ROUND the WORLD

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11305, 2 September 1922, Page 9

ROUND the WORLD

(By

R.A.L.)

“THE TIMES.” Great is “The Times I” When Jupiter Olympuß first condescended to sit among men in judgment infallible “The Times” gave him his first earthly throne. To that prompt attention it added a priceless service. It managed with the aid of an Ethical Code all its own to conceal for a long period froma suspicious world the sad fact that the Olympian, overcome by the comforts of tbe throne provided for him, eometimes nodded. During that period the rule of Jupiter ■ Journalisticus Olympus “touched earth’s very end," so that men were tempted to say in parody, “Fear of his frown made the sun go down.’’ During this same period the chief men of Jupiter’s Court, casting opinion to the winds, concentrated on the writing daily of contemporary history. Collecting the facts with a hold enterprise amazing to, contemporary ideas, they ranged their facts in lines stretching from Fleet Street to all the ends of the earth. It was for Jupiter a marvellous reign, and at its height great Jove was called Delane. But men are hut human even when they wield the holts of Olympus. There came a time when other contemporary historians rivalled the lines of facts in the Olympian issues. And one day Jupiter Olympus nodded so hard that he struck his head on his desk with a bang that Tesounded over the face of the earth. It was the Pigott-Parnell tragedy, and men saw, with a flash of amazement, that human infallibility is not infinite. THE NORTHCLIFFE REGIME. A few years later came Harmsworth. With the eye of the eagle he had seen the possibilities portended by the amazing, facts in the long history of the Olympian. For him these were riches, and power. For their sake he set about acquiring the property of the Olympian, and, after a fine diplomatic campaign, he bought “The Times.” The price showed the value of the Old Thunderer of a hundred years and more. Mr Garvin, of “The Observer,” has just told us that this Napoleon of enterprise paid £900,000 to get a controlling interest, and that' Before he got the proprietorship into his capable ‘ hands that sum had increased to • two and a half millions sterling. His likeness to Napoleon this Harmsworth- showed very soon by his dominating capacity. Eveiy day he scanned “the world, sweeping every horizon, the value of every sign to the remotest confines.. Then he issued his - orders for judgment and chroniclq,. . Then he swept through the business cast up by the tides of circumstance. Dike Napoleon, he power; and, like him, he paid power’s penalty. of vigilant industry and prompt decision. How the sway of his power, thus exercised, extended; how the printed battalions bearing many noted names marched under his command;- how far his staffs grew great; ;how-'their influence, was felt in every it' • reached, there is noi need, to tell. It is the A B O of the newspaper world. Enough that “The Tillies’’ extended, with, many added units ratting in all things of literature, art, engineering, and marched at the head of these battalions. The institution was never again the Jupiter Olympus of the old days, hut it acquired a new prestige all its ,own, very profitable to the Napoleonic director of ite course. THE NORTHCLIFFE AIM. Mr Garvin tells us that the original idea of -this commanding genius was to make the paper a national organ, free from parties, above all petty influences, an impartial, capable, prompt, trustworthy recorder of contemporary histqry, a reliable guide of public opinion, a storehouse of matters to help the work of men preserving historic truth for all time. This is Mr Garvin’s own idea of what a great newspaper ought to he. He does his best. Of him the late W. T. Stead, a capable judge, said that he was the foremost journalist of. the day, fitted as well as any one man could he to

realise his ambition of true journalistic ' greatness. To such a man the Harmsworth adoption of his lofty ideal was welcome indeed. He saw what his command of men and 'money-power could do for the idea. When his Na-poleon-like friend proposed to play the part of Rhodes, the Empire-builder, leaving his splendid journal fully endowed for the work of the ideal, a national organ. uplifting right and justice and the Empire that stands for them, he was, it is easy to understand, overjoyed. But for some reason, not stated, the Napoleonic aim swerved from this high ideal. What the paper actually became Mr Earvin “does not say. It is too soon to say. Bitter controversies' are raging round the question, inspired by varying views from noblest thought to meanest insinuation. Time will decide, perhaps, if such controversies are ever decided. THE SUCCESSORS OF NORTHCLIFFE In the meantime, the great question is who will get control of the Thunderer ? Mr Garvin says there are many aspirants to the succession. The big succession duties, not far short of two million, have to he paid, and the paper—in fact, the whole battalion of Journals that marched- under the orders of Napoleon Northcliffe, must find the money—has apparently to be sold. Those aspiring to buy “The Times’’ are mentioned by Mr Garvin. It is interesting to many to speculate on who will be successful in what is going to be a desperate competitive struggle. The interest is limited by one fact. Not one of the competitors is looking

