"But the labor and expense of new publications are the least of their
evils. You cannot imagine what an influence is exerted, in this city, at
the present time, by 'penny newspapers.' There are from fifteen to
twenty, I believe, published daily, and not less on an average, I
presume, than 5000 copies of each. A number of them strike off from
10,000 to 20,000 every day. They have no regular subscribers, or at
least, they do not depend upon subscribers for a support. They are
hawked about the streets, the steamboats and taverns by boys, and are,
for the most part, extravagant stories, caricature descriptions, police
reports, infidel vulgarity and profanity, and, in short, of just such
matter as unprincipled, selfish, and bad men know to be best fitted to
pamper the appetites and passions of the populace, and so uproot and
destroy all that is valuable and sacred in our literary, civil, and
religious institutions.
"A spirit of ultraism seems to pervade the whole community. The language
of Milton's archdevil 'Evil, be thou my good,' is the creed of modern
reformers, or, in other words--_anything for a change_.
Pages:
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107