New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-05

"Ie' poln lhe rate and the Fact. We
nave been through two thousand years
OF civilization in a couple of centuries. -
ana II was our commercial genius which
saw in the uneducated man who could
spell a golden harvest for literate enter
prise Ii was our millionaires who
created the Yellow Press out of moth
ing THE Harmsworths did no more
than quicken the blood of the slow
pulsed Englishman with halfpenny
patent medici ; invented In America
and uproariously advertised in England"
do not agree. Mr.. Scott-James
seems to me to confuse two things es-
sentially different. THE Daily Mail"
was never yellow in the sense in which
we apply that convenient word to the
yellow journals of the United States. Il
would not he possible for a daily paper
or that kind to exist in England. The
experiment has never been tried. AL
most every other experiment has been
tried. but not that. ir. Harmsworth
showed himself ready enough to adopt
sensational methods, but never scandal
Gus methods. He respected the pri-
Vacies of private life. There was at one
time rumor that an American would
attempt 10 establish a yellow daily paper
In London. If ever such notion came
into any American head it would have
Il be relinquished, If only because there
is in England law Of libel which courts
and Juries think il their duty to enforce
Heavy damages are readily given for
offences far less grave than those on
which the yellow press subsists. 1t is
true that in two or three cases The
Daily Mail' has had TO pay large sums
for libels which might be called mad
vertent. but which. in any case, had 10
do with business matters. not with pri-
vate life. Mr.. Scott-James is not, | pre-
sumo, a reader of yellow newspapers. He
uses the word vaguely and so far as the
Harmsworth papers are concerned alto
gether wrongly.
In Mr.. Scott-James's opinion, however.
there is a crisis of a commercial Kind.
The initiative spirit, he tells us, has led
the London papers 10 tumble over each
other in their eagerness to compete with
the halfpenny press and its methods.
No doubt he hits a blot when he ex-
plains how prone are editors and man
ayers to take purely professional views
of what the public wants. He hits an
other when he comments on the sub
missiveness, in certain cases, of the edi-
torial TO the advertising department.
One thing with another, a state or
threat OF bankruptcy was setting in.
If you accept the estimate OF this Eng
lish Journalist, one-half or even two
thirds OF the London daily papers exist
upon a thoroughly unsound financial
basis" Then the personal note is
touched in the further assertion that
about half Of the writer's for the Lon
don daily press only exist on the good
will of proprietors disposed to lose money
every year. Hence the servitude Of the
editor TO the advertising manager. and
hence the competition for mere com
petitions sake; aimless. unintelligent.
sordid and debasing. The Press be-
comes slavish wherever there is a pos
sible profit at stake" Even the literary
columns are affected. Publishers who
advertise largely expect favorable no.
tees for their books, and sometimes get
them. But Mr.. Scott-James gives us
contrary instance. He knows of a paper
which reviews books solely on their
80 -, l,ot ,.,,l.f l..
advertisements have increased 80 per
cent in four years. / do not understand
him 10 mean that this case stands alone.
nor do l believe that book reviewing as
a rule is venal.
If l quote all these alarming state
ments-and there are many more like
them-it is not to adopt them. To me
they are surprising. Like every news
paper reader, l see-nobOdy can help
seeing-that the advertiser has a foot
hold he ought not to have, and that not
only among struggling but in prosper
Gus papers. 1t is deplorable, but
whether the situation is really critical is
another question.
II is more pleasant 10 note a change
for the better in the halfpenny press it.
self, and most of all in its pioneer and
still foremost representative THE Daily
Mail has won a position which email les
it TO be independent; 10 have and ex-
press its own opinions; TO deal with news
ia a larger way, Ito become more sober,
more accurate, more sustained in its pre-
sentiment Of news. more catholic in its
estimate Of the questions which count"
II is a journal not only Of news but Of
ideas. with definite policies. with stead
fast convictions. and over it all that
touch of high craftsmanship which it
owed originally 10 Lord Northcliffe. To-
day 1t has an editor who has dazzling
and surcness Of touch. IT
has known when and how TO change
methods essential 10 prosperity in the
beginning but essential no longer
Add to this the admitted fact that
there are al least two great London
dailios which have come through mis-
period o. transition without serious
ly modifying their methods, so far
as methods affect the ethics Of journal
ism. There has never been the least
tint of yellow on their broad pages.
They have kept their editorial and COM
mercial departments distinct. They
have kept TO their old high standard.
And they stand to-day upon an impreg-
nable basis of financial prosperity; the
more solid because the morality which
governs their editorial conduct is also
solid. From neither OF them has public
confidence ever been Withdrawn. There
are two or three great provincial papers
~ which tho same thing NAV he said