ALL THE NEWS. . .

American newspapers always manage to fasten their attention on one particular story which has a mass appeal and then deluge the public with columns of news about it. They concentrate on one thing at a time, disregarding the meanwhile all other mass interest stories that may come along. For over five weeks the Culbertson-Lenz bridge rodeo held its position as the most consistent daily front page story. Then it stopped. But before city editors had the time to cease yawning, they had thrust at them what promises to be one of the most stupendous news story of the year.

The dispatches from Hawaii indicate that the account of the murder, coupled with the incidents of the foregoing three months, contains any number of those elements any one of which would catapult the story into the headlines. The details of murder and attack in connection with wealth and social prominence would be enough to keep the incident prominent for some time alone. But added to this are the aspects of race prejudice, naval interference, and congressional investigation and imperialism. The former will delight the mass mind; and because of the latter comment from the most intelligent is inevitable. All papers have succumbed. The New York Times printed a complete and candid official naval report of the case and even the Transcript led last night's paper with a follow-up account (duly expurgated.)

The newspapers are set for another long barrage of crime news and revealing personal information. They made the Hall-Mills and the Judd-Gray cases famous in years past. The present situation, possessing even more dramatic intensity, bids fair to rival them. There is no escaping it, the American public is in for its periodic lesson in sordidness.