Panders

Greater love hath no man for his favorite newspaper than this: that he lay down his extra penny for it, instead of grumbling, when the price is jumped. Last year the New York World determined to have a reading public composed only of great lovers. It jumped its price from two cents to three. And last week the World came down again to two cents. It made gestures appropriate to show that it was in no way cheapening itself. It adopted a policy, new for the World, of advertising itself with full pages in other newspapers. It put its best foot far forward, extolling what is unquestionably "the best written feature page in American journalism," the World's famed "opp.ed." (opposite editorial) page, where Franklin Pierce Adams like a bandar-log and Heywood Broun like St. Simeon Stylites ruminate at the foot and the head, respectively, of their columns; where are also plump Drama Critic Alexander Woollcott, Book Critic Harry Hansen, Music Critic Samuel Chotzinoff.

And the World, ever militant, chose this circulogical moment to conduct one of its characteristic crusades. It hurled its lead at the publishers and venders of "a flood of fake nude 'art' magazines," which was, to judge by World headlines, contaminating the entire city. Municipal officials were hogtied, it appeared, by equivocal court decisions on the public display of sexy literature. Producer Earl Carroll had been acquitted of his naked posters. Harper's had not been fined for publishing confessions of a whore. Since the Carroll acquittal undressed ladies had posed and posed for commercial photog- raphers—just a small group of them—and fly-by-night panderers had bought and bought the pictures, publishing them with greasy titles in cheap pamphlets that changed names from month to month. The public, including school children, who clipped out the lust-inciting ladies, and passed them around in school, patronized this pornographic press, until its non-circulation had, according to the World, reached 150,000. Venders of fake dope and narcotic cures, fake aphrodisiacs, gland extracts, revolvers and artists' equipment had gladly advertised.

City officials acted at once, backed by strong public opinion. City officials thanked the World for arousing the helpful opinion, as did ministers, spinsters, reformers. The World's circulation went up that week very rapidly and its editors could congratulate themselves that, in gratifying a whim of the business department they had performed a typical World re-form for the city. More than ever was the World the self-styled "D'Artagnan of journalism," for it was that lusty Gascon who, in search of employment, picked quarrels to make friends.

Atavism

Last week a loud noise was heard in the Rocky Mountains. It was a new newspaper in Denver, the Morning Post. It had been started to drown out the Rocky Mountain News at the Rocky Mountain breakfast table in retaliation for an attack by the News' new owners upon the old-time Denver Post in the evening field.