THE SPICY PRESENT

The opinion of Mr. Paul Bellamy, managing editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that the newspaper of the future will be less devoted to tales of crime and violence and more concerned with world affairs, is pleasantly surprising. Still more so is his prophecy that in another five years blood and thunder stories will be crowded completely off the front page, and that chronicles of governmental matters will take their place. "Newspapers", says Mr. Bellamy, "have found that it does not pay to cater to the tastes of those who would rather read yellow sheets than these that present clean news, truthfully told.

In view of the wide discrepancy in the circulation figures of such representative papers as the Boston Transcript and the New York Daily News, a novel statement of this sort suggests either a lack of powers of observation, or a Pollynna-like optimism. The most superficial analysis should convince Mr. Bellamy that the real reason for the present passionate interest in affairs of government and polities is that just now they are even more spicy and sensational than the latest returns on who killed whom in Westchester Country. As soon as conditions again approach the normal the favorites of former months will be back doing business at the old stand with an even more appreciative clientele.

Mr. Bellamy, however is probably quite correct in assuming that the great newspaper reading public is coming more and more to insist on accurate news; even Hamiton's "great bast" can learn a little from continued experience. That readers grow irritated when they find they have been allowed or even encouraged to believe perversions of the truth is becoming increasingly evident. One great Metropolitan daily goes to the extent of having a regular department devoted, when necessary, to a correction of unintentional errors. Although it is too much to hope that a short space of five years will see a complete change in the public taste it is distinctly encouraging to find that truth and accuracy are almost as much in demand now as in the Washingtonian past.