The Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1910. THE PENALTY OF FAME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9919, 6 August 1910, Page 6

The Star. SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1910. THE PENALTY OF FAME.

It is doubtless very reprehensible for i Society leader or any other woman lo be a cigarette smoker, but things i,re coming to a pretty pass when the woman who does seek comfort from the cigarette is to be piloried in every newspaper in her own land and in newspapers wherever the English language is read. Mrs Nicholas Longworth tvould never have been attacked in this fashion if she had not been the daughter of an eminent American. We tvere complaining the other day about the quality of the news cabled out from .London at heavy expense t° Australian and New Zealand newspapers. As mere news, the report concerning Mrs Longworth is certainly not worth its lost, but as an indication of the maulers 'of latter-day Americans it is poslibly of considerable importance. Mi Roosevelt, of course, must expect to End his name mentioned every day in

the columns of the more personal jour-

nals, and a President or ex-President of the United States understands that the freest discussion of his personal and private business in the public prints is (me of the penalties of high position. But the : Americans by no means confine their attention to persons occupying public positions. Hie yellow journals notoriously command the largest circulations, and they do. so because they devote so much of theiT . tpace to the doings of people whose names are known to the mass of the lommnnity. A few weeks ago it , pas' Theodore Roosevelt, junior, tfho monopolised the attention of fye prints. AH the details or this young man's approaching wedding . with. Miss Eleanor Alexander were ferreted out and given to the public. Ihe lady was praised because she had had the courage to patronise American industry in the matter of her trousseau, and, of course, in the circumstances, ■ tull accounts of her dresses, for the most" part imaginary, had-to be printed. Dne -journal discovered and regretted that many of the ideas embodied m the had been borrowed from abroad, a,nd another lamented the fact that the bridesmaids' frocks had been painted in Paris. Pictures were shown of the p-oung man walking to the home of his fiancee, "in a brand-new suit, which must have pleased Miss Alexander mightily." And the nosegay he carried in his hand was described, with a note as to where he bought it and ivhat it cost. The fact that Mr ltooserelt and his bride both detested this publicity counted for nothing. Happily for them, the newspapers very soon discovered another subject for their

Miergetic pens. This time it was a ; laughter of Mr Pierpont Morgan who ' unwittingly supplied the material for the copy. Miss Morgan had curiosity enough to descend into the great new tunnel that is being constructed to bring water to New York from the Datskill Mountains. . She was wearing "a rubber jacket and bloomers," we are told, and she went 500 ft below the surface and walked for hours among the negroes and Italians who "were at work there. Miss Morgan is Interested in labour problems, and that Iras why she went to inspect the tunnel .Works- She was anxious to 'see the conditions of the labour. The pictures showed Miss Morgan in her own home, entering the shaft, chatting to the workers, handling a jpick, and the rest, and; the girl must fcave filled many columns with letterjpress and snapshots. This is the benalty one pays in the United States lor being famous or for being born of Famous parents. There is no escape from the eye of the "yellow" journal. Very naturally the attitude of the newspapers affects the manners of all classes of people. Every organisation believes that it has the right to pry into the affairs of folk whose names are familiar, Mrs Longworth is a daughter of Mr Roosevelt. It is really not to the point whether Mrs Longworth smokes or not. One of the "yellow" journals may have reported that she did, and that would be sufficient evidence for the average Society. It would be enough for the newspapers, too, for if Mrs Longworth ' could be induced to deny the charge, the denial would provide another very Interesting' item of news, and we can Imagine.the joy with which the Christian Endeavour Societies would make bhe announcement and would hold Mrs Longworth up as a pattern to be followed by other people. American journalism has its attractive features, but : the very personal attention devoted to people who happen to have familiar names is not one of them.