How much Bolshevism is there in America?

More than thirty-seven years have passed since that utterance was made. During all that time The World has tried mightily to realize the supreme ideal thus set for it and to that end it is striving with all its power now.

So it is not unbecoming to point out the degree of success which The World has attained. There can be no boasting in measuring the altitude this newspaper has reached in its ever soaring flight; no braggadocio in reiterating its aims, in setting forth its claims.

For the millions of persons who read The World agree that it does big things in a big way. Else they would not read it. Nor would they crowd its columns with advertisements, themselves most interesting and important reading.

Even to enumerate the big things The World has done in the last twelve months, to rehearse the public services it has rendered, would take too long here. But consider for a moment the last of these. The World’s determination to improve the housing conditions of this city resulted in its discovery and exposure of unprecedented building graft. The inquiry by the Joint Legislative Committee on Housing, compelled by The World, has resulted in further amazing revelations. No prophet is needed to foretell that infinite good may come of it.

Really, it seems not impossible, if the Legislature will do its share, that a New Yorker of moderate means will be able to house his family decently and have enough money left to buy food and clothing.

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

The newspaper that would obey the precepts laid down by The World’s founder has need of an editorial page, sound, strong and independent.

That The World’s attitude on public questions is guided by these instructions of Joseph Pulitzer is generally agreed by the reading public. Its editorial policy is one of intelligent liberalism. It would seek for the evils of democracy a cure in more democracy. It would welcome the widest opportunity for change and experiment in fitting popular government to new conditions, while setting its face like a flint against revolution by force and the subversive doctrines of anarchy. It finds in freedom an assurance of safety alike from reaction and Bourbonism and from half-baked soap-box theories of “direct action.”

Yet any man or woman who has something really worth while to say and who can say it briefly and with propriety may find a hearing in The World’s Editorial Forum.

A cartoon is an editorial—when it is one. The daily cartoons of Rollin Kirby upon The World’s editorial page are almost as often reproduced in Europe as in the United States as the finest examples extant of American public opinion portrayed at a glance in pictorial form. They thus combine present-day political effect with permanent historic value.

POLITICAL WRITERS

The World is particularly fortunate in its political writers. In that direction, the greatest achievement of the year was Louis Seibold’s interview with the President of the United States. By the courtesy of The World the interview was published in newspapers all over the country. It and the writer were lauded by magazines, reviews and papers devoted to journalism.

Equally remarkable was the expose, by the same political authority, of the underwriting of Gen. Leonard Wood’s campaign for the Presidential nomination.

Charles Michelson heads the admirable staff of the Washington Bureau of The World. It goes without saying that the White House and all the departments are visited daily. Mr. Michelson never needs to deny or amend his accurate despatches.

In Albany, Charles S. Hand reports the open sessions and the “inside” doings of the Legislature with equal impartiality and fearlessness.

Women in politics, who since the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment have taken their place in the Parties side by side with the men, serving as associate leaders in District, County or State organizations, are closely and accurately followed in their newly authorized activities.

The New York World’s telegraphic news service in the United States extends north and south from Duluth, Minn., to Brownsville, Tex., and east and west from Eastport, Me., to San Francisco. Any point in the country can be reached, no matter how small, through arrangement with a correspondent in the nearest large town. Every city in the United States, large and small, either has a World representative or has one within telephone call.

The news queries to The New York World cover every section and every variety of news, and are on the wires either by telegraph or telephone at every emergency.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE
and General European News

Good Americans native born and good Americans of foreign lineage have an interest equally deep in foreign news. This good American newspaper has built up a superb organization to gather news from the most authoritative sources all over the globe and to despatch it by cable, wireless—by courier, when necessary.

The high standing and reputation of The World’s correspondents abroad give them easy access to heads of Governments, prelates, diplomats, scientists, captains of industry and leaders of labor.

James M. Tuohy, the London representative of The World, is the dean of London correspondents. His knowledge of European affairs is admirable. Joseph Pulitzer appointed him as head of the European clearing house for news for The World and Mr. Tuohy has appointed correspondents for The World in all the capitals of Europe, being personally acquainted with each man and woman he selected. No one knows more than Tuohy about politics in Ireland and British rule in Ireland, subjects in which tens of thousands of The World’s readers are engrossed.

Every reader of The World is familiar with the names of its staff correspondents abroad, for they, being certain of the facts they state are only too glad to accept public responsibility for them. Lincoln Eyre, in Paris; Arno Dosch-Fleurot, who has a roving commission at the moment; Cyril Brown, in Berlin; Miss Beatrice Baskerville, in Rome, have become the friends, even the guides, of the thoughtful who support this newspaper—whenever and wherever the interest of mankind is focused, there and then a staff correspondent of The World is present; at the front headquarters of battling armies, at all important conferences of diplomats, at discussions of bankers, at congresses of labor—in Moscow, Constantinople, Vienna, Spa, Versailles and Geneva—anywhere. And the lines of immediate communication stretch from London to the remotest corners of the earth.

