Masonic Journalism.

MASONIC JOURNALISM .

In Masonry , as in politics , in literature , in science , in religion , and indeed in CA'ery division of human knowledge and eA'ery special direction of human effort , journalism has become an important element . Ou the importance of the daily newspaper or the monthly magazine as a means of eliciting

thought or of communicating information it would be idle to discant , at this day , Avhen such things have ceased to be luxuries , and have assumed the nature of actual

necessities . The man who dispenses voluntarily Avitli his newspaper at breakfast affords an evidence , not of the uselessness of the journal , but rather of some deficiency in his own mental constitution . The member of a church AVIIO does not patronize the paper Avhich is issued by the denomination

to which he is attached shows simply his real indifference to the condition or tho progress of that denomination . The physician would haA'e but little claim to character in his profession who did not read habituall y atleastonemedicaljonriv . il ,

and the same mi ght be said of the lawyer , or the pretended scientist , who felt no curiosity to learn the regular progress and the discoveries in that branch of knoAvledge to which he Avas devoted . And so on this general principle—that journalism in its different phrases has become a necessit 3 ' to the thinking mind , or , in other Avords , that

all men AVIIO think at all have a natural and irrepressible inclination to knoAv Avhat is going on in the world around them , not from prurient curiosity but from th e health y desire of knowledge—Ave feel justified iii saying that the Mason AVIIO never reads a Masonic journal is a Mason onlin name

y ; that such a one has received the li ght , but is still living in darkness ; and that he has no right , with such indifference to an increase of knowledge , to take any part in the great business of the Order . Masonic journalism , being so important

an instrument in the Avorking of the Order , exerting so much influence , and justly demanding so elevated a position , it may not be altogether intrusive if we , who haA'e the experience of more than a score of years in the editorial chair of Masonic journalism , should venture , almost as a parting offering , to say something of its aims and its character .

Masonic journalism differs in the abstract A'ery little from journalism of any other class . It demands that its objects may be faithfully carried out , the three great and indispensable qualification , that every other species of journalism requires , and these

are courtesy , ability , and independence . To each of these a few lines may be devoted . And first of courtesy . A . perusal of the non-masonic newspapers of the day Avili show that Avhile the greater number of their conductors respect , in their editorial

intercourse . with their contemporaries , those amenities and courtesies of life which the ordinary principles of politeness require , there are some who seem to forget that the editor should necessarily be , or at least act like , a gentleman . Coarseness of language , virulence of abuse aud bitterness of denunciation are the chosen weapons with Avhich they attack those AVIIO differ from them in

opinion . AVhen we read s « # h imitations of Billingsgate , in the editorial columns of a journal , we are disgusted at the spirit which mistakes foul invectives for sound arguments , and vituperation for criticism . In such a casewe take for our guide the judgment

, of the ignorant bumpkin , who being present at a scholastic disputation conducted in Latin , Avhich language he did not understand , yet rightly determined AVIIO was the A'ictor by declaring that the man who got into a passion must have had the Avorst of

the argument . Although Ave have placed courtesy in the first rank of qualifications , because no amount of talent or learning will

compensate for the want of gentlemanly bearing or be an apology for coarseness or rudeness , 3 'et the ability to conduct a journal is equally indispensable for the true editor . Ignorance can never be adequate to the importance of the position which an editor occupies nor to the great responsibility

that that position implies . An English statesman has said that the press constituted the fourth estate of the kingdom—the other three , King , Lords , and Commons scarcely , in their aggregation , exceeding it in poAver . The phrase may not have been

strictly correct , for the jn-ess has neither executive nor legislate power ; but the influence that it exerts over public op inion , being actually in most instances its own creation , can hardly be exaggerated . Fletcher , of Saltoun , said that he kneAV