The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1911. RUNAWAY PENS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 34, 3 August 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1911. RUNAWAY PENS.

I It does not matter much if a little pen runs away with its user, but when a large-sized pen whose work is exceedingly well known revels in fiction, pretending it is fact, that is another matter. It was naturally assumed in the Dominion when Mr. W. T. Stead, the greatly advertised London journalist, told us what a very disloyal and raucous republican Mr. Fisher, Commonwealth Premier, was that we should believe him, seeing that he has even gone to gaol for his convictions and was supposed to invariably hand a proof of his interviews to the person interviewed before publication. Mr. Stead painted the picture of a grossly selfish person who had climbed to eminence, expressing contempt for the Empire, and willing at the moment to "cut the painter" and hoist a republican flag. In the light of Mr. Fisher's astonished rebuttal, one is bound to admit that Mr. Fisher's friends in Australia, who suggested that the "great white Willie" dreamt the interview, might almost have known the reviewer of reviews. It is now recalled that Mr. Stead s a very quaint person who sometimes sees more of the mind of an individual that is in it. His interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer was emphatically a journalistic "scoop." But it could not have been shown to Mr. Lloyd-George, because the Chancellor repudiated ft—and it was full of gross misrepresentations and "extensions" of the truth. He interviewed the head of the Salvation Army, and his fluent pen simply galloped, leaving all pale, small, ineffective pens at the barrier. The Booth of Stead was no more like the head of the Salvation Army than Kitchener is like Tom Mann, or Victor Grayson like Mr. A. Balfour. It seemed inconceivable either that Mr. Stead could have so mutilated the remarks of the Commonwealth Premier, or that Mr. Fisher could have made such grotesque remarks as he was credited with making. Probably there are thousands of journalists who envy the "great white Willie" his tremendous vogue. He owes it possibly to his extraordinary facility for making astounding statements. His contributions to "spiritism" and the like were exceedingly good advertisements for him, and he has been read by millions with more or less reverence. Very likely he is getting too old now to worry whether people regard him as a De Rougemont or a George Washington, but, at any rate, he is becoming less a pattern for stragglers on the inkstained highway. Quite a lot of heroworshippers starting on that highway will desist from admiring a inan who is willing to prejudice the character of a Prime Minister for the sake of spicy "copy." Mr. Fisher does not want to "haul down the flag." He believes "cutting the painter" would be insane and brutal, and he believes there really is such a thing as an Empire. Mr. Stead is at present seeking copy somewhere in Albania. One is afraid people will read his stories with a jaundiced mind.