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Show I He thinks that thero may be an occasional instance of corruption in the financial control of a newspaper; that there are some newspaper proprietors, pro-prietors, who will sell themselves for gain, but that it is not the rule; that a newspaper carries weight only as It can point to evidences of public sympathy and support; that to live it must be supported, that the daily expenses of a real newspaper news-paper are more today than were all Mr. Greeley's expenses for the first year of The Tribune; that personal journalism no longer exists; that the organism of a great newspaper is too great for any one man to stamp his personality upon it, and that if it were surely known that Mr. Morgan, or' Mr. Ryan, or Mr. Harrlman owned a Now York newspaper and was utilizing it as a means of furthering his schemes, support would speedily fail it, and it would soon dry up from the roots. We think Mr. Ogden is wrong in most of his conclusions. The individuality of Mr. Hearst is stamped "upon his journal, is it not? Is it not the same with Mr. Pulitzer's World? Has the Courier-Journal Courier-Journal lost the personality of Col. Watterson? Or did the Sun ever wean itself from Mr. Dana . while that gentleman lived? The rule is that ownership reflects the character of a newspaper when the proprietor is depending upon the newspaper news-paper for support and for increasing wealth? Sometimes a gentleman who is wealthy buys a newspaper without any apparent purpose other than to gratify his pride of proprietorship and leaves the policy of the paper to the judgment of employees. Again a man sometimes buys a newspaper newspa-per and employs men to manage it and stipulates only that his own personal, financial or political interests in-terests must be defended. It is true that were Mr. HI lilBi' Harrlman or Mr. Morgan to openly buy a news- WM ' Wmmm paper and have it run in his interest it would MM Wnmm not lmve mucl1 weight, but it is not done that mm 'liHflH vay Tlie comPany J& organized; the incorpora- D "'iIHH t'ion PaPGrs name onlv men who are not so rich IftHfli tliat tliey can affr(l to retire from business, but mm loBE tno rIcl1 mnn wll is not lcnown m the matter or- U 'tiffilBl' tl0rs CGrtaIn "NVOrk from the newspapers, much as HI llUft' 110 orrtors a roast or a watermelon for dinner. IB MIk' Again mercenary men invest in newspapers some- US '; f IjHMf times for the double purpose of having the news- H : j iflflRi paper make a name for themselves, but at the Bflj ilflB same time to minister to their avarice. HBj If mB Harper's Weekly for years posed as a great in BBe , ;H dependent journal devoted to nothing but the wel- DG II'IhHe But renounce(1 every principle that it had mm) iismmm QVOr aclvocatecl and supported Mr. Cleveland and mm fin mmm fought Mr. Blaine, because Mr. Blaine had given HI ' IHH. tlie PllDlIcatIon 01 nl& book to another publishing raC ' niwmm house. Again, its editor, George Wm. Curtis, mm Vmm' fought Hoscoe Conkllng for years, accused him of mm ''if''HB being a would-be boss when the only secret was H 1I'BX t,ie envv an Jealousy of that same Curtis for one mm Vmmm' whom ho knew was an honest and high-souled Ih Ir Dana's Sun wuld have been the greatest SHI i'lHK'' of newsPan0rs except for one or two infirmities IH ' Iwflr of its manager. He never could resist advortls- wmu jnHHl' Ing llls Personal spites and in doing that he for- HH 'i&ffAV1 sot justice and was intent only on punishing the Bfif tlLHHni one wllom ne liel(1 a srudge against. mmm 'IkHk There are plenty of unscrupulous men who- Hji & own newsPaPrs; there are plenty of gifted writ- Yc ItHYM ors for a salarv aSroG to advocate any ft ! nB' cause, hence the honest and capable newspaper HH ' ' 8 mmm' ls SrowinS more and moro rare in this country, HH "lI'B for wItl1 manv of them the interests of the pub- mma 'AJIHbB lic' wllIcn snould ue the controlling thought, is H 'wmmmv never considered. HH - flBB' Then the press reflects the spirit of the age. Bag ' Rj I(- ls liard for a newspaper to rise above the real Krr ' llflni controlling sentiment of the people. And just now' fig mH tll rnge for WGaltu is e impelling force behind mmm mmm our PePlo Toadyism to wealth is pretty nearly BB1 ' 'j MBm a national disease with our people, and the rule is that if a man ls rich not many questions are asked about how the riches were obtained. This national feeling cannot but make its Impression on journalism and when a rich man or rich corporation cor-poration wants something advocated in the daily papers and will pay for it, not much search is needed to find the journal. There are lawyers who will not accept retainers when , a steal is intended. in-tended. There are some newspapers who take the same high ground, but neither such lawyers nor journals are the rule. |