BEFORE the day of newspapers, information and news were carried by letter and word of mouth. Messengers were dispatched on foot or on horseback bearing the news from village to village, and from town to town. In this way it took days, weeks, and even months for happenings to penetrate the country and reach its citizens. The coming of the newspaper, together with the railway and the telegraph, changed all this. News came pouring into recognized centers, where it was printed in newspapers, which in their turn were distributed by rail and other means, finding their way into many homes in the course of a few hours.
As the work known as journalism, in connection with the making of these newspapers, grew and more and more papers were published, not unnaturally competition began to develop. Then came a new era. Owners of newspapers in the desire to increase their circulation inserted large headlines, working up news in a sensational manner. By this means it was found that the public demand for their papers increased. And so it came about that not only events of national and world interest were chronicled, but it became the custom to feature crime and much that was utterly unfit and undesirable for public consumption. To-day, in the average newspaper, anything from an international question to a divorce suit is reported and published as news, often with headlines so big and black as to compel attention. And as few newspapers are free from the influence of politics, we are liable to find articles, letters, and even news written up from personal points of view.
Now the thoughtful adult perhaps realizes all this, and discriminates as to what he will and will not read. Also, if he is alert, he will be able to detect political bias; but it is not quite the same with young people. They are far more apt to take up a newspaper and read what is before them regardless of whether the news is good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome, very often framing their views upon important questions from what appears in the leading articles.
