Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/362

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October, 1871, it was vigorously defended at the Annual Con- vention of the Kansas Editors' and Publishers' Association by Captain Henry King, who later achieved such distinction while editor of The St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Captain King believed in personalities and thought the journalist was never so power- ful as when he was personal. By way of proof he cited the case of Nathan, who first preached general principles, in the form of a parable, to David, but who was unable to move the guilty monarch until he pointed a finger of scorn and asserted, "Thou Art The Man." The most influential editors, according to Cap- tain King, had been exceedingly and often offensively personal in their criticism and to take it out of journalism would mean descent into bankruptcy. "Banish the words blackguard, liar, and villain from our newspapers and even the ' good and useful ' Greeley would quit the business in disgust," was the way he put it. Personal journalism to Captain King meant the application of such words only to scoundrels and rascals who could be effectively denounced in no other way. In its modified form personal journalism survived in the West until a much later period.

Evidently certain members of the first Kansas Legislature did not hold the views advocated by Captain King, for one member, a Mr. McMeekin, moved that if any reporter of a Kansas news- paper vilified any member of the Legislature, the member so vilified should be authorized and expected to thrash the repre- sentative of the press who made the attack. Captain King, however, thought that by such a scheme aggrieved parties could obtain satisfaction more surely and promptly than by libel suits and that offending editors could escape the expense and annoy- ance of court attendance. The resolution proposed by Mr. McMeekin, however, did not pass the Legislature, owing to the opposition of the Kansas press.

PRESS ON WHEELS

No history of American journalism would be complete without some mention of The Frontier Index which, true to its name, was published on the frontier and was literally a press on wheels. Though published at twenty-five different places along