Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-03-07

PARIS, Feb. 15.
To the Editor Of the JouRsAJ. AND COURIER:
Among the many institutions more or
less discredited by the great Panama scan
dal there is not one which appears in a
worse light than the French Press. This
medium of popular enlightenment, the
guide and guafd of the people, as 1t ought
to be, is shown to have been subsidized in
the interests of q mammoth fraud by
which money has been sucked In millions
out of the pockets of rich and poor alike.
Not only this, but it is convicted morally
of levying blackmail upon the promoters
of this fraud. 1t did more than simply
receive that which was offered to It. 1t
was not psssively bribsd to puff this en-
terprise; it was an aggressive claimant for
bribes. 1t really seems to have been
leader In that band of social brigands who,
as Charles de Lesssps so graphically put 1t,
went at the directors with drawn knives,
and in true highway style demanded their
money or their llves. Happily this does
not apply to all the Parisisn newspapers.
There were honorable exceptions. Not
enough, however, to redeem the craft from
disgrace, or to turn the sharp edge of CEN
sure from the French press considered as
an institution.
To American thought these revelations
are all the more astounding because, as 1t
appears at present, no steps are to be taken
to punish them. The papers involved
pursue their career as though nothing had
happened. Eiitors and publishers, far
from feeling themselves disgraced, seem
rather to be taking pride in the excellent
management they displayed. We have
not discovered either thst there is any
marked indignation towards them on the
part of their deluded constituency, the
great French public. Popular sentiment
may change after time, but at present 1t
seems to look upon this lstest expose of
the venality of the press with remarkable
Ieniency; almost, in fact, with indiffer-
ence. Nor is it difficult to account for
this Judged by Its own recognized stand
ards, the French press has only acted In
this instance as 1t usually acts, and has
done nothing but what Is strictly proper.
Its columns are always for sale. Between
advertisements and editorial putfs the line
of demarcation is very dim, and in many
papers 1t vanishss completely out of sight
1t could hardly be said. perhaps, that 1t
is customary for French newspapers to
sell their influence to schemes of fraud.
But they constantly sell 1t for ordinary
II af
bought up regularly by agents of the gov
ernment This is no secret, and We have
not heard that either the government, the
newspapers, or anybody else concerned,
has any feeling of shame on the subject.
As regards the papers, they openly sdver-
tise that they will publish what is sent to
them, and the rates are given. The tariff
In ordinary cases Is from three dollars to
eight dollars q line, and 1t is understood,
of course, that what is put In at these
rates will appear as ordinary reading mat
| ter, with the tacit Endorsement of the jour
nal which publishes It, Even Society and
| the great world of Art are subsidized in
this fashion You may be quite sure that
every notice you read of q wedding party,
q society ball, or theatrical performances,
| has been paid for at steep rate, and as to
| the many disguised mercantile "ads" which
| the papers palm off upon the reading pub
| lie, everybody understands-at least every
| well informed person in France doss-that
| as q rule they will be Indifferent. effusive
or superlative in their terms accordingly
as the client may have spproximated to
these degrees In the necessary cheque fur
pished for prepayment
Here is q good Introduction, though not
q very fstteripg one, to q few notes upon
| the French press in general. By this we
mean emphatically the Psrisian press, for
whether Paris Is France in any other sense
or not, 1t certainly is in this. Outside oi
this city there are scarcely any papers
worth naming, and what In more to the
point, we should hod none in Paris itseli
worth naming If we judged them by Amer
Il loan Ideals. The ordinary sizs Ia foul
pages, the paper used being wretchedlJ
poor, and the appearance and mske-uI
hardly equal 10 that of our average Shan
ty-town Gazette. Psrisisu newspaper
have been divided into two classes, tn,
representative of the former and Figaro q
the best type of the latter. Needless I,
say that In the gay capital of Francs news
papers of q decidedly frivolous bent ar
largely in the ascendant, and it may b
taken equally IS q matter of course tina
the sort of gaiety which is most predoni
nant has a decidedly personal flavor, witt
| not uttie aQm1xture OF scanuhl IN "
As to the serious journals, those whicl
make q pretence of being real newspaper
and of keeping their readers In touch Wit
current events, one can only say, judsin
again from the American standpoint, this
the Paris newspapers which aim at thi
object tall voefully wide of the msri
Enterprise and freehnees are two words Q
! which they seam quite ignorant For fol
! eign and provincial Items they depend a
most entirely upon news sgencies- I
fact only few are subscribers even
these; the great MACS get what little on
side news they deign TO publish by cliI
pings which ars often venerable with aG,
Not one of them has O correspondent
, | the United States, and when the read.
only thinks that representatives of Il
American prees are to be found iu evei
country under the Sun, and that the 90
, umns of American papers teem with E
4 ropsan correspondence, much of II fro
France, he will have before him the dA
J. for . fair comparison between Ameriol
newspaper enterprise and thar poor spol
z gy for the real thing which goes BY th