Mr. Yeates was in 1921 acting editor. The Freeman's Journal, the Evening Telegraph, and associated publications have had a chequered history. Before the Easter rebellion of 1916 they were carried on as the official Nationalist newspapers under the direction of Mr. Thomas Sexton, ex-M.P. During the rebellion the offices in Princes' Street were destroyed by fire together with the entire plant and machinery. Until Feb. 1917 the papers were produced for the company by Messrs. Cahill, printers. New offices were then opened in Townsend Street, under a reconstructed board of directors. In Oct. 1919 the debenture-holders of the Freeman's Journal fore- closed, and the papers were put up for sale and purchased by Messrs. Martin Fitzgerald and Hamilton Edwards, Mr. P. J. Hooper, who had been appointed in 1916, remaining editor. On the dis- appearance of the Redmondite Nationalists at the general elec- tion of Dec. 1918, the Freeman's Journal became frankly Sinn Fein. The Irish Independent, the Evening Herald, and associated news- papers remained in the possession of the family of their founder, Mr. William Martin Murphy (d. June 1919), under the editorship of Mr. Timothy Harrington. Before the election of Dec. 1918 they were Independent Nationalist in politics, and after Dec. 1918 they became Sinn Fein. A few days after the attack on the Lord Lieu- tenant, Viscount French, between Ashtown station and the Phoenix Park, in Dec. 1919, a party of some 50 men, armed and provided with crowbars and hammers, held up the office and smashed the machinery, doing damage for which 35,000 compensation was afterwards awarded to the proprietors, to be levied on the city of Dublin. The publication of the newspapers was not seriously inter- fered with.
Before the rebellion in Easter week, 1916, the Sinn Fein doc- trines had no direct representation in the daily press of Ireland, and it was not until the Nationalist party was swept out of existence in the Dec. 1918 election that the policy was advocated and sup- ported by daily newspapers in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. The bast literary work of Sinn Fein was done in the monthly magazines, such as the New Ireland Review; but there was a host of small weekly papers published in Dublin (many of which were suppressed by the authorities only to appear in a few weeks under new names), and through these both sections of the party Liberal and Labour reached their supporters and carried on an active propaganda.
The following is a fairly full, but by no means complete, list of weekly Sinn Fein organs, which appeared before and after the Easter rebellion of 1916: The Leader (Mr. Arthur Griffith) ; Young Ireland (Mr. Arthur Griffith); Watchword of Labour (Liberty HallJ, defunct; Nationality (successor to Sinn Fein; Mr. Arthur Griffith, June 1915 to March 18 1916); Nationality, Feb. 17 1917 to 1921; Phoenix, published in Kilkenny from Dec. 9 1916 to 1917; Young Ireland (Young Republican's literary paper), April 21 1917 to 1921 ; Irish Nation, June 24 1916 to March 1917; Irish Opinion (Larkinite Labour), June 19 1916 to April 1917; Irish Opinion (new series), De:. 1917 to 1920; Irish Opinion, the Voice of Labour, Feb. 1918 to 1920; Irishman (Herbert Pirn's paper), Jan. 1916 to 1920; Irish World and Industrial Advocate (Labour), Sept. 17 1918 to Dec. 1920; New Ireland (literary moderate Irish National), May 15 1915 to Dec. 1920; Irish Citizen (Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington's paper), 1912; Ireland (Mr. Arthur Griffith), Oct. 16 1914 to Dec. 1 1914; Liberator (Independent Labour), Aug. to Nov. 1913; Irish Free- dom (Mr. Dalton's Labour paper), Nov. 1910 to Dec. 1914; Irish Looker (Larkinite), May 27 1911 to Oct. 1914; Toiler (anti-Larkin), Oct. 1913 to Dec. 1914; Dialogues of the Day (Sheehy-Skeffington), July to Sept. 1906; Honesty (scurrilous), Oct. 16 1915 to April 22 1916; Hibernian, Nov. 6 1915 to April 22 1916; Worker's Republic (Larkinite), May 29 1915 to April 22 1916; Gael (Mr. Walker of Liffey Street), Jan. 29 to March 18 1916; Scissors and Paste (Mr. Arthur Griffith), Dec. 1914 to Feb. 1915; Gaelic Athlete (Mr. Walker of Liffey Street), Jan. 1912 to April 15 1916; Spark, Feb. 7 1915 to April 16 1916; Searchlight (anti- Larkinite), 1915-6; and Fianna, 1915 to Jan. 1916.
