THE PEACEFUL PRESS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 622, 27 September 1909, Page 9

THE PEACEFUL PRESS.

A RURAL EDITOR'. : ;v. ■' HIS DOINGS AND THEORIES. ' , ■:'. (By "J.Q.S.") ■ I have many times heard the toast of "Tho Press" proposed and responded to. I nave road numerous leaders entitled "Ourselves." The cabled and mailed reports of the late Imperial Press Conference have not escaped my notice. And yet tho views of my friend "Y," who knows.some parts of newspaperdom from the inside, and who is in some respects not a fool, have never reached me from any source but his conversation. Ho began with a chapter of autobiography— and I may'say here that he is tho same 1 "Y." wluiso experiences as a "bush carpenter" in the Manawatu'and elsewhere I related.a few weeks ago.. It,seems that, before he camo to New Zealand and began orivinz nails, ho had been a journalist of some kind, and had given it up -of his own accord. I could not clearly make out his reasons for taking this unusual step. .He said that at the time he thought the tired pressman in tho-"Fleet Street Eclogues" .was right when'ho announced:— : • '■' "Who reads the daily press ■..,•- i His soul's lost here and now; , .Who writes for it. is less • Than the beast that tugs.a plough." : Evidently, >Y." had suffered a disillusionmeat, and hod .taken it seriously.. i But to abandon journalism wholly and for 'ever, is not so easy as it looks. Ho was subject —so, he tellq me, he used to put it in those days—to recurrent attacks, and at last he gave in entirely, and becamo an editor. He. threw much of the blame for this upon the Industrial .Conciliation and Arbitration Act. The prospect, of being transformed' from a comparatively freo and irresponsible "bnsh carpenter"' ( into an "under-rate. worker" was displeasing. Pho press, :he . thought,' could treat hiro. no worse than that, and if it gave him a steady, though • small, income, he would willingly forego the instructive experience of looking for work.- ' Behold 'him, then," '.'installed in a hot very majestic editorial chair. Think of him subediting cables, telegrams, the "copy" of the not ahvays highly cultured rural reporter,"'and the effusions of tho spring poet, the way-back correspondent, and i the: person with a grievance. -Hear;him respectfully arguing with the proprietor, amiably chatting; with' subscribers, and still, more 'amiably with hoped-for '- Subscribers, contending. with the printer,' instructs ine "the reporter,- and watch ' him between.whiles, reading the proofs and writing his leader... If the .leader is about tha borongh council, the proprietor must see a proof. His highest praise is "I think that readß very well-; J t don't see. how anybody' can bo offended at that. , But if: the snbject.is "The Crimes of the Tsar,", Editor"Y." has.an absolutely free band. Ho. overhears the proprietor earnestly assuring Farmer Fogg, who has hitherto bean a supporter, of the other people, but is thought to be .wavering, "If you.don't read the 'EastWest Bnster,' you don't know you'ro alive!"'' ■Of course,' Editor 'X" felt flattered at such times, hut conld that sort; of thing, however plentiful, compensate him for the thousand' daily pettinesses, futilities, restrictions, and irritations which he told mo of, but which I' cannot' detail, here-? Running a '"buster," he assured me,, was open to many objections, of which bush carpentering was whollv innocent. And-yet.ho says'he: vastly enjoyed "his workwas happier l in it than he had thought he could over jbe in work for : wages or salary. Tho fciontific, or Speiicerian, explanation is that, haying once suffered a reaction i from his boyish, enthusiasm for "the noble profession,"; ho hod,now .reached the stage of re-reaction-a stage whiohjmight reasonably bo expected to bo fairly permanent, like an : equilibrium disjnrbed only by-minor oscillations. I put this 'to :, Y., but he does ■ not favour, scientific exPJoDations..:. He! dashed off '(such-is his incurs able habit) -into', airy theorising'.'