Liberty of the Press. I

156 IMPROVEMENT ERA erable portion of the public, local or general, in the dissemination of information, of thought, or of opinion upon any subject whatever. Before the invention of the art of printing, the avenues used by the press for reaching the public mind were writing, painting and engraving. These are still utilized, but in the main are supplementary to letterpress printing and illustrating. The term has come into use since the discovery of printing, and now is of general application. The Press is readily classified thus : (a) Books. (b) Pamphlets, Letters, Circulars, etc. (c) Magazines, or Periodicals. (d) Newspapers. (e) Character of the Press, in the nature of subjects treated, to-wit: Religious, Political, Financial, Industrial, Educational, Scientific, Recreative, Sensational, Fiction, and Advertising. (a) Book is the common name for any literary production of bulk, and is now applied particularly to a printed composition forming a volume. The more common etymology indicates the word for tree as the parent of the word book. Books represent the most ancient form in which the press became a factor in public life. The earliest writings were chiefly monumental, and the materials chosen therefor those which were supposed to last longest, as in the case of the two columns mentioned by Josephus, the one of stone and the other of brick, on which the children of Seth wrote their inventions and astronomical discoveries ; in the Ten Commandments on stone delivered to Moses ; in the leaden tablets containing the works of Hesiod ; in the laws of Solon, inscribed on planks of wood ; in the sacred records of Israel, inscribed on brass or golden plates ; and in the writings of the Greeks and Romans, on tablets of ivory and metal. While all of these writings were of a more or less public character, they were authoritative statements of the times and peoples which brought them into existence, and did not indicate any special liberty of the press so far as this affected the individual members of a community. The earliest flexible material for books was made from the concentric coats which wrapped the stalk of the Egyptian papyrus, whence is derived the word paper ; then parchment, skins of animals, vellum (prepared calf-skin), leather, paper from

LIBERTY OF THE PRESS 157 cotton in the last of the 9th or beginning of the 10th century, and linen paper in the 13th century, the invention thereof being variously ascribed to the Germans, Italians, Chinese and Saracens. Books of the various materials named were made in the form of rolls, or by fastening together the leaves, as convenience dictated ; the writing was left to right among the nations of Northern and Western Europe, both left to right and right to left among the Greeks and others, and in vertical columns among the Chinese. (b) Pamphlet is the term applied to a publication less extensive than a book, and usually bound only in paper covers, or with its few leaves stitched without cover or merely folded into form ; Letter is the designation of a literary production addressed to and bearing the signature of some particular person or persons ; Circulars, Tracts, etc., are brief publications for general distribution, or for a particular locality, without necessary specification of either addressee or signer. All these comprise a form of literature of which great popular use has been made. Their chief distinction is brevity and spontaneity; they relate to some special matter of current interest, whether religious, political, or with other tendency. Usually designed to support a particular line of argument, they may be descriptive, controversial, didactic, or satirical. They are universally regarded as a less responsible and less reliable class in the ranks of the press than any other form of literature. (c) Magazines, or Periodicals, are a form of general literature issued and distributed more readily and cheaper than books, and deal in themselves with a great variety of subjects in the especial field which their publishers select. They may be light, or frivolous, or serious, or scientific, or religious. Their low price brings them within comparatively easy reach of the masses of the people. While many of them rank in the highest and most beneficent class of literature and thought, probably the great majority of magazines or periodicals fall far below that high standard, and are given to a frivolous or uncertain and consequently unsafe view of topics of deep human interest. (d) Newspapers are periodical publications containing a record of current items of public interest, and issued at regular intervals. They are devoted to the dissemination of news in its various forms, including the more important happenings in the

158 IMPROVEMENT ERA various walks of business, social, political and religious life, with or without comment. They also include in their columns advertisements, which are news of various articles of trade and commerce of interest to the locality where the papers are circulated. The chief aim of a high-class newspaper is to be first in obtaining all legitimate news, first in the accuracy and fairness with which it is stated, and first in securing the cleanest, freshest, brightest, and most picturesque features for the general reader. While primarily a business venture, it will stand for character and principle, for purity in public and private life, for honesty and fairness in the relations of men with their fellows, and be an educating power for good in all that makes men and women better; it will have a sound moral force underlying all editorial comment, and will uphold the fundamental principles of free and enlightened government, being fearless and aggressive in resisting and changing the current of public sentiment when that sentiment is at fault, as it frequently is under the influence of the sensational, the selfish, and the bigoted newspapers which are a portion of the public press to be regarded with distrust if serious wrongs and dangers are to be avoided. A good newspaper gives the news in a form intended to do good, and is never intended to work injury ; although this policy often omits incidents or parts of a story that the public probably would relish while not receiving benefit therefrom. This is pointedly illustrated in the reply of the managing editor of a great newspaper : "That was a very interesting story you published this morning," said a subscriber on one occasion, referring to a notable item in the paper. "Yes," responded the newspaper man, with significant emphasis, "but not half so interesting as the story we didn't publish." In the past thirty years practically all the people under the freer and more enlightened governments have come to read the newspapers, which are for the masses, whom they sway at will. Newspapers are therefore the most powerful part of the press, and claim the greatest amount of liberty in that field. (e) In the character of the press, religious and political publications are foremost elements. The religious press usually is devoted to upholding and developing the moral purity of the people, in all walks of life ; the multicipital divergence of religious views, however, seems to have led the major portion of the relig-

