POSITION IN THE WEST 175 



ject." l Mr. Chesterton, writing as an experienced 

 journalist, has described the struggle as he sawitfrom 

 the inside in the press itself. He sketched in a few 

 bold and vivid strokes the work as it proceeded in the 

 office of an effective newspaper. In the conditions 

 which prevail, Mr. Chesterton saw the directing 

 mind continually abolishing truth as Turner 

 abolished a tower because it did not suit him. He 

 described him, as it were, the arch creator of fact, 

 with the great instrument of publicity in his hands, 

 daily plunging a whole people into darkness, as 

 Rembrandt would plunge a whole picture into dark- 

 ness to bring out a purpose. He saw him as the 

 master artist of his time, at work- upon events 

 effacing and disguising the lineaments of affairs as 

 Whistler would efface the lineaments of a woman 

 so that more important matters should not be 

 interfered with. 2 



This description of the inside conditions of the 

 press as they prevailed in one of the freest countries 

 of the West in the first quarter of the twentieth 

 century is of the profoundest interest. The cal- 

 culated lightness of touch only adds to the signifi- 

 cance as we read between the lines. It was written 

 at a time when Great Britain was at peace with all 

 the world, at a period when all the commercial and 



1 British Review, December 1913. ' Ibid, 



