THE HARMSWORTH BRAND.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 294, 5 September 1908, Page 12

THE HARMSWORTH BRAND.

r Tha " Nation " has • an extraordinary article on the extent to which the Harmsworth taint has corrupted English journalism. Tho announcement in tho "Daily Chronicle" (says the "Nation"), the "Morning Loader," and other journals, that the chief proprietor of the "Daily Mail" has acquired a controlling interest'in the "Times," is far, too serious an event to pass unnoticed. Tho owners of tho "Daily Mail" and tho "Daily Express" appear to have contended for the prize; if these uncontradicted announcements 'are correct, it has fallen to tho "Mail." It is not too much to say that with such a ohange of direction the lifo of the "Times" as a journal of authority comes to an end. Jho. "Times" under Lord Northcliffo may be an amusing or a vivaciously conducted, or a commercially successful: joUrual; it cannot well possess any moral or intellectual force. Sooner or later, to a larger or a smaller" "degree, it will he fixed into its proper placo as part of a liugo factory of printed matter, written to sell, and, incidentally, to acquiro such an appearance of influence as may promote this strictly practical andi.limitod aim.; Some of its present qualities, such. as tho furtherance of hard and essentially unenlightened viows of life, will doubtless persist. Othor incidents in its later career, such as its publication of tho forged letters, or of an obsolete edition of tho Britannica," a manager of average prudence and adroitnoss may regard as warnings rather than as examples of enterprise or of party zeal. A third set of characteristics—the originality of the "Times"; its tradition of independence; its avoidance of snobbery; its air of haughty intellectuality; its" power of influencing men's thoughts—must disappear, as soon as its production is connected with tho working of the loom that throws off treasures of fancy like "Golden Stories" and "The Funny Wonder. 1 ' For while tho object of this "gramophone" press, as Mr." Stoad has well called it, is to take in all interests, its undisguised method is to bo distinguished in nothing, to wrap up all the ooncerns of life in swathing bands of commonness, until the saliont shows and figures in modern society— from Royalties to actresses—are involved in tho net of flattery and advertisement that the conductors of tho Harmsworth Press spread out' for them. And' tho result is that whatever this group of tradesmen produce, and their output grows larger and more varied every day, they can produce nothing of individual merit—nothing in which tho true elements of literature—passion, humour, truthfulness, deep or independent feeling, intellectual power, noble pity, or not less noblo disdain—have any share. When they touch something distinct and interesting, it is straightway spoiled. : Twp examples of this art of deformation will suffice. "Good "Words" was, in its earlier days, one of the most refined of serious periodicals; to-day, it appears, under the Harmsworth auspices, a paper for lovers of gossip and cheap fiction. Tho " World " was, under Mr. Edmund Yates, remarkablo for tho strength of its critical and artistio .work, to which men like Mr. Shaw, and Mr,

Archer contributed. To-day, its chief " feature " is tho reproduction of snapshots of titled men and women, in-talk with each other on racecourses and other places of amusomont. The "religious" papors which this firm publishes havo no moral or literary characteristics, distinguishing thom from tho "secular" papers. The issues which it controls may denounco gambling, or livo on gamblors, or gamble directly through "Limericks" and "prize competitions," thoy may profess any form of religion, or party or national faith, may wrap their wares in all kinds of drapery. But thoy cannot conceal their aim and quality. To that quality the " Times " will come, and in tho process will ceaso, in time, to possess any lifo or character of its own.

But before wo discuss the naturo of tho Harmsworth publications, it is necessary to givo the publio soino idea of their number and of tho extent to which thoy aro assuming the shape of a vast syndicated enterprise, aiming at tlio feeding, by a hundred conduitpipes, of public tasto and public opinion. Tho following, as far as we can gather, is a fairly complotc list of tho Harmsiyorth publications:— _ ■ "Answers"; "Homo Chat"; "Penny Pictorial Magazine" (illustrated articles and sensational stories); "Tho Country Side" (a kind of " Tit-Bits " for naturalists); "The Boy's Friend," "The Boy's Herald," "Tho Boy's Realm" (illustrated sensational stories); "The Boy's Friend" Library; "Pluck," "Marvel," "Union Jack" (started as Jd. weekly, ostensibly to " counteract the pornicious influenco of penny dreadfuls." Clergymen wrote letters in dofenco and admiration of first numbers as they were perfectly harmless. ' On these traditions and testimonials later numbers (of a less ingenuous oharactor) were accepted as "pure literature for tho home."; "Tho Magnet," "Tho Gem" (later boy's papers of a character similar to the above); "The Girl's Friend" (sensational stories and advice on love); "The Girl's Friend" Library; " Forget-Me-Not" (romantic and sentimental stories,'fashions); "Homo Circle"; "Homo Companion," "Woman's World"; "Cosy Corner," "Handy Stories," "Fashions for All"; "Good Words'.' (onto a well-written and reputablo sixpenny magazine, now an ill-written' penny budget of sentiment and sensation); "Sunday Companion'" (a weekly miscellany of "religious" scraps); "Sunday Companion" Library; "Sunday Stories," "Sunday Circle," and "Golden Stories" (sensation and sentiment); "Horner's Penny Stones," "Hornor's Library," "Homer's Weekly," "Horner's Pansy Stories," "Fannie Eden's Penny Stories," " Comic Cuts," "Chips," "The Jester," "Puck,"; "Tho Butterfly" (cheap and vulgar "comics"); "The World and His Wife" (monthly); "London Magazine" and "Tho Connoisseur." Thero aro also tho " Harmsworth Atlas," "Encyclopaedia," and similar publications issued in "parts." Tho daily newspapers of the Harmsworth proprietary aro: "Daily Mail" (London, Paris, Manchester, and overseas editions, and edition for tho blind); "Evoning News," "Daily Mirror," "Manchester Courier," "Leeds Mercury," " Glasgow Daily Record and Mail," "The Globe," and tho "Birmingham Daily Gazotte" (now incorporated in tho "Birmingham Daily Express "). Tho weekly publications are tho " Manchester Courior and Supplement," " Scottish Wookly Record," and "Golf Illustrated," tho "Observer," "Weekly Despatch" (recontly sold), and "Tho World."