When questioned as to her idea of what a great daily newspaper should represent Lady Bathurst replied as follows: "My ideas about Journalism are as simple and crude that they would. be of no interest in this complicated world. They are merely to stand by the right and expose what is wrong. I think papers have much power, but there is much I should like to see corrected. I should like all sensational divorce and other criminal cases cut out and the mere facts that so, and so are divorced printed, and the result mentioned as a matter For regret and shame by the guilty party, and no unwholesome details." (A committee of distinguished men are now conferring together in London for the purpose of obtaining this end—that sensational divorce eases shall not be exploited in the newspapers.)
"I should like," Lady Bathurst further wrote, "to see more litera-~ ture, more wit, more information of a really interesting character, such as scientific matter, garden, farm, painting, music, and less sensationalism. In fact, the ideal would be that a paper should contribute to people's happiness and sanity and not to excite all their worst feelings.
"As for politics, the paper must of necessity reflect the bias of its owner's and editor's minds, but if it is perfectly truthful and sincere it matters not whether it is Conservative, Liberal, or Labour, Republican or Democrat. We all like an opponent we can respect.
"It is the man or the paper that suppresses the truth to serve his own ends and who lies glibly that We cannot tolerate. These are my simple views, and, simple as they are, I believe in them; and, what is more, I know that if you go straight ahead and fear not, on what you believe to be the straight road, it's wonderful what you can. achieve."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.