The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-11-17

Ous cry mas rvsasy-ghrss D~iz>-
aud Blfty.sir mssarinsa.

SO HANtNsAA AaNAAAA'
In one Of my conversations With the
prime minister he observed 20 me; TT
Ia unfortunate for us that We have no
paper like your leading morning jour
nails, and what 70 even more uniortu-
nate 10 that we have no public opinion
In controlling our press as You have.
But n you wish 10 write upon the jour
nailsm OF Japan You should go and
see my friend. Capt. Brinkley, the edl-
tor Of the Japan Daily Mail. No one
can give you better information on the
subject than he can" To Capt Brink
ley. therefore | went As he Is enter
ing upon his thlrtleih year Of residence
IN Japan. In which country he began
Az a teacher OF straiea and ma.he-
matics In the naval college. which he
quilted after ten years Of hard work.
10 become the editor OF the important
semi-oficlal English paper which he
conducts with grea, ability and on
original lines OF his own. and as he
il intimately connected IN many ways
with the land OF his adoption, he. bet
ter than any one else. was qualified TO
give me the Information sought
The increase in Japanese journalism,
he said. rs marvellous; but fear me
improvement Is rather In quantity than
In quality. When ilrst came here.
thirty years ago. there were not more
than twenty papers In the whole eoun-
try. and they OF The most wreiched de-
scrlptlon. Now we have SOP newspa-
aers and magazines. with a total year
~ circulation Of 27S.i57.42l copies
Here In Toxic alone We have twenty
three dailloa. with an annual clreala-
dion OF i3l.SO4.729. and hfiy-six maya
zlnes. issuing iSe5.e99 copies yearly.
The chief dailles are the Nichi SHIN
bun. /. =. the Daily Newt. which ought
to interest you specially" he added
with a smile. "ahd the Jiii Shimpo'
which IL edited By Fukusawa. one Of
tn finest men IN Japan today. ne
alo keeps = large school. In who
lave been educated many Of our lead
lag statesmen. These tive papers have
q daily circulation Of 5000 each And
are very influential
There Is no public opinion a. ve
understand Il in japan. The one do
tlnct trait in the Japsneos character n
never to interiors with your neighb0F.
and. though the papers have gone In
Cor the grossaH American forms Of
personal attack on individuals. yet he
tendency Of the people attacked Is sim
ply 70 ignore II altogether A want OF
moral fber is part Of the national char
acter. 'Rumof never lasts more ihAn
seventy days Is a proVerb with them.
and 80 the papers with impunity insuh
public characters and never really get
the sense OF their duty TO the public.
They become. therefore. absolutely r.
responsible. Then another unfortu-
aate feature IL that editorial supervi-
sion. as We understand Il In England.
Is unknown. The editor does bis spt-
,lal work. but he exercises no supervi-
sion over the rest. the consequence BE-
lng that the most shocking and In
possible personal paragraphs are IN
serted. all ths belnE the result OF All
solute responsibility shd lack OF ~
s,rAining public opinion. No. thu In
terview Il nos popular. nor vhea Il 10
attempted IL Il In any vay a success,
Aor InAoeuracy and deliberate missiate-
ment 10 the rule rather than the ez-
eeptlen. Ton zee. the truth "a. they
can no, AFFORD 10 pay nood men. The
reporters ars improving eomewhHt.
Formerly they we're not even recoa-
nircd as belonging 10 respectable 90
elety. A, present men who have grad
uaied NON the principal private
schools and failed to get ofheial az
polntnsats - IL Ter Journalism, and
arr pald from $50 10 fto year as sub
saitora This applies 10 the general
rua Of papers. aot 20 the four or I've
which are good properties. paying TIE
propFlctors nom f7.Ooo 20 1900 .
year. after paying edi,ogu and sah
fairly well. Waat Of nsney. want 81
public appreciation. kssps the papa
world sadly In arrears, There IL not q
thEis japanese paper vhieh has {
service Of foreign tslegrAms. and tn
tsleErans In your paper are horrible
J sIpsanlVe. Nevertheless. the power 81
the press grown daily. and the leading
, article Is ~ much or more Of featurs
81 even than q Is in England"-Tokis
, Correspondence Of London NowA