Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-12
esen'%'Ss Evening" Yesterday sMy 1Z4O4
FRIDAY, JULY IL, 1918.
Notable Newspaper Change.

Aft,r supcns3cn of several wcekr, fo1
xa,s purpose of making ncccssary mechani-
cal changrr-%> say nothing Of radical
change IN psztiaAn potitics-thc Dover
Ge.ts armfand resumed publication this
WI. wednesday was the day of its new
kreA snd tfIs alo Is a change, as hereto
-, the Houtino2's day of ISSUE was
ank~rday-
We hayp al1uiod to this matter ~ a
-n~Aahb s@papcr change" snd so 1t Is,
espeniaAv n respect Of tho papers rela-
tim <pAcal Republican politics. When the
S>.A, Sentinel v,a established, in 1873, it
.,osxu.d fbe ca,nsc of . faction Of the
Republican party. The party at that time
v.s divided into two factions. known as
ths 'Hkalwnrts" and the 'Half-Breeds, +"
and thc Sentinel was 'fStalwart," continu-
rne "a. with vigor and At times viciousness.
~ long as the fsctiorA conditions of that
dsy continued. Upon the advent of
Addicks, the old lines of factionnl division
disappeared. but the party again split
INTO two factions or ''lnion"
Republicans, and Regular" Republicans.
the latter faction opposing the senatorial
aspirations of Addicks and resolutely
resisting bis attempts TO buy seat in the
United States Senate, until tho end came
through the bankruptcy Of AddIcks. 1Er
Sentinel was allied with the
Addiclu faction Then came the
reign of the old Republican orga-
nization, and the Sentinel was =
faithful newspaper supporter Of that
powerful political faction
The Organization absolutely controlled
the Republican party until the campaign
Of 1916, when it was attacked by The
independents. under the leadership ot
Alfred l. du Pont, and defeated IN several
political essentials, being seriously weak
cned by the result This year the Organ
ization and independent factions arc pre-
paring to battle for supremacy, with the
result at present in doubt, although with
plain indications that the Organization
will go down in defeat and disappear from
view
The notable" feature of the change IN
the State Sentinel, under the control of its
new owners-T7he State Sentinel Publish
ing Co, James f. Alice, Jr., president
il that it viii be an organ of the lndepen
dent faction of the Republican party,
thus radically reversing its former atti-
tude In the editorial salutatory, this
week. the Sentinel says: "a newspaper IS
intended primarily to disseminate n
formation of Importance and interest to
it's readers, and In order that its informa-
ton may be as great as is feasible, II must
secure the confidence of the reading public
by giving correct news and by standing
for everything in public life and connected
with the State government that rebounds
TO the welfare of sll the citizens. This is
what the State Sentinel expects 10 accom-
plish, and its readers may rest assured that
the State Sentinel will in future meet the
above requirements Further, il says:
at believes In and, therefore, will coun-
tenance only the principles Of a free deInoc-
racy, government by the people, in the
interest of the people, which IS the funda-
mental basis of civilized society"
This is very high-sounding, and if the
reader stopped at this point, the natural
presumption would be that the State
Sentinel was 10 be a thoroughly indie
pendent paper, free of all connection with
party or partisan interests But read
further from this editorial salutatorv:
The State Sentinel believes, as heretofore.
in Republican principles, and will, there
fore, work in the interest of the Re
publican party in Delaware, but it accepts
as its basic and fundamental creed that
recently announced by Mr. Alfred !.
du Pont in his address before the Re
publican State Committee, under date of
April 70, 1918, believing that the accept
ance of these standards alone will insure
a government that fully synchronizes
with the ethics Of pure democracy" And
Immediately following is that address. in
full.
Now, this is entirely different Away,
at breath, go the professions of service
in the welfare Of all the citizens" and
instead there is an acknowledgment Of
allegiance to one faction of a political
party However, it may truly be said that
this was what was expected Of the State
Sentinel under It's new ownership and
management it would be a firm
supporter of the Independent faction Of
the Republican party in Delaware
In other respects the new State Sentinel
il worthy of commendation. II is well
printed, and filled with interesting matter,
arranged, SO thatits typog-
raphy is beyond challenge Among its
departments is a column of
gossip about the politics and politicians of
Kent county, breezy and informing,