It is the business of newspaper reporters to present the news. The editor, on the other hand, is expected to point out the significance of important items in the news columns. The reporter of baseball games gives a record of what happens. The editor may disregard most of the games, reserving his comments until there is some special reason for bringing the subject before his readers.

Practice in writing editorials, say for the school paper, will help us appreciate the value of the editorial page of a high-class daily or weekly paper.

Exercises

619. Read the following editorial to the class, and show whether it is adapted to the purpose for which it was written. Is there any indication that it is honest and fair?

The Causes Of Fires

Some rather startling revelations are interesting the people of Portland, Me., just at this time with reference to the causes of fires. In a recent instance the "asbestos" about the furnace pipes caught fire and was the cause of a destructive blaze, when it should have been the dependable preventive of such a misfortune. This leads an underwriter to announce to the public, through the columns of the press, that the experience is no new one, that it has been going on for years, and that the inspector of the underwriting board has proved that many fires have been started by what is sold as asbestos and employed for the purposes to which asbestos is adapted. Of course where that happens, it is a spurious article, an imitation of the real thing that is made use of. The recipe for the dangerous substitute is a little coarse hair, held together with a dash of asbestos liquid to give it verisimilitude. This, covered with white paper and held together with metal bands, has the appearance of the real fire resistant and is quite extensively used for the alleged protection of furnace pipes. Whether there is a law that will reach those who make or sell this dangerous stuff, with a penalty commensurate with the offense, we do not know. If Portland suffers from its use, other cities can hardly be exempt, and if underwriters or fire officials are cognizant of this fraud and do not proclaim it from the housetops, they, too, are at fault. That is even worse than the jerry-building that is being practiced in our own city. Is it any wonder that we burn up a billion or more in this country during a single presidential term ?

620. What do you think of the following statement of the purpose of good editorial writing in a school paper ?

The editorials of a school paper should be brief and to the point. They should not try to compete with the editorials of the general press. The subjects should, for the most part, be of local interest. They should be intended to promote or to oppose some definite project or tendency of school life.

621. Make a list of the subjects discussed in one day in the editorial columns of a prominent newspaper.

622. From the newspaper files in the public library, or elsewhere, make a list of twenty topics as subjects for editorials.

623. Make an original list of ten subjects that you consider suitable for editorials at the present time.

624. Write an editorial of about two hundred words on a subject chosen from your list in Exercise 623.

625. Make a list of six subjects suitable for editorials in your school paper, and write a brief editorial on one of the subjects.

626. Be ready to indicate briefly how each of the news items in section 157 might be made the subject of an editorial in a school paper.

627. Write a brief editorial on one of the subjects upon which you wrote a news item (see sect. 157).