College Graduates Vs. Practical Printers

ÍReart by J. E. Beal at the meeting of the Michigan Press Assoclatiwu, Muy 31, 1888.] It had been the intention of your pressent victim upon the essay altar to teil you the history of "The First Devil" in a prlntery, and how that diabolical appellation cnme to be applied. Hut your committee evidently thought you alieady khew to a great sufflcieucy enough about the devil. and that the college gradantes needed handling just as badly as his aotitype. Therefore the changa. A natter of general belief is that when a recent issue of the college gradúate direets his attention to journalism on a daily, and is given the Pólice Courier or dog liglit department, he will bring in as his first Item somettilntf as follows: "At four minutes after 3 this afternoon, wliile the intelligent reporter of The (ia.ette was eircumanibulating the purlleus of our rapidly augmenting city, bis consciousness was aroused by a sañguinary encounter between two canines of the genus buil puppibus. The debate hal not ]roceeded lar when the incisors of the one wlllcb at one time had been white in color, became inserted by his TOlltlon Into the starboard auricular appendage of the other and the smaller of the two com Datante. Whereupon the proprletor of the latter beast, in most profi db langnage and, we will add, with 1 1 1 ¦ ¦- l indecent epitheta, Invited the other brute to loist, nccompanying Ihe request wiili violent projeetions of his pedal ext rein it os anainst the lateral portion of that dog's aiiat.oiny. The man, whose name ÍS .lohn Sinith, who livea at stern hundied and one Steenth sreet, should be ;im steil by the Society for l'revention of Oruelty to Animáis and heavily assessed for a line for disturbing the pciiceful denlzeni of Polacktown." S they do at the start. Their eare for t lic exact words makei thetn writeslowly and carefully, hut they propose to reform the world so siidilcnly that powerful wrongs wliieh exist in every comuiiiuity air attacked with a vehemenee to make h airs of tlie responsible owner's head stand on enl as a libel suit stares them in the face. The college eraduat'' '" J - - '¦-¦¦ is .. ..i.:.. s ii mie entlmsiastic. The activitics of all clanet of cltlzeni he enters into wit h zest. Fresh from books and fresher in experienec, he believes what people teil him, without that cold eyiiieisin whlch possesses liiin in ten years' wrestHllir .11 :l clcccitflll lalK'l " .""I-Im one siili' ui . . ..¦."- y Iml an airing with lighleoué iinliyuatioii in one UifUe, lu be followed possibly ly the cinharassIng adiuission - inxt paper - that there w ere i o sldes. Thus in this and nriny other ]articulars i be at Ilrst heavily baildtcapped in the rare ;ii;aiiil lln; practloal printer as an cilitiir. F-.ir the latter haring grown up ii: n piinting office lias become imbued with its spirit. Many a time and uit has he beard the reporters cussed by the "old inan" as well as by the nngry ¦ubscriberB, for carelessness or for indiscretions in articles. Therefore if he has natural tact. it will be developed. For it must 1 atlii med that no man, whethcr a prMttoal printer or a college professor, cm roiiie to ftny degree of success in joiirnulism unless he has native tact and discretion, and that to a wonderful extent. Of course, this in wuie measure, inay be aequired. As WtUlam Culleri üryant aflirmed: " The editor should be on his guard agatust publisliiug what is false In taste or exceptionable in moralsj but whether he will follow this custom In regard to taste, will of course depend upon hisown Intellectaal culture." Eiereln sounds the keynote of the difference exi-tingbetween the college bred mui and the practical printer. Whieh has the betier intellectual culture? The printer says he has the best practicnl education. True, but'let us beware li -i we fall into error. Education must be judged by its resultf, and Huinboldt hit upon a tiutli when he saiil: " Tlie result of any system of edueation dependí entirely upou the power that a man poMOHes of api)lying the inlliu nee trought to bear upon him to the ciids olself culture, oi whether he alljws lilinsfllf to be moldad bj them." Thereture let us see how the printer and the acholar edúcate theuiselves. Vmi will declare that one lenrns by naiiiiig newspiipers, while the other digs knewledge out of the books. Thus are we all eltber Krowlng above our sources of knowledgc, or elso becoming subject to and tieing molded by them. He who learns liy reailing newspapers iimsily comes to think qulckly, but. 1 ii-.u-, liot deeply. Thesudden transitions from munlers to politics, fiom pollticalecOQomlcal subjects to personal -j;os-)¦.hut us out from profound thought on anything, conteqneutly we tend unfortnnately to tbe luperlfclaL While we come to know tomethlng of everything, do we know tlidioughly any one thlng? No, wedonot. There is the dangerous ]itfall of the man brought up in u per oiui'e. Ou the other hand, In a goo 1 book, wliicli "Ís llie precious life-blooil of h master spirit," we come to know tlie Mibject tlioronjElily, surely, and the impression is a more prot'ound one. As lieultli and vigor is given the ïnind ty thouiíht and digestión, books attain to, llmt blessed end more truly than short newspaper nicles. Tliis is not to be palDSHld. So the scholnr loves hls books. And when lie enters upoii the field oí joiirnallsm, he ges bark to them as often as lils time will allow foi new strengtlr, new thougíitt, and as a refute. Kor the dailyl'ond of excUanges well nljfh draws out his olil hook lovc, and he may after ti time eet thr editor' impalience at lonjr inicies. llowever, he always