The editorial and reportorial staffs of The World are composed of highly trained, intelligent, quick-witted men, peculiarly gifted as writers. They have broad human sympathies, which make them swift to see news and stories of interest to humanity. These writers and news collectors have been drawn from all parts of the country and from many countries. Each one of them has some specialty, some unique gift of understanding, so that when a story “breaks” the City Editor can select from his staff the one man peculiarly fitted by nature to understand, unravel and write it. As matters of great moment in business, finance and commerce, and court trials, sporting stories, crime and detective stories, social affairs, political intrigues, adventures, accidents, sea and shipping yarns, war stories, hunting escapades, stories of nature, music, art and the theatre are constantly “breaking,” it is necessary to have on the staff of a great metropolitan journal men who can instantly “jump out” on the story and grasp it, gather its many strands and come back in a few minutes, or few hours, ready to write not only an entertaining but a truthful and accurate story.

Through long experience—many of the men have been on the paper almost from boyhood and others were trained in the best editorial rooms in the country—these men have acquired professional skill, great reverence for their work and a decent regard for the rights of the reading public. The World, because of its complete local staff organization, has knowledge of practically every news event in New York and prints everything that is of interest to the public.

FINANCIAL

Forecasts made in the columns of The World as to the operation of underlying of economic factors in finance have proved so accurate during the upheaval attending the Great War, as to give the Wall Street Department, conducted by Samuel S. Fontaine, an enviable reputation both at home and abroad. Some of these predictions have been as startling in the fulfilment as in their conception. Here is one notable illustration:

In the fall of 1914, when British bankers demanding almost hysterically that the United States ship unlimited quantities in liquidation of current liabilities and sterling was quoted at $7 a pound, the financial editor predicted that, before the end of the Great War this country would not only have purchased all United States securities held abroad, but that the debit balance of England in this country would grow to such startling proportions that the pound sterling would be driven below $4 in New York. English economists were aghast at such financial iconoclasm. They dismissed it as a bit of Yankee ignorance and insolence. Every high school boy knows how abundantly this prediction has been fulfilled.

When the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the suggestion of the Federal Reserve Bank, first began its campaign to force deflation by means of high interest rates imposed on borrowers on stock collateral, the Financial Editor of The World called the attention of the Washington authorities of the fact that the necessity for liquidation was not confined to stocks, but that it extended to all quarters of the country and that the profiteering that was causing most discomfort to the people was centred very largely in the South, where the banks had loaned enormous sums on cotton at fictitious prices, and in the West, where unwarranted credit was being extended grain and food orders.

The truth of this was immediately conceded by the national banking authorities. Rediscount rates were made uniform at all regional institutions, and the great price readjustment movement, which has led to a universal decline in the cost of living resulted.

The World through its financial columns began nearly a year ago to call public attention to the usurious rates charged by some of the profiteering banks of Wall Street, which, it declared, amounted to the proportions of a public scandal. These charges were taken up by Comptroller of the Currency Williams, and confirmed in every particular. In denouncing these factors the Comptroller took occasion, in an interview given the Washington Correspondent, to pay a high tribute to the Financial Editor of The World;

Mr. Fontaine has not only rendered a public service but he has shown all along a remarkable grasp of the situation.

Some notable articles pointing out the necessity for economy at the hearthstone, if the country is to return to the thrift of pre-war days, have appeared in The World’s financial columns and have been widely copied by the press of this country. They have met not only with widespread approval, but they have been real factors in promoting a wholesome spirit of economy of the land.

THE DRAMA

No other city in the world contains so many theatres as New York, or is the centre of so great activity in every branch of the stage’s art. The entertaining articles on plays and acting by Louis V. De Foe, for more than twenty years The World’s dramatic critic, are everywhere recognized as a dependable guide to the theatregoer—this, because of his fearlessness and fairness and the authority of his opinions and impressions gained from more than a quarter of a century of constant observation and study of the most popular and generously patronized of all the arts.

ART

Art affairs are covered by reviews of important exhibitions in the museums and galleries, news mention of other exhibitions, reports of sales of major interest and summaries of art activities in other cities where museums are maintained.

Special attention has been given for years to projects for the physical beauty of cities and to the movement for industrial art education whereby American craftsmanship may win and hold distinctive place in the world’s esteem. This movement, to which the leading museums and many manufacturers have committed themselves, looks beyond the art courses in the public schools to the establishment of schools of design, aided if not wholly supported by public funds, in which the talented young may be assured training as thorough as is given in any of the schools of Europe of that type, to the end that an industrial art worthily American may become a real national asset.

MUSIC

The World’s music department is in charge of one of America’s most competent critics, James Gibbons Huneker. His daily observations on operatic and concert doings are eagerly looked for, not only because of their immediate analytical value but also because of their informing spirit. The critic’s comprehensive knowledge and wide experience enable him to discuss music in its relation to all its sister arts.

