Taken Too Seriously

     There is altogether too much importance being placed on the alleged influence of the so-called yellow journals in the insinuations that are made as to their being the impelling or inspiring cause of the killing of President McKinley.
     It is not for a moment to be thought probable, that the publishers of such sheets as those referred to, have any sympathy with that spirit of anarchy which advocates the murder of heads of government, and it is very doubtful if many of the critics who are now condemning them have any idea that the contrary is the case. The plain fact of the matter is that such publishers have allowed their papers to descend to the lowest depths of sensationalism, scandal and unreliability, for purposes of private gain and public notoriety, regardless of principle or honor, and in so doing, have, of necessity, been obliged to cater to a clientage of ignorant and easily satisfied supporters.
     Much of the criticism that is being voiced today, is the outcome of a long pent up disgust on the part of decent and intelligent readers and publishers, who have long wondered when the depths of depraved and nonsensical practices would finally be reached by such publishers, and a healthy reaction set in.
     It is, as said before, according this style of newspapers too much weight and consideration, to hold them responsible for any lasting impressions, even on the feeble intellects of such a class of readers as they pander to. If any good is to be accomplished in the way of calling attention on the part of the public to the disreputable plane to which such senseless sheets have descended, and in forcing them to a more reputable and respectable line of conduct in the future, much good will have been accomplished, but it is the merest nonsense to longer award them credit or discredit, for influencing the minds of their followers.
     No man who has not lost his mind, or who was not born without one to begin with, takes such publications seriously, and while a steady diet of them might be answerable for suicide, there isn’t much danger of them “inspiring” anybody to such a serious thought as murder.