A QUESTION OF BIAS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 30, 5 August 1919, Page 3

A QUESTION OF BIAS

10 THB EDITOR. Sir, —If anything is required to justify the stand taken with' regard to the press by the representatives of the Miners' Federation, at the Mining Conference, it is supplied by the article headed "Underground Methods," which appeared in your leading columns on I Saturday last. Referring to the attitude of the workers' representatives you say, "even Professor Hight, in the realm of mathematics, finds his figures deflected by the magnetising influence of Gold." Now, Sir, I have read very carefully the report of the conference" which appeared in your paper,, and I have failed1 to find one word therein which reflected in,the slightest degree on Professor Hight. On the contrary, the speakers were most fair in this respect, and made it quite clear that it. was not the Professor's figures that were wrong, but the data which was supplied to Mm, on which his figures were based. Another glaring instance of bias on your part are the headlines which appeared over your report on Page 9 in Saturday's issue, viz., "Cannot Be Conceded. Would Ruin Industry." This heading no doubt is a correct precis of the employers' arguments, and to you they are the only arguments. It is quite clear that your mission is not to give a fair, and impartial report of the proceedings, but to prejudice public opinion against the workers', of whom your hatred is so deep-rooted and so intense that even in an article expressly written for the purpose of proclaiming your fairness, you cannot refrain from indulging in misrepresentation.—l am, etc., A. PARLANE. 4th August. [It is true that there has been misrepresentation, but it is on the side of our correspondent. The question is whether there was any reflection on Professor Hight as the responsible auditor of the statistical calculations in the Board of Trade's report. To supply the answer we need only quote the following sentence from Mr. O'Rourke's remarks:

"It ie quite probable Professor Hight may be a. good capitalistic economist." If this is not a reflection on an economist and statistician, what is? The quoted sentence is not taken from any press report, but from the official report, which also shows that Mr. O'Rourke said that "probably he (Professor Hight} understands figures fairly well and from the employing class side ; unfortunately, he does not understand them from the aide of tho worker." This is a charge of class bias, and bias (even if unconscious) is fatal to a statistical economist. Concerning the headings, everyone knows that these are not, in such a case, an expression of new6pa.per opinion, but reflect merely the ex parte statement appearing below them. Concerning the "fairness and impartiality" of reports, Mr. Parians and such as ho have received a. sufficient answer from the WeiJiAgtea Journaliits' Union.—'EdJ