NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY*
By RAYMOND F. FLETCHER
Time's out of joint when a newspaper man
ventures to
speak at an annual gathering of a great
state historical society.
Whenever a member of the Fourth Estate
appraises history,
he must agree with the sages that it is
at the root of all science,
the first distinct product of man's
spiritual nature, the unrolled
scroll of prophecy, the record of man in
quest of complete
living.
What possible connection can there be
between proud his-
tory and the common newspaper?
Ever since our grandfather's
day, newspapers have been thrown away or
burned and it has
been an axiom that nothing is quite so
worthless as a day-old
newspaper. What a newspaper man writes
may be in demand
for 24 short hours, but he has
repeatedly been told that he is
writing on the sands. The next day his newspaper, with all
his eloquent stories, is useful for
nothing but shelf paper, gar-
bage wrapping or, more recently, may be
in exalted state because
it has been bundled up and turned to a
profit by Boy Scouts in
a waste-paper drive. In no case, however, was the written
content of the sheet of paper considered
of any permanent
value.
The weary G. I. slogging through the mud
of Italy did
not know that he was quoting Walpole
when he grumbled, "It
is lots more fun to read history than to
make it."
Not all the comments about historians or
newspaper men
are complimentary. Somebody has said that on the first page
of each history book should be copied
the phrase from the intro-
duction to every movie, "Any
relation to real characters living
or dead is purely coincidental."
Matthew Arnold called history
a vast Mississippi of falsehood and
Washington Irving said in
his Sketch Book, "History
fades into fable; fact becomes clouded
with doubt and controversy; the
inscription moulders from the
tablet: the statue falls from the pedestal. Columns, arches,
* Delivered at the afternoon session of
the 61st Annual Meeting of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
Friday, April 12, 1946.
212
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 213
pyramids, what are they but heaps of
sand ; and their epitaphs,
but characters written in the
dust?"
Thomas Jefferson said that an editor
might divide his paper
into four chapters--truths,
probabilities, possibilities and lies.
Oscar Wilde said that in the old days
men had the rack, now
they have the press.
Most of the adverse criticism arises
from the fact that the
reader has discovered that in both
history and the newspaper
he is so completely at the mercy of the
writer of the story. At
best the news commentator arid the
historian tell what each has
seen through his own pair of spectacles,
and what each has
omitted may have been just as important
as the tale which was
told.
Perhaps, just because misery loves
company, some histo-
rians at long last are suggesting that a
newspaper is one of the
most important and fertile sources of
material of: historical
value. There is properly no history,
only biography, and where
could one find a more complete biography
of the people who
live in a given community for a single
day, year or decade
than in the local newspaper. Many
historians would agree in
saying that the newspaper records
history in its almost pure
form.
Today the newspaper libraries are the
proudest possessions
of state historical societies. Although
the collection of the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society is but twenty years
old, it is unique among state newspaper
libraries in the entire
country, ranking fourth in size and
being the largest collection
of Ohio papers. It is the aim of the
Ohio Society to tell the
story of Ohio, and a continued effort is
being made to build up
its collection of newspapers.
The Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society has
also prepared what is perhaps one of the
most valuable tools
to the user of newspaper files--the
union list--a guide to the
location of all known Ohio newspapers.
Until the present, the only list
available was a union list
showing the newspaper holdings in each
of the 48 states. It
was believed that many files had been
overlooked, others un-
214
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
known and that this need could only be
answered by a union
list of Ohio newspapers.
Over a year ago, Arthur D. Mink, acting
head of the News-
paper Department, began work on a union
list at the suggestion
of Dr. Harlow Lindley, editor and
librarian of the Ohio Society.
The list was to give accurate data
concerning all Ohio. news-
papers preserved in Ohio libraries in
addition to the holdings of
the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society. The list
was to include the files of the Ohio
State Library, the public
libraries of the State, the libraries of
historical societies, religious
organizations and two private
collections.
Robert C. Wheeler, head of the Newspaper
Division, says:
"Representing the holdings of 162
Ohio libraries, this union
list includes the entire Ohio newspaper
resources within the
State. Many small libraries are listed
for the first time and the
holdings of the large libraries are
brought up to date. The
second largest newspaper library in
Ohio, that of the Western
Reserve Historical Society, collated its
entire collection for in-
clusion in this list. Since this union
list includes Ohio news-
papers from the earliest in 1793, to
date, it combines the accurate
data in the Ohio sections of Clarence S.
