NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1660, 29 January 1913, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Tub recent demise of Mr. Whitelaw Reid, United States Ambassador to Great Britain, recalls the fact that it was largely clue to the iniluence cxcr.tcd by him as editor of The Tribune during the decadent period of Grant's Presidency—in the 'seventies of the last century—that American journalism is indebted for whatever measure of political independence it may bo said to possess at the present time. The political partisanship of the bulk of the American press has long been notorious, less from'the fact of its blind adhesion to one side or another than from the circumstance that its hostility to their opponents is not manifested by the spirit of honest criticism, but by a spirit of sheer political _ hatred, which transforms criticism into' a vendetta that ignores all criteria of reputable journalism. When Reij) succeeded . Greeley as editor of The Tribune, the tone'of American politics had touched the lowest depths, almost. TJic Tribune assumed a detached and 'critical attitude on all Questions, and although it afterwards degenerated into a thick-and-thin, party organ once more, Reid's policy during its period of independence influenced a reaction in public opinion., When Eeid began to turn his attention to his own advancement in political life, his paper deteriorated. The New York ■Evening Post, which has established for itself an international reputation for its editorial independence,'. has remarked that there is anj'apparcnt tendency in the American newspaper world to setup a tradition against editorial, office holding. ", '•. '':•■■■

" 'Abandon hope of political preferment, ye who enter here,' is' tho new motto' written over tho door of the editor's room. ■ This was not tho old American Dractice; it is not so strictly the rule in England/to-day; in Franco tho custom is quits, the other wnjv . But its advantages are obvious. It is a'part of the price that has to bo paid for, editorial independence." i ..

This would .seem to convey the suggestion that amongst tho'.. hotter class of American newspapers, .at all events, there has, come tho realisation.of the fact that a groat newspaper is something more than a commercial enterprise; that by a record and reputation of its, own creating, it assumes the responsibility and obligations of a national institution exerting a tremendous influence upon public thought, and upon society in general. ' ; ,-,■• . v

A Christchurch correspondent has sent us some clippings from the antiReform newspaper in that city, suggesting that avc might make some comment upon them. Somebody, it appears, had complained of Mn. Harold Beauchamp's appointmentto the board of directors of the Bank of New Zealand, and the Christchurch journal said thati the appointment waa "due to the Government's desire to win favour with a .certain section of public opinion," and that while there, were many men on the Reform side in politics who could have filled the place, yet these people will, remain, faithful' to the party without receiving "fat billets."'. So. now Mr. Massey knows exactly what, the.' anti-Reformers' will say' of any appointments the Government may' make. If the appointee, happens to be ono whom the Opposition organs suspect of sympathy with political reform, Mr. Massey will; be told he is distributing spoils, to the victors. If the appointee happens to be a man suspected of a past affection for the old Government; Mr. Massey will be told he is toadving for support. That is to say, these critics have arranged to 'say that whatever ho does is wrong. And; of course, their .criticisms will be as valueless, from their point "'of "view,' as criticisms so, based always are. • The correspondent who'sent ub the clippings complains chiefly of the statement that ( ,'a score of exhibitions, of the 'spoils' policy already he'to the charge of. the present Government." This is not the first occasion upon which this absurd slander has been circulated. It is urxTlcss to expect the anti-Reformers to give particulars—as useless as it is for them to expect that any sensible person will believe general charges of that.sort. Our correspondent need not worry: we all knew the enemies of reform would go on like that for a while. .;

It comes with, something of a shock to find that the silly superstition which has attached itself to tho number 13 can influence the decision of a public body-Hhe Local Government Committee of the London County Council, no less! A certain applicant, who, by the way, had thirteen letters to his name, asked to have, his house, No. 13, renumbered as 14. The superstition also afflicted tho name of the street (Stanhopo Place), and that of the Chairman of tho Local Government Committeo (Mn.'. Meinertzhagen),.. each being spelt by thirteen' letters, and this frightful aggregation of coincidences was apparently too much for the which • approved the change of number by 28 votes, to 18.' The incidont aroused tho ire of The Tablet, which,, remarking that English writers not infrequently referred' with a sneer "to the superstitions'of the Neapolitans or other benighted Catholics on the Continent," invited its readers to "look nearer home."

"Wo aro not now • dealing," said tho "Tablet,"' "with poor, ignorant men, earning with difficulty enough to buy tho daily allowance of macaroni,' but with tho civic rulers of .the greatest municipality in tho world. ... To what lower depth of stark, abject, grovelling Biiperstition did any poor peasant in tho streets of Naples ever descend?"' •'.-,.

After this, we should not be surprised to hear of candidates for election to the London County Council being questioned as to their respective opinions on the propriety of putting the right leg first out of bod in the morning, and other kindred ordinances of superstitious persons.

Wd arc glad to note that the New Zealand _ High_ Commissioner in London is exerting himself to expose the ridiculous canards and arrant nonsense which have been published broadcast in England with regard to our system of compulsory training. In a letter to the Manchester Guardian, in which journal a good deal of misrepresentation Ims been allowed appear, the Hon*. T. Mackhnzik severely animadverts upon the efforts of ,1 certain section in England—a section obviously in close touch with the. small, but noisy, group of irrcconcilablos who have attempted to flout the Defence Act in New Zealand—to discredit this country in the eyes of prospective settlers. As

a samplo of tho kind of irresponsible _ statements mado by these people, _ the High Commissioner quotes in his letter an extract from a New Zealand correspondent which, he says, might have emanated from the pen of any of the hysterical iinghsli writers:— .

Conscript Acw Zealand legislators are wing looted upon as a body of spineless nondescripts not wortliy of the name of man.

It is painful to reflect that a great many people in England havo been quite misled by the deliberate misrepresentations of these people, whose New Zealand correspondents arc apparently incapable or perceiving any inconsistency in living on in a country they have no compunction in aspersing. For it is the country, the whole nation, and not the Massey Government or the late Waiid Government, against whom their aspersions are directed.