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%,, RL THE DARY TIMES-GAZITTE, Tuesdsy, July 22, 1958 19 NUMBER TWO i71 a series on the right of the public to be informed Literature for some future historian! 4 "The witch Walpurga, evil and rwretched woman, was sentenced to be led, seated in a cart to which she is tied, to the place of execution, her body first to be torn five times with red hot irons." Written by an unknown reporter for an obscure German newsletter, this paragraph was published in 1587. Slavery was abolished long after witch-burning. Could it be that another terse passage in a news- paper of 1859 quickened the conscience of humanity ? Hereitis: "The auctioneer brought up Joshua's Molly and family. He announced that Molly insisted she was lame in her left foot although he did not believe a word of it. An eminent physician in Savannah had declared Joshua's Molly was only shamming. However, the gentlemen must judge for themselves and bid accordingly. "So Molly was put through her paces and compelled to trot up and down the stage, to go up and down steps and to exercise her feet in various ways, but with the same result, the left foot would go lame. She was finally sold for $695." The year 1958 marks the 370th anniversary in the history of newspapers. The first, the English Mercurie, was published in the same year Drake scattered the Spanish Armada. In 1632 the Star Chamber clamped down on news papers. But the right of the public to be informed; championed by newspapers, has survived repeated and outrageous assaults by the arrogant, the super- stitious and the corrupt. Conscientious reporting is the newspaper's weapon. The eminent H. G. Wells reflected that great reporting is the product of an interrogative state ofmind. Heywood Broun said: "Every good reporter is writing literature for some future historian." Matthew Arnold has described journalism as "literature in a hurry." 'I am the voice of today and the herald of tomorrow," Robert H. Davis has said of the printing press. 'I sing the songs of the world, the orations of history, the symphonies of all time . . . | weave into the warp of the past and the woof of the future. I tell the stories of peace and war alike. " make the human heart beat with passion or tender- ness. | stir the pulse of nations, and make brave men do braver deeds. . "I inspire the midnight toiler; weary at his loom, to lift his head and gaze with fearlessness, into the vast beyond, seeking the consolation of a hope eternal. "I am the tireless clarion of the news. I ery your Joys and sorrows every hour. . . I am the record of all things mankind has achieved. I am the laughter and tears of the world, and I shall never die until all things return to the immutable dust." In the cavalcade of episodes on history's broad esplanade, your newspaper; The Star, has cham- pioned the right of the public to be fully informed on all affairs, particularly those that pertain to Canada's social welfare. Veteran mrwomman yarns ¥, wicor hor tacked up over thirty years of newspaper experience. His by-lined Stay stories Reve been filed from Europe, Africa and South America. A man who goes gfter his stories, Nicol once hired a dog sled and wished 600 miles along the Arctic coast 10 cover a story on the Dew Line, The late J. E. Atkinson; owner and publisher of The Star, agreed whole-heartedly with Oliver Goldsmith's: "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey "When wealth accumulates and men decay." Forty-four years ago in a Toronto address, Mr. Atkinson declared: "We have been accustomed to say that in Canada we do not have the problems of unemployment and a demand Jor a rearrangement of industry as they have in older countries, hence our legislators have paid practically ne attention to them. ' "From this comfortable state of mind the people of this city have found themselves lacking employment through no fault of their own. Their families have suf- fered, in many cases, to the utmost extremity. "These workers receive wages that even in times of work are so close to the margin of sustenance that it is a mockery to ask why they do not save enough to tide them over those periods of non-employment which are as ¢er- tain and almost as regular as the ebb of the tides." Through the years Mr. Atkinson campaigned for sickness and employment insurance; mothers' allowances and old age pensions. There was a time when the infant mortality rate in Canada approached that of the most crowded cities in England --a disgraceful situation which The Star fearlessly exposed. As in the past the right of the public to be informed, and the interrogative state of mind which supports that right -- both will be championed by your newspaper. Prepared by The Toronto Star end published by The Daily Times-Gazette : -- ay A