HE late Sir Oliver Mowat declared at one of the functions he attended a few months before his death, that the profession of journalism, as it obtains in Canada, is one of the most useful and most attractive professions with which he came in contact during his public career. Prof. Bryce in his work. on America says the press owes its power to three sources: its narrators, its collectors, and its weathercocksto the last source its chief influence. Lieutenant-Governor Kirkpatrick at the annual dinner of the Canadian Press Association in 1893, in quoting this statement, said that Mr. Bryce might so judge the press of the United States, but as for the Canadian press its influence was much more largely due to the first two sources named. As collectors of news; as reporters of every passing incident, and emphasizing the progress of the country, the Canadian press stands distinguished for its zeal and industry. As advocates of political opinions our newspapers and journals are characterized by a fearlessness and an ability most creditable to all connected therewith, as well as to the country itself. In fact, the Canadian press embodies in

In

Mr. Moore, who at the request of the editor prepared the accompanying paper, is specially well qualified to render the service. He is himself a veteran editor and proprietor of one of the ablest, best printed and handsomest weekly journals in Canada. He has had the honor of being president of the Canadian Press Association, and is a fine type of a progressive Canadian journalist.-ED.

a clear and concentrated form the general progress and position of the people.

Canadian papers are by no means perfect, yet the press, as a whole, is far broader in view and has a wider knowledge of world politics than that of the United States. This is a natural result of our Imperial position, and the consequent associations, and is a feature worthy more than a passing thought. Upon the whole, the press of Canada is a great influence for good citizenship and higher ideals. It is, notwithstanding adverse criticism in some quarters, proving more and more the beacon to light the way to the highest and best development of national and industrial life.

The leading journals of the country to-day are well written, increasingly moderate in tone, surprisingly non-sectarian for a country of divided religions, highly moral in principle, and fairly free from the sensationalism which is so objectionable in those countries where "yellow" journalism panders to tastes morbid and unnatural. And all this may, in large degree, be said of the newspapers in general throughout the Dominion.

It is gratifying that the material position of the press of Canada is steadily improving. The past has been a struggle against adverse circumstances and difficulties only appreciated fully when it is remembered that ours is a new country bordering for three thousand miles upon the possessions of a great national competitor whose alien influence has been difficult to overcome. The present is

marked by almost every element of progress in a right direction.

Some one has said that the conditions and influence of the press of a country is an accurate indication of that country's advancement. The fact that Canada possesses so many prosperous and influential newspapers, circulating so widely and extending over so great an area, is therefore an index of this country's progress. Our newspapers are manifesting to the outside world how extensive is the field and how great its possibilities.

In his annual address at the session of the Canadian Press Association in February, President John A. Cooper, editor of The Canadian Magazine, laid special emphasis on the progress and influence of the press of Canada. He said in part: "It may be permissible for one who has served ten consecutive years on the executive of this Association, to make some comments on the growth of journalism in the past decade. It is not necessary to prove to this gathering that there has been steady progress in the journalism of the world. In Canade there has also been decided and

notable progress. The number of the daily papers has increased about twenty-five per cent., but the combined circulation has increased in a much greater proportion. The quality and quantity of the matter have also shown. an advance, while the mechanical features are notably superior. Viewed either as a commercial enterprise or as a moral and political force, the Canadian daily of the present is vastly superior to that of ten years ago. The news service is better, its earning power has greatly increased, and its expenditure for editorial and reportorial service has shown equal expansion. The social position of the journalist. to-day is quite equal to that of any other profession."

Another feature, and one more marked in this country than in any other in the world, is the increase in the number of towns where newspapers are published. The rapid settlement of Canada's great heritage in the west, has almost doubled the number of publications issued in Manitoba, the Territories and British Columbia. The centre of gravity of Canadian journalism is moving westward, and it is an open question whether the great newspaper of the Dominion ten years hence will be published in Montreal, Toronto or Winnipeg.

A comparative statement, showing the number of publications in Canada. in 1891 and the number published in 1905, compiled for this article from McKim's Canadian Newspaper Directory just issued, will vividly illustrate the progress referred to:

a great nation. It has the opportunity to pour its ceaseless influence through city, town, village, and hamlet, and is embracing the opportunity fearlessly and intelligently.

