and spiritual welfare. As a matter of practice, however, an edi-
torial writer on the larger dailies seldom has the disagreeable
task of writing what he does not believe. A question is thrashed
out at the editorial council and after a decision has been reached
as to where the paper shall stand, the writing of the editorial is
given to the man to whom the subject most appeals because ex-
perience has shown that he can generally produce the most forci-
ble and convincing appeal on the subject.
SIGNED EDITORIALS
This practice in editorial offices shows how impossible are the recommendations of William Jennings Bryan and others that editorial articles should be signed by the names of their writers. In thrashing out a problem at the editorial council different phases of a subject are presented by various members of the staff. The man who writes the editorial frequently accepts ideas from every member of the staff in his presentation of the subject, and he would be guilty of plagiarism if he should attach his name to the editorial. The editorial "we" is the real author of the edi- torial: the staff, through an individual writer, has spoken for the paper. Only where the editorial staff consists of a single member would there be justification for using Mr. Bryan's suggestion of signed editorials.
CHARTING THE NEWS
A distinguished educator went over a certain New York paper systematically for three months during which time he charted the news as follows: demoralizing, 2295 items; unwholesome, 1684; trivial, 2100; worth-while, 3900 or thirty-nine per cent, of the total. The New York World thought that the educator made out a fairly good case for the newspapers; that thirty-nine per cent, of worth-while news was up to the average quality of achievement in most human activities such as the preaching of sermons, painting of pictures, writing of novels, or what-not.
Other newspapers thought that the newspaper average of worth-while items was higher than thirty-nine per cent. The Evening Tribune of Providence, Rhode Island, expressed its views as follows:
