The Annual Dinner 



of kings and to put into the hands of 

 the people the scepter of sovereignty. 

 Feeble and ineffectual no doubt that 

 first leaflet was, a mere rushlight emit- 

 ting but the faintest glimmer, but in 

 three hundred years to what power has 

 it grown — a blazing sun under whose 

 searching glare there is no conceal- 

 ment. Ah, what battles the press has 

 fought — for its own freedom first of 

 all, for until that battle was won no 

 other victory was possible. For its 

 own freedom first, and then for the 

 truth that makes all men Tree. I do not 

 need to be reminded that what I assert 

 concerning the effort and influence of 

 the press as a whole can be contro- 

 verted with individual exceptions. 

 Tyranny has never lacked apologists 

 and defenders and error has always had 

 its paid and perjured champions. But 

 these exceptions have been so few and 

 feeble that in the general summing up 

 they may be neglected altogether. In 

 the main the mighty enginery of the 

 press has wrought for righteousness, 

 for freedom and justice and truth. De- 

 scribing the condition of the English 

 laborers in the days of the Stuarts 

 Lord Macaulay could think of no 

 phrase of deeper commiseration than to 

 say "They had no newspaper to plead 

 their cause." What a tribute that is to 

 the universality with which the press 

 of our day can be relied upon to inter- 

 pose its everlasting prohibition "Thou 

 shalt not" between the weak and those 

 who would oppress and despoil them. 



It was Lord Disraeli, I believe, who 

 first characterized the English press as 

 the Fourth Estate. Here in America it 

 is the first estate. It wields incom- 

 parably more power than any House or 

 Senate or President, for it makes 

 houses and senates and presidents. It 

 may not make judges, possibly, but it 

 has sometimes been suspected of hav- 

 ing a large share in making decisions. 

 "I don't know," said Mr Dooley, 

 "whether the Constitution follows the 



flag or the flag follows the Constitution, 

 but I do know that as long as the Su- 

 preme Court keeps one eye on the 

 newspapers and another on the election 

 returns it won't go very far wrong." 

 (Applause and laughter.) The news- 

 papers may not always use their great 

 power wisely and honestly and well. 

 But when was ever great power, except 

 that which dwells with Omnipotence 

 itself, used always wisely and honestly 

 and well? "There were doubtless a 

 good many verdicts for the plaintiff 

 that ought to have been for the defend- 

 ant," said an old judge once in describ- 

 ing a district over which he had for- 

 merly presided, "and there were a good 

 many verdicts for the defendant that 

 ought to have been for the plaintiff, but 

 in the main justice was done." 



In some few cases the American 

 press may cause pain to the innocent, 

 but in ten thousand cases it puts the 

 fear of God into the heart of the guilty. 

 It may not always uphold the virtuous 

 as it should, but it follows with sleep- 

 less vigilance upon the trail of the 

 doers of evil. Sometimes it may "bend 

 the pregnant hinges of the knee" in the 

 presence of ill-gotten wealth, "that thrift 

 may follow fawning," but more often it 

 pinions in the pillory of public condem- 

 nation and contempt the dollar-mad 

 devotees of high and unholy finance. Its 

 editorial columns may sometimes be 

 timid or corrupt, but everywhere and 

 all the time it prints the news. And 

 therein lies its greatest power, thereby 

 it renders its most important, nay its 

 altogether indispensable service. Pub- 

 licity has come to be the master word in 

 our present day statecraft. Strange 

 that we have been so long learning it. 

 Strange that we could not have sooner 

 read the real significance of that first 

 mighty commandment, thundered by 

 Jehovah into the darkness and disorder 

 of a world that was without form and 

 void, "Let there be light!" Let there 

 be light that those whose deeds are evil 



