The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-02

Volunteers are stationed for the purpose Of de-
hverinE the blanks and giving the necessary
information.
The Golden Rod Habit and How to Make
tho Paper Sell.
Prom ne Evening Sun.
A great many newspapers throughout the
country have during the course Of the war fur
nished the most shocking evidence OF deprav-
ity. We hold that 1t is q shameful thing to
distort the news at any time. or to print, under
any circumstances, that which one knows to
be a lie. But we hold. further. that when our
country has gone TO war with another country,
and when her sons are shedding their blood In
the field. and the nations honor and glory are
In the balance. we hold that then to print lies,
to wilfully concoct base ISLANDERS and false
hoods and palm them off on the public for
actual news is depravity. total and criminal.
That. then. Is what the press OF the whole
country has been engaged In ever since this
war broke out. The Associated Press has
served 1t everywhere with its s~o-called news of
the war. which has in great part consisted Of
forged news. manufactured cheaply In this
country and uttered as Of foreign origin. The
more energetic and resourceful newspapers in
important cities are. OF course, unable TO de-
pend upon the Associated Press for their i'm
portant news. 1t furnishes only news enough
for third or fourth rate papers. and the moro
ambitious must secure an additional inde-
pendent source OF news supply or 60 to the
wall. They therefore apply to newspapers hav-
ing a special staff OF correspondence in the field
or with the fleet and pay for the right to stimuli
taneously print their exclusive or independent
dispatches.
DR.. Herman Kohlsaat. for instance. who is
easily the most distinguished and ambitious
editor In Chicago. cannot contemplate I'M
moved the starvation OF his newspaper by the
Associated Press. and accordingly he buys the
right to print the special dispatches OF the Neto
York Herald. For this inestimable privilege
he agrees to pay James Gordon Bennett, ESQ,
the sum Of $700 q week. the price being deter
mined by the tremendous expense which Mr..
Bennett is at In his laudable purpose to get
more news than anybody else, even II he has to
make it up himself out OF his own beautiful
and fecund Imagination. In this way papers
all over the country. like DR.. Kohlsaat's paper
In Chicago. seek to reinforce themselves and to
put their best foot foremost, as it were, in the
presentation Of tho news.
Now. that all these papers have been swim
ding and deluding their readers is unhappily
only too true; but 1t Is only partly their fault,
They do not control the Associated Press, which
Is the foundation and structure Of their news:
Its management. which is dishonest and In
capable. is beyond their jurisdiction and pre-
fers for its own ends and it's economies to man
ufacture news rather than gather it. Neither
have they any ~efectual voice in the collection OF
the special and Independent service that
they pay extra to secure. DR.. Kohlsaat
has no authority on board Mr.. Benefits
celebrated Golden Rod. He is innocent
OF any share In the remarkable proceedings
which have made that famous vessel. as Mr..
Bennett delicately puts II. "once the happy
choice OF children. to-day the proud boast OF
the public that reads the news." DR.. Kohlsaat
had no hand in dislocating the naval battle of
Santiago. nor did he in the least share In the
geographical distribution OF our warships and
our land forces. with which Mr.. Bennett in his
moments Of caprice has paralyzed the Ameri-
can and European publics. All that DR.. Kohl
saat has had to do was TO pay up 500 weekly
and smile his well-known astringent smile.
1t has happened. therefore, that the press at
large has been a passive and helpless victim Of
depraved ournalism-of that new principle in
journalism. that unpatented invention Of the
purgatorial Pulitzer. that q lie Is even better
than the truth to make a newspaper sell. The
quality OF the news does not concern the pub
lie; 1t prefers to be Rulled and ~humbugRed, and
the paper that prints the most falsehood rakes
In the most coppers. That ia the idea, the fun
damental. the moving purpose. And in our
judgment never was there q creator, a more
deadly ~fallacyl
~~S w. ~ "AAAiO We i ulOu lIIb
interesting and edifying topic. to recall a little
paragraph which we recently addressed in a
spirit OF %fraternal exhortation to that excellent
gentleman and eleemosynary. refrigerator,
James Gordon Bennett. Esq. The Herald
printed on July IL a despatch which read "a
follows:
P~oRrsMoUrH, N. H.. sundAy.-In regard to the al.
legged strained relations said to exist between Rear
Admiral Sampson and Commodore schley, tho fol.
LOVING cODyeraation hafuaaD thaa. to- -
repeated 10 me by an oficer who will vouch for ita
accuracy:
BcHLEX, my flagship was in signal.
ling distance, a. you we'll know. Had this effort of
the Spanish heet to escape been successful or had IL
brought disaster TO this neet, would you have assumed
responsibility
Commodore scHLET 10 said to have hesitated
when the matter was put to him In that light.
Then l cannot allow you to take credit for the
victory, to my diSparaRement." Admiral SAMPSON ia
said 10 have informed him.
We ventured. with q certain difaGence. 10
point out to Mr.. Bennett the obvious falsity
Of this statement. and we showed him how i'm
possible II was that such an interview could
have taken place. Our idea was that IL was an
Infamous thing to wilfully lie at any time about
two public servants occupying the places OF trust
! and importance confded to Admirals Sampson
and Sehley. but especially Infamous under the
prevailing conditions. Since that time the off,
cial reports have been published. and except in
such instances as they have turned out to be
plagiarisms OF Mr.. Benefits Golden Rod re-
ports. they have apparently had no interest for
Mr.. Bennett.
What an extraordinary faculty! To lie and
print ones own refutation with equal impas-
siyityl
The Spanish Names Should Stand.