Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/180

 168 parties of the day, is equally under the control of some commercial class in the community, and is simply exploiting both parties for the benefit of that one class.

It is perhaps, however, too much to expect from any newspaper that must be run more or less from motives of commercial profit to take a thoroughly judicial attitude on all questions, whatever they may be, that arise. We shall never have a paper thoroughly independent in stating its views on public questions until we have a paper entirely independent of its circulation and advertising. Probably no greater service could be done to the country by any wealthy man or group of men than the liberal endowment of a paper with a sum so large that it would be a matter of indifference whether people subscribed or not. A paper with such an endowment, in the hands of trustees of integrity, whose aim it should be to give the news fairly and fully, to give the basis for judgment on all political questions, to give carefully written, moderate opinions on both sides, might be more of an educating influence in the community, and might have a stronger tendency toward elevating the political tone of our country than a dozen new universities. Something is now done in that direction by Public Opinion; but that gives simply a culling from the existing papers—and that by no means suffices.

The difficulty, of course, of securing a thoroughly intelligent, unbiassed corps of editorial writers cannot be overestimated; but a sufficient sum given for so worthy a purpose might beyond question make a vast improvement, at any rate, upon present conditions, and one might well believe that the details could be reasonably well arranged. A paper of the kind suggested, if independent of circulation, would easily secure, nevertheless, a very large constituency, and would exert an influence more than proportionate to its circulation.

We see then that in fact at the present day our public opinion is not thought, but that it is largely made up of prejudice, of sentiment, and is easily led in almost any direction regarding matters on which one has not already committed himself by joining a party or by previous habit. We have seen still further that it