feels as tboujtb, "fier all, "A (í0(K' book is a iriend who never deceives." It iá believed by nota few that the liist book prlnted In Éogland was at the lUini-iiy ol Oxford nnder the patronage of college in1'11' " tlie Uivine Art certainly at ils biith had noble, well eduouted godiathers. Kor the Greek and Iitin authora were the favorites witli tliosr early printers. Bays historian of the art of printinff a hundred years ago : " At thisthna printers were booksellers, iind authors algo, ana a liberal edneation wagtboujfht necestary forcurryinjf on the bugiiteU completely. Bnt now itisqulte othérwhe: a chiss'eal edneation is overlooked in the choleé of apprentices atthe cae; while it must be evident, a liberal añil rriticiil knowledjre, besideg genius and taste, are necesaary to for,m good compositor; for, át least, they onght to be perfectly MqiftÍBtad with their own laniriiaKe, besides havins a uifflalffftey of tlie Latín, and sonie notiou of Greek and Hebrew, and to discover a inind capable of beinjí hnproved in such kuowleüge as 1 , ¦iiiitrlbiites to exercise the art wlth dress and judgement. Had tliis been alwaystheaim and object in the choice of people tor the business, the professors would be held in a hfgher light than mechanical workmen in general are. But, much to be lamented, interest aeenis to be the prevailing character of too uiany masler printers. They raultlply their apprenlices without considering thelr ability; so they can but rend a chapter in the Bible It is now autücient, while otherg endeavor to injure the trade by studylng liovv to underwork each other." " Newspapor and magazine printers add not a little to keep the youtU in ignorance of the general practical part of the profession. The grand requisite the lad has to learn is expetition. Therefore it not unfiequently happens that fOBDg men who have served their whole seven years In 0U8 of tliese houscs know no more than wliut they conld have learned In one-fourth of the time in au office where works in general were printed; yet they must serve seven years before they can be entitled to work unmolested, evi'ii in mie of these honses; in short, m;mv who cali themselves practical printers owe their employment whereever they go more to the time they have spent than to the merit tliey profesa in the art; much better had it been liad they served less time thereto and havo bad more schooling." A reactiou to the old time way seems to be lakniL.' place and collage men are iraiu beinií called uto editorial chairs, specially by the higher citas of city pacrs, whicb, in their reviews or critiques, ind leaders upon literature, science and he art, need men of broad culture. Formeily the college man going upon ewspaper work wa9 slow, awkward and iibjc('t to rediculou blunders, for wliicli ie was langliud at by tlie boys in the ofce, who were not at all sorry to lmve a haiiiv at him. And many is the job put p on him. Kor instnnce doiug editorial vork In my ofti ¦ w ts a younfj gradúate few years ag, to whom tlie boys gave ve columns of slereutypt'd pinte matter raad the prooi of oue hot afternoon in August. But he found three mistakes nd insistud upou their correction. So e Bot even. During the four 3'ears tlie boy was at ollege the practical printer was at his ase or desk. tío tlie latter bas had four 'cara' start or nis classic brotuer. But lis is a handicap race wliere the slowest unner needs the start first, while the etter trained athlete starts from the cratch, but usually passes the slowcr nc and wins the race. Hgtitt, Moses Coit Tyler, one of the Michigan uñivefVÍi j'iajjpiest lectnrera vish to introduce a coursc hr"t,i.iiijl.a ie curriculum a tratnlng to those coucinplating the field of journallsm. He ave us hints of what such a course fould be, but was cullcd to Cornell bere perfecting the plan. It would have leen a very lielpful study. Corncll 11 ow taking eteps to start a department ot ournalism, wnere classes are to be orranlzed like the city staff of a larjredaily, ie professor acting as managiug editor nd giving instiuftions in edltingof copy, condensing, writitijr henillines, etc. Tliis is a decldéd advance. Hut to-day there exlsts a large scliool In all our colleges where journalism h taught. I refer to college papers, of whicli every institutioii of any size has from oue to a dozen. The editors are elected, and the board works together to biiug out their nionthly or weekly and, in several in sten ces, their duily. Tlierein muny a bright ïnind discovers its field of future usefulness. Tliereby our professlon is gradually improved In training sin:irt, cultured writers, who bring to it at first, instead of the experience which a few ye;irs will add, all the riches of anc'ent and clas3ic history, 1 It- eratute andphilosophiclliougbt; besides the weullliof tli later learnings as shown in Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, Scbiller, Molier, Hugo, ü.inte and Cervantes. We nced more college graduates as editors. The nuuses may not at once appreciatc tuis, yet to those who can read between th lines and see the polished wrlter, it is an added delight. For a student's writings have a fine flivor detectable ly a connoisseur just us the rare old Falerninn which niellowed tnany a verse of Horace, could be told by Miecenas trom the ordinaty jnice of the vine. It makes lor progress and liigher standard; for better Biilta und fartlier-reachIng good; for ennobllng the race and lor sliaming superticiallty ; for liftln up the ideáis of m:in and tor crusliliig wrong leachings. In fact, it hastens the reign of the true, the beuutiful and the good, for which we all are louging.