Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/35

 instructive subjects of thought, rather than morbid or degrading ones. Fortunately for all classes, the bulk of what may be called "magazine literature" makes distinctly for the instruction and enlightenment of the public, and though a "gutter press" exists in Great Britain, as in America, a great portion of the public are now educated enough to recognize its type and to treat it with the contempt it merits. I quote here part of a letter which recently appeared in the Westminster Gazette signed "Observer," and entitled:

"

"To the Editor of the Westminster Gazette.

",—We have it on the highest authority that the Government acts on the same information as is at the disposal of 'the man in the street' (vide Mr. Balfour at Manchester). The man in the street obviously must depend on the Press for his information. How has the Press served him?

"Let me take a recent illustration. A great experiment was to be made by the Navy. A battleship with all its tremendous armament was to pound a battleship. Naturally the Press was well represented, and the public was eager for its report.

"In due course a narrative appeared describing the terrible havoc wrought. The greatest stress was laid upon the instant ignition and complete destruction by fire of all the woodwork on the doomed ship. Elaborate leading articles appeared enforcing the lesson that wood was no longer a