New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-09-21

,,ovv something, lot ne mas DSeH al
'.urrslist in New York; or you may
I've heard of him. though fame in the
,,snaner world is too often local. as
,hs present editor of THE Daily Chron-
,o,e". if by chance that paper has an
,nAr,can reputation. 1t is one of the
,,ro chief Liberal daily journals in Lon
don. the other being 1.-The Daily News
"a Leader" II may be said that of
,hese two THE Daily News" is more
podical than Liberal, and The Chron-
,o,A" perhaps slightly more Liberal
,ban Radical; and less prone to take
the purely party view of such questions
DC II discusses. He is by birth Scot,
&c his name implies; or implies when it
&c not assumed in disguise; as ii is
ssid 10 have been by another writer on
the. press. But Mr.. Donald was actu-
or,v born in Scotland, fifty-two years
sgo and is in the world Of English
journalism a distinguished person
The Institute Of Journalists chose him
N be its president for this year. apd 10
the Institute he delivered last week in
the ancient city Of York very inter-
esting and unusual discourse.
Those journalists. if any there be,
who stand upon and still prefer the
ancient ways will not quite approve Of
Mr.. Donalds estimates of the old and
new Journalism. He is all for the new.
He thinks the new better than the old.
Limiting his range TO the last twenty
wears, during which his widest expert
ence has been gained, he says:
From the point of view Of the read
ing public the newer journalism is
preferable to the old. There has, on
the whole. been a general improvement
in the daily press in the last twenty
years-an all-round speeding up. News
papers Of all classes are better written.
more readable, more entertaining, and
more attractive than ever they were;
and quite as well informed. Even the
greatest Of them all, The Times has
been touched with the modern spirit OF
enterprise at every point. and never
reached a higher level of journalistic
excellence"
All which is matter of opinion, and
Mr.. Donald's opinion is entitled TO re-
spect. He is, however. hardly In a
position to deliver a final judgment.
He is an interested party. His place
is with counsel for the plaintiff or de-
PENDANT; not on the Bench. Or II may
even be said he is pleading his own
case and. to a certain extent. pronounc-
ing a decision on his own work. He
can hardly exclude from his conscious
ness the paper he edits There Gas
time when the editor of that paper was
not Mr.. Donald, but Mr.. Massingham,
and ! should hesitate to say there is
now TO be found I'm it's columns better
writing than Mr.. Massingham' 1t is
true Mr. Massingham still writes for
X, at times: as an independent con-
tributor. over his own name. l have
explained before now that I have no
Partially for Mr.. Massingham's opin-
ions on public affairs. 1t is not what
he says but the way in which he says
It that l admire. And when he breaks
away from the bonds Of Radicalism. as
he sometimes Goes, admire even his
opinions. Some Of the most effective
attacks on Mr.. Lloyd George have been
his But you will note that Mr.. Donald
in the sentences / have quoted. is not
putting his standards at the highest.
He would agree. think, that the mis-
sion Of journalism is not completely
fulfilled even though the paper Of to-
day is entertaining, attractive, and well
informed. 1t ought to be all that and
II ought TO be something more.
But he goes on:
We are dealing with much more
highly educated public-a public inn
patient Of dulness, and critical, and
also with many readers who insist on
being entertained rather than in
structed There is a greater demand
for original writing. The modern re-
porter must be more Of a writer than
recorder"
From which IL would appear that, II
to-day's papers are better than those Of
yesterday, some Of the credit must go
10 the public. This is the doctrine Of
the market place: that demand creates
supply; and brings us dangerously
close TO commercialism as controlling
force in Journalism. But in truth the
sntithesis between entertainment and
Instruction is false antithesis.
Learning and dulness are not synon-
ymous terms. Erasmus was the most
learned scholar of his time. is there
lighter touch than his? Voltaie had
an encyclopaedia knowledge and wit
unmatched then or since. Even man
OF science may have literature and
style Did any reader ever find Huxley
dull? They were all from time TO time
journalists.
But demand and supply have TO do
with political economy; the dismal
science" of Carlyle; they may take
hape there in an axiom. but not nee
essarily elsewhere. In journalism, at
any rate, supply creates demand quite
often as demand begets supply. 1t
snot an existing demand TO which the
great editor caters; II is the demand
which springs from an acquaintance