amusements, and either to astonish their readers , from time to
time, with a strange and wonderful sight, or be content to lose their custom . The sea is generally filled with monsters , when
there are no fleets upon it, mount Aetna immediately began to
rage upon the extinction of the rebellion : and woe to the people of Catanea , if the peace continues; for they are sure to be shaken
every week with earthquakes , till they are relieved by the siege of some other great town in Europe. The air has likewise contrib uted its quota of prodigies. We had a blazing star by the last mail from Genoa ; and, in the present dearth of battles, have been very opportunely entertained, by persons of undoubted
credit, with a civil war in the clouds, where our sharpsighted malcontents discovered many objects invisible to an eye that is
dimmed by Whig principles." 4 Whatever the cause, it can not be gainsaid that much of the criticism of the press is directed towards that part supplied by the local reporter , and many will agree with Godkin , when in
writing of a not-remote past he says, " Everything, however trifling, was considered worth printing, and the newspaper finally became, what it is now , a collection of the gossip , not only of the whole world , but of its own locality.
Now , gossip , when analyzed , consists simply of a collection of actual facts, mostly of little moment, and also of surmises about
things , of equally little moment. But business requires that as much importance as possible shall be given to them by themanner
of producing each item , or what is called 'typographicaldisplay.' Consequently they are presented with separate and conspicuous headings, and there is no necessary connection between them .
They follow one another, column after column, without any
order, either of subject or of chronology." 5 This seems a somewhat depressing situation into which the re porter has brought the press , yet it is after all not so hopeless. The reporter writes much gossip and he makes many errors in so
doing, but it is possible to make an analysis of these errors, based on the nature of the error, and to show that they fall into a few
well-defined classes. Many erroneous statements are attributable to ignorance and
hence they are easily exposed and rejected. A prominent local
paper made the statement after the census of 1910 : “ When the 4 The Freeholder, No. 27, March 23, 1716 . 5 E . L .Godkin , Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy , p . 199.