Brigham's Bibliography
of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester,
Mass., 1914),
and Winifred Gregory's American
Newspapers, 1821-1936, a
Union List of Files Available in the
United States and Canada.
(New York, 1937).
"All this Mr. Mink has done with
painstaking care and
accuracy in his Union List of Ohio
Newspapers Available in
Ohio."
The Newspaper Library is used for
research and reference
by all classes of people, but
particularly by research historians,
genealogists, newspaper men, feature
writers, lawyers, economists.
university professors and students. The
value of the Library
in affording first hand information as
to the history of Ohio,
both as a territory and as a State,
cannot be overestimated.
The Newspaper Library owns some
treasures. The Library
is fortunate in possessing the only
original issue in existence of
the first newspaper to be published in
what is now Ohio. That
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 215
is the Centinel of the North-Western
Territory, published No-
vember 9, 1793, by William Maxwell. It
is about one-fourth
the size of the average newspaper today,
having but four pages
of three columns each. Its motto was
"Open to all parties--but
influenced by none." The oldest
newspaper in the Library is
the Observator, published in
London, England, March 19, 1683.
The oldest American paper which the
Library possesses is the
Boston News-Letter, published
April 24, 1704. Another Library
paper carries the account of the Boston
Massacre. Many of the
newspaper files are complete from the
first issue of the paper.
One of the largest complete files is
that of the Ohio State Journal
which was founded in 1811 at
Worthington, Ohio, as the
Western Intelligencer.
In addition to the many early Ohio
papers is a collection
of campaign papers which is nearly
complete. The majority of
these were published between the years
1840 and 1860.
During 1939, seven Ohio newspapers,
selected from various
parts of the State, were completely
microfilmed from the earliest
issue up to date. This gave the Society
over 3,000 rolls of film
on which there are several millions of
microscopic pictures, each
the page of a newspaper. In this way
only can we hope to save
this treasure of knowledge for future
generations. The News-
paper Department of the Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Society is now making plans for
extensive use of micro-
film in order to preserve its valuable
collection of Ohio news-
papers.
What is the Newspaper Library of the
Society doing about
the history being made today? Tomorrow
there will be sixty-
six daily Ohio papers received at the
Library, and at the week's
end eighty-eight weekly papers arrive.
These will be wrapped
or bound and will provide the historian
of tomorrow with an
insight into "our times."
But if a newspaper is to be preserved as
a source of history,
what of the history of the newspaper
itself ? Probably the first
real newspaper appeared in Europe just
in time to record on its
single small sheet the story of the
discovery of America, and
whatever room was left at the bottom was
filled with a bit of
216
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
rumor or gossip. Then came the polemics
of the pamphlet and
in the 18th century for the first time
this pamphlet was combined
with the news sheet, and later in the
century a regular market
report was added.
Of course, it is argued that the Acta
Diurna of ancient
Rome was a real newspaper. This journal
did record the story
of Imperial Rome for the benefit of the
troops in the distant
corners of the Roman Empire. Likewise
the old Pekin Gazette
in China for centuries served the same
purpose, but the circu-
lation of both was limited to certain
groups. These publications
were, in reality, class papers and it
has been said that Rome
fell because there was no newspaper of
general circulation to
keep all the home folks informed about
the state of the nation.
In England, in 1605, Nathaniel Butter
began a series of
pamphlets. The repeal of the licensing
act in 1695 gave rise
to many British newspapers but the
immediate imposition of a
four penny stamp tax on a seven penny
newspaper speedily put
many of them out of business. Most
London newspapers of the
period were filled with nothing but city
rumor, gossip and abuse.
In the nineteenth century great
newspapers were developed in
England to march hand in hand with the
developing empire.
Reuters, the British press service, was
a great colonizing tool.
Without these newspapers the British
empire could not have
been held together at all. Elsewhere in
France, Germany and
Italy a newspaper was merely the child
of the state and real
freedom of expression was unknown.
It remained for America to develop the
best real newspapers
which lived up to the definition:
"A report of recent events,
information about something before
unknown, fresh tidings,
recent intelligence; a paper printed and
distributed at stated
intervals to convey news, advocate
opinions, publish advertise-
ments and other matters of public
interest."
In Boston in 1690 Publick Occurrences
appeared with one
page left blank for reflections of a
very high nature. It was
suppressed after a single issue because
it dared to express opin-
ions. On May 8, 1704, the first
advertisement appeared in the
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 217
third issue of the Boston News-Letter.
This paper was published
by authority and was thoroughly
censored.
