Article July 18, 1925 Issue

Your editorial page of recent date contained a criticism...

Richard E. Prince, Committee on Publication for the State of Virginia,—Norfolk

Virginian-Pilot

Your editorial page of recent date contained a criticism of The Christian Science Monitor and its choice of news which betrays a lack of understanding of the Monitor as well as of its scope and purpose. It should be remembered that, unlike all other newspapers, the Monitor is an international daily, and its choice of news must be made from the point of view of all its readers. You can readily understand that its subscribers in South Africa and Australia would not be particularly interested to read several weeks later about the unfortunate accident at Cave City; but many of them would be much interested to learn how Kentucky is working out her problem of agricultural diversification, as well as to know what the Monitor is telling the world about the pearl fishery problems in Australia. In the leading editorial of the first issue of the Monitor, Mrs. Eddy stated (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353), "The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind;" and while accounts of crime, scandal, and disaster are rigorously excluded from its columns, it does not hesitate to expose any form of evil or corruption which should be uncovered in order to "bless all mankind." For instance, it sent one of its correspondents, Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, to the Near East, and published such graphic reports of the Turkish atrocities which he witnessed there that the whole civilized world was aroused to indignation. It also tells of the good that is being accomplished everywhere; and many a discouraged worker for civic betterment or moral reform has been helped and cheered by learning through its columns of the efforts of another worker elsewhere. It gives to oppressed minorities and nations an opportunity to present their case to the world, and it tells of the worth-while accomplishments of small communities instead of giving them undesirable publicity when some citizen commits a crime or becomes involved in scandal.

When one takes these facts into consideration, it is plainly evident that the Monitor is not a product of "ascetic intellectualism." It is so busy trying to help and bless mankind that it has neither time nor space to devote to the exploitation of sensational items that are read to-day, and forgotten—it is hoped—to-morrow. As a natural result, it is read with interest and enjoyment by men and women in every walk of life, from the presidents of universities to the inmates of penal institutions, and many of these latter-named unfortunates are learning through its pages, for the first time, of a world which they had never before glimpsed. Even the tiny children love to see the antics of "Snubs, Our Dog;" the older boys and girls find the Monitor a helpful friend and aid in their school work; while parents rejoice that their children can find nothing in its pages unfit to read. The Monitor is interested in the individual, but it is interested in his good deeds and not in his crimes; it prefers to tell of his virtues instead of his vices. If he helps his fellow-man, it gladly tells the world; but if he fails or falls, it prefers to veil with a merciful silence his shortcomings from the public gaze.

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