About Sunday Newspapers

The Tendency of Certain Papers Crisply Summed Up.

The dangers of exaggeration, the temptations to adorn a tale by carelessness of the truth and the desire to interest without regard for facts, are causing serious consideration among many readers and some publishers of newspapers with Sunday supplements.

Efforts to excel in story telling have brought results that too often smell suspiciously of lying. Contributors to the Sunday issues are, as a rule, unacquainted with the discipline exacted by careful city editors. Their stories grow from suggestions and swell into sensations.

The news of the day is too carefully gleaned and chronicled to have left over for Sunday much that can be properly rehashed, with the result that many Sunday supplement staffs are forced to create matter such as "Is love a disease?" and other topics difficult to handle without reckless assertions and careless writing.

Marvels of science appeal especially to the Sunday editor. Nikola Tesla is a wonderful help to the Sabbath scribe. The electrician has done so many remarkable things, and asserted that he could do so many others worth doing if they could be done, that he has been of the greatest value to those whose imaginations are their stock in trade, and whose ideas are prone to lead them astray with tempting sensations.

Our planet punctured is not a pleasing picture. It but terrifies the ignorant and makes the wise weary. Six-headed babies and illustrations of current vice cannot rival the drawings that could delight the many. Stories by writers of real ability do not cost too much. The ordinary Sunday supplement needs revision. It is often indecent and not unusually stupid.

It is gratifying to see in this connection that a number of newspapers, wspapers, careful careful of their character, and yet enterprising with their Sunday supplements, have gained largely in circulation, showing that the public, though it loves excitement, grows weary of continued nonsense. It is equally pleasant to note that many fantastic offenders offend have either used their ammunition or realized that there is a limit to the sensibilities of Sunday supplement readers. — Fourth Estate.