The first daily newspaper was the Pennsylvania
Packet and
Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, 1784. It was virtually forced in-
to being by the pressure of advertising.
This issue had four
pages, and 10 of the 16 columns were
filled with advertisements.
Ship sailings, rewards for stolen goods,
auction sales, Bibles and
real estate were represented.
The Packet had started off as a
weekly paper in 1771. Print-
ing conditions at that time made papers
of more than 4 pages
impractical; so, when advertising took
up an increasing amount
of the available space, Publisher John
Dunlap met the situation
by making his paper a semi-weekly, later
a tri-weekly--and
finally, on September 21, 1784, a daily.
Benjamin Franklin founded the
Philadelphia Gazette in
1728.
It was famous for typography and wood-cut illustrations
in advertising columns. Another great
printer of that time was
John Peter Zenger, editor of the New
York Weekly Journal,
and early champion of the freedom of the
press. The advance
of typography was halted in 1760 by an
acute paper shortage,
paper being made by hand from cotton
rags. Advertising had
to be set in solid agate type.
In 1820 the perfection of the
Fourdrinier Paper Making
Machine made possible an endless sheet
of newsprint, manufac-
tured from spruce chips. The opening of the Erie Canal in
1825 offered a better distribution of
merchandise and more ad-
vertising. In 1833 the advent of the
"penny press" stressed
local news, but was far too often narrow
and vindictive in the
treatment of personalities. In 1847-1854 newspapers jumped
from 2,000 to 4,000 although the
population increase was only
25%.
In New York in the 1860's these great
editors made news-
papers: Charles Dana of the New York Sun,
James Gordon
Bennett of the Herald, Horace
Greeley of the Tribune and Henry
James Raymond of the Times. These
men were positive and
partisan in their views and the people
purchased the newspaper
of their favorite editor.
218
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The Civil War pushed advertising off the
first page (except
in New England) and developed for the
first time the reporter
who went to the actual battle to cover
the story. Just after the
Civil War, when the tide of civilization
moved westward, the
local newspaper began for the first time
to record the intimate
story of its own community. It
chronicled the story of the pass-
ing tide of migration, and really became
the custodian of history
for its own area. The invention of the
telegraph gave the news-
paper access to the news outside of its
own community.
In the reconstruction period, rotary
presses and stereotype
plates shot the circulations far beyond
what had ever been
dreamed. Ready-made suits and patent
medicines were intro-
duced to America by the newspapers. In
1870 newspapers told
about Remington Typewriters, Castoria,
Royal Baking Powder
and Sapolio. In 1890 it was package
cereals. At the turn of
the century newspapers were using
typesetting machines and
bigger, faster presses. By 1918 they had
made it possible for
Americans to have low priced
automobiles, gasoline, cigarettes,
oranges, soaps and chewing gum.
At the same time, there was a transition
period from the
personal age in which the editor was the
newspaper to the modern
era in which he merely is the head of an
important part of a
large organization. Newspapers have not yet fully convinced
the skeptical public that the new type
of editor who effaces him-
self still can produce a dependable
newspaper.
Of course, the public is ever resentful
of the power of an
editor's headline, his scissors and his
personal judgment as to
relative news values. Yet, would not the
severest critic admit
that the majority of present newspaper
editors and reporters are
proving themselves to be honest and
forthright in their efforts
to report news factually, as they see
it? Do they not produce
honest newspapers? Individuals may
charge that the editor is
at the mercy of the advertiser, but a
study of the average town
would bring conviction that the chief
complaint of advertisers is
that they are entirely unable to get any
personal advantage from
the newspaper, even though they might
think their advertising
support should entitle them to special
consideration.
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 219
The position of the editor is made more
difficult by the fact
that almost every partisan leader, down
in his heart, wants to
be censor of the press, to get his own
side of the story featured
in the news and to suppress the
expression of the opposition.
To the Associated Press must be given
credit for the develop-
ment of a fine moral concept that news
must be unbiased and
truthful. In the nineteenth century, partisan newspapers
throughout the land distrusted the news
of each other. When
they united in the cooperative
Associated Press, the members,
with differing opinions, found they
could agree upon but one
thing--that the Associated Press, which
they established, should
send nothing but truthful, unbiased
news.
Each member of this Associated Press was
pledged to turn
over all his own local news to the
general body. Many news-
papers joined, others did not. The
upshot was that there devel-
oped in America three great agencies for
worldwide gathering
of news. Of these, the Associated Press
is a non-profit organ-
ization, and the United Press and
International News Service are
profitable business enterprises.
