The Press in London

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 11, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 44.

The Press in London

The Press in London.—Mr. Silas K. Hocking, an optimistic religious journalist of London, England, thus characterizes the debauching of the daily press:—

“I can not understand the spirit and temper that have come over the London press. With a few notable exceptions, the whole of the daily newspapers seem to have gone over to mammon and lust and diabolism. From certain of the papers, of course, nothing better was expected. They are under the thumb and in the pay of the blacklegs of the prize-ring and the vampires of the Stock Exchange. They know no god but gold, no love but lust, no right but might, no morality but that which finds expression in Leicester Square or on Epsom Downs. Faith has given place to cynicism, and courage to most contemptible cowardice. Religion as set forth in the New Testament is made the butt of their cheap and beery wit. The crescent appears to be more sacred to them than the cross. The Bible says, ‘Put not your trust in princes.’ We need a new variant to-day, ‘Put not your trust in newspapers.’ The erstwhile champions of liberty have had their hands paralyzed by the touch of gold, and their lips silenced by the kiss of betrayal.”

And the London daily press has no need to blush before the press in general in the great cities of America.