p. 19 | The Spirit of the Press by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 9, 1911

The Spirit of the Press

By F. M. W.

It is indeed unfortunate that a power capable of so much good, should be so many times subordinated to influences of evil. Columns are filled with the presentation of the latest scandal, of the dark, devious, and wicked devisings of the murderer, and the many scandalous incidents in his life that led him to the perpetration of his crime. The lesser crimes are noted in their order.

With the sporting section of the Sunday newspaper is given the comic picture page, one of the most effective educators of evil ever placed before the boys and girls of this generation. The papers containing this evil record are found in nearly every home where they are perused by young and old. The Bible is forgotten, good books are laid aside, and day after day the reporter’s vivid account of the murder trial or divorce suit, is followed with eagerness. This sort of reading in the home can be only evil in its influence.

Says America of September 9, in speaking of this condition:—

“We ask in amazement whether the reporters who gathered this vile stuff, and the editors who sent it to the printer, have wives and mothers and sisters and daughters? Will they be gratified when they see them absorbing this deadly poison? The papers that contain this horrible interview are piled up on every breakfast table in the land and are devoured on the cars by old men and old women and by girls and boys with an avidity that, for any one who gives it a thought, is full of menace for all the decencies of life. We try to stop the cholera at Swinburn Island; we spend millions on sweeping and flushing the streets to keep off disease; we have gone stark mad about disinfectants in everything we use; but here we are bringing into the sacred precincts of every home in the land, or, rather, into every heart of the land, the most deadly kind of moral infection.”

We are not speaking against the newspaper men. Many of the editors of the papers and reporters connected with them are true, noble men. It is to be regretted, however, that many feel they must cater to the depraved public taste which demands this sort of reading. It is for every Christian, for every Seventh-day Adventist, to look well to the reading that he places before his family. No paper nor book nor journal should be allowed a place in the home until the father or mother has first determined its character, and its fitness to be placed before their children. Parents should not lightly regard their responsibility in this matter. F. M. W.