Ohio, mother of the Presidents, has
equal claim to fame in
the vast succession of men who have
gained national prominence
as journalists or who have gone on to
other positions of distinc-
tion, even to the presidency of the
United States. Murat Hal-
stead, proprietor of the Cincinnati Commercial,
established him-
self in literature as a great
biographer. Col. Donn Piatt became
a diplomat. Whitelaw Reid became owner
of the New York
Tribune and ambassador to France and England. Henry Ward
Beecher went from Ohio journalism to the
ministry. Isaac Kauf-
man Funk chose to publish books with his
firm of Funk and
Wagnalls. Ambrose Bierce was called
America's greatest critic.
William Dean Howells, one of America's
greatest authors, was
for years a reporter on the Ohio
State Journal. Two Presidents,
William Howard Taft and Warren G.
Harding, got their start
as journalists. Januarius Aloysius
MacGahan, the first of Ohio's
great war correspondents, was the
liberator of Bulgaria. Burton
Egbert Stevenson, "Petroleum V.
Nasby", Kin Hubbard, New-
ton Newkirk, and Ted Robinson made their
newspaper columns
220
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
household words throughout the nation.
Carl Van Anda molded
national opinion as editor of the New
York Times. In the present
generation Paul Bellamy, editor of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer;
John Knight, group publisher of Akron;
Roy D. Moore, general
manager of Brush-Moore Newspapers and
head of the ANPA
Bureau of Advertising; and Grove
Patterson, editor of the Toledo
Blade, are top flight men in national journalism.
News is the basis of the modern
newspaper but it cannot
live by news alone. It must also amuse
and serve. Unless a
newspaper is conducted for profit, it is
not a unit in itself but
part of something else. A newspaper
cannot be independent
unless it earns its living.
Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune
has worked
out an ideal definition of a newspaper:
"The newspaper is an
institution developed by modern
civilization to present the news
of the day, to foster commerce and
industry through widely
circulated advertisements and to furnish
that check upon govern-
ment which no constitution has ever been
able to provide."
Thanks to the constitutional amendment
of the Founding
Fathers, the newspaper which the
American citizen buys each
day is a free newspaper. Nearly everywhere
else in the world
the Fourth Estate is in chains. Henry F.
Pringle, newspaper-
man and historian, said in a freedom of
the press broadcast over
the Columbia Broadcasting System:
"The lamps of freedom have
gone out, one by one, and men walk in
ignorance and terror.
But here we are still free because the
truth is available to us, in
the printed columns of the daily papers
and on the air. A free
press is a truthful press. It is a press
deeply conscious of its
own responsibility, wholly aware that
freedom does not include
license. A free press blackens no
innocent man's name. It
fights for the lowly and the oppressed.
It exposes evil. It cru-
sades for the right. It bows to but one
master, the truth, and
it serves that master at all costs. We
are ready, most of us, to
die for that freedom. But this is not
enough. We must guard
it, cherish it, and work for it--as
living Americans."
The greatest news story of 1946 would be
the announcement
that lasting world peace was assured. At
the end of the second
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 221
World War the great nations met at San
Francisco, determined
that armed conflict must not happen
again. Their peace formula
called for an effective United Nations
Organization and a
Security Council. If, in the effort to
establish this lasting world
peace, it became necessary to choose
between the United Nations
(Organization and the establishment of a
world flow of unham-
pered communications, the best choice
for peace would be the
latter.
History has discovered one great truth:
"Man is in a proud
and pitiless struggle for freedom. The
core of freedom con-
cerns the spirit of man." The peace
of the world depends upon
human understanding, and human
understanding depends on the
free flow of communications made up of
movies, radio and the
printed word.
War-torn Europe is being invited to go
the easy way of any
government--that is control over press,
radio and movies. Regi-
mentation of thought satisfies the
dictator and relieves the hungry
masses from any need of any decisions.
But until ideas can
roam the world without restraint there
is slight chance for a
peace in what Wendell Willkie called
"One World."
In the trenches of the first World War
an American faced
an unknown German. Both soldiers had
fixed bayonets. On
the beachheads of the second World War
his son faced the son
of this German, also an unknown, and
again both boys had fixed
bayonets. The first American was firm in
his conviction that
his German opponent was a fiend
incarnate. The German had
a similar opinion of his enemy.
