May 29. the April ortuightly'' there is-an arucle on Lhe iunctions and Future of the Press'' by Mr. Arthur A. Baumann which should delight a good many readers. The text of Mr. Baumianu's observations is Mr, Kennedy Jones's "leet Street and Downing Street'' which is attracting a good deal of attention at Home. It seems to be a melancholy work, to any thoughtful reader. Mr, Kennedy Jones began life as an office boy on a Glasgow newspaper; come to London with less than the proverbial shilling in his pocket; jaimed with Alfred Harmsworth (now Lord North-clite) in buying the "'Evening News' and with him founded the 'Daily Mail'? and "'Daily Mirror'; in 1908 bought the controlling shares in the *"''imes and in 1919, at the age of forty-seven, retired from Fleet Street with a fortune running into five or six figures. If this information is not sufficient guide to Mr. Kennedy Jones's lights we may quote the following answer to Lord Morley's '*In my time there were none of these enormous circulations. A million readers were undreamt of.' "'You must remember" replied Mr. Jones "that you left journalism a profession. We have made it a branch of commerce.' In other words, find out what the people want and give it them, regardless of any moral considerations.
It is unnecessary to quote Mr. Baumann's condemnation sensational journalism, which ""weakens the power of judgement by confusing men's minds and presenting too many superficies at the same time to the eye." Everybody can supply his own.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.