New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-11-08

men; there was no opposition from the Gov
eminent; there was nothing that deserved the
name of demonstration; the whole prepos-
ferrous affair was like the "great socialist gath
"eringr in our own City Hall Park last Fri
day, where raving mountebank proposed
to q mob Of bOOtblacks division of the prop
erty of Stewart and Aston till the police took
him to the station-hOuso to cool off.
It gives us no pleasure to parade the misfor-
tunes of an American newspaper but it is our
duty to make these humiliating exposures,
first, because the public depend upon us TO sift
the true from the false, and secondly because
this persistent habit of forging, simplifying,
and las tho culprit expresses it) editing"
DISPATCHES, disgraces the whole profess
sion. and casts upon honorable journalists
an undeserved suspicion In its insane anxiety
TO rival the renOwn of ,Ae really great news
papers of America, The World has forgotten
that the secret of success in journalism is to
collect all the news promptly, and to tell it
correctly Failing to do this, it can never
supply the deficiency by inventing and ampli-
flying messages, and shrieking until it ia red
in the face, "COme here, come here! | have
all the news, better than the people over the
way, and twice as spicy" This degrades an
honorable profession to a level with the call
ing of the Cheap Jack. We trust our readers
will bear in mind that we do not speak
from nero suspicion. When we assert
that our neighbOr has been for
long time in the constant habit OF
forging news we say only what we know and
are quite ready to prove. We can give the
names of two men in the employ of The Wortd
who spent night in composing, here in New
York, one of the London dispatches Of which
that paper professed to be most proud, and
who boosted of their work afterward. We
can exhibit copies of pamphlets and handbllls
used in padding out short Cable messages upon
which The World has based extrayagant and
misleading editorial articles. One of the rules
of the Associated Press operated to protect
newspapers against such frauds on the
part of their associates, by providing that
when message was to be shared, the
original manuscript as it came from the tele-
graph office should be sent to the agent of the
Association, to be by him duplicated for the
use of all the papers entitled to receive It,
This rule The World steadily violated. Nobody
was allowed to see the original message; 1t
was padded, stretched, altered in all kinds of
ways, and then sent to the press in proOf-sllps
from The World office, at an hour too late
even to be put in type, much less 10 DE
carefully examined. We may now state
that for this Offense The World has been for
mally tried by the Association, and found
guilty. Within day or two the Association
have at last succeeded in forcing it to obey the
rules. The purpose of the violation is of course
evident.
We cannot easily pardon forgery; but we are
prepared to make great many allowances for
a paper in the situation of The World Its
frauds have never before been so daring as
during the FrancO-German war; but then It's
necessities have never before been so great. 1t
remarked on Saturday, that at the beginning OF
the campaign it trusted to THE TRIBUNE for its
European news, and therefore neglected to
make arrangements which it else would have
made for controlling the whole news mar
"ket;" but finding that we were not
cept when we were obliged to, it has
since depended upon its own agents.
Entering the field late, they are necessarily at
disadvantage. and AZ the rule of their office is
to have something, be it true or false, they
have involved themselves in some awkward
scrapes. 1t was to The World that we were in
debted few weeks ago for the story of an
immense French victory under the walls of
Paris, by which the Prussans were driven back
along their whole line, and the siege virtually
raised. That mOnstrOus falsehOOd has never
been cOntradicted by the journal most instru-
mental in spreading ton the contrary, it has
lately been reiterated 1t was not until two
days after the announcement in New York of the
surrender of Metz that The World could be
induced to believe it, and, if we are not mis-
taken, our neighbOr still places the date of
that important event forty eight hours or so
later than its actual occurrence. Nor has it
been more fortunate in its editorial comments
on the campaign. The battleof Worth, or Hague
n au was editOrially interpreted as victory for
MacMahOn; and the French army, as it grad
ually fell back toward Sedan, kept on gaining
victory after victory, until it finally capitu-
lated. Readers of the paper have not forgotten
the elaborate and iDspiriting articles in which,
while the military fortunes of France were at
the darkest point, we were assured that the
/" tider at last had "turnedr and the invaders
were in the most desperate danger. No one
could have devised the extraordinary strategy
cal combinations daily exposed on the fourth
page of The World, except some such great
military writer as the historian of that famous
campaign among the elbows of the MinciO.
We are sorry to have to say all these things.
The World is a lively paper, and for people
who are not particular about truth it is in
some respects very judiciously edited. Several
of the young men attached to the staff are
smart; indeed, forgery requires great deal
of smartness. and we will do these persons
the Justice to say that some of their fraudulent