796 .
vanishes into thin air as the individual writers emerge from the
mass, yet to some the loss of this element is not without its com pensations. Sir Wemyss Reid finds that worse than the egotism of journalism is its " wegotism ” — a word said to have been invented by Sir William Harcourt. " No priesthood was ever more arrogant than this priesthood of the press,” 72 he affirms, and
yet the vanishing anonymity leaves a regret in the minds of many.73
Signature, in its relation to the press, may be compared to a bunch of grapes and anonymity to an orange. Each has its ad vantages and the historian must there rest the question . “ Have Papers Souls ? ” was a question once raised by Edmund Garrett.74 His answer is inferential, but that newspapers have
personality admits of no doubt. Efforts have been made to indi
cate the personality of the newspaper, and therefore to determine the character of its influence, by tabulating the relative propor tions that various selected newspapers give to different classes of
material, as news, opinion , crime, advertisements, or illustra tions.75 But since so many other elements are involved in the personality of the newspaper , this proportion , in and of itself, 72 T. Wemyss Reid , “ Some Reminiscences of English Journalism ," Nineteenth Century, July, 1897, 42: 55 -66. 73 Thomas Arnold held an unusual view in regard to anonymity.
He
wrote to Sir Culling E . Smith , February 14 , 1840 : “ It seems to me that the mischief of our newspapers mainly arises from the virulent language which
men use while writing anonymously, and that, as far as example goes, this is better reproved by temperate writings which are also anonymous." He argues at some length that “ no man , writing with his name, would allow himself to write in the style which newspaper writers often use ;" that if moderate men write with their names, it is not strange that they write moderately ; but if others observe the courtesies that their incognito would
enable them to cast aside if they so desired, their letters have a salutary
influence since “ their moderation could scarcely be ascribed to anything but to their real disapprobation of scurrility and unfairness .” - Life and
Correspondence, II, 178 – 179.
74 The Cape Times, February 18, 1896, cited in E . T . Cook, Edmund
Garrett, p . 84, Note. 75 America and the Americans from a French Point of View , pp. 267-285; F . Fenton, The Influence of Newspaper Presentations upon the Growth of Crimeand Other Anti-Social Activity; J. E .Rogers, The American Newspaper ; D . Wilcox, “ The American Newspaper : A Study in Social Psychology ," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1900 ,
16 : 56 -92; H . R . Elliot, “ Ratio of News,” Forum , March, 1888, 5 : 99- 107; T . R . Garth, “ StatisticalStudy of the Contents of Newspapers,” School and
Society, January 22, 1916 , 3: 140- 1
