The Brass Check: A Study of American JournalismSinclair, Upton
General
The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism
Sinclair, Upton
Associated Press; Journalism -- United States; Press -- United States
In his book—which ought to be read by at least a million Americans—Mr.
Sinclair traces the career of one family. It is a book that does for
modern INDUSTRIAL slavery what “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” did for black
slavery. But the work is done far better and more accurately in “The
Jungle” than in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
Mr. Sinclair lived in the stockyards. He saw how the men that work
there are treated, how the people that buy dreadful, diseased products
are treated. HE TOLD THE TRUTH SIMPLY AND CONVINCINGLY. He went there
to study life, not merely to tell a story.
As a result of the writing of this book, of the horror and the shame
it has aroused, there is a good prospect that the Beef Trust devilries
will be CHECKED at least, and one hideous phase of modern life at
least modified....
Meanwhile, the public should be thankful to Mr. Sinclair for the
public service he is rendering, and his book “The Jungle” should sell
as no book has sold in America since “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
And then on May 31st, two days later, appeared another editorial of the
same character, conveying to the readers of the “Evening Journal” the
fact that they might read this wonderful novel in the Hearst newspapers;
the first chapter would be published in both the “Evening Journal” and
the “American,” and after that the complete story would run in the
“American.” The ordinary capitals used by Mr. Brisbane in his editorials
were not sufficient in this crisis; he used a couple of sizes
larger—almost an advertising poster. I quote the closing paragraphs from
his editorial:
It will please our readers to know that for the right to publish Mr.
Sinclair’s book serially in our newspapers—which includes no interest
whatever in its publication in book form—we pay to him an amount of
money exceeding all that he has been able to earn in six years of hard
literary work.
This newspaper, which has opposed the Beef Trust and its iniquities
for years, and which first published the facts and the affidavits that
form part of Mr. Sinclair’s indictment, rejoices that this young man
should have had the will, the courage and the ability to write a work
that HAS FORCED NATIONAL ATTENTION, including the attention of the
President of the United States....
We urge that you read the first installment of Mr. Sinclair’s book in
this newspaper today, and that you continue reading it daily as the
various installments appear in THE AMERICAN.
CHAPTER VII
JACKALS AND A CARCASE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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