IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I L'3 li:0 2.0 Ik i^ ■ ^-6 6" Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STReET WEBSTIR.N.Y. H580 (716) 872-4503 4^ i\ V \\ s^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de m^croreproductions historiques Technic( I and Bibliographic Notes/Notas tachniques at bibiiographiquas Tha instituta has att«mptad to obtain tha Daat original copy availabia for filming. 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There is a growing opinion that the press ought to be in very responsible hands, and perhaps a disposition to exaggerate its faults and follies, and undervalue its inestimable work for the moral and material welfare of mankind. We have got far away from the old notion that there was a t'l^uch of infallibility in the utterances of a public journal ; but we must recognize that it is still possible for a sensational press in times of unrest, when the public temper is eager and the popular mind distressed and disturbed, to raise the furies in a community and effect grave national and international mischiefs. The press is powerful to build and create, but, perhaps, not less powerful to pull down and destroy. Hence there is under conditions of settled opinion an increasing demand that the press shall show capacity for self-discipline, that it shall exhibit something like the self-restraint of a prudent and responsible statesmanship, and shall deal wisely and warily with questions that threaten a country's domestic peace or imperil its international relationships. Nowhere is the press more mischievous than in the realm of international affairs. In no other field is the press more powerful It is the servant of intriguing diplomats, the mouthpiece of ambitious Ministers ; it lashes ^^opular opinion into fury, it forces free Parlia- \ i ! 'I t (<'*r ',■ i 5 n I 1 I 1 JOURNALISM. p ments to bow to the opinion it l.as created. It is the screaming devil of France. Vulgar, scurrilous, venomous and ugly, it has no regard for private character, no respect for high office, no sense of public responsibility, no appreciation of the delicacy of inter- national relationships. Bodley quotes from one of the best of the French journals the statement that electoral literature under the Third Republic is "abject." He declares that there " a political opponent is not, as in countries where the Parliamentary system is a tradition, a fellow-creature to be treated v/itli respect and even cordialHv in the inter\^als of party battles, but a dangerous monster to be exterminated." He puts among the reasons which keep capable men out of the Legislature in France, quoting high authority for his statement, "the abject character of electioneering literature, in which a candidate liuds every intimate detail of his private life lampooned, and so has to retaliate with like poisoned weapons ; the unedifying coarseness of journalistic polemics, which is not attenuated even in the rare cases where a candidate is an Academician." We do better than this in Canada ; but here, too, we have our share of bitter- ness, of violence, of unnecessary personal attack, and of deliberate misrep^'esentation of men's words and motives in order to sei v e the ends of party jr the business interests of rival newspapers. Anglo-Saxons everywhere rejoice to-day over the extraordinary growth of good feeling between Great Britain and the United States. No other international 10 JOURNALISM. development of our time promises so much for the peace of the world, and for all the good ends of humanity and civilization. It is to the honor of the press of Great Britain that this great reconciliation was. nobly and splendidly promoted by its foremost writers, as well as by the statesmen at Westminster. We cannot say as much for the press of this continent, neither on this side of the border nor on the other. There is more of the spirit of statesmanship, more of moderation, more of restraint, more of that sober calm and steadfast courage which become men who labor with world-wide issues and carry world-wide responsibilities in the press of Great Britain than in any other press in the world. Even there, however, if Lord Salisbury were less the steady, stalwart and staunchly immovable figure that he is, Great Britain would have been hurried into a premature war with Russia. He was forced to stand ' * four square to all the winds that blew," even against the press of his own party, in order to save the world's peace and avert a tragedy that would have brought this splendid century to its close in blood and ruin. Bismarck used a subservient press to make mischief all over Europe, to furiher the secret aims of an insidious statecraft, and to promote at any cost his imperial designs for the creation, the unification and the consolidation of ihe German Empire. Most of us believe that final good will come out of the destruction of Spanish power in Cuba and in the Philippines, that in those islands freedom and progress will take the place of servitude I -^ JQURNALISM. ti Bnd reaction, and that, next to the British Empire, the free Republic of the United States is, to use Lord Rosebery's term, the secular agencj' in the world best worth preserving. But there have been more admirable things than the spirit in which a great part of the press of the United States drove the republic on to that war, and we may feel sure that the story of American rule in the new possessions of the republic will read better to future generations of Americans than the story of the methods by and the conditions tinder which those possessions were acquired. One wonders why such sober-minded statesmen as Mr. James Bryce and such brilliant journalists as Mr. Massingham of The London Chronicle, who gave their hearty assent to the war against Spain, should express such stern doubt as to the necessity for the war in South Africa. If in the first case they could give the benefit of the doubt to the United States, surely in the second they can give the benefit of the doubt to Great Britain. In the calm judgment of the historian very few of the wars even of the last half century were either just or necessary. But in all of these wars the press drove on the nations to the combat, and necessarily was the eager ally of the combatants. For this last attitude one should perhaps be slow to censure. When war is on, the patriot holds up his flag and gives his heart and his prayer to the armies of his country. But except when the very honor of a nation is at stake, it is a poor thing to make the patriotism of men an instrument for insult 12 JOURNALISM. and aggression, and the press could do very much more than it is doing to exalt the days and the ways of peace, to soften international jealousies, to keep in check the ambitions of rulers and the passions of democracies, and bring nearer the parliament of man and the federation of the world. In political controversy there will always be temper and vigor ; but vigor need not degenerate into virul- ence, and hard blows, so long as they are not delivered below the belt, give