The Salt Lake _Herald_ abstracts from “The Press of the World”
some of the “rules of conduct” which Benjamin Franklin followed
in his first journalistic venture. “They are so perfectly
applicable to present-day newspapers,” it says, “that they
are worth preserving and emphasizing.” He had just begun the
publication of his _Pennsylvania Gazette_ when an article was
submitted to him that did not meet his views of propriety. With
his customary deliberation he did not at once reject it, but
told the writer he would sleep over it and give his decision the
next day. This is how he applied his rules to the subject:
“I have perused your piece,” he wrote, “and find it to be
scurrilous and defamatory. To determine whether I should publish
it or not, I went home in the evening, purchased a two-penny
loaf at the baker’s, and, with water from the pump, made my
supper; I then wrapt myself up in my great coat, and laid down
on the floor and slept till morning, when, on another loaf and
a mug of water, I made my breakfast. From this regimen I feel
no inconvenience whatever. Finding I can live in this manner, I
have formed the determination never to prostitute my press to
corruption and abuse of this kind for the sake of gaining a more
comfortable subsistence.”
(2495)
=Press, Using the=--See NEWSPAPERS AND MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.