The London Press

From the first the Daily Mail broke away from the traditional conception that a daily newspaper should espouse or reflect a particular political policy. The Daily Mail has been sternly inde pendent and sometimes embarrassing to Governments and poli ticians but it generally registered the majority public opinion. Lord Northcliffe (as he became later) was not only a brilliant organiser but a keen journalist imbuing by personal contact all members of the able staff which he gathered around him with some of his own dynamic enthusiasm. The Daily Mail has been the pioneer in many enterprises in journalism and in national interests, including the invaluable help which it gave to aviation. Lord Northcliffe and his associates also deserve credit for offer ing inducements hitherto unequalled for special correspondents. It has brought into the profession men and women of high liter ary standing and has led to an increase in professional remu neration of journalists of all classes.

For many years the editor-in-chief was Thomas Marlowe, who retired two or three years after the death of Lord Northcliffe, and was succeeded by W. G. Fish.

Since it came under the control of Lord Rothermere on the death of his brother its phenomenal success has continued both in regard to increase in sales and in profit making. The annual profit of the Daily Mail alone is understood to exceed Li,000,000. Its daily net sale in 1928 reached 2,000,000.

The Daily Express,

which was founded as a half-penny news paper in 1900 by the late Sir C. Arthur Pearson, is second only to the Daily Mail in circulation. In its first issue it published a message of good will from the Kaiser William, and announced: "Our policy is patriotism, our party is the British empire." It struck a new note, since imitated by other papers, of pub lishing its principal news on the first page, which became, so to speak, the shop-window. In 1902 R. D. Blumenfeld joined the staff ; he became editor in 1904, and in 1912, when Sir Arthur Pearson lost his sight, formed a syndicate which acquired control. Lord Beaverbrook began to take an interest in the paper while it was financially in low water and during the war obtained com plete control. Blumenfeld remained the managing editor. Im mediately after the War the Daily Express showed increased vitality. Lord Beaverbrook spent prodigious sums out of reve nue in developing the paper. To a large extent it is his personal organ—and expresses his views on political and other affairs.

The Daily Express is printed simultaneously in London, Man chester and Glasgow.

The Daily Herald

(price id.), the official organ of the Trades Union Congress, after passing through severe financial difficulties has now definitely taken its place among London dailies. It occu

pies a unique position in the press as the only daily newspaper exclusively devoted to the interests of the Labour party. In 1930 the financial management was undertaken by Messrs. Odhams Ltd., and the Daily Herald became one of the leading newspapers.

A notable addition to Labour journalism took place in April, 1929, when the Co-operative Societies affiliated with Labour acquired Reynolds' Newspaper, which was established over 8o years ago and has been consistently conducted on democratic lines. Other Dailies.—There is only one sporting daily newspaper in London, the Sporting Life (started in 1859) with which was amalgamated after the World War the Sportsman (founded 1865). The famous old sporting newspaper Bell's Life was ab sorbed by the Sporting Life in 1886. Finance is represented by the Financial News (founded in 1884) and the Financial Times (1888) which absorbed the Financier, now each 2d.

London Evening Newspapers.

There are only three Lon don evening newspapers surviving, each published at id. The oldest of these is the Evening Standard, first published as an evening edition of the Standard, which was founded in 1827. It has absorbed in turn the St. James's Gazette, the Globe and the Pall Mall Gazette. It is now the property of the Beaverbrook group.

The Evening News was founded in 1881, and after many vicis situdes of fortune when in low water was acquired in 1895 by Alfred and Harold Harmsworth and Kennedy Jones. It was the Harmsworths' first incursion into daily journalism, and made a rich experimental field for the Daily Mail. The Evening News is one of the Associated Newspaper group and has the largest circulation of any of the evening papers in the country.

The Star, the only Liberal evening paper in London, was started by T. P. O'Connor in 1888 as a halfpenny journal in support of Gladstone. In 1909 it was acquired by the Daily News.

Great Papers of the Past.

Fleet street is crowded with the ghosts of journals which in their time have filled important places in the life of the country. There was the Morning Chronicle which began its career in the 18th century and had among its contributors Sheridan, Sir J. Mackintosh, John Campbell (after wards Lord Chancellor), Campbell, the poet, Thomas Moore, Lord Brougham, Byron, William Hazlitt, John Stuart Mill, Charles Lamb and Thackeray. John Black, its most famous editor used to say that one of the paper's parliamentary reporters, Charles Dickens, was the best shorthand writer he had ever known. After a notable career the Morning Chronicle died in 1862.