In Belfast, the Belfast News Letter remained the leading Unionist organ in Ulster, and was still in 1921 owned by the Henderson family and edited by Mr. W. G. Anderson. The Be.fast Evening Telegraph and its subsidiary publications remained Democratic Unionist, under the direction of Mr. R. H. H. Baird and the editor- ship of Mr. W. Stewart. The only changes are in the case of the Northern Whig, also Unionist in its politics and catering for the sup- port of the mercantile element. The interest in the paper formerly held by Mr. Kerr Smiley was acquired by the Rt. Hon. Samuel Cunningham and his brother, Mr. josias Cunningham. The editor- ship was in 1921 in the hands of Mr. R. J. Lynn as managing director. The evening Ulster Echo was merged in the Witness, the weekly organ of the Presbyterian Church, published by the Belfast Steam Printing Co., Ltd. The daily Irish News was still in 1921 Constitutional Nationalist, a supporter of the old Irish Nationalist party and of Mr. Joseph Devlin. It was in 1921 the only daily paper in Ireland flying the old Nationalist flag.
In Cork, the proprietorship of the Unionist Cork Constitution remained as before ; and it was edited in 192 1 , in succession to the late Mr. W. J. Ludgate, by Mr. J. J. Sullivan. It was owned by the same company, of which Mr. H. L. Tivy is managing director, as the Dublin papers, the Daily Express and the Evening Mail. The Cork Examiner and the Cork Evening Echo were stfll in 1921 owned
by the Crosbie family. In 1912 the editor, Mr. Michael B. O'Neill, died and was succeeded by Mr. John C. Healy. The Cork Exam- iner, after the election of 1918, became a moderate Sinn Fein organ. In Dec. 1919 it published a denunciation of murder and outrage by the Roman Catholic bishop, but it refused to insert a reply from the leaders of militant Sinn Fein. On the night of Dec. 24 the office was invaded by armed men who put most of the printing and typesetting machinery out of commission. The Cork Examiner did not stop publication, but the Cork Echo was reduced to one edition a day for several weeks and the weekly Cork Examiner stopped for one week. The proprietors, Messrs. Crosbie & Co., Ltd., were awarded 14,970 for malicious damage.
The following Dublin papers were published during the rebellion of Easter 1916:
April 24
April 25 April 26 April 27 April 28 April 29 April 30 May May May May May
1916 Irish Times, Freeman's Journal, Express and Inde- pendent.
1916 Irish Times and Independent.
1916 Irish Times only.
1916 Irish Times only
1916 No paper.
1916 No paper.
1916 Sunday.
1916 Irish Times only.
1916 Irish Times only.
1916 Irish Times and Express.
1916 Irish Times, Express and Independent.
1916 Irish Times, Express, Independent and Freeman's Journal.
The Press and the War. The effect of the World War on the press in all countries was tremendous, though perhaps in Great Britain it was felt less than in any other of the belligerent nations. Proprietors, like everyone else, were alarmed, not knowing what might happen, and in some cases as a precautionary measure staffs were reduced to a minimum. Economy in working ex- penses was essential, for it could be prophesied with certainty that if the war lasted for any considerable time paper would become scarce, and the scarcity would result in a very heavy rise of the cost. When this happened newspapers reduced their size, and presently, perforce, raised the selling price. The halfpenny press entirely disappeared. There was, naturally, a great outbreak of " propaganda " in the press. In neutral countries the papers had a difficult course to steer, for they had to stand for the war aims of their country, and were wooed by propagandists on either side. Some of the belligerents went so far in their efforts to secure public opinion as to purchase existing organs or to found new ones. For instance, an interesting chap- ter could be written on the German activities in this connexion, which were especially rampant in Holland and the Dutch Indies, Spain and the S. American republics. In the belligerent countries, proprietors and editors were confronted with a different, but equally difficult, task. They, for the most part, realized that it was their duty and on the whole admirably they did it to keep up the spirit of the people at home and to discourage the enemy. As a rule, British proprietors and editors acted with great dis- cretion and did invaluable service in many ways, putting their duty to their country before their own interests. In the early days of the war the Newspaper Proprietors' Association acted as a medium between the Government and the press. Presently a very important body was formed by this association called the " Newspaper Conference," which included every newspaper interest in the United Kingdom. Of this Viscount Burnham and Lord Riddell, both of whom did most admirable work during the war in connexion with the press, were president and vice-president respectively. The conference met week by week and carried on the whole of the negotiations between the Government and the press. Its sphere of usefulness was presently extended. It is well worth while to note that during the whole period of the war the British press was represented by a voluntary organization, which rendered most valuable and important services to the country. This was the first time that the whole press acted together, and its unanimity, when the diverse interests and opinions are considered, was remarkable. The " Newspaper Conference " was, of course, an emergency measure, and dis- solved when the war was over.
In the British Isles, as in other countries, an Official Press Bureau was established (see CENSORSHIP). The regulations regarding the press denned what might not be published. It
