The Washington times., 1902-01-19


Mexico will have a newspaper published
within its borders. and then every mem
Der of the reading public will rise up and
wonder why there was none before Then
there will be no more such notices as the
following. which appeared in two of the
leading dailes within short time:
NoTICE.-Hereaftcr this paper will be issued
10 the public on the day il is printed
The other one read:
TO OUR READERS-owing to lack Of space we
do not publish today account of the proceed
ines Of the Psn-American Congress yesterday.
Tomorrow we will give full summary of the
deliberations.
1t is an undeniable fact that, owing to
the stringent laws, there is not printed
in all of Mexico what would be called in
the United States newspaper" There
are plenty of daily publications which
are sold under the names of papers, but
none of them pretend to contain any
special news. Their front pages are usu-
ally devoted to long editorials. discus
sions of social or economic propositions,
all of which are generally in reference TO
scme foreign country. AS for news. it is
not there. If anything is brought to the
attention of the editor. he may publish
some guarded allusion to it, fully half
the time the persons spoken of being
merely identified by letters of the al
phabet, as though they were problems in
algebra But the editor knows his busi-
ness, and he would rather leave out every
Item of news than have his paper sup
pressed and be himself sent to prison
And such punishment is the sure return
for any unguarded remarks regarding the
Government or private persons which
might creep into his columns.
Easy-Going Editors.
Limited thus by the laws almost solely
to polemical discussions and to the publ
cation Of poems and short stories by To-
cal authors, the editor is not at all par
ticular when his paper is given to the
public. So it is that it has been COM
mon trick of the papers to be written
ano printed days before the date which
appears beneath their name. To buy on
Saturday afternoon a paper dated on the
following Monday afternoon has been GUS
tomary for years. Sometimes the date
was even mere in advance of the day of
sale ard the current issue would be dated
almost a week in advance.
Under a system like this the editor. il
he got tired or his assistants wanted to
go to the bullfght, could take a vaca-
tion until the calendar had caught I'D
with his paper SO far as the dates were
concerned. Then he could start in again
and give The public some of the wise
thoughts which had ccme to him while he
was waiting for Father Time to come
along. But as for news-he didn't want
II, the public didn't expect it and it
wasn't there.
1t is ewing TO long-standing habits like
this that the recent announcement Of one
OF the leading papers that il is going TO
reform and will date itself on the real
day of publication and be issued for sale
on the same day created considerable
comment in journalistic circles.
The One Exception.
OF all the papers in the Republic the |
only ore which really prints any news is |
'The Mexican Herald the only paper |
published in the English language in this |
city. This paper has telegraphic serv- |
ice frcm the United States and keeps 1T. |
readers fairly well informed of the doings |
OF the outside world But SO far as the |
publication of local news is concerned it /
is as closely bound down, even more so |
perhaps, than the Mexican publications |
1t cannot criticise the Government; 1t |
cannot expose the many frauds which are
constantly being worked on the unsus-
pecting investor by the swarm of harpies |
who infest the city looking for financial |
prey. 1t cannot tell what il really be- |
lieves or what 1t really wishes. In local |
happening it is practically limited to in
terviews with travellers. nattering re-
marks about residents and social happen
fngs. Occasionally the editors get brash |
and print piece of news which is out
side the local category mentioned. Then |
they usually repent for few weeks and |
wish they had not done it,
For the newspaper laws OF Mexico are
very stringent. If any person Is men
toned in a newspaper article and feels
hfr Ia -gr,-
editor Of the paper and the writer of the
article to prison. The statements may
have been far within the limits of truth
and justice, but that makes no difference
The editor. incomunicado has a chance
10 think about the law and the aggreyed
person smiles pleasantly. After a while
the law gets in its work the case is in
vestigated and the editor is punished
For even the truth is iibelous and libel
is one of the offences most severely con-
demned.
Principle and Practice.
According TO the theory of the Mexican
law every person has right to go about
entirely free from annoyance by other
persons. If the person violates the law
the newspaper has no right to say So
IT can lay information before the courts
IL 1t wants to, but it must not say that
it has done so in its columns. Then the
law will step in and take charge of the
offender. But the representatives, of the
paper will not be allowed to attend the
trial and only the bare result after weeks
Of waiting, can he told the public
As a matter of principle this seems
very fair and just, but in practice II does
not work SO well. For the stringeney of
the laws protects the criminal more than
1t does the innocent and 1t allows
manys swindles to be worked out which
could never have been accomplished had
the papers been allowed TO make public
what was going on.
And it is not only the personal discom-
fort of arrest and imprisonment that the
editor breads and tries to avoid If the
offence charged against him is regarded
by the first magistrate to whom the COM
plant is made as being especially grave
the paper is generally suppressed. No
warning is given the editor The com
plant has been received and passed upon.
Then a squad Of police descend upon the
printing Office. Sometimes all the en-
ployes are arre-.ed sometimes only the
editor. Then u Ors OF the building |
are close Is are placed on
them toned TO see that
n" three days the
Tbe laws under
o modelled after
-On, and for three