p. 9 | The Press an Index

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 12, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 49.

The Press an Index.

The Rev. J. Wesley Hill, pastor of a Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, said, as reported in the Times of that city of the 18th inst.—

“I think as a rule that the newspaper is the best index to public sentiment. If the prize fight is dished up in it, to the exclusion of poetry and literature, it is because more people are interested in pugilism than poetry. The newspaper gives you what you look for. If we want a clean type of journalism, the reader must be a clean man.”

And this is true. The newspapers give what the public demand. This being the case according to Mr. Hill, what is the condition of our country? It certainly is not Christian; and there is much room for Gospel work. And yet it is proposed by some to reform society through politics in the face of the newspapers which model politics. Verily the state of things is mixed. The remedy, the only remedy, is the Gospel of Christ.