the aisle of the House and jumped on the back of
Speaker Cannon. Such an occurrence, I venture to say, would have
commanded more space in the next morning's papers than any pearls cast
before Congress by the President in his message.

The yellows, however, despite their "night special" editions issued
before nine o'clock in the morning, their fake pictures and fake
sensations, have come to stay. They serve yellow people. Formerly the
masses had to choose between such papers as "The Atlantic Monthly,"
"The Nation," the New York "Tribune," and nothing. No wonder they chose
nothing. In the yellow press they now have their own champion,--a press
that serves them, represents them, leads them, and exploits them, as
Tammany Hall does its constituency. Of course they give it their
suffrage. The hopeful thing is that yellow readers don't stay yellow
always. When a man begins to read he is apt to think. When he begins to
think there is no telling where he will end,--maybe by reading the
London "Times" or the "Edinburgh Review." In New York the yellow
papers, while they still have an enormous circulation, are losing their
influence as a political and moral force. Evidently as soon as yellow
people begin to use their wits they first apply them to the yellow
journals.

The daily newspapers, however, both yellow and white, like natural
monopolies, are public necessities. The people must have the news, and
therefore, the predatory interests, whether political or financial,
have been quick to get control of the people's necessity. "Read the
comments on the Payne Tariff Bill," says the "Philadelphia North
American" in its issue of March 20, "and every sane, well-informed
American discounts the comment of the Boston papers regarding raw and
unfinished materials that affect the factories of New England. Most of
the Philadelphia criticism counts for no more than what New Orleans
says of sugar, or Pittsburg of steel, or San Francisco of fruits, or
Chicago of packing-house products. And it is common knowledge that what
almost every big New York paper says is an echo of Wall Street."

The weeklies and monthlies, however, are not, like the dailies,
necessities. They have to attract by their merits alone. They must at
all hazards therefore retain the people's confidence in their
integrity, enterprise, and leadership. Whether this be the true
explanation or not, there is at least no doubt that the moral power of
the American periodical press