At that time the Jewish population of New York was less than one-third of what it is today, but there was much wealth represented in it.
Now, what every newspaperman knows is this: most Jewish leaders are always interested either in getting a story published or getting it suppressed. There is no class of people who read the public press so carefully, with an eye to their own affairs, as do the Jews; and many an editor can vouch for that.
The Herald simply adopted the policy from the beginning of this form of harassment that it was not to be permitted to sway the Herald from its duty as a public informant. And that this had a reflex advantage for the other newspapers is apparent from the following statement:
If a scandal occurred in Jewish circles, influential Jews would swarm into the editorial offices to arrange for a suppression of the story. But the editors knew that not far away was the Herald which would not suppress for anything or anybody. What was the use of one paper suppressing, if another would not? So the editors would say, “We would be very glad to suppress this story, but the Herald is going to use it, so we’ll have to do the same in self-protection. However, if you can get the Herald to suppress it, we will gladly do so, too.”
But the Herald never succumbed. Neither pressure of influence nor promises of business nor threats of loss availed: it printed the news.
There was a certain Jewish banker who periodically demanded that Bennett discharge the Herald’s financial editor. This banker was in the business of disposing of Mexican bonds at a time when such bonds were least secure. Once when an unusually large number of bonds were to be unloaded on unsuspecting Americans, the Herald published the story of an impending Mexican revolution, which presently ensued. The banker frothed at the mouth and moved every influence he could to change the Herald’s financial staff, but was not able to effect the change even of an office boy.
Once when a shocking scandal involved a member of a prominent family, Bennett refused to suppress it, arguing that if the episode had occurred in a family