Mr. Huneker’s opinions are authoritative because he is primarily a musician. From the time he first stirred his readers as a raconteur, his enthusiastic followers have kept step with him on his progress through the whole seven arts.

His last book “Steeple Jack” has attracted attention.

BOOKS AND LITERATURE
“What You Want to Know About Books You Want to Know About”

Once a week, in The World, a page under the editorship of E. W. Osborn is devoted to “Views and the News in the World of Books.” Here the latest offerings of the publishers, in books of history, of essays, of poetry, of general facts and of fiction, are treated in the simplest fashion as matters of the current news. The department has no interests to serve save those of its readers, to whom it aims to furnish exact information, with a measure of entertainment as generous as the books may afford and the editorial intent may achieve. The Book Page under its present policy has been a feature of The World practically for the last twenty years. Within that period it is believed to have established something of credit for timeliness and for fairness of judgment. While recognizing the diverse tastes and desires of a great body of readers—as a newspaper book department must do—this page has no helping word for a volume deemed in any way unworthy of any reader’s attention.

Robert C. Benchley’s column, “Books and Other Things” is concerned more with books than with other things. But he writes so entertainingly about a book that, if you do not read the book, you surely will read Benchley again.

The World publishes the latest news about the women and men who are prominent in New York and in all social centres. It tells not only of the entertainments the fashionable and wealthy give for their own amusement, but of those they hold to aid the charities they maintain. Weddings, the first appearance of debutantes, theatre parties, all the diversions of those who are worthy of mention, are described precisely and picturesquely in the columns of this newspaper. So are receptions to official personages—in a word, all the functions where culture and good taste are displayed.

WOMEN IN NATIONAL REFORMS

The World, since the inception of the woman’s movement, has chronicled the advance of women in organization from the small individual club working for development along conventional lines to the great federated bodies who throw the influence of educated and enlightened womanhood on the side of national reforms. The germ of practically all philanthropic endeavor has either sprung from or been promoted by organized women, and the columns of The World bear ample testimony to the detailed care with which these ambitions have been aided by publicity.

AVIATION

As a forward-looking newspaper The World was prompt to see the possibilities of aviation. The earliest experiments of the Wright brothers at Killdevil Hill were reported by a staff correspondent, and The World’s interest in the science of flying has been unflaggingly demonstrated ever since. Glenn Curtiss’s historic flight from Albany to New York, the longest accomplished up to that time, was stimulated and rewarded by $10,000, the gift of The World.

When the war broke out in 1914 The World was promoting in all possible ways the cause of civilian aviation, notably by lending its columns and aid generously to the projected transatlantic flight for which Mr. Curtiss was building a machine. Since the armistice it has continued to display its faith in the future of flying. The Pulitzer Trophy, one of the handsomest ever designed for a flying event, attracted to Mitchel Field, Mineola, this year an unprecedentedly large field of fast aviators. As a consequence of this meet American interest in the speed possibilities of the airplane will undoubtedly be greatly enhanced.

A Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play has been maintained by The World since July 7, 1913. Its objects, as stated by Ralph Pulitzer in the order creating it, are:

“To promote accuracy and fair play, to correct carelessness and to stamp out fakes and fakers.”

In establishing the Bureau and sending official notice of the organization to its correspondents, inviting their co-operation, The World not only insured better and more conscientious service in its own columns, but it spread the gospel of accuracy and fair play in journalism throughout the newspaper world. Every notice sent out by the Bureau to correspondents was prefaced by the following declaration:

“The World aims to be accurate. It aims to be fair and just to every person who reads it and to every person whose name it prints.

“Accuracy and fair play are inseparable in journalism. Inaccuracy often means injury to innocent persons. A newspaper’s influence is measured by the number of people who read it AND BELIEVE IN IT.

“The words ‘accuracy and fair play’ sum up the law of libel. If what is published is true and fair the writer need not worry about the libel law, civil or criminal.”

On the reverse side of the notice sent to correspondents, in order that all might be impressed with the very decided views on accuracy and fairness entertained by Ralph Pulitzer, and by his father before him, were printed extracts from their public utterances on the subject.

All complaints involving the question of accuracy or fair play received in any department of The World are turned over to the bureau. These complaints include libel actions, letters from attorneys and others, and complaints made in person at The World office. The bureau makes careful inquiry and determines whether or not these complaints are well founded, and, if they are, who is responsible for the matter complained of. Having determined that a complaint is well founded, the necessary correction is prepared and turned over for publication to the managing editor of whichever edition of The World published the particular matter complained of.

A card-index record is kept showing who are responsible for inaccuracies and unfair publications, and this record indicates who are habitually inaccurate or unfair. Deliberate faking, which, happily, is extremely rare, is invariably punishable by dismissal. Carelessness or unfairness may be punished by reprimand, suspension or dismissal. Chronic carelessness results in dismissal.

Such is The New York World. Such is its manner of obeying the precepts of its founder—of doing its duty to itself—and of fulfilling its obligation to the multitude of readers who maintain it so generously, and who have raised it to the supremacy it enjoys.