Evening star., 1925-03-08

tives and their policies In other words the
editor and the spellbinder were given the liber-
ty ito utter and to argue" and II they could,
to convince others of the correctness Of their
views. .@-
Early Printers Were Feared.
But l like to think that John Milton had
others than the editors and the politicians in
mind when he said 'the liberty to know" Gem
turtles before, those in authority had discovered
that the printer was a dangerous character, not
because he attacked those in high places He
had not then reached that stage of develop
nient. But because through the dissemination
of intelligence concerning the every day affairs
Of life the masses might come to know, and,
knowing, think. sFor them to think was the
unpardonable crime of the period.
And this is easily understandable. When
movable type was introduced in 1880 all gov
ernments, good and bad. derived their powers
from the Ignorance of the governed. Accord
ingly ignorance carefully nurtured. In
this way 1t was possible for the few with
little more wit than their fellows to. exploit
the many, and to this end the masses had been
systematically taught to believe that the gods
had created two classes of men-those born to
rule and those born to serve. An exposure of
the humbug through the diffusion of knowledge
that might incite the masses to think
threatened. That is why they nterdicted the
press For 200 years the press suppressed
Then introduced the licensed press.
licensed to print only that which bolstered the
existing order of things Thus for 800 years
class privilege and the concentration of power
in the hands of few were perpetuated by the
suppression or misuse of the press.
Americas Service to the World.
When in America freedom Of the
press and of speech did the world great
service. But, 1 have already indicated, IL
the editors and the politicians who
set free. The potential thought of the people
was still in chains. There was no longer a
conspiracy to keep the masses in ignorance, but
Wv r,,h1i cic covf
and traditions of caste not to be easily
outgrown. even in a democracy. Those who
had dethroned kings enthroned wealth and po-
litical power. The editor a preacher in
stead of a teacher, and he always preached
from the same text: we point with pride"
or I'VE view with alarm" The editorial policy
was reflected in the news columns. Into the
news the writer wove his politics. his
ligion and his philosophy. story
made UP Of 25 per cent news and rs per cent Of
what the editor thought about It. The reader
did not have to think whether tragic event
described was sad. The reporter told him it
was, and wsot all over the first page. Readers
did not have to think, and very generally did
not, and. worse. many finally came not to care.
Ignorance of public affairs bred indifference and
so developed distinct class Of politicians, who
very largely controlled governmental affairs.
In 1S4s seven newspapers in New York City
banded together in what came to be known
the New York Associated Press, for the pur-
pose OF economy through Jointly gathering the
news. largely foreign. and for profit in selling
IL to similar groups formed elsewhere. These
groups exchanged news. But the disadvantage
was that each had to accept from the other
the particular brand OF news that the other
had offer and in the form In which they
chose to treat events. No group was able inan-
cially to report adequately the news Of the
country independently. Eventually the Eastern
groups formed alliance and the groups west
of the Aleghenies similarly united. These two
1ar~ -atI1 4vpnon y,
Eastern association. which virtually controlled
the foreign news. soon came under the control
of three men, only one of whom a news
paper man. These three men were in position
to dictate great part of what the newspapers
of the United States should publish. for they
gathered such news they fit to gather,
treated events according to their personal ideas
and were accountable to no one but themselves.
This was the situation when there was writ
ten the public be damned" chapter of ma