Nothing had happened in the interval
between wars to
change American opinion of Germans, or
German opinion of
Americans. Because the Nazi government had propagandized
its news and America was complacent, a
second war was inevit-
able. Substitute Russia for Germany and
exactly the same
danger exists today. Unless this
condition is changed a third
war will follow the second as surely as
night follows day.
While Americans knew much about what was
going on in
Germany before the second World War, the
German people.
themselves, were not privileged to know
the whole truth in
222
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Germany or the rest of the world. This
was the sort of control
that propaganda exercised through
suppression of freedom of
news.
Before Sept. 1, 1939, foreign
correspondents had free hand
in transmitting news from Germany, but
the Nazi government
was so clever about planting false ideas
in the minds of some
representative Americans that the people
in the United States
often were unable to detect which story
was truth. The American
people peacefully ignored the correct
signs. They did not want
to be disturbed; it was so much more
pleasant not to be. Ameri-
can officialdom, knowing all that was
needed to be known, played
the meanest trick of all by failure to
act on the information
available; by failure to waken a nation
in time--blind, comfort-
able, political officialdom, fearing to
arouse citizens out of paci-
ficism into preparedness because it
might be "unpopular."
Through censorship, deliberate
distortion of news for pur-
pose of propaganda, and the muzzling of
press and radio, whole
peoples may be manipulated like puppets.
It was no accident
that the first thing to fall in Germany
was the great newspaper
publishing house of Ullstein, which was
bought by Hitler, at
forced sale, 20?? on the dollar. It is
no accident that Russia's
"Wall of Silence" is built
squarely on government manipulation
of all communications in and out of the
Russian area of control.
The special Commission on Freedom of the
Press concludes
that it is high time the problem of the
world flow of information
be solved. It decides that the surest
antidote for ignorance and
deceit is the widest possible exchange
of true information, not
merely more information. It is a
problem of bringing the physical
facilities for transmitting words and
images across national
boundaries within the reach of all and
removing the barriers at
the boundaries. It is also the problem
of achieving a degree of
quality and accuracy to give a fair
picture of the life of each
country to all the world. This would
mean that reporters must
have a right to go to the sources of
news and then be able to
transmit their dispatches without
garbled censorship. It means
that transmission systems must be
permitted to operate on a
worldwide basis. It requires the creation of an autonomous
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 223
unit in the United Nations Economic and
Social Council, to pro-
mote the free flow of true information
and the removal of the
artificial government barriers. Such is the imperative recom-
mendation made by Llewellyn White and
Robert D. Leigh. They
call for action before it is too late.
John S. Knight, wartime president of the
American Society
of Newspaper Editors, fears that the
Leigh-White report means
a code of discipline of newsmen and, therefore,
is a step in the
direction of government control of the
news. He says the com-
mission suggests "an ominous
development which threatens the
liberties of individual reporters and
correspondents."
Morris L. Ernst in his new book, The
First Freedom, thinks
that before we accept the report of this
commission we must first
put our own American house in order.
"Government," he says,
"is not the sole enemy, and
concentrated economic power also
acts as a restraint of thought. We in
the United States have
forsaken free enterprise in the fields
of communication. Com-
petition is at a minimum.
"Our press is fast
evaporating," he thinks. "Ten states have
not a single city with competing daily
papers. Twenty-two states
are without Sunday newspaper
competition. Fourteen com-
panies, owning eighteen papers, control
about one-quarter of our
total daily circulation. Three hundred
and seventy chain news-
papers own about one fifth of all our
circulation. More than a
quarter of our daily circulation is
absentee owned. We have a
thousand fewer owners than a few decades
ago. Thirty-two
hundred weeklies, the backbone of local
democracy, have dis-
appeared. One company dominates more
than 3,000 weeklies.
There are only 117 cities left, in our
entire nation, where com-
peting dailies still exist.
"We talk about the value of a
competitive press but our
treatment of this basic commodity --
news and opinion -- denies
what we say.
"One third of all regular radio
stations are interlocked with
newspapers. The bottleneck gets narrower.
Four networks be-
fore the war had 95 per cent of all
night-time broadcasting power.
One hundred and forty-four advertisers
account for 97 per cent
224
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of all the network income. A dozen
advertising agents create
the radio programs which bring to the
networks one-half of their
income. Independent radio stations are
the step-children of the
mike. In more than 100 areas the only
newspaper left owns the
only radio station. What price
competition!
