The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-15
END or A GREAT xEwsrArER.

The passing-for It prncticahy
 amounts to that--of The London Times
 isa matter of mere than momentary interest, nor is it merely a matter to
 jest about or speak lightly concerning.
 It is true that its publication Is to be
 continued but the journal which was one of the greatest powers in England,
 and which had won for itself the title of "The Thunderer." has really passed away. The new proprietor. Arthur
 Pearson. Is A newspaper man. it Is true, but he is of the modern school, and the paper will be radically differ ent from the old Times. Mir. Pearson has been referred to as the wiIiie Hearst of British journalism and no more need be said to show what a change has taken place.
 I It is perhaps a stronger evidence of changed conditions in England than anything else that has occurred there in recent times. For six score years. under the management of the Walters family, The Times has been workable power in Englands Perhaps in no civ nized country at least. did any news paper so thoroughly understand, repre- sent and dominate public opinion as this has done while it followed its well defined path and adhered to its old principles 1.-TWO qualities" says The Columbia State. made The Times re- spected and feared. These were about all it's equipment for the work of world journalism, They were: Its good luck or skilful conniving by which 1t managed to get advanced news or scoops" of big events. and its almost infaliible trick of divining English public opinion. Now the get ting of great scoops Is generally due rather to lack of conscience than to honorable and good journalism. It was for that reason that we said 1t was The Times's good luck or skilful con- niving that won in this agonizing com petition. Often the pique or the wounded pride or tho speckled vanity of some official may be turned to the service of tae not too scrupulous cor respondent--as was the case with some of De BlowitTs achievements. notably the getting for Th. London Times an advanced transcript of the treaty of Berlin"
 And right here a quotation from the historian. Kingslake. will be of inter est. Speaking of the managers of The Times he said:
 They many years ago employed shrewd. idle clergyman, who made 1t his duty to loiter about in places Of common resort. and find out what peo- pie thought upon the principal subjects of the time. He was not to listen very much to extreme foolfshness, and still less was to harken to clever people. His duty was to welt and wait until he observed that some common ana obvious thought was repeated In many places. and by numbers of men who had probably never seen one another That one common thought was the prize he sought for and he carried IL home to his employers. He became so skilled in this peculiar calling that. as long as he served them. they were times they were frequently bafied In their pursuit of this kind of knowledge | they never neglected to do what they could to search the heart of the nation.
 This was one of the things that made The Thunderer such a power in Eng land. If it did not exactly form public opinion it divined 1t and shaped it. which was about as well. ''In the homely American phrase" to quote The State again, "The Times kept its ear to the ground, and whenever it was sure it detected the slow and heavy tread of British sentiment. it arose and shouted it shrilly from the housetops, dom. In a short time when the march of sluggish British sentiment became visible to the rest of the world, The Thunderer was hailed as the prophet of British sapience and common sense. That was the power it wieIded with the ministries and the source of it's wide influence abroad. It seemed to foretell today what England would think tomorrow, whereas it was merely telling today what England had thought for months. perhaps for years. So confident was the journal of its cor rect reading of these signs of the times that it could threaten cabinets and par liaments with the gathering wrath of the nation. It knew. and therefore it was feared"
 And yet, the fall of The Times was not altogether like the sudden fall of great tree in- the forest, for 1t had departed somewhat from its old posi- tion. whether 1t was because of mod ern progress or as matter of neces- sity we do not say, but for some years the spirit of commereialism had to some extent taken hold of the manage ment and the business department. Still 1t had not ceased to be a power. and the change is great. From this time forward we suppose 1t will belong to the yellow journal school. At all events it will no longer be The Trun- derer.
 -S-S-S-
 NEWSPAPER FAKES.
 The Louisville Evening Times of last Thursday scored a great scoop which