tice may fall in ruins so
long as they sell another edition. And nobody protests against their
unbridled licence, not even when they have made it an affair of the
utmost difficulty and many weeks to empanel an unprejudiced jury.

The greatest opportunity of the Yellow Press came when a Mr H. K. Thaw
murdered an accomplished architect. The day after the murder the trial
began in the newspapers, and it was "run as a serial" for months. The
lives of the murderer and his victim were uncovered with the utmost
effrontery. The character of the dead man was painted in the blackest
colours by cowards, who knew that they were beyond the reach of
vengeance. The murderer's friends and kinsmen were compelled to pay
their tribute to the demon of publicity. The people was presented
with plans of the cell in which the man Thaw was imprisoned, while
photographs of his wife and his mother were printed day after day that
a silly mob might note the effect of anguish on the human countenance.
And, not content with thus adorning the tale, the journals were eloquent
in pointing the moral. Sentimental spinsters were invited to warn the
lady typewriters of America that death and ruin inevitably overtake the
wrongdoer. Stern-eyed clergymen thought well to anticipate justice in
sermons addressed to erring youth. Finally, _a plebiscite_ decided, by
2 to 1, that Thaw should immediately be set free. And when you remember
the arrogant tyranny of the Yellow Journals, you are surprised that at
the mere sound of the people's voice the prison doors did not instantly
fly open.

We have been told, as though it were no more than a simple truth, that
the Yellow Press--the journals owned by Mr Hearst--not merely made the
Spanish-American War, but procured the assassination of Mr M'Kinley. The
statement seems incredible, because it is difficult to believe that such
stuff as this should have any influence either for good or evil. The
idle gossip and flagrant scandal which are its daily food do not appear
to be efficient leaders of opinion. But it is the Editorial columns
which do the work of conviction, and they assume an air of gravity
which may easily deceive the unwary. And their gravity is the natural
accompaniment of scandal. There is but a slender difference between
barbarity and senti-mentalism. The same temper which delights in reading
of murder and sudden death weeps with anguish at the mere hint of
oppression. No cheek is so easily bedewed by the unn