Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/120

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of A .

or illustrator, the editor of the " colyum ” may each in turn change from teacher or entertainer to the passive onlooker who records

the pleasantries of every -day life ; the paragraph develops into the column, the column into the page, the page into the syndicated article ; and this in turn degenerates into the colored supplement

that " reduced to first principles, therefore, is not humor, but

simply a supply created in answer to a demand, hastily produced by machine methods and hastily accepted by editors too busy with other editorial duties to examine it intelligently ." 43 But in

whatever form the element of humor enters into the newspaper, whether it relies on misspelled English , or on dialect, or on its own innate qualities ; whether it creates a Mr. Dooley or a Hennessy , a Senator Sorghum or a Farmer Corntossle, a Mrs . Partington , or a Dulcinea, it is an important contributory factor

to thepersonality of a newspaper.44 A still further development of the column must be noted . It has been during the recent war, and it is to -day, the part of the newspaper where a writer can in seriousness, without the cloak of a jest, and without fear or favor express opinions quite at variance

with the conventional opinions held by the public or possibly by the newspaper itself.45 The personality of a newspaper is further disclosed by the

emphasis it places on various questions or by omission of them . Its column of original, contributed or clipped jokes and humorous articles appeal to one class of readers , its pages of society news appeal to others ; while special attention to education , to real

estate transactions, to the theatre, to art, to music, to sports, to various other permanent public interests indicates an apprecia McD , Stoddart, “ Journalism 's Radium , the Colyum ,” Independent, Feb

ruary 16 , 1918, 93: 274, 289–293; C . L . Edson, The Gentle Art of Columning, with four prefaces written by four well-known “ colyumists ;" and editorial, “ The Art of Columning," Literary Review , May 14 , 1921. 43 R . Bergengren , “ The Humor of the Colored Supplement," Atlantic Monthly, August, 1906 , 98 : 269– 273 .

44 The personality of a humorous paper like Punch is so strong that none of its numerous imitations has had more than a brief existence. M . H . Spielmann notes the Punch à Paris, Berlin Punsch, Munich Punsch , Y Punch Cymraeg , Shanghai Punch , Japan Punch , Japanese Punch, Parsee Punch, Sydney Punch , Queensland Punch, Mac Punch , and theManx Cat. “ The Rivals of ' Punch ', ” National Review , July, 1895, 25: 654 -666 . 45 See C . Morley on Bouck White , New York Evening Post, June 2 , 1921;

“ The Conning Tower " conducted by F . P . A . has also illustrated this.