The Washington herald., 1922-09-11

financially a successful paper. he
argued that what could be done
with an evening paper could be
done as well with a morning paper,
OF tndeed a great deal better.
Morning papers. in England at
any rate. find it easier to get ad-
vertIsements than evening newspa-
pers. But when. fired by his expe-
riences in the Evening News. he
determined on creating the Daily
Mail. he took every possible care
10 make his venture successful. He
traded. is IL were, both with the
living and the dead in Journalism to
find new features and paying fea-
lures. Especially did he study
American models. These afforded
him plenty OF useful pioneers. He
also studied the old ways of jour
nalism in England and adopted fea-
lures which for some reason or
other had been allowed to drop out.
doubt whether. in the true sense.
Lord Northcliffe ever reflected or
ever thought. His mind. as is so
often to be noted in the case of the
successful money-makers. was ex-
ceedingly superficial. as were. In
deed. his mental interests. private
and public. He was. however. keen
and alert and genuinely interested
in new things.
Wanted TO BE Premier.
During the latter part of the war
and still more after the peace. Lord
Northcliffe persuaded himself that
the power of the press was greater
than il really was. He dreamed Of
becoming the leader and director of
the country. not indirectly as a
great influencer of public opinion.
but actually as prime minister.
That was, I am assured. his Wis
ionary aim. His lever was to be the
newspapers he controlled. He found
himself utterly mistaken when, hav-
ing quarreled with Lloyd George as
the obstacle of his ambition. he de-
termined to remove him from power.
Apparently. Lord NorthcliTe was so
little experienced or. at any rate,
had so little understanding Of his
strength, that he thought he could
write Lloyd George down.. e., de-
stroy him by leading articles. II
he had been able to reflect, he
would have learned that. though
LLOYD George might destroy him
self. he could not be destroyed by
newspaper opposition. He had, In
fact. utterly misconceived the ma
ture of the power Of the press.
Here l reach an interesting point
in connection with Journalism. I
firmly believe that the newspaper
that is run as business concern
run. that is. to pay, l. e.. run to sell
its readers what they want to buy
is likely to be a better paper and
also to serve the community better
than the newspaper which has ulte-
rior ends
Honesty In News
What the ordinary citizen desires
TO get from his paper is the facts.
and the whole of the facts. Now.
he may have the highest belief in
Mr.. So-and-So's good intentions. bur
he does not want to have his news
colored by them. however good
hey may be. Still less does he want
to have his news distorted by the
personal likes or dislikes of a pro-
prietor. Therefore he greatly dis
trusts the newspapers owned nv
men who are in the newspaper busi-
ness. not as tradesmen. but for nj
terror oejects-party objects. per-
soHal objects. or pecuniary objects
other than those derived from the
direct sale of a newspaper.
American newspapers, / NAV saw
parenthetically, have come to their
great position and will. I believe,
continue to hold that position by
the fact that they are so largely
owned by people who are openly
and obviously engaged in the trade
of selling newspapers. and who
know that in the end they can do
sound business only by selling "a
straight and sound line Of goods"
/ have a word to add by way of
postscript. My readers may think
1t strange that l have said nothing
about Lord Northcliffe and the
part he played in the war. have
not dealt with his war record be-
cause I believe that his Influence
on the war was absurdly exagser-
ated. II. then. I had touched the
matter, could not have avoided
being strongly polemical. Also. I
must have spoken more harshly
than ] want to speak. Finally, I
wanted to put what 1 think is
~ account of the man before the
American public. not to plunge into
an infructuous controversy.