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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, December 21, 1914, LAST EDITION, Image 9

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-12-21/ed-1/seq-9/

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THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO ARE BEGINNING TO
UNDERSTAND WHAT THE DAY BOOK MEANS
BY N. D. COCHRAN
c I' think the people are beginning to understand The Day Book. The
class of letters being published" daily indicates that there are many who
grasp the significance of an adless newspaper and a really free press.
Only through a press that is actually free in the best sense of the
word can the soul of Chicago find expression. Arid Chicago has a soul as
well as a body.
- -We see the body in the great factories, stores, offices buildings, street
railways, depots, paved streets and other structures of steel and stone and
mud and glass all of the various works of man. '
The soul, however, is invisible. We have, to THINK and FEEL the
soul. For it is in the minds and hearts of the' men, women and" children
who make Chicago something that would still be here if another great
fire burned all of our buildings to the ground.
In a commercialized press, devoted to barter and trade, to. buying and
selling, to money and things, there is little chance for soul expression. Jt
is too hard work getting it by the barriers of business.
When publishers and editors seek some expression of public opinion,
it is the most natural thing in the world for them to seek interviews with,
our "most prominent citizens," our "leading, best," etc, men and women
the George Reynolds, James Forgans, Ogden Armours and other rep
resentatives of big business and. big money.
Nobody seems to care what the thousands of carpenters, brick
layers, painters, street ran men, clerks, mechanics, laborers and small busi
iness men think about one thing or, another.
And who are the lea'ding citizens --anti whom do they lead?
Reynolds, may lead a handful of bankers, but John Fitzpatrick, for
illustration, is the chosen leader of several hundred thousands of men and
women who work for their living, and whose lives, whose hopes, fears,
wants and aspirations are just as important as those of George Reynolds,
Jim Forgan, Ogden Armour, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Julius Rosenwald, dra
ham Taylor, Carter Harrison, Roger Sullivan' and the little -coteries that
trail these leaders of small and select clans.
There are society columns in the papers, wherein are pictured daily
the petty movements of the wives and daughters of the rich. The names
of the poor get into print when connected with vice, crime and accident.
Most of the newspaper editorials are wishy-washy effusions of kept
editors ,who deal with nearly everything but the real problems of the daily
life of the bread-winners and their wives and children.
Columns of space are given to railroads; real estate .dealers, insurance
agents, automobile salesmen, the produce and stock exchanges, the' stock
yards, arid advertisements of retail merchants and patent medicine ven
ders; and mighty small mention of the great human market, where the
lives of men, women and children are involved.
At this -season of the year when the Christmas spirit is supposed to
be upon us, much space is 'given to charity work. Thousands of families
of the out-of-works will get a good meal on Christmas and be forgotten
the other 364 daysof the year.
In time, perhaps, the scientists at work, for the Rockfeller foundation
may find a -way for humans to hibernate and live off their fat during the
season of unemployment,' but in the meantime we will dole out-retail

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