By its continuous diffusion of news and expression of opinion on current events it widens the horizon of the people's sympathies, and enables them to avert a thousand evils and to promote a thousand blessings in a way which was impossible in earlier days.

One of the greatest functions of modern journalism, and markedly of Canadian journalism, is to discover and express that public opinion which is so powerful in all civilized communities. Every really capable editor has convictions and uses his journal to impress these convictions upon his readers. And the weekly paper is at no disadvantage with respect to the manufacture of public opinion, because the daily is hastily scanned and then thrown aside; the editorials often producing but slight effect, while the weekly or monthly is taken up over and over again, and in leisure moments and convenient times, and is thus more carefully read and digested.

As an educational agency the press of Canada has also its opportunities. It instructs all classes; deals with all subjects, and pours light upon the doings of all. It manifests a growing tendency to magnify the good, and expose the bad in such a way as not to fire lust nor feed greed, but to abash the evil-doer and to kindle hatred against his conduct.

The press alone makes public interests its own. "What is everybody's business is nobody's business"-except the journalist's; it is his by adoption.

He holds officials to their duty; he promotes every hopeful plan of progress; he brings all classes, all professions together, and teaches them to act in concert on the basis of their common citizenship.

In his admirable brochure, "The Power of Public Opinion," by Joseph Pulitzer, in answer to the criticisms of the utility of his benefaction in establishing the School of Journalism in Columbia University, he says: "Nothing less than the highest ideals, the most scrupulous anxiety to do right; the most accurate knowledge of the problems it has to meet, and a sincere sense of its moral responsibility, will save journalism from subservience to business interests, seeking selfish ends antagonistic to the public welfare. Once let the public come to regard the press as exclusively a commercial business and there is an end of its moral power. Influence cannot exist without public confidence. must rest in the end on the character of the journalist. The editor, the real journalist of the future, must be a man of such known integrity that he will be above the suspicion of writing or editing against his convictions. It would be well if the editor of every newspaper were also its proprietor; but every editor can be the proprietor of himself."

It

Happily, the great majority of our Canadian journalists realize this responsibility, are ready to be true to the best interests of the country and its people, and whether owner of the journal he edits or not, the average Canadian journalist is "proprietor of himself."

As we meet and touch each day
The many travellers on their way,
Let every such brief contact be
A glorious, helpful ministry!

The contact of the soil and seed, Each giving to the other's need, Each helping on the other's best, And blessing each as well as blest.

those luckless willows which are being more thoroughly despoiled of their branches every year, or the acacias, which fill the whole town with their perfume in the spring. Open to the street were the shops of bakers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, with innumerable wine shops, where brandy made from plums, called tzuica, was sold-dingy little places, from the gloomy depths of which looked out men with brigandlike figures, but mild eyes and a melancholy smile. The nearer member that the writer is the Queen of Rou

in those days, and presented animated scenes on its banks such as would have delighted poets and artists. People bathed in the beautiful mud in pellmell fashion, the children splashed about with shouts of delight, the water-carriers led their animals into

mania, the poetess, who took the nom de plume of Carmen Sylva in memory of her birthplace, the wood-encircled castle of Mon Repos. The daughter of Herman, Prince of Wied, and Maria, Princess of Nassau, Carmen Sylva was brought up in a refined and sheltered home. Married on November 15th, 1869, to the lover of her choice, Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, who had been elected ruler of the united principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1866, Princess Elizabeth made the entry into the

the stream, wading knee-deep themselves as they filled their barrels. And in the deepest part of the ooze you could see huge forms moving about in confusion; grayish bodies with patches bald of hair, looking like hippopotami in the distance, though the capital she so graphically describes when she had been a bride but a few days. Since then she was long the verv centre and heart alike of the popular and intellectual life of her adopted country, founding clubs for the poor, herself teaching in the schools, translating books into the Roumanian language, gathering about her at court all that is best and noblest in Eastern Europe. During the bloody campaign of 1877 her palace was converted into a hospital, and many a life was saved by her unwearying care.