The Washington herald., 1920-05-20
In the Linelight
By George Perry Morris.

seldom does a certain phase OF
journalism receive franker state
ment than In the speech made by
Hon. Charles II. Sheriff. before
the Japan society at its recent
banquet in Tokyo. Pleading for
recognition by the political lead
ers OF the United States-that n
would be well for American COM
merce on the. AsIatic continent n
use was made OF the Intelligent
knowledge OF Asia which the
Japanese traders have. he proceeded
to say that American business men
were alive to the profit Of the mol
icy. Then he added: These forward
looking exporters will before long
exercise their influence as paying
advertisers upon our CAmerican)
newspapers SO as to modify and uI-
timately terminate their unprofit.
able attacks upon everything
Japanese. These newspapers are
guessing wrong. and Americans
know their business too well 70
guess. wrong long" Which. is can.
did IL portentous.
The litigation in which Maurice
haeterlinck is involved arising
from his alleged breaking OF his con
tract with the manager who i'm
ported" him to lecture in this coun-
try. has not been dropped. reports to
the contrary notwithstanding.rRP Pub
lie sympathy viii De vithEt,-r tel
gian, who. Of all the heFEXHEEs-
iting US this year 49, n y flve
had the hardest luck. 1rias~ tthe
Spaniard, Sir oliver Lodge. the kag-
lishmen. and lesser men who mil MT
be mentioned. have sailed less ruff
fed waters and will go away with
more ducats in their purses To
Maeterlinck's credit be it said that.
judging him by the interview he
gave on his return home. he has not
been soured by his experiences here.
He denies that We frc materialists.
credits us with much idealism. and
predicts great things for US as pro-
moters of the aesthetic The mo-
tion- picture industry has won him
completely, both as a coming source
of personal revenue and as an edu-
cational medium for the peoples os
the world. He returns home with
fat" assignments for the highest
sort OF scenario work. and he can
pay his lawyers bills as his defense
- AhN ~ oAC ACNNAlt lhdhdS
| proceeds.
The younger generation of the
| Pankhurst family, to use a sport
ing expression. is running true to
FORM" The mother has had a con-
servative reaction. but the daugh-
tiers are still revolving" Miss Sylvia
is a Bolshevist, and is doing her
rrettiest just now to infect the
Irish with the Soviet" germ. Brit
ish officialdom naturally is blocking
her policy as best it can. and there
need be no surprise at any time TO
hear Of her arrest, Imprisonment,
and then a hunger strike" episode.
There no longer seems TO be any
doubt about the selection of Fridtjof
Nansen by the league of nations as
its representative in supervising the
repatriation OF soldiers OF the allied
nations who are within the Russian
domain. especially in Siberia. He
has had a profound interest in the
csptives ever since the war began.
an interest which does him credit
as a man with a heart. The league
is fortunate in getting him to act
for it.
The late Col. william d Alton
Mann. maker of Town Topics" was
the American analogue of the Brit
ish journalist. Labouchere. though
far less able Intellectually. In every
land there are scandal lovers and
mongers and IL the latter be clever
as we'll as trouble breeding and
trouble-seeking, they seldom fail to
get a reading constituency that is
profitable. Mr.. Mann found a Tar
tar once in Norman Hapgood when
the latter was a journalist with a
mission as muckraker: and the
litigation that followed the suit
against Hspgood for criminal libel
went against the journalist who re-
tailed backstairs tsttle about celeb
rites.