Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/67

 PUBLIC OPINION S3

today better reflectors of public opinion than the great London dailies. There is no doubt that newspapers have on various occasions been seriously at fault as to the prevailing sentiment of the country. The general elections of 1880 and 1885 in England revealed a totally different public opinion than the newspapers had anticipated;^^ that of 1906 was likewise a great surprise, although in this case it was only the extent of the Liberal victory that was not foreseen. In 1896 all the newspapers in New York were deceived as to the issue of the election. The newspapers are, moreover, very inaccurate reflectors of what the people are thinking and talking about. This must be apparent to anyone who has been absent from his country for a few months, no matter how diligently he has perused the newspapers. He has not enjoyed the benefit of the organ of conversation. Many a matter is glossed over in the public press from motives of dis- cretion which is handled without reserve in the conversation of a few congenial friends. If in America and England newspapers are by no means perfect weathercocks they are much less so in other lands where the capacity for public opinion is itself not so highly developed. The virulent and demoralizing press of France certainly does not register French public opinion to anything like the degree of accuracy that obtains among Anglo-Saxon newspapers ;^^ while the German press is either appropriated by the government or fettered by press laws.

There are a number of means by which publics express them- selves, which are all clearly related and usually used together, yet we have no general term which includes them all. Public speak- ing, public assemblies, the passing of resolutions, petitions, and addresses, delegations sent to wait upon governmental authorities, organization of political associations, and other demonstrations of various sorts which are calculated to attract wide attention and make a strong impression, are all means which publics continually take to gain adherents and bring the pressure of their opinions,

" Stead, Contemporary Review, Vol. L, p. 665.

" Bodley, in his France, makes frequent reference to these characteristics of French journalism.


 * • Henry Jephson, The Platform, Its Rise and Progress, 2 Vols., 2d ed., 1892.