THE PROPRIETORS' VADE MECUM.
Reading edition
(A Supplement for the Newspaper Press.)
Question. What is the duty of a Newspaper Proprietor?
Answer. To use his periodical for the benefit of the public by obtaining and affording information.
Q. Is he expected to expose abuses?
A. Certainly, or he would be thought to be degrading the noble profession to which he has the honour to belong.
Q. What is the customary result of an exposé?
A. An action for libel.
Q. By whom is it frequently brought?
A. By a man of straw.
Q. And what is the alleged libel?
A. That the plaintiff was described as being manufactured of no more substantial material.
Q. If a man is made of straw, how can he obtain assistance from a solicitor?
A. By approaching a member of the junior branch of the legal profession who possesses no rooted objection to speculation.
Q. What is a speculative action?
A. It is an action brought to give a solicitor a chance of getting costs.
Q. Is the length of trial a matter of importance to the plaintiff?
A. Certainly not, because he stands to win one way and not to lose on the other.
Q. What does a long trial mean to the defendant?
A. Solicitor's fees by the score and "refreshers" by the dozen.
Q. What is the outcome of the proceedings?
A. After many days, a verdict.
Q. In whose favour?
A. The defendant's.
Q. Does the defendant benefit in consequence?
A. Not at all—the reverse. For after the finding of the jury, he is at liberty to pay his own costs.
Q. Why does he pay his own costs?
A. Because his statement that the plaintiff is and was a man of straw is practically corroborated.
Q. But does not the exposé prove that he has done an action well-deserving of his country?
A. Certainly; but this consideration does not give him unmixed satisfaction.
Q. Why does it not give him unmixed satisfaction?
A. Because, although losing a huge sum of money may be patriotic and large-minded, it is scarcely business-like.
Q. Are not newspapers intended to benefit the public?
A. Unquestionably, but in that public the individuality of the proprietor should not be entirely overlooked.
Q. Then what would you recommend?
A. That instead of being regarded as prey, newspapers should be made to pay.
Q. And how can that be carried out?
A. By making a law calling upon a would-be plaintiff, in a questionable action for libel, to give security for costs.