"The weekly attendance at movies
amounts to more than
100,000,000 people. But five companies
control the 2,800 key
theaters of the nation. These five companies--called
the Big
Five--pick up more than three-quarters
of all the nickels and
dimes paid by the American movie
audience for its screen enter-
tainment. All other producers of films
enter the market place by
grace of these companies. We have allowed
five giants to destroy
our market place of free competition for
movies. Moreover, two
companies produce about 90 per cent of
all our raw film stock.
"Philosophically we are still
profoundly sound in our adher-
ence to the gospel of free enterprise,
particularly in thought. We
must now restore our own market places
of the mind, not only
for the sake of our own freedom, but
also so that we can main-
tain leadership in the world-wide
struggle against dictatorship
of the mind."
Every thinking newspaperman will admit
with Mr. Ernst,
that American history includes this
spectacle of industrial con-
centration. Nevertheless, the same
progress which made instanta-
neous transmission of news and pictures
possible has complicated
our living. It is costly to report and
interpret it, costly to publish
it. World coverage and world
interpretation take money. The
present American newspaper withal its
fewer owners is a far
better bit of journalism than we had at
the peak of 2,600 dailies
in 1909. The American
newspaper is at its best today in ability
and completeness, in interpretive
background, good taste and
mechanical excellence. Competition often
induces more accurate
editing, but all the skill in the world
won't keep a newspaper
publishing if the readers turn to a
stronger competitor. Are not
mergers better than subsidies?
This, then, is a brief history of the
newspaper. With all its
faults and failings, most historians are
willing to accept it as a
reliable source book. Day by day
millions of Americans read
NEWSPAPERS AND HISTORY 225
it for information, entertainment,
buying direction and political
guidance. Any newspaperman who seeks to
analyze the news-
paper is soon crusading for ecumenical
freedom of the press and
freedom of news communications. But
there is "the little more--
and how much it is!"
As an individual I have such a
proprietary interest in this
first freedom. I want to go forward as
an American; to have life
and have it more abundantly. Freedom of
the press is my con-
tinued access to the expression of the
minority not in power. It
is my freedom to talk to you, and your
freedom to talk to me.
Once limitations are placed on what
shall be set into type or
spoken on the air, then limitations will
be put upon what one
man will say to another. It is just as
simple as that.
Freedom of the press is that something
for which the boys in
the fox holes were fighting. It is the
right to worship the God of
our fathers. It is the effort to effect,
with weapons of intellect
and weapons of information, that which
the weapons of armed
force were seeking to accomplish against
the enemy in time of
war.
There is "the little more" in
every man's ordinary life. It
is what it means to me in the food I
eat, the shoes I wear, the
air I breathe; the right I have to sing
or not to sing, to read or
not to read, to listen to a political
speaker or not to listen; the
right to marry and have one child or
ten; the right to choose an
automobile called Chevrolet rather than
one called Volkeswagon,
the right to pay much or little for it,
the right to earn enough
money for my old age or to be a number
on the social security
books, the right to hope that my unborn
son will do things with
a mind that may spark genius thirty
years from now. These,
and all the hundreds of other things
that fit into men's lives, add
up to my freedom of the press.
Is it not simply the eyes and ears of
the people? Does not
the constitutional privilege of
newspapers live or die by the
measure of its service to them? I know
that editors, reporters
and broadcasters are human, frail,
somewhat erratic and credu-
lous, even as you and I. What will they
do with international
freedom of communications when they get
it? Will the mass of
226
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
news be presented wisely, completely?
Will it ever be physically
possible to do so? Or, will only such
portions be used, as young
newsmen judge to be interesting and
important?
We may suffer from their errors in
judgment, their efforts
to get the story out too early and with
too little thought. They
will often be wrong in their selection
and treatment, but what is
the alternative to this? Without freedom
of the press we pass
from liberty to slavery. We are at the
mercy of the dictator, the
breeding school, the concentration camp.
With all its human shortcomings, we must
rely on freedom
of the press for information and
guidance; for all the truth to
mold our vision of the future, without
which the people perish.
I want to protect my right to react to
this as a free American,
responsible to government law, but free
to choose and live my
own individual life; to carve out my own
destiny. I'll have to
trust the newsman to paint the thing, as
he sees it, for me. It all
adds up to democracy. My right to enjoy
it is conditioned on
my willingness to fight to keep it, and
to pay the price for my
first freedom.
"Patience a moment!
Grant I have mastered
learning's crabbed text,
'Still there's the comment.'"
Not "Newspapers and History."
This is redundant. News-
papermen and historians together
interpret yesterday, for the
guidance of today, in the shaping of a
better tomorrow.