The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1916. LORD NORTHOLIFFE AND THE DAILY MAIL.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 June 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1916. LORD NORTHOLIFFE AND THE DAILY MAIL.

.From the Daily Mail proprietary, London, we are in receipt of a especial article written by Lord/ Nortlicliffe, founds)- of the newspaper "Daily Mail," to celebrate tlie twentieth anniversary of the foundation of that paper. Die article* contains so many points of interest ~ that we feel constrained to reprint some extracts from it for benefit of our readers. Lord Northcliffe remarks that the greater part of the twenty years covered by the Mail's existence led up to tlie present great world strife, accompanied as bbey have Been by the revolutions of "wireIces telegraphy, motor transport, un-der-sea warfare, and the flying maI chine, is almost equal in its intensity |to the story of a century. For all time, men wall marveil at the ina.biifty of Governments, served by Ambassadors, naval, and military attaches, ■and a secret service, to visualize what was coming. The Germans themselves hid verv'little either by word or deed. Travel in Germany was as free to any Englishman as travel in England to » German. In tliousand of newspaper | articles they declared their policy, in countless Reichstag speeches it was I niiufo plain; and at the Hague Qerniany s representatives pointed plainly to her intention -of making war— and war on England. At tlie beginning of tlie history o! liie Daily Mail and before the great uerinau naval piogra.ni, 1 was onw of tiiose who, with Mr Cecil l{liodes, iioped that an undertaking with Germany might (be possible, and 1 remember discussing the matter with the late Lord Salisbury, who took a considerable interest in the establishment oi ttio Itaay Mail. After one of his long silences he said, ''Yes, but we lind Germany a very expensive friend." m other Words Germany was continually asking for something. The Daily Mail and its war warnings, and its insistent advocacy oi naval development, from the time of its controversy with the late Lord Goschen as to the possibility of submarines to its demonstration that the aeroplane had definitely ended our position as an island, have aroused »uch w/orld interests that there may he some who will care to hear a little of tlie life-story of this newspaper and its beginnings. . . Lord Nortlicliffe iiswurses in interesting vein regarding the beet training for English newspaper work. Wihen parents come to me to ask how their sons should commence journalism, he says, I have one invariable reply: "The best possible education, a knowledge of Ffench

and a period of initiation in a provincial newspaper office." -x personally secured the latter advantage when the doctors ordered me to leave London, lor I was so tortumate as to obtain an immediate editorial appointment in association with Air "William llifle, of Coventry. In the vaet newspaper organizations ol great cities 'ike those ot London, Auiv roiii and ilins, the neophyte must ue wide awaSe indeed it he can master the whole organization, but in a proviuciai newspaper office, where the editor and his staff axe in close contact oacu day and where poreliance each man must play many parts; where the proprietor, the editor, the foreman printer, the reporters and the leader writers are in •association, the whole system of newspaper control cam be readily graspedi. In a note on the iJritidh War Office's policy of suppressing news—an ostrichlike attitude that has its puibliclyprofessed supporters in 2sew Zealand and elsewhere—Lord XorthcHffo iys : Those who rally round our standard each morning know that this paper is independent both of its advertisers and its readers, that it does not Hesitate to express opinions that may tor the moment he extremely unpopular, that it does not in the ieast mind being boycot/ted, banned and burned, that it has 110 axe to grind; .but that of the public good, that it is not in the least interested in any politician or party, and that it has for its one aim, at this tremendous perkxl in our jistory, the winning of the war. The Daily Mail is an optimist newspaper. It believes -that, after far greater travail than the public is yet aware of, the victory of the Ailies will foe assured. But it believes also that the present spstem of withholding information from the nation delays Mie eventual triumph, that this hiding-of-the-truth renders the lull output ,of national effort difficult to obtain; more, that it hypnotises the people, the Parliament, and the very Goveramejrt itself into a frame of mind of easy deception.