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APRIL 8, 1904.
The Commoner.
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WARPED BY COMMERCIALISM
For several weeks the Wall Street Journal has
been carrying on an interesting discussion on the
subject of "controlled" or "inspired" newspapers.
The Journal Is, on occasions, very frank in its
statements, and its editorial columns are there
fore interesting. A Pittsburg publication devoted
to the single gold standard and called "Money,"
dealing with this subject said:
"The Wall Street Journal assumes the posi
tion that large financial interests cannot be hon
est and that the only way a newspaper can bo
honestly managed is to be controlled by irrespon
sible persons, or by persons not having a large
financial liability which is at stake on the suc
cess of the country in which the paper is pub
lished. Analytical thought and cairn conclusion
make it thoroughly apparent that neither the
Standard Oil company nor any other corporation
or individual whose investments in mines or
manufacturing industries in this country is ex
tensive will use his paper in any other than the
general good. The Standard Oil company's prop
erties cannot increase in value unless the country
is prosperous. There is no wiser man in the
financial world than the head of the Standard Oil
company, which all will acknowledge. Conse
quently, it la but natural to assume that he would
administer any paper which he might control wiln
wisdom. The Standard Oil company desires gen
eral prosperity. Therefore a newspaper controlled
by it might be expected to do everything they
could to make prosperity general. But is not the
control of a great daily newspaper much safer
in the.hands of an individual or corporation which
has millions staked upon the general prosperity
of the country than in the hands of an individual,
perhaps a man controlled by passion and swayed
by impulse, who owns little or nothing, beyond the
newspaper property itself? Small motives very
frequently control the utterances of the Individual-owned,
and not 'controlled' newspaper of to
day. Because the individual owner must depend
upon the paper for his income he makes It hew
to the line of the advertisers' wishes, irrespective
to that of the general good In the case of the
majority f, the- dally newspapers of the United
States,, the advertiser has but to express a desire
to the publisher to keep certain news matter out
of the paper, or to put certain news matter in, to
have his wishes followed. The conclusion that we
must draw from an analysis- of the situation is
this: Newspapers are controlled by some one,
and it is far better to have that control in the
hands of a person or persons who have great in
terests at stake, and who will be benefited, ma
terially benefited, by general prosperity, than to
have the control in the hands of a petty individual
whose judgment is swayed by the inch advertiser,
whose conduct of the news department of his pa
per is controlled by the five dollar, bills he gets
for advertisements. - A newspaper controlled by
such a wteely administered corporation as the
Standard Oil company could be expected to be
above such petty influences, and to publish such
valuable news."
This is a fair sample of the reasoning of the
champions of plutocracy.
The Standard Oil trust, and other great com
bines, have- cornered so much of the wealth of tbo
country that in the opinion of this Pittsburg pub
lication, these trust magnates should, properly
control the newspapers of the country and would
not use those papers In "any other than the Gen
eral good."
The head of the oil trust is "a wise man" and
so in the opinion of this Pittsburg publication, 'it
is but natural to assume that he would admin
ister any paper which he might control with wis
dom." -
These trust magnates, In the opinion of this
Pittsburg publication, desire general prosperity
and "therefore, newspapers controlled by them
might be expected to do everything they could
to make prosperity general;" and further in the
opinion of this Pittsburg publication, when the
great newspapers of the country are in the con
trol of these trust magnates, these papers are
"much safer." "Small motives very frequently
control the utterances of the Individual-owned
and not controlled newspaper of today," and
therefore, it would be better to have these papers
in the hands of the trust magnates who have
great interests at stake!'
The newspaper is a very Important factor in
popular government It is presumed that the mot
to of the old Salem Register, "Here shall the press
the people's rights maintain, unawed by influence
and unbribed by gain," dominates the policies of
the newspapers of the country. Sad to relate,
this is not entirely true of all the great news
papers; and if they should be actually owned hy
the trust magnates, it may be depended upon that
instead of protecting public interests, these news
papers would devote their energies to the selfish
Interests of the magnates.
The reasoning of this Pittsburg publication,
carried to its logical conclusion, would be that be
cause the head of the Standard Oil trust Is such a
wise man and controls so much of the wealth of
the country, that after giving him control of the
newspapers, the government ftself should be de
livered into his keeping. If he can be depended
upon to operate the newspapers and to do the
thinking for other men, so far as 'the newspaper
is concerned, why not go the step farther and
permit him to manage the government according
to his superior wisdom. Mr. Lincoln said some
thing to the effect that the people could not trust
their own liberties to any other hands than their
own.
