A few letters in the correspondence columns of this journal have disclosed the dissatisfaction of esteemed reade with certain although undefined tendencies which appear to indicate some obliquity in the political or moral outlook of the "North-China Daily N Inevitably critics quote the motto which adorns this column and they refuse to discern even the dubious merit of being impartial by the de of doing injustice to both sides. In addition to the letters which have been published, others conveying the same kind of criticism have been received in some volume, but they have had to be rejected because of the failure of the writers to comply with the rules relating to authentication of pseudonymous munications or to fulfil other requirements, It is very precisely where the complaints all lie seem to be directed against the presentation of the news of the Sino-Japanese struggle here, Some seem to detect in editorial comment a bias in favour of Japanese aggression or, at any rate, a desire to belittle Chinese achievements. Other vit held, it is gathered from the contact maintained with responsible Chinese opinion, but as they do not demand the supererogatory confirmation of a letter to the Editor they have to be taken for granted by amiable and trusting readers, Amiability and trust may be tried too high if the charges levelled against this journal are seriously accepted. For example it is broadly indicated that the "North-China Daily News" is either in Japanese pay.or in a blue funk of Japanese guns or in the process of sloughing its impartial correctitude for the purpose of revealing its true obscurantism. Of course it is quite impossible to refute charges of that kind. After the first flutter of amusement dies away it must be confessed that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the simple journalistic philosophy of presenting. such news as is considered to be news and of expressing such views as seem to accord with the ascertainable fact its drawbacks will be inly prevents some of those delightful flights into the empyrean enjoyed by less pedestrian recorders. Once it has been decided to mingle fact with fantasy and to select from the bran tub thus composed whatever comes convenient); to the sub-editorial spike, the path of the paper which seeks to please rather than to instruct becomes extraordinarily smooth, This no doubt explains why even now some critics cling obstinately to the belief that Japanese marines or soldiers were received into the Settlement, disarmed and interned. The solid fact that no such adventure occurred does not enter into calculations and the newspaper which refuses to extend its hospitality to fiction of that kind is at once accused of unreasoning bias. It all depends, of course, on what functions a da vspaper supposed to perform. Briefly the "North-China Daily News" endeavours according to its lights—and it does not claim infallibility, among them—to print such information as it believes to be accurate and conveyed in concise enough form to find room in the limited space of an eight-column page. This process demands, especially at the present expert attention to the art of sifting the grain from the chaff, of discovering the needle of truth in a haystack of conjecture, Sometimes the grain or e needle altogether eludes even the m¥ alert sub-editor. Sometimes the chaff or the hay manages to wet past him. The result of hi: efforts cannot be judged by selective criticism which seizes one point here or there. It has to be essed on the general picture and its relation to reality; Often this assessment cannot be} immediately made; the proof of the pudding has to come with the eating. The wisdom of an omission can only be established by the event. Confirmation of a statement does not necessarily derive, as one correspondent seems to think, from an official confirmation from the same source as that which issued the statement. It rather emerges as the days pass and further developments are seen to arise from the facts which it originally attempted to affirm. The journal cannot fairly be expected to pass judgment on its own work. It can only point to the belief that on the whole its staff have been successful in following the principles adopted for their guidance and leave it at that.
Finally it may be appropriate to insist that the policy of this journal does not wobble from side to side in erratic sympathy with the fortuitous contacts of a China day. It is as indifferent to the decorations of the Bund as it, is to the personal convenience or emotions of its staff, respectable though they all may be. It is quite impenitent in admitting that it strove bard to comment a peaceful issue of the present Sino-Japanese dispute. It even went so far as to' quote General Chiang Kai-shek's own description of the weakness of China's defence as compared with Japan's power of aggression. It was not concerned with British or any other foreign interests in so ordering its arguments. Rather.was it solicitous for the ultimate welfare of the Chinese people and the! stability of the Far East, although, obvious! British or general interests could not be dissociated from those benefits, since a breakdown in the peace of China is detrimental to legitimate trade and commerce. Of the courage of Chinese soldiers it has never said a disparaging word. It has been at pains occasionally to point out that material of that kind deserves the best treatment that a nation can give in the shape of adequate organization and practical material support, Thus the criticism which a Chinese officer has passed on the defective medical arrangements for his men awakens in any British mind an unhappy recollection of similar shortcomings in Mesopotamia in 1915 and South Africa in 1900. If it can do anything by way of exhortation to assist in remedying such defects this journal will feel that it has acted up to its motto and yet rendered a service to China, To sum up, it has encouraged all efforts to bring Japan and China together in the friendship's bond which is vital to their respective polities. It believes in the ultimate triumph of collective security over power politics. It condemns recourse to the armed argument, It applauds all efforts to substitute peaceful negotiation for violent strife.
It refuses to countenance the policy which has led Japan.to launch her present aggression on China. With all that it reserves and will continue to reserve the right to be fair in its comments re 8 commitments. That is its definition of the motto to which so confident an appeal is made conviction of error, Errors it may being human and no robot, but it given credit for the good faith which it has endeavoured to uphold during over ninety rs service in China.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.