In 1903 he founded The Daily Mirror; it was at first a complete failure, losing £1,500 a week but after being transformed from a penny paper for women into a halfpenny illustrated morning jour nal, became as signal a success. In 1905 a Continental edition of The Daily Mail was established, with headquarters in France. In 1904 Alfred Harmsworth was created a baronet, and in 1905 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Northcliffe. In 1906 he and his brothers acquired for their companies about 3,00o sq.m. of forest land in Newfoundland, with lakes, rivers and water trans port, for the manufacture of paper and wood pulp, the result being the formation of the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co., a gigantic enterprise with its works at Grand Falls, and two lines of railway, a port and Atlantic and other steamers.
In 1908 Lord Northcliffe obtained control of The Times, to own which had always been one of the aims of his life. New machinery was installed, and the size of the paper greatly increased ; in March, 1914, he reduced the price to one penny, with the result of a large increase in circulation, though the enormous rise of 600% in the cost of paper during the World War forced a subse quent increase in price. Meanwhile Lord Northcliffe had acquired The Weekly Dispatch; disposed of the Sunday Observer, which he for some time owned; and sold The Daily Mirror to his brother, Lord Rothermere. Among the reforms which Lord Northcliffe in troduced into newspaper management were the five-day week for editors, sub-editors and reporters, a more generous payment of journalists and a system of profit-sharing by the chief members of his staffs.
From 1900 onwards, through his newspapers, he had exercised an ever-increasing influence on politics. He had at one time been anxious, like Edward VII. and Cecil Rhodes, to obtain a friendly understanding between England and Germany, but the Boer War caused him to abandon that idea as impracticable. His news papers consistently pleaded the cause of a strong navy, and as con sistently warned the nation for 2o years of the peril from Ger many. From 1902 he sought to effect an entente with France, and also to promote agreements with Russia and the United States, whose sentiments and prejudices he had learnt in many visits. Through The Daily Mail he gave large prizes for airmanship, in which, from 1906 onwards, he took the warmest interest. His maiden speech in the House of Lords was devoted to the pressing claims of aircraft. He was a strong believer in the future of fly ing and a daily advocate of the value of aircraft in war. He was also interested from the first in submarines, in one of which craft he made an early and hazardous descent.
storms of abuse, he urged the necessity of introducing compulsory service; (4) he protested continuously against the excessive opti mism of the Asquith Government and against official secretive ness; (5) he called for the strict enforcement of the blockade; (6) so far as the censorship would allow, he resisted the Dar danelles and Salonika campaigns, which absorbed so large a part of the national forces; (7) he continued his pre-War demand for the construction of aircraft—and "the right kind of aircraft"—on the largest possible scale; (8) he urged the necessity of creating a strong naval war staff and taking offensive measures against the enemy submarines; (9) he insisted on the need of compulsory food rationing. While always active with his pen and through his Press, he went repeatedly to the various battle-fronts, British, French, Belgian, Italian and American, and kept in close touch with the various staffs. In Dec. 1916 he gave his support to Mr. Lloyd George in the political crisis which led to the fall of Mr. Asquith's Government, and dealt the final thrust which brought that Government down, though after the Armistice, by reason of his objection to the long-drawn-out after-war negotiations with the Germans, he became Mr. Lloyd George's most persistent critic. He was offered office but declined.