Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-31

1
could not possibly be postponed for more
than two days; that the whole country was
in financial ruin and wreck: this the
radical leaders were all anarchists with
designs on the life and property of all the
rich; and that another liberal victory would
be a license to tho mob to piunder and
sack. No American newspaper. in the
onslaughts against political burglars"
has ever used stronger language than was
applied every day in scores Of conservative
newspapers to the liberal leaders.
AT the very last of the campaign, just
as the polls were opened, The Times"
the most staid, dignified and solemn OF all
journals, compressed its views into this
sentence: THE liberals apparently rely
upon the black bread fiction, at which
educated Germany is laughing. on pension
lies, on impudent appeals to every form Of
Ignorance. and on the invective of the
gutter"
Probably one-half of the space devoted
TO politics in the newspapers was given
over to our old friends, "P. b. Publico,"
and ''Verftas." Sometimes these com
munications were interesting, but usually
they were merely l~ong-winded expositlons
~ 1AeNAAN wv VI GAAd NCiAh
explanations OF trivial Incidents.
The organs on neither side made any use
OF the news article bearing on controversies
policies. Although both parties maintained
effective literary bureaus and sent out
great quantities of exceedingly attractive
campaign document and ume the
newspapers made no use Of this material
except when they reproduced some pictorial
poster, or when they quoted from such
documents for the purpose OF inviting the
public to purchase them in pamphlet form.
The interview" the great American
channel of distributing political news and
Views, is not used at all. The public men
make all their announcements and argu-
ments in their speeches; and If occasion
demands an immediate statement it Is
made in the form Of a letter to some pollti-
cal friend, and the letter is then made
public through the press.
One difficulty about the interview in
England is that the ordinary newspaper
reporters are not given that confidence
which is reposed in them by American
political leaders. This is not because the
British reporters are Enthusiastically, for
the opposite is the case. 1t is because the
stratified and classified constitution Of
British society makes the London reporter
get his news from the fourth under-assist-
ant secretary, instead of from the cabinet
member himself, as does the Washington
correspondent. Exceptions are made, Of
course, in favor of the most prominent
journalists.
The tory papers made the most Of Lloyd
Georges escape. in policeman's clothing.
from the mob In Birmingham, where he
was to address a pro-Boer meeting, and
continually reprinted 1t. They repeated
over and over, after many denials, what
was known as the Lord Savile charge, -
or the Lord Savile lie," according to your
politics, that Mr.. ILloyd-George had cheered
a British defeat I'm the South African war
while in his seat IN the At the
instance Of the chancellor, Lord Savile re-
tracted the charge, but the press kept 1t up.
The liberal newspapers, supporting the
government, poked fun at the noble lords
in a fashion which would have done credit
to Americas ~liveliest journals. They said
the peers speeches reeked of the stables
and that certain particular peers, naming
names, ought to learn how to be gentlemen
first and noblemenslater.
Compared with American newspapers the
British journals in political activity are
directed with less skill, are more partisan,
oAO AAApNO w anu uilouD-
ported denunciation of the other side
Charges of corruption do not appear in
the British press as freely as they do in
the Americai papers at election times.
There are two reasons--corruption is not
nearly so prevalent on account OF the
stringent laws, and things which are con-
sidered corrupt In the United States are
here condoned or looked upon as quite
right. For instance, the press Of an
American city would ring with charges of
corruption IL a representative Of a certain
railroad combine were to run for con-
gress for the express and avowed purpose
of representing that railway system. 1t
lie. done by indirection, of course, but no one
would dare to do 1t openly. In England the
great business concerns have men in Parlia-
ment as a matter of right. English cleo
lions are much more free from corruption
than American. but the British press can
not successfully claim the same superiority
over here a man yho reads 9TH Daily
News is utterly impossible as a social
acquaintance, think the conservative;
while the reader Of The Daily Express"
is looked upon by all good liberals as a
potential craftsman. They take things
seriously over here,
HY FREDERIC ]. RAsK1N,
Tomorrow-ARLzoNA.