Evening star., 1923-02-15

America Is a nation of newspaper
readers Nowhere else in the world
90 people display such an Unsuitable
hunger for news or other matter 10
be found IN the daily journal. / am
almost tempted to say newspapers con-
stitute the principal feature of Ameri-
can streets, so much are they In evil
dence. At every corner one sees a
little stall with stacks of them piled
high in front of the vender. Ine
sidewalk and roads are Uttered with
cast way sheets. The building sftes'
of which there seems to be one 10
every three blocks i'll New YORK, are
convenient dumping grounds TOT pa
Fresh editions are put on the streets
all day long and are devoured IN
Simultaneously by the still news-hun.
CRY public Three persons out OF
four in the subway trains have their
noses buried in their papers to and
from their place of business. And 1t
is the same in every city. one won
ders IL the general American public
finds time to read anything else. or II
its chief literary food is not furnished
by the papers.
1t is easy TO see what a tremendous
influence the daily papers mast n" e
upon the American people. Fortu-
nstely. their influence. on the whole.
appears to be good, morally and intel
lectually. With the exception OF
what you call yellow" tendency
in a certain but small section Of the
pre- So. American journals, besides be-
ing the most enterpriS!ng III the
world. endeavor to live up to ideals
of surprisingly high order. BY
their conception Of the role assign
ed to them as educators and enlight-
eners of the people, they have accept
cd big and important share of that
task of nation-building to which
have referred in previous articles.
Learns of syndicatinG.
In my hurried tour of American
cities ! " as often surprised to see in
local papers articles and signatures
which l had already seen in New
York. Generally. such articles treat
ed Of matters connected with iitera-
ture. art. the theater, music and sci
cnce. Inqusitive. 1 asked why and
wherefore; and thus learned all bout
the system of newspaper syndtcating,
which. apparently. is practiced no.
where outside America a, least. to
the same degree. What d gigantic
machine for the dissemination of
ideas. Specifically, the system may
seem TO be just another example OF
American enterprise. 1t is
But to me it has an infinitely deeper
Significance. Geographical, economic
and political conditions have created
the need for II. America is such a
large country, and the nation ts stu
not fully developed. y continuous
l:a;son was indispcnsa BILE between the
political and intellectual centerS OF
the state. many Of them remote from
the capital chow many Europeans
realize tast an express train takes
five days to cross the continent from
ocean to ocean?. manifesting differ
ing tendencies and developing along
separate lines. So. to my mind, the
peculiar business policy of American
Journalism is the result of natural
laws.
American newspapers are the We
hlcles Of thought. or arteries. or
nerves which establish constant
circulation OF intellectual energy be-
tween the brain centers and the most
distant parts of the country. For
growing nation like America. with
It's mass Of imperfectly digested for
cigu clements. they probably consti-
tute the most potent. X not the only,
means of welding this Heterogeneous
people into a thoroughly Eomoge-
neous nation, both politically and in
IL is impossible TO overestimate
their power in this respect. Their
force of suggestion in the matter OF
moulding public opinion and guiding
national development must be colos-
sal. And. as | have said. l believe
the newspapers do their work well
and conScientiously.
Just as one illustration among
thousands of others. should like
to mention a result obtained by the
hammering Of an idea by the news
papers. In almost every paper I
picked up in the different cities 7
found an article urging people to
build. and giving the reasons. ] have
just seen figures showing building
throughout the country has increased
by more than so per cent within a
year.
Americans are accustomed 70 their
papers. but the foreigner can not but
be impressed and amazed at the size
OF them and the quality and diversity
OF their contents. especially of the
Sunday editions OF the leading organs
Often running to hundred pages
they are veritable encyclopedias, and
constitute a faithful mirror OF the
worlds thought aud activity in every
branch OF intellectual, artistic, scien-
tiiic, political and economic life.
There is food for thought in them
for all The literary supplement, for
instance. embraces the worlds pro-
duction. and each article Is written
@I tHax