FIGHTING EDITORS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 809, 6 May 1871, Page 3

FIGHTING EDITORS.

In an amusing article on " Fighting Editors," the "New York Tribune" says ; —" There is no situation in which nn editor appears lo less advantage than in that of knocking down a subscriber. There are subscribers, doubtless, who deserve to be knocked down, but the administration of that desert ought in no case to devolve upon the editor. In some portions of the West, we believe it is customary for newspapers to keep a familiar Colossus lurking about the premises, to whom aggrieved persons are politely referred by the advertising clerk. 'Jhis is a judicious distribution of the duties of the office. There is better writing in the attic and better fighting on the ground floor than if the editor in person assumed both branches of the service. It may be well enough for the editor now and then to unbend his giant mind in a recreative set-to with an unusually small and pigeon-chested caller, but the professional assistant should always stand by to resume his function in case of a suspension of the editorial wind or the demonstration of an unusual science by the antagonist. A journalist who has successfully bumped and sat upon his adversary does not forfeit such claim as he may previously have possessed to guide and direct the opinions of his readers. But who would listen to the argument of a publicist with an oyster in his eye—who had himself been badly bumped and booted 1 Nobody but the oyster. Othello's occupation would be gone, and till he had redeemed his reputation by chastising a parson, or some exploit, nobody would buy bis paper. The lastest editorial collision to which extensive publicity has been given, took place in Cincinnati, and on this occasion the editor was conspicuously victorious. The victor was Mr Murat Halstead, an able and respectable man, whom we are sorry to compliment upon his muscle. The vanquished was a certain Mr Lavender. Him we cannot compliment upon anything except his prompt and sensible recognition of defeat. Some men don't know when they have got enough. Lavender did. He appears to unite the somewhat diverse functions of keeping a hardware Btore and a house of evil name. It was the rehearsal of this latter circumstance in the columns of Mr Halstead's paper which impelled Mr Lavender to call upon the editor, and make remarks of a profane and boisterous character. He said in his haste that all men were liars, Mr Halstead included. Now Mr Halstead is not a liar, but a very truthful and high-minded gentleman, deservedly esteemed, not in Cincinnati only, but everywhere else where he is known. He said no word in reply, but abruptly changed the policy of his paper. It had hitherto been opposed to assault and battery. He smote Lavender upon the weakest portion of his constitution, and Lavender dropped. The subsequent proceedings interested him no more till he found himself in the store of a neighbouring apothecary." After reciting how the defeated assilant resorted to law, and how the Western editor was fined 24d01., perhaps because he did not hit Lavender hard enough, the " Tribune" asks:—" Is there any moral iuvolved in this rehearsal 1 None, perhaps, except that hardware merchants should not keep houses of ill-fame, particularly in Cincinnati. If they do, and are found out and published, and want to whip • somebody, they should not call upon Mr Halstead."