Another scandal about City editors has transpired this week, it
being alleged, in the case of the Lisbon Tramways Company, that the promoters paid sums of money directly to City writers for notices of their project in the daily papers. None of the persons accused are now in the employ of the journals mentioned, and we, there- fore, give no names ; but there has been a great deal too much of this sort of thing for the credit of the London Press. The owners of the daily journals can have no interest in the corruption of their City correspondents, but they ought to take much more stringent precautions than they do. If they cannot find honest men, which we should have thought quite possible, they can at least make contracts, under which they could sue any servant of theirs who took a bribe, for sums that would make bribe-taking a very risky business. A little more liberality, too, would, in many instances, be advisable. It is perfectly sickening to hear of the suffering endured by innocent people because they have trusted representations on business matters made in journals which, on the political side, earn and deserve a character for inflexible independence.
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