Making Light of It by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 23, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 17.

Making Light of It.

By Editor

UNDER the above heading, we find in the March number of the Century, the following brief article by John Stone Pardee. We can add nothing to its point. Its rebuke is just, and to all we commend its wisdom:—

"In the lulls between campaigns, the honest newspaper editor everywhere devotes himself to crusading zealously against current social evils, such as, in particular, the alarming increase of divorce and defalcation. At the same time, the editor does much to offset his own labors by ill-placed levity. He writes a thoughtful leader upon the sinfulness of speculating with other people's money, laying the blame rightly on the public which applauds success without regard to the means by which it is attained, rather than upon the few who are detected in wrongdoing and come to grief. But in the next column is a flippant paragraph of the sort the American public is supposed to crave, perhaps upon the attractions of Canada as a winter resort, or the swell society to be found there in exile. Garnished with quotation-marks and other typographical tricks that catch the eye, the paragraph attracts far more readers than the editorial, and goes to strengthen the unavowed popular notion that defalcation is a huge practical joke on the creditors—an impression enforced by facetious headings as well as by funny paragraphs whenever a new exposure is made.

Again, the editor diligently calls upon all good

people to uphold the sanctity of the marriage-tie and the sacredness of that divine institution, the family which is, he says, the basis of society, and to protect and defend the same from all undermining influences. But he allots many a column to grotesque caricatures, or to that utter abomination, the mother-in-law joke, which after years of active service is not permitted the honorable discharge it has earned, while every elopement or divorce is rendered as interesting and spicy as possible by the reporter's art. How can he expect the public to look upon marriage as a solemn thing, or defalcation as a serious crime, or either as anything but a joke, when he freely throws into the opposing scale that unknown quantity—the influence of the funny paragraph? The editor's theory that he must make fun of everything to render his efforts readable is, to be sure, borne out by the popular demand for that species of fun. But there is also a popular demand for the police publications and a good many other things which no reputable editor would touch. To forego all jocoseness in treating of these social evils would be the death of a great number of poor jokes, and would involve a fresh tax on the eternal vigilance of the editor; but it would cut off one way in which loose notions of serious things gain currency, and there would still remain enough bright, pure fun in the prints to save us from becoming an austere and taciturn people."