Page:The Newspaper and the Historian.djvu/557

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conscious testimony to the universal desire to get at the bottom of things, to have guarantees of the reliability of statements made, to ask for evidence and proof that things are as they seem to be.

The press gives indisputable evidence of the growth of the principle of co -operation . During the war different industries

co-operated in raising war loans, and in promoting the sale of war stamps. “ Working with Uncle Sam " became a persuasive slogan and wide circulation was given the phrase of Secretary Franklin K . Lane's, — “ We are but beginning to learn the art of co-operation in the United States.” 30 Kipling's lines, – “ It is not the guns or armament Or the money they can pay, It's the close co-operation

Thatmakes them win the day,” — recorded the universal belief in the effectiveness of co -operation . The sentences carried by the press , — “ This is heatless Mon

day, " " This is meatless Tuesday,” “ This is wheatless Wednes day,” — were illustrative of the efforts toward national co-opera tion as well as privations entailed by the war, and they are

more impressive in reconstructing the conditions of the time than would have been a statement of the request to forego the use of coal, meat, and wheat.

The press everywhere announced the formation of scores of

alliances, councils, federations, leagues , societies, and unions, all formed to co-operate with the government in the prosecution of the war, as similar alliances to -day exist to promote peace. Collective advertisements 31 and international advertisements are again significant illustrations of the growing spirit of co

operation . The value of certain parts of the press to the future historian may be tested by an examination of the accounts given by

different reporters of any contemporaneous signal event in a

community. How far is it possible to reconstruct from the press 30 New York Tribune , October 24, 1917. 31 An interesting advertisement illustrating this was that of thirty New

York City Chinese restaurants that combined on a page advertisement in the city press, M