The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-07-20

big business" Is q complex web.
binding this near department store 70
that remote trust company, this near
insurance corporation TO that far
bank. Since the metropolitan news
paper also is a large commercial ven
ture, involving millions In capitai,
hundreds Of thousands in annual pront
or loss, II follows the rule. It's capi.
tai Is q thread In the same fabric. IL
the visible owner brought II fuii-
fledged he made the purchase with
money acquired or inherited from big
business. He serves on boards OF di-
rectors with railroad presidents and
trust company managers. HIS lot
tune. outside OF the newspaper IN
yestment. may lie In interests con-
nected with the public-servtce corpor'
atoms which serve his city. IL, on
the other hand, he be q self-made pub
Usher. II he came up from the re-
porter's beat, the editorial chair, OF
the business Office. he has been oblig
ed TO borrow money somewhere along
the upward march; and he knows that
he may have to borrow again. HIS
loan ONCE is bank, master-thread ID
s'biR business" As wealth accumu-
fates. he makes outside investments.
So he comes to sit at the same di-
rectors' table with those powers
which are the perpiexity Of American
finance and politics.
More pertinently: He sits often at
the same dinner table The financial
brake OF free journalism Is twisted
and intertwisted with the social
brake: scarcely can we consider them
apart. AS polite society goes In this
democracy, money is the sine qua non.
except In the more conservative
southern cities one can scarcely sue
coed without It. And that very pub
Usher who battered up from the ranks
Is Just as amenable TO social innu-
ence as he who entered journalism
with ten million dollars-often more
so, for this parvenu is social strug-
gler. In Journalism, as In Washing
ton statecraft, many a man unpur-
chasable with money has sold his
birthright for an invitation.
The Meeting Point.
I For II you have few millions OF
newly-made dollars, million In q
newspaper, the rest In railroads, pub
lic-service corporations and local In
dustries; II you have climbed into the
approved clubs, brought out your
daughter under patronage of the local
Chesterfield; II you take your week
end ease at the country club-then.
unless you have an uncommon char
acter, you are not, you cannot be, q
free Journalist. You must protect
your crowd" see that your business
associate OF today. your host OF to-
morrow, be not attacked In pocket or
pride. Else he may refuse you this or
that loan, else he may cut you at
his club. More. his wife may strike
the name of yours from her visiting
list. Further, you are an exceptional
human being II you keep long your
unclouded vision. You tend toward
the views of "our crowd" Your man
aging editor, II he be a sycophant,
respects all your corporation anhlia
lions, your social connecuons-and
behold, imperceptibly yours has be
come a fettered newspaper.
I asked an able editor-in-chief how
his "boss" had managed to hold the
newspaper to It's function OF public
service. For though that boss IL q
very wealthy man, he practices free
Journalism.
well" said the editor. he keeps
his outside funds In government
bonds and railroad stocks. The gov