to the ideal from which. Northcliffe, according to Garvin, turned away. Wlien the purchase is made, the talk will he of tEe things which interest the buyer or buyers from the business point of view. There will, sb far as can be seen at present, he no great ideal newspaper upholding justice if the heavens fafl. But there will be hitter controversies about what the new men are dojng, and intending to do, with the 'great paper they have bought and. the great opportunity that came to them with it. Had Northeliife lived, he might—probably would —have swept away the clouds of controversy that surrounded him, by magnificent, even ideal, use of the journalistic power is his hands. But he died untimely—he was only 57—under the stress imposed /by power on those who attain it. When the new men get to work, it will bo time to judge them by results. Just now prediction is unprofitable. GREEKS AND TURKS. There is room in the world for a great paper nsing its power impartially. Take, as a cash in support, the feud between the Turks and the Greeks.' When the Turks were massacring Christians wholesale with cal- ■ lp us - brutality, the Allies announced that they would exact condign punishment. When the wax was over, the Turks resumed, the practice of massacre, and the Allies turned a blind eye on all the high sentiments they had invoked against the - Turk. In due course, the Greeks took up arms to wrest from the Turks the power of doing such horrible mischief. The Allies hampered them, and some of them sent arms to the' Turks, while tfie other high-souled Christian talked in, an injured tone, at random about his own good qualities and What he bad done with them. When he had had enough of that—and a little of it goes a long way, as is the case with all nauseous stuff.—-he admonished the Greeks, and maintained a severe neutrality. The Greeks lost, unfortunately. The Allies thereupon punished them with loss of territory, and some of them built a temple, of adoration for the Unspeakable' Turk, and sent him the best weapons available,; while, he went on massacring Christians. The Greeks demonstrated; the Allies lulled them with promises to make real the pretence of control they had established over the Turk, adding words about warships and neutral zones. The war area thus filled with tension, the Turk got in a deadly blow at the Greek line and won a victory. Throughout the whole of this episode the behaviour of the Allies was shameless and disgraceful, neither the French aide nor the British side showing the smallest consideration for the persecuted minorities, for justice, for fair play. In this result the public opinion watching is an opinion of compromise, a Pagan opinion, hideously at variance with the boasting about the Justice, Truth, and Democracy that took us into the Great War. Had there been a great newspaper with j ustice/ forr“its motto and fair play for its guide, and truth for its service, would this heathenish episode’have occurred? At all events, if such a paper had existed and protested' in vain, the Pagan brand would, have been deeper. ■v, MUSTAPHA KEMAL.

The Turkish Angora. General,. Hemal, is the~ Turkish hero of Gallipoli—the man who repulsed the Allied attack on Gallipoli in the hours after the landing. The German general, Liman von Sanders, had failed. Out-generalied and deceived by lan Hamilton’s tactics, ho was, with a great portion of his force, at the, other end of the Peninsula. Had not Hemal, who commanded a division within reach, disobeyed orders and marched to the coast the Allies would, have had the central forts by sundown on the day of landing. He is, of course, a great man among the Turks. That he was supplied, by people who broke their faith with their Allies, with munitions is certain. That he was, therefore, in command of overwhelming force follows. That he . broke the Greek line, and forced the Greek armies to retire far, with heavy loss and privation of direct Communication, is apparent. So far the, victory/is with Hemal. It is clear, at the same time, that the Greeks were not so badly beaten as the Turks declare. After the. wonderful feats of the armies of Maude and Allenby, which drove the Turks out of the best parts of the land they had. devastated and reduced to stagnation, had humbled their Crescent in the dust, it is gall to honest souls who know something of history to read, of the Unspeakable Turk holding his own and more in Asia Minor. - 'The more so ss tfie disgrace is due to the selfish paganism of the Great Powers. "What a commentary on their repeated profession of desire to defend justice alone, and establish permanent peace, ft is true they desire the peace of justice. It is also true that they desire the peace of compromise, which outrages justice at every turn without compunction. ,