self, that false or incorrect statements might be corrected. It is but justice to The Evening Post, of New York, to say that that paper was among the first thus to safeguard the accuracy of its news of this character. With the movement "Safety First!" in railroading came that of "Accuracy First!" in newspaper-making.
DANGERS OF UNLICENSED JOURNALISM
With the "purified publicity" there came occasionally a discussion of the advisability of licensing newspaper men. Attention was called to the fact that before a man could practice at the bar, enter the pulpit, teach in the schools, run an automobile, etc., he must take out a license to demonstrate his ability and proficiency, but that any one might start a newspaper if possessed of the necessary capital. Lieutenant-Governor Barratt O'Hara introduced into the Illinois Legislature a bill which provided for the licensing of journalists. Though it failed to pass and become a law, its introduction drew forth much comment in the press. The ablest presentation, however, of the dangers of a free press and unlicensed printing came, not from the pen of an American, but from that of the Russian publicist, Pobiedenostseff:—
Any vagabond babbler or unacknowledged genius, any enterprising tradesman, with his own money, or with the money of others, may found a newspaper, even a great newspaper. He may attract a host of writers and feuilletonists, ready to deliver judgment on any subject at a moment's notice; he may hire illiterate reporters to keep him supplied with rumors and scandals. His staff is then complete. From that day he sits in judgment on all the world, on ministers and administrators, on literature and art, on finance and industry. It is true that the new journal becomes a power only when it is sold on the market that is, when it circulates among the public. For this talent is needed and the matter published must be attractive and congenial for the readers. Here, we might think, was some guarantee of the moral value of the undertaking men of talent will not serve a feeble or contemptible editor or publisher; the public will not support a newspaper which is not a faithful echo of public opinion.
This guarantee is fictitious. Experience proves that money will attract talent under any conditions, and that talent is ready to write as its paymaster requires. Experience proves that the most contemptible persons retired money-lenders, Jewish factors, news-venders, and bankrupt gamblers may found newspapers, secure the services of
