Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1916 — WHY ABUSE THE NEWSPAPERS. [ARTICLE]

WHY ABUSE THE NEWSPAPERS.

The other day we heard a group of men speaking about newspapers. says the Hammond Times. They were abusive, .yen usually are when they discuss this subject. We have often wondered why. These men read the papers daily, eagerly. From such reading they acquire most of their information, yes, most of their opinions. Their minds are very largely furnished by means of the very newspaper they toss aside with contempt or indifference. The newspaper is a marvel of modern life. Think of getting so much for so little, at a cost so slight, indeed, that most people never think anything about it. The daily news of the world summarized in a few printed pages. A few hundred years ago the fact would have seemed impossible. Indeed. it would actually have been impossible. Even under the most favorable conditions we don't believe that any newspaper can be wholly accurate. No man can. To bo accurate is one of the most difficult things in the world. The mere repetition of a remark nearly always means changing the remark. Have you ever noticed how inaccurate yon were yourself? And have you ever thought of the amazing amount of truth that gets into the newspapers in spite of universal inaccuracy?

Here and there one sees newspapers that are valiently fighting for the right. The cost is often heavy. Sometimes it means ruin. All honor to the newspapers that have gone down in the struggle for justice. Who ever hears of them? No poet ever sings their praises. The people never stop to mourn. The forgotten heroism of the world includes no nobler fighters than those who have been vanquished in their efforts to proclaim the truth through the press ‘‘The truth the people will not have at any price,” says a cynical lawyer. We believe he is wrong. The people will have the truth in the end. Sometimes they get it at the price of blood—the blood of those who proclaim it.”