dvertising columns. In no other
way could a merchant so persuasively hawk his wares or a purchaser
learn so readily about the market. The wholesaler and jobber find
their interests attended to in special columns provided particularly
for them. Financial interests are cared for by stock-exchange
quotations, news items, and advertisements. All kinds of social
concerns are taken care of in the news columns, items collected at
great expense from the four quarters of the globe. Gatherings for a
great variety of purposes are recorded. Educational and religious
interests are given space, as well as sports and amusements; last
Sunday's sermon jostles the latest scandal on Monday morning; weather
probabilities and shipping news have their corners, as well as the
fashion department and the cartoon. The newspaper is a moving picture
of the world.

295. =The Value of the Press.=--The most valuable service rendered by
the press is its education of the public mind, so that public opinion
may register itself in intelligent action. It provides a forum for the
discussion of issues that divide sects and parties, and helps to
preserve religious freedom and popular government. Except that it is
so frequently trammelled in uttering itself frankly on important
public questions, it gives an indication of the trend of sentiment and
so makes possible a forecast of future public action. The very variety
of printed publications, from the sensational daily sheet to the
published proceedings of a learned society, insures a healthy
interchange of ideas that helps to level social inequalities and
promotes a mutual understanding among all groups and grades of
society. The cheapened process of book publication on a large scale,
and the investment of large sums of money in the publishing business,
with its mechanics of sale management as well as printing, has made
possible an enormous output of literature on all subjects and has
widened the range of general information in possession of the public.
The whole system of modern life would be impossible without the press.

296. =The Library and the Museum.=--In spite of the efficient methods
used for selling the output of the press, large numbers of books would
be little read were it not for the collections of books that are
available to the public, either free or at small cost. The public
library is an educative agency that serves its constituency as
faithfully as the school and the press. Its presence fo