of every moment, to act in
such manner that we shall honor
and respect oursevles in deserving
the honor and respect of our pub
lic. This, at least, we can do. It
is charged, I know, that we some
times abuse our power and neglect
our opportunities. This may be
so;, and yet J am confident that,
when the great account shall be
closed ; when the good and evil
shall be weighed, and the debit and
credit of journalism shall be count
ed up, the balance will be in favor
of the universal press, as having
sought after and striven for the
right, and having, in the midst of
doubt and trial and peril, in the
very shadow of tho Valley of
IDarkoess, done what it could.
Some such hope and faith as tbis
is needed; for, of honor here and
public fame, the journalist has lit
tie. The greater the authority
and the wider the sphere of the
newspaper of which he is a part,
the less is his need of public praise.
No fumes of incense rise before
him, as before the popular preach
er; no plaudit comes to him as
that which swells the breast and
lights the eye of orator and
actor. What the journalist says
is said to thousands, enters into
thousands - of hearts and is pon
dered in a thousand brains ; and
he who says it is unseen, if not
unknown. The press makes thous
andsTamous while its conductors
are unhonored and unsung. The
work that journalists do is bread
cast upon the waters that seldom
cometh back, even after many
days. It matters little ! "Fame,"
in Pope's words, "can never make
ADVERTISINC RATES,
Advertisements inserted at the ra&% oft$.0
per square-one iuch-for Ainlsetion, and
75c. for each subsequent insertion. Double
colamn nAvertisements tenPer cent on.W*be.
Notices of meetings, obituaries and tibu Ids
of respect, same rame per square as ordinaty
advertisements.
Special notices in local cola=n 15 cents
perline.
AdverdisemtntffnotmwA*ed wttb e -num -
ber of insertions wff.be k%p* - n VU forid
a nd charged acrigy
Special coutraeft.ma& wMt lows adver
tisers,2wimm,berad=sm abM-isrtes
Jos PAtwwod;~
Done with Neatness and Dispatch
Terms Cash.
us lie down contentedly on a death
bed."
Nor are the substantial rewards
of journalism in proportion to the_
wear and tear of the body and
brain which whiten the hair and
dim the eye of the working men.
of the daily press. While others
sleep we must work on. Abuses
which escape the attention of the
public must not escape ours What
every other agency fails -to ACCOM-;
plish, the press is expected to do,'
and do it well. In the public,blan
dering and negligence -and -indo
lence seemed to be no serious f&ult
-in the press they -are anp on
able. And, at last, when the slep
less vigilCnce, the keen criticiAm.
the caustic humor, the sarc-asm.
and invective, the loyalty and val
or have done their work whin
purity of government, publ-ic0 in:""
tellig6ee, and the public'ProsPer.i
ity have been won, the journaliA'
fee and recompens is-hM? T 7
enjoy their blessiWseqaiafty '' U&
those to whom they-ca6me, as'thW