.. ; :--I had;discovered," he cried, "the open secret of tho real moaning, pon'er, purpose and' raison d'etre" of.:the; press. : It does-not exist to, make money, nor to: convert everybody 'to, Liberalism or Socialism, or Conservatism (whatever these things'' may be), nor' to advertise pills and soap, nor to! push tho district ahead, nor (primarily) to report tho'boroush council. It existe to. promote peace on -earth and goodwill among, men.•'.;','■Don't interrupt, me just yet!-You needn't remind. me of jingo : nowspapcrs, of Dreadnought scares, or tell me.that while Balfour andi.Lansdotfne" were' easing", off; tho D'oggcrbank:'trouble by dispatches, Harrasworth and all:his myrjmdons were yelling for the guns to ishoot..'l know all that,-and I admit that tht-very opposite of'peace -and goodwill : may often ho the conscious object of.editors. But I'.want you;to,see, my philosophical friend, that our uiicbuscious objects aro; generally tho most'important, and are-often' the. only ones wo attain... Natiiro .takes "caro.bf'them. The instinct;that brightens the eyes of Edwin and Angelina'.has-its.'two aspects—ouo . that they are ■ aware of,", or, will. shortly discover, • and another by virtuoiof which it is ; one with-tho cosmic process. So, ■ too, the. newspaper-pro-ducing, instinct has,to do.with advertisements, police courts, politics, and, dividends, but also and chiefly with .the icaro'-of all. religions 'and-.tho'.:truths on which tho world is built lliOMiowspaper'. is. the'interpreter of man td man, class '.to^class,, nation' to'.-nation. It gives .to a11,:,-with.,more or less-fullness and' aistinctness, that most' precious gift—selfexpression.- It',is; for-words, that men really hunger-words ' that shall make them under-' stood. When you-say 'not understood,' von sum up all the, tragedies of,the world. Sometimes a newspaper tries'to create misunderstandings, but such.- efforts aro of no moroimportance than-tho friction of. the locomotive; on it's, rails. ■ The train.goes on. Almost every item . iu'. the. newsnaper helps man to understand man, A-sorie's of cablegrams niay..:almost convince us. that the Germans epond'all tlieir-timo. in building warships andrattling their^ Navy League money. boxe3 in euch.other's faces;, but a Rev. Stubbs'or a : Bert. Drew will wander through their country n?Af„ 6COd f THE , )o J!"<-'on an article, .or a from ;. lier !'a.v'Undying our labour ln g TO&;i o n n i 6pot '' ? l ! , be interviewed ill lr\ bllmgton, and wo shall learn that the solves" 11 ? eorle ' are ' aftDr aU ': rather'likq'bur, i„^S d »^ art I froni .' all , theso constantly- "cort?„nt fh"lii cn ' ln T tl ' and .interpret; tmns, that; are being put forth .every 'day tho-world, Just think ,of ,the effect ot pillions of people. reading the saine ' news fhlkW ndßof th i m ' a ' consequS; :f hl ?H n B, the, same thoughts.,. Doesn't that help to bring tho whole Suman' family closer together?- Of course, I know that n"arly all ,good newspapers are fighters, but the best of them are fighting, not men/so much as evil ?^!& 3 ' °®F SS, T' a ? d L niiscellaneoulf u2 ' - .veracities. When they, fight men, it' is be-causei-.tlio men .haye got. themselves-so wound for Jk r thoSe Snaky th L in K» «'at they~ for .fighting purposes, be . separated. Tho second-best papers, .that sometimes fight the best papers,-serve-them- as whetstones to sharpen their;swords; and always and for eve? at;s^ '; ■ SJJc^ 3 h " t ' ;a »Bi«."Md our ink'"'■•■' -Flows to more purpose than we think- -■ ; Seen from a little height'above "' -■: -"' ; : ; Iheir war is:peace, their hate is love.'V "

th l n '" toidl . quoting my name'sa'ka "God be wi' yon, au'vpn tall i/ywsT""^