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NEWS.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
news-
[November 17, 1906,
he yearns to know things that the law or interest. More than all this these amalgama- his neighbours' collective good taste have tions threw continental, or in some cases decided shall not be published. That is world-wide interests into the hands of com. the limit of editorial discretion; the law paratively small cliques of capitalists, who and the canous of dec-vey the
with the usual timidity of their order were paper must observe and willingly endeavours wont to place themselves unreservedly in the hands of some recently arrived climber, to observe. But neither of these has so far declared such news as murders, &., who possessed more nerve than his heredi- provide to he tahoo, the public has decided tary ass wciates, and so was able to utilise in favour of its publication; and RICHARD in his own personal interests the accumu- RE, until his friend either murdered or lated hordes of a generation. The result in America, where was murdered, acquiesced. No question, is more especially seen was until then raised by him as to its good all the trans ontinental lines have fallen purpose, and he was mute as to the idleness into the hands of huge associations, each of the appetite for it. Is it fair that he of which is entirely controlled by some should demand of a newspaper to make an masterful individual. As these associa
tions are all more or less connected with exception to a rule with which he was formerly content, or that he should reproach | one or other of the great syndicates it was its conductors as if the "idle curiosity" perhaps but natural that private arrange- were theirs? Such news, to draw a simplements in the shape of rebates and pre- lustration, may lo said to be equivalent to i fereures should come to be the rule; and the supply of pork hanging in a provision to such an extent were these carried that in stone on the sea front. There is a deman | the interests of the nation at large the at Washington found it for pork; the starckéeper undertakes the Government supply, and no ou dieams of regarding him
recessary to interfere, and establish inter- as anything but a business man engaged in state laws forbidding these practices where But comes suddenly a very the line passed from one state into another. honest trade. seasick passenger, and beholds the pork. These int-r-state laws have naturally found It has a row and personal me-ning for him. ¦ no favour with the great lines, and as In short, it turns his stomach, the mere President Roosevelt has been active in enforcing them, a state of considerable sight of it, he cries to the storekeeper, and explains his tension has ensued between the govern
The storekeeper is sympat ment on the one sole and the great trusts soy plight. thetic, and would gladly consider the on the other, and with the recent prosecu- tion of the Standard Oil Company, this passenger's feelings, but there is a run on pork, and he is compelled to be constantly has br. ken out into practically open war,
to view. We may
say that Some of these great railway associations <*pusing these remarks are prompted by the fact have recently been heavily fined for that we have been put in the position of making secret rebates, and the general that storekeeper, and have had to suffer a
throughout all feeling
the States is most extraordinary upbraiding from the that unless something he soon done to siek passenger. It is the honest opinion of amend these abuses not only the Govern- such a ou, that not one of our subscribers ment, but the financial stability of the I would clamour for details of events entire country will be strained beyond their nature and distressing endurance. In England, although the tragic in to the concerned. In passing, it
great railway corporations form an im- should he stated that we are not charged portant element in the land, they have from with giving details, but with mentioning the beginning conducted their affairs solely
economic lines; th main reason that a murder took place in the Lause of on RICHARD ROE, who would apparently find naturally that Parliament has always kept solace in his trouble if we deceived the a tight hand on their growth and develop. aforesaid subscribers into believing that the ment, and has concerned itself much with RICHARD both the financial and political aspect. At murder was a case of measles, ROE persists that the unpleasant truth the beginning sharp lines of territory were might have been easily avoide 1." We allotted to each of the great corporations. have tried. for the benefit of future appli- and it was long before any permission was cants, to explain how such matters are not granted to any of them to invade what had
easy as they may appear to the outsider, come to be officially recognised as and why such favours should solicited.
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Put that horrid stuff away."
