378 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE UNITED STATES PRESS. 



In the Chautauquau Mr. B. A. Hcydrick writes on 

 the journaHsm and humour of the United States 

 Press. He says : — 



The first thing that impresses one is its magnitude. The 

 daily papers number 2,472, the weelvlics 16,269, the monthlies 

 2,769. Tri-weekly and quarterly publications bring the total 

 up to 22,806. Of these one group of two hundred daily papers 

 liave a circulation of ten millions, while five magazines liavc a 

 total circulation of over five millions. Of tlif others few are 

 below a thousand ; if we take two thousand as the aver.ige, it 

 gives a total circulation of fifty-nine millions, or enough to 

 provide a daily paper, a weekly, and a monthly magazine for 

 every family in the United Stales. 



The writer remarks on the decay of the editorial. The 

 most highly-paid man on a newspaper is the advertise- 

 ment manager^ next the special correspondents, then 

 the best reporters, and only then the editors. To 

 answer the question whether there was anything 

 better in other countries, a study was made of four 

 journals — the New York Times, the London Times, 

 the Vossische Zeitung of Berlin, and Le Journal of 

 Paris, with this result : — 



Total Tot.il No. of columns devoted to 



I'ag.-s. Cols News. Editorial. Advts. 



Mr7ii York Times 22 154 70 4 80 



London Times 22 132 93 3 36 



I'ossiseke Zeilutig .;o 120 46 ij 72i 



Le Journal 10 60 30 2 2S 



The London Times gives only about one-fourth of its space 

 to advertising. This is explained by the fact that it charges 

 six cents a copy, so that the reader pays a large share of the 

 cost of the paper. In other London papers which sell at 

 one cent, the advertising is equal to ours. In Berlin and Paris, 

 the ratio of news to advertising is about the same as in New- 

 York. So if journalism is commercialised in the United States 

 it appears to be equally commercialised in other countries : — 



i;s?;i::;ri^ 

 i i fM i i M M » 



New York Times 714114511213 



London Times 10 02122 10 201 14 



Vossische Zeilung 700150711211 



Le Journal 915357200111 



Next the writer compares the number of newspapers 

 published in the various countries : — 



Comparing again on the basis of the number of newspapers 

 published in the various countries we have : — 



United States 22,806 



Creat Britain ....!......; 9,500 



Germ.any 8i049 



France 6,6Sl 



If we compare this with the respective population of these 

 countries, we find that in the Uniled States there is in round 

 numbers a newspaper to every 4, 100 of population; in Great 

 Britain, one for every 4,700 ; in tiermany, one for every 7,800 ; 

 in France, one for every 5,900. In respect to the numbers of 

 p.ipers published, we lead all other countries, both absolutely 

 and relative to population. 



Alongside of the loss of confidence in the newspaper 

 has grown, he says, an increasing dependence on the 

 weekly and monthly magazines. The latter ha\e 

 undertaken the work of really guiding public opinion, 

 which the daily papers ha\x almost ceased to perform. 



A POEM BY JOHN GALSWORTHY. 



A REMARKABLE poem of thirty-one stanzas is contri- 

 buted by John Galsworthy to the March number of 

 the Atlantic Monthly. It is entitled " A Dream.*' He 

 dreamed that God appeared to him and led him to a 

 " gallows yew," where He bade him confess his faith. 

 " The word thou speukest saves or bars." He knows 

 that if he does not speak the truth, " God would not 

 spare, but hang me dead." So he musters up courage 

 and begins : — 



" This then, O God 1 is all my creed :— 

 In the beginning there was still 

 What there is now, no less, no more ; 

 And at the end of all there will 

 Be just as nuich. There is no score 

 Of final judgment. Wonder's tale 

 Will never, never all be told. 

 There will be none withor.t the pale, 

 No saint elect within the fold. 



" If then this mighty magic world 

 Has always been, will ever be, 

 There must be laws within it curled 

 That spin it thro' Eternity. 

 I see twin equal laws obey 

 A sovran, never-captured Law — 

 For all this world would melt away 

 If Heart of Mystery we saw," 



Two laws he recognises and no more — the law of Life 

 and the law of Death, which are brought to fold 

 " within that one and Sovran Heart " : — 



" That Sovran Heart is Harmony ! 

 Its face unseen, its ways unknown. 

 'Tis utter Justice ; boundless Sea 

 Of Unity ; and Secret Throne 

 Of Love ; a spirit Meeling-Place 

 Of vital dust and mortal breath. 

 That need? no point of time or space 

 To bind together Life and Death. 



" Tis thus, O God ! I see the Vast— 

 Self-fashioned and Self-wonderful. 

 A jewel infinite, so fast 

 With secret light, can never dull. 

 It is all Space, so cannot fall, 

 It is all Jlotion, may not move, 

 It is of time the very all, 

 And h.is within itself all Love." 



Then the tall dark Thing of terror proceeds to 

 him : — 



Then, in that bravery of soul 



Which flames in icy clutching death, 



I bade my parching tongue outroli 



A last defi.ince of my breath : 



''Thou art not Him I know ! Thou hast 



No part in all my vision. Thou 



Art Dissonance and Hatred. Fast 



Is my God throned. No God art Thou ! " 



He vanished ; the nightmare passed : — 



No more were death and life apari, 

 No more the winter longed for June. 

 .\nd oh ! the marriage in my heart 

 Of sun and shadow, hush and tune ! 



hana 



The Persian poet Nizami and his masterpiece,; 

 " Khusrau and Shirin," are tiie subject of a most 

 interesting paper by H. Beveridge in the Imperial 

 and Asiatic Quarterly. 