spirit to public debate and vitality to free institutions. One must have a stout heart if he would go into politics. But, after all, there is a spirit of fair play in Anglo-Saxon peoples, and a point at which malicious and unworthy pursuit of a public man turns to his advantage and brings chivalrous souls to his side. Except in seasons of unusual popular passion the people are quick to know where fair and legitimate criticism ends and vindictive pursuit begins, and once that point is reached the blov/s of the assailant fall harmless and the cause of the victim is promoted. In politics as in the prize ring the rules^ of the game must be observed, foul play wins no permanent advantage, and misrepresentation and falsehood gain no enduring success. The press of Canada conducts political debate upon perhaps a higher level than that of the United vStates, but we still fall distinctly below the standard which prevails in Great Britain. It is probably true that we often make a tremendous clamor over smalT issues, and often deal with large issues in a small way. Too often, it may be, we f 1 f JOURNALISM. ^3 «■" are more ready to misrepresent an opponent than to meet his argument, more ready to appeal to the meaner prejudices than to the higher sentiment of the community, more ready to run at the heels of popular clamor than to stand steadfast for the principles and policies which one's inner conviction and sober judgment approve. It seems to me that we in Canada sometimes forget that free speech is the inalienable birthright of the British citizen, and that the great pioneers of British freedom were men who would not conform to the temper and conditions of the times in which they lived, and that we demand an absolute submission to every passing wave of passion and every outbreak of popular prejudice. This is a servitude to which none of us can afford to submit. There could be no greater treason to free institutions and the moral pro- gress of the world. The qualities of courage and public spirit are none too common, and a sincere view, come from what source it may, has a right to be uttered. There are far too many forces making for repression in these days. The organization of party keeps many voices; in check. But this to me is a minor evil. There is an independence within the party organiza- tions which largely influences party policy and makes an enduring political dictatorship impossible in a free country. Besides, it seems to me that no other system of popular government equal to the party system, with all its abuses, has been devised. Under this system the will of the people substantially prevails, and the radical and progressive elements of the community 1 H JOURNALISM. f have probably a more influential voice than even under the rule of the initiative and referendum. In many cases it is easier to move the politician seeking for electoral support than the great inert masses of the people, and very often the independent remnant exerts an undue political influence. In fact, some sound thinkers hold that one of the evils of modern demo- cratic government lies in the competition of rival politicians and rival parties for the support of organized votes and aggressive minorities. There is a measure of justice in the criticism, and probably progress in some directions would be slower if the politicians, instead of making secret bargains with these active and aggressive groups, were forced to meet the whole people upon the particular question at issue, and if all advance were blocked until the faith of a few enthu- siasts became the conviction of a majority of the people. But more ominous and mure dangerous is the growing power of corporations and the influence of great aggregations of capital in few hands, which is the most sinister development in modern industrial conditions. Here is a danger to the press and a real peril to popular government, for the press can have no mission in the world worth filling except as the articu- late voice of the plain, unorganized and unsubsidized people. Notv/ithstanding all that may be said, we have as yet no reason to conclude that the corporations have a dominating voice in the press or in the public life of Canada. It is, perhaps, doubtful if they can 1^ 1 4 JOURNALISM, 15 ever win any enduring victory in a free country. The very suspicion that is bred by the lobby of the corporation in Parliament may, perhaps, lead to a condition of the public mind under which tne corpora- tion may get less than justice, and capital become an object of unjust suspicion and a subject for unrighteous dealing. At least this is true, that no public journal can be influential as the mere mouthpiece of a corpora- tion, and perhaps we could have no better evidence of this than the efforts of party papers upon the one side or the other to convict public men and public journals of compromising relations with corporations which do not exist in fact. In Canada the people are still supreme, and their free suffrage is the best franchise of newspapers and the best refuge for Governments. It is a fault, or at leist a habit, of the press that it very often seeks to drive Governments far in advance of public opinion. This cannot be done with safety to Governments or with advantage to the commonwealth. All useful and effective legislation must rest upon a great body of popular support. The press is necessarily and legitimately an agitator, very often a voice crying in the wilderness; always, if it performs its true functions, seeking to better social and material con- ditions. All wise and provident government waits to some extent upon public opinion, and crystallizes into legislation the settled judgment of a majority of the people. The true function of the legislator, as con- trasted with that of the journalist, is nowhere better stated than in the course of I^ecky's estimate of I JOURNALISM, Walpole. Ke says :—" He belonged to that class of legislators who recognize fully that government is an organic thing, that all transitions, to be safe, should be the gradual product of public opinion, that the gi-eat end of statesmanship is to secure the nation's practical v/ell-being and allow its social and industrial forces to develop unimpeded, and that a wise Minister will carefully avoid exciting violent passions, provok- ing reactions, offending large classes and generating enduring discontents." It is the business of the journalist to develop public opinion, to liberalize and energize the social and industrial forces, to utter the voice of the people, and go on his way stoutly, stumbling often as he will, rash often as he may be, but always in the serene confidence that good will come out of free discussion, that " the common sense of most" will hold even "a fretful realm in awe," and that, as Whittier says : — «♦ The outworn rite, the old abuse. The pious fraud, transpareul grown. The good held captive in the use Of wrong alone — ♦' These wait their doom from that great law Which makes the past time serve to-day, And fresher life the world shall draw From their decay." 'I !