(Daily Press. November 10th.) What is news"? An apparently reces., sary excursion into the region of the obvious, these few notes may yet be of service. There are evidently enough people in Hongkong who require to he instructed on the relations of press and public. Requests to "keep things out of the paper" are i familiar in all newspaper offices, and ther, have heen perhaps more frequent here of late than usual; with, we fear, more of disappointment and soreness than is desirable. One recent correspondent makes the remark that certain news could honestly serve no good purpose, and only satisfy idle curiosity". This is an excellent lead for a discussion our opening question. Police news, the publication of which interested rarties often object to and resent, is obviously to serve a good purpose. The public gets therefrom its knowledge of what is lawful and unlawful, of the penalties for crimes it might commit, and it learns who are wrong-doers ard who are therefore to be avoided or at least watched. Political intelligence may not serve, out here, any immediately practical purpose, except as adding to the educational advantages of the: people. Commercial information has, of course, its own patent valne. Eliminate these items. and the papers would still give A great mass of what is called news What good purpose does this large residuum honestly serve? Is it only to satisfy what the correspondent referred to calls “jille curiosity"? From the point of view of the newspaper, the question presents scarcely The newspaper supplies any difficulty. news to satisfy a deinand, and if that demand lacks the most noble of justifications--if it be created by an idle curiosity "it is for the public which makes it to offer excuses, not for the journalist. Of course it is easy to understand the attitude of a member of the public who may suddenly and unexpectedly find himself or his friends the cynosure of this "idle curiosity", but has he anv reasonable right to expect that a business undertaking, which a newspaper is, should make an exception to a rule of business which he or they had not previously found unpalatable? JOHN DOE reads an interest- ing newspaper report of a murder, say, in. the family of RICHARD ROE, and enjoys it. Not in any offensive way is this meant; he simply is keenly interested in such a story of real life, because it adds to his knowledge of unfamiliar aspects of human nature. curiosity is an instinct strongly and universal- ly implanted by nature; he can na more help it than the inquisitive antelope Can forbear making a nearer inspection of the sportsman's fluttering rag. It may be an (Daily Press, 12th November.) idle curiosity: many things in Nature UNFORTUNATELY it cannot be denied that appear to be idle; but we would have more there is a growing tendency to make us respect for JOHN DOE's scorn of it if it had of the powerful organisations of
great heen manifested before he suddenly found railways in these modern times for political himself in the position of being its object.ends: the tendency is most marked in the We took the trouble to explain to one such aggrieved party that the publication or suppression of news was not a matter of editorial whim, but rather a question of fulfilling a contract. An editor, being human, may be full of human sympathy for the friends of RICHARD ROE, in their distress at the tragic event, but with the best will in the world to ohlige, and if possible to "spare the feelings of the family", he must not forget that JOHN DOE wants to know all about it, that JoHx Doe has paid him to get the information for him, and that JOHN DOE will complain at once when he finds that his dues are being withheld. It is true that JOHN DOE's curiosity is sometimes too extensive to be gratified, that
His
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not
RAILWAYS AND POLITICS.
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the
territory" of another. It was not until, in fact, the public began to cry out from the want of cross communicating lines that such "invasions" commenced to meet with auy favour from Parliament. From the very commencement Parliament assumed the right of dictating as to fares, and laws were continually passed, and enforced, defining the ability of the companies towards the public. Lately the labour agitations, which have so markedly altered the entire social conditions in the Three United States, but it is not absent else. Kingdoms, have cast longing eyes on the where. The commanding position now Railway Companies, which hai for a long occupied by the various contimental lines, time by juheiously adopting towards their with regard to the commerce of the world employees a conciliatory policy, succeeded has thrown temptation in their way, and in warding off Peliamentary interference; this led to competition and cutting rates
and have shown their intention of usin; between the various lines with the object their parliame stery influence to hamper the freedom of the comp wies in their dealings of atracting traffic. Tuis competition in so many cases proved ruinous to the in. with their employees. This, coupled with terests involved, that these freight wars the fact that in the early days, whilelas yet have for the most part ceased or are curried ; dividends were high, the companies did not restraining hand on the growth of on on much re luced lines. It also conduced | place a
of the their capital accounts, kas materially in- in many cases to the amalgamation co flicting interests after one or both kid jured the independent position of the been brought to the verge of extinction ; | radways, and brought it about that, how. and so in the end by the inevitable increase ever well inclined, the Railway interest in of rates proved injurious to the public the home lands has never become associated
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