The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-03

nefarious operations, which will enable
him to live in comfort the rest of his life
Immaculate Manchester Is IN state of
much Virtuous Indignation at these dis
closures, but the feeling is apparently
not strong enough to compel a searching
investigation by an impartial body into
the whole question of the connection of
their police officers with Illegal practices.
Mr.. Henry Labouchere, in Truth, and
Editor Palmer of the Yorkshire Post, an
influential provincial journal, call atten-
ton this week to a subject more than
once referred to here-the bribing of Eng
lish newspapers by means of advertise
ments inserted ostensibly as news, and
by payment for the insertion of prospect
uses of new companies on condition of
their being puffed more or less directly.
Neither critic is sufficiently severe upon
a state of things which is fast sapping
the independence of the press of this
country. Both appear to think that only
second or third-rate newspapers are brib-
ed which is far from being the case. Pa
pers with more than a local. reputation,
such as the London Times, Morning Post
and Daily Telegraph, habitually insert
personal notices for payment which Are
advertisements pure and simple, and not
always inspired by harmless vanity, and
their example is being very widely
followed. But the chief evil of
the system is the putting of
swindling concerns, Of company promo
ters and bucketshop keepers. glarinS
case in point was the advertisement of
the British motor syndicates, ap impu-
dent scheme for extracting 100000 ster-
ling from the pockets of simple investors,
for the property is practically worthless.
The newspapers from the Times down to
the smallest evening sheet in a third-rate
town, got this advertisement at their own
prices. and inserted it, two columns long,
with gratitude and joy, although at bore
upon its face the full brand of dishonesty
and the hallmark of swindling promoters.
which every business man could
plainly see and understand. Yet, with
three or four honorable excep-
tions, no newspaper criticiseds the
lying statements in the prospectus much
less warned simple investors against its
danger. The inherent rottenness of the
scheme was sufficiently proved by the fact
that despite lavish advertising upon a
scale almost unparalleled the public sub
scribed not the millions asked, but only
a few poor thousands, which came entirely
from country people unacquainted with
the ways of stock exchange sharks. Even
these few thousands are now being re-
turned to those who sent them, the pro-
motors not daring to go to allotment upon
them in view of threats of legal proceed
ings.
Concurrently with this bribing by adver-
tisements it is the custom of certain jour
mails, more particularly London financial
newspapers, to charge for the insertion
of reports of meetings of mining and in
dustrial companies. so that 1t is almost
impossible now for even the soundest con-
Germ to obtain publicity for it's proceed
ings without paying for 1t. The financial
newspapers do not care a rap whether
the company Is honest or a swindle, pro-
vided so many pounds per column is paid
for the report of its meetings, which often
as not are composed merely of seven
shareholders, which the law says must
be present to constitute legal meeting,
and these seven may be the actual pro-
rnoters Of the concern. The other day one
of the leading financial newspapers con-
tanned about fifty columns of reports Of
company meetings, and 1t may be safely
estimated that the payment for these re-
ports aggregated $500 sterling.