Mr. Rockefeller is a very wise man, but his
wisdom has been devoted to the accumulation of
wealth in his own name and for his own selfish
ends. With moro money in his vaults than a
thousand men could spend within a lifetime, ho
has taxed tho people heavily for the commodity
ho controls and has shown no disposition what
ovcr to contribute to tho general prosperity. Tho
same methods would characterize his control of
tho newspapers.
Tho suggestion of tho Pittsburg publication
reeks with the atmosphere of thrones. Turn it
whatever way you will, It is tho argument of
kings; and whenever we yield to the proposition
that power and Influence must bo concentrated In
tho man whose reputation for wisdom has been
built upon his ability to accumulate gold and op
press his fellows, then wo aro turning our backs
upon popular government and embracing the the
ories of monarchs.
Tho Wall Street Journal's reply to the Pitts
burg publication is so frank and candid that it is
herein reproduced in full.
Referring to the statements made by "Money,"
the Journal says:
"There breathes the true spirit of the 'court
circular.' For the whole theory of the 'court cir
cular' is that what people call the big men' know
what is good for the public better than the public
knows it Itself, and, therefore, are competent to
rule the public. The organization of high finance
Is quite similar to that existing in the feudal days,
when there were a number of powerful nobles,
each with his own little 'court' and retainers and
followers, and all united, from time to time,
against a common enemy. If there had been
printing and newspapers in those days, doubtless
each baron would have had his newspaper. Tho
Idea that the Standard Oil companj is best quali
fied to control newspapers because its prosperity
depends upon general prosperity, contains the as
sumption that material prosperity is the end and
object of good journalism as well as of good gov
ernment. Is there no such tning as liberty? Are
there no such things as rights? Or is everything
to be measured by the contents of the dinner pall?
Is the truth necessarily the product of a full
stomach?
"Bryan spoke the truth the other day when
he said that the purpose of government was" riot
the protection of material prosperity, but was the
protection of the Individual in tho exercise of his
natural rights. The law of the newspaper Is, not
summed up in a full stomach or a full dinner pail,
but in the words, 'the truth in Its proper use.'
Every newspaper must be controlled doubtless by
somebody, but the best newspapers will be con
trolled always in trust for their readers in the
pursuit and presentation of truth.
"Utterances such as those we have quoted from
the Pittsburg financial paper are depressing be
cause they show how greatly men's minds have
been warped by 'commercialism.'"
pare this with the interest on the government debt
in the last fiscal year, which was $28,556,348.
"The gross earnings of the United States
Steel in all its departments amounted to ?536,
572,871. The receipts of the United States gov
ernment in the last fiscal year were $560,396,674.
The -manufacturing and operating expenses of the
United States Steel were $409,268,599, and the ex
penditures of the United States government, less
interest, were $477,542,659.
"The year's surplus of United States Steel
amounted to $12,304,916. The estimated surplus
of the United States government for the current
fiscal year is $14,000,000.
"The United States Steel produced 15,363,3oo
tons of iron ore, or 45 per cent of the entire pro
duction of the United States. It made 7,123,053
tons of pig iron or 41 per cent of the entire pro
duction of the United States. It manufactured
8,658,391 tons of coke, or 37 per cent of the- entire
product of the United States.
"The number of stockholders of the United
States Steel corporation is 79,957. The number of
stockholders in -all the national banks of the
United States is 330,124.
"The number of employes of the United States
Steel In 1903 was 167,709. The number of employes
in the iron and steel manufactures in 1900, the
last census year, was 222,607. The amour of
"wages paid by tho United States Steel in 1903 was
$120,763,896. Tho wages paid to all iron and steel
workers in the United States In 1900 was $120,
836,338. "The United States Steel operates railroads
having a mlleago-of -780. This is greater than tiie
mileage of vso woll-known a railroad as the Chi
cago & Eastern Illinois, which has 743.
"There are 1,134 vessels engaged in tho for
eign trade of the United States. The merchant
marine of the United States Steel corporation
amounts to 70 steamers and 42 barges, a total or
112 vessels."
JJJ
Just the Same.
The Great Britain that fought the Boers In
order to "give Englishmen a chance" In South
Africa is the same Great Britain that now Leeks
to import yellow labor into that' same South
Africa. Yellow labor in English colonies means
black bread in England.
JJJ
When a Man is Down.
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A number of eminent gentT su" ;who were
eager to accept political favors' Jsses? jator -Burton
"are now declaring that they the .,the time
t.hnf. hA was a bad man. If t -h0 rue. -how
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much worse man mey are is oeuau
JJJ
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