New-York tribune., 1918-06-09

ago that the most reliable medium OF
influence in democratic countries is
the press. To secure the support of the
press, newspapers can be purchased; but
that is a ruinously expensive method.
Think of the millions that it would cost to
acquire number of organs OF very wide
circulation. Moreover, this method is not
dependable, for it is a very difficult matter
to keep secret for long the name of the
purchaser of great newspaper 1t is
therefore, a mode of procedure which can
be employed only professionally with def
mite object in view. and for a limited
period. 1t was a transaction of this sort
that the Germans had in mind when they
tried to buy certain French newspapers,
such as ole Journal"
How much more reliable and more prac-
teal is the plan of creating an agency to
secure a monopoly Of advertising! This
enterprise, after concentrating the greater
part of all commercial advertising in its
own hands, begins by placing ADVERTISE
ments ain the newspapers on which it has
its eye; then it takes over all their adver-
tising by contract, on terms which relieve
them altogether from the exertion of seek
ing advertisers. Having thus become the
purveyor of their receipts, it has them in
its clutches and directs their management
Control Through A6uerf:sirg
One can see what powerful political con-
troll can be eXerted by a large concern hav-
ing a monopoly of advertising. when that
concern is in the hands of foreign gov
ernment; one can imagine how fully it can
keep that government posted to all mat
ters political, industrial commercial and
military; one dvnes what important SER
vices it can render to the commerce of it's
supplying its nationals with information as
to the advertising done by the people
among whom it is operating, and as to
other matters in order to advance the in
terests of its compatriots to the detriment
of the producers of their adopted country.
This is not a mere hypothesis our
part: we shall see later that q German drm
had succeeded in obtaining control Of the
advertising pages of nincty-siX newspapers
in one of the Allied countries-Italy
fore the war We shall show, furthermore
that by means Of its contracts and tho posi-
tion it had secured, it had become pow
erful that it still holds a monopoly Of the
advertising Of eighty-one Italian publica-
tions at the present moment, in the midst
of war!
How did it negotiate with the papers,
and by what sort of contracts did it set
about enslaving them, in order to attain
the end that we have described at the be-
ginning of this paper? We may learn by
certain excerpts from the contracts by
which eight. one Italian papers are STILL at
this very hour bound to Naasepsteir &
Vogler, of Milan that is to say, Of Berlin
Article 6.-The management of the --, and
right to veto as to all advertisements Which it
may deem injurious or inopportune from the stand
But II shall not be entitled TO forbid the puhlica-
tion Of any advertisement which has been pre-
viously inserted, or CT any other of Ike char
The management of the -- binds itself TO
torial matter of correspondence in the body %
me papeFN7and espeeiany IN lhe columns not IL
pairing IN any possible way the advertising value
of the paper.
The PoUer OF Veto
Thus the Haaasenstein {. Voglor agency
has the power to forbid the insertion Of
anything which it deems inopportune or
capable of mpairing the advertising value
of the paper, not only on the pages devoted
to advertisements, but on the editorial
pages properly so called.
Finally, let US quote this provision:
Article 22.-The contracting parties agree to
terms of this contract, we of ali ether
agreements that may hereafter be entered into he
Secrecy, indeed! That follows as a mat
ter of course in such hole-and- corner bar
gains! Poor italians! Proud as they are,
how easily can understand their dis
gust!
Now let how the European Adver-
tising Agency succeeded in taking root in
France. in obtaining large amount of bust
ness there III making its way into the old
French advertising agencies, in opening
negotiations with them, and in securing
monopolstic concessions which we're des-
tined to enable it to approach the French
press and by slow degrees to make itself
master of it.
The European Society. thanks to the
plant which the Van Minden Brothers, do
ing business under the name of Merry, had
turned over to it, and to the purchase in