340
THE WEST SHORE.
TRUE JOURNALISM.
Thai, taken as a whole, the English literature of to
day in far cleaner and more wholesome than that of even
, loss than a century ago, is a pleasing and encouraging
truth. Upon the shelves of every scholar's library stand
books which have not a rival in modern times in the im
morality of their contents, and which simply hold their
places among purer volumes because they are denomi
nated " classic," and were honored with notmlar amimvnl
, , 1 i i
in those "gixxl old times" when people were none too
pruuisn aixmt wliat was six)kon or written. Mr. Spur
goon recently said, "Our grandmothers read books which
their daughters would be ashamed to open," and a com
parison of our modern popular works of fiction with those
. it l t .... . .
i mo last century will furnish convincing evidence of the
truth of his remark. Books, such as now receive the
stamp of jx.pular npproval and find their places upon
unrary sneives, are certainly more wholesome in tlioii
conumta than those of a few docades ago. While this is
true or the bettor class of books, the opposite must be
nam oi puoiicatioiiB or the periodical press. Improve
tnenU in the art of printing and the enormous reductioi
hi u. wwioi putmsinug, combined with rapid and cheap
v...n....HH.noverwi.io ami thickly populattkl areas, ha
resulted in multiplying, to an astonishing degree, the
number of periodicals. By these facilities for cheap
jmxiucuon ana wide circulation, papers whose content
vary irom the simply p.-ruictou to the positively in.,
moral mid degrading have Won enabled to establisl
themselves and spread their d oralizing inlluences
vnrougiiom mo enure nation, Up,,,, tl, HuiK.i t gained
from those whose moral sensil.il if !.
blunbxl, they have lived, recruiting at an alarming rate
the ranks of their readers from the youth of our land
over whom their influence for evil has become appalling!
The records of our ix)lice and din. ma . -
prisons and asylums, are daily furnishing evidence of
. " v,1.i,u,ihi.ui oi sucu literature is
liavinff uixin tlioun u-lii. n..,.. ,..;ti. :.. n
. , "ihhii me circle or its ever
...........K iu ueejx'ning mnuenc. The printing press
and the leaden type, are inanimate objects, ready to be
manipulated by the hand of the g,xxl ami the bad Thev
T 1".I:!.,Vh! Rk",,,U f uIture or 11,0 'Nominators of
vice, . they shall Ik, rests with the inUdligont and
th.nkmg, the moral and cultured ix.rtion of our citizens
Aa a recent writer on this subject remarke.1, the essentiai
HemenU are simple, "Given," said he, 8 vile imagina
tion, am depraved heart, with a few brains, then put
w. h,u ,U control the m.xlern printing press, and hold
out a alight unmry reward, and you have i combina
tion tome of the most dangerous forces that our xlern
cinliaatiou know, anything about" Those are the essen
tial condition under which is produced that which re
mn. the passive condemnation of a vast majority of 2
cius; and yet, until it ceases to be passive and Cm"
active aud aggressive, condemnation is idle and impTnt
For this, journalism, as a profession, cannot be held
fully responsible, A weU hold the noble science of
surgery and medicine accountable for those unworth
disciples who prostitute the knnwled
commit crimes against nature. The great responsibilit
lies not with the press, not with those whose perverted
literary taste craves such filthy trash, but with the'
acknowledged respectable portion of the community
those who, for business or what they deem prudent
reasons, furnish the financial support to these manufac
turers and retailers of vilest scandal. Thro i
this city-men of acknowledged respectability and high
social position who admit these filthy sheets within the
sacred precincts of the home circle. They are, thought
lessly perhaps, but none the less actually, subjecting
their children to influences which can but be highly in.
jurious. They are laying the foundation for a tower of
sorrow and grief whose weight shall crush them in their
declining years. They are sowing the wind, and the
harvest of whirlwind must surely be reaped Instances
are not wanting to prove the truth of all that has been
said. To-day the heads of parents, guardians, brothers
and husbands, bowed in shame for the wayward conduct
:f loved ones, attest its truth. And yet how many of
them realize the full measure of their own responsibility
for that which they look upon as an undeserved aillio
tionV They have taken these papers into their families,
ar have in their business contributed" to their tmmioil
aud any bitterness which, may flow into their lives from
tne inquire stream they have thus helped to snsttiu, is
but a righteous judgment visited upon them, and which
may at any time fall uion the heads of their eouallv
guilty neighbors.
It is not a pleasant subject to dwell upon, but it i
necessary that our citizens should be aroused. This
danger is not remote, nor is the cxuro of it entirely
beyond our reach. We are not talking alone of the vile
sheets published in New York: the Dress and people of
that State are attending to that matter. l is of one in
this city we speak, which is the base equal of the worst
of them, which is attacking the purity of our home circles
and the happiness and peace of our domestic hearths,
It was no evidence of perspicacity on the part of that
weekly paper one which, utterly devoid of anything
Sabbatarian, bears nt its head the name of the day it
desecrates that it rfiCnrrniiArl in nnr nun nictnre A faith
0.... . " j"' i
nil jx.rtrait of itself. Ordinary intelligence and nn acute
ness of conscience which its lom? nanderincr to vice must
surely hnve created, were sufficient We simply held the
glass up to Nature and every one recognized the repul
sive features. With equally guilty instinct it knew whom
Dr. Marvin meant when, from his pulpit a few months
aim. l.a .l.w.l.,..., i ci tr i ii.: that
o ""wmou, ue nave papers in una v.
would be a burning disgrace to Sodom and Gomorrah."
This was not an inconsiderate and impulsive expression,
but was said deliberately, with ful expectation of th
rem oi vue abuse which that sheet immediately iur..
upon him a sadlv weak and unrrv Answer to such
rible indictment For this Dr. Marvin cared nothing;
could do him no lmrm nnr nr.nl. 1 U'im'nrn unv respecta'''
, , . "J J ,
nan. A mud cauuou, filthy as its missiles are, ban ul