A subscription is being raised in London for the benefit
of per- sons connected with the Newspaper Press who may be sick, out of work, or otherwise in distress. The Times and Daily News oppose the plan, and we think on just grounds. If the Press needs such a fund, and it does, let it raise it through a friendly society, as com- positors, for example, do, not go about begging for aid to a fairly well off profession. Such contributions, whether large or small, amount to alms, and the Pram ought tro be independent of alms in its lower as well as its higher branches. That there is terrible dis- tress among its members is only too true, but so there is among barristers, clergymen, and every other class of men who try to live by their brains. English journalists are always complaining that their craft has not yet reached its fitting:social position, but asking alms from members of Parliament whose credit depends on accurate reporting is certainly not the way to attain it. The design, un-
less confined to the profession itself, is a mistake. •
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