LIBERTY OF THE PRESS 159 ious press into a pedantic "I-am-holier-than-thou" groove which dissipates much of its influence. The political press is vigorously conservative, inane, radical, and even anarchistic, as its particular promoters seem inclined, yet, from the extended field of discussion which it covers, it possesses a broader and clearer knowledge of the practical features of life than any of the others ; because of its calmer judgment and clearer insight, the vigorously conservative element is a vital factor in maintaining the more substantial nations by its dominating force therein. The financial, industrial, educational, recreative, and advertising press specializes each in its particular line. The sensational press, while gratifying the morally morbid tastes of the public, is everything that a high-class press will not and ought not to be, and has its chief outcrop in disturbing the brotherhood of man. The fiction division of the press produces many examples of choice literature and exquisite light reading, yet so much of it is to a marked degree promulgative of distorted ideas of life that a fine sense of propriety is essential in selecting that which may be read with advantage to the mind and morals. (to be concluded.) This group of elders laboring as missionaries in New Zealand are a fair representation of the fourth generation of Latterday Saints. In physical stature three of them are six feet tall, and a little over. They are without fear in preaching the gospel, and are as proud as can be of the name "Mormon," and particularly of their calling as missionaries in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. They all speak the Maori language, and are occasionally called to visit the Thames, an organized European branch. It was at this place where the picture was recently taken. Meetings in this branch are very well attended. Elders, left to right: E. Hall, president of the Waikato conference: V. E. Nielsen, his companion; Cleon Burt, companion to O. D. Romney, Jr., president of the Hauraki conference, standing to the extreme right.

Department of Vocation and Industry BY B. H. ROBERTS IV — Practical Suggestions What shall we do? How shall we proceed in the work of this Department? are questions which press from all sides, and very naturally so, too ; but it must be remembered that we are dealing with a large subject, and before we can rush into practical achievements we must understand somewhat our grounds, and what it is that we aim to achieve in this Department. It is not a matter that can be told in a word, nor understood in a moment ; nor may all of the practical things that we hope to do be presented at the beginning of the work, much of that will develop as we proceed. Meantime, it is something to have started ; for without starting, of course, there can be no arriving. Well, we are started ; and those who have followed us through the three preceding articles may perhaps now understand in a vague, and perhaps in an uncertain way, at present, what our aims are ; at least they know that in some way it is the desire of this Department of the Y. M. M. I. A. activities to make helpful suggestions to our youth in the matter of choosing their vocations, and pursuing their industries. We have reached the point where we meet the question, What shall we do now? (1) In the first place it is understood that there is to be a committee of one appointed in each stake board to take supervision of this work within his stake. The question is, have the respective stake superintendents made this selection and appointment? If so, then it should be reported to the general secretary of the Y. M. M. I. A. (Moroni Snow, Improvement Era office, Bishop's Bldg., 40 N. Main St., Salt Lake City.) If the selection and the appointment have not been made, then they should be made at once, and reported as above, which reports will be filed with the committee of Vocation and Industry. This will enable the said committee to open correspondence with these stake chairmen as occasion and development may require. (2) The stake superintendents have been required to make an appointment of a committee consisting of one or two in each of the associations to take supervision of the work in the respective ward associations. Have these appointments been made? If so, then they should be reported to the stake committeemen who will make a list of these appointments in their stakes. If the

DEPARTMENT OF VOCATION AND INDUSTRY 161 appointments have not been made, then they should be made at once, and reported to the respective stake chairmen of this work, and the names filed as above. Let it be emphasized that these men should be men of experience and mature judgment, and of developed sympathy with their work. (3) There should be arrangements made within the stakes for a meeting of the ward association committeemen with the stake committeemen ; perhaps arrangements could be made at the stake Priesthood meeting for such a gathering, when the stake committeemen and the ward committeemen could confer together and discuss the subject of vocations and industries, making a report of their efforts so far made, with what results, and with the view of developing plans to be followed in the future, in the matter of attracting the thought of our youth to these subjects. In part the general movement will have to depend for its evolution upon these discussions, and the schemes and plans that can be devised for bettering conditions as to these fields of endeavor. The men specially appointed as stake and ward committeemen should report to and meet with the stake and ward boards, making a cabinet for discussion of every phase of the work. (4) It has been suggested that the committeemen in the associations should get in personal contact with the membership thereof, with a view to establishing sympathetic relations with them, and so far become familiar with said members as to know their tastes, habits, inclinations, ambitions, aptitudes, and prospects in life; and by this personal contact and through conversation, in play and in work, ascertain what avocation the respective young* men of the associations would be suited for, and give encouragement, as far as possible, to their development along the lines that would lead to the choice of vocations suitable to their talents, inclinations, and aptitudes ; maintaining in all these conversations the dignity of all honest labor ; and conversely, point out the evils of aimless and idle lives ; also the dignity of simple living, and the o-lory of high thinking, being careful always to attach to all vocations something more than a material compensation. Show our youth how in the very humblest vocations there is a service rendered to the community life of the age, and of the civilization, that the men of our generation are producing. (5) It has heretofore been suggested that the committeemen in the respective associations should co-operate in this work with the school teachers and with the parents of our youth. On discovering in any given young man aptitude for any calling, the teacherior parents might be visited, and their attention called to the discovery made, that encouragement might be given the youngman for achieving the things for which he is capable, whether it be in following a trade, a profession, or a general business career. It may be thought that the accomplishment of our desires