THE MYSTERIOUS MR. “OBSERVER”

In Prehistoric Days, when one man hied himself from his cave to impress his ideas upon another the persuasion used took the form of a wallop on the head with a stone axe. It was the age of Individual Opinion. But as Man hewed his way upward along Time’s tangled trails personal opinions began to jog along together in groups, creating Force. With the growth of populations and the invention of printing this power was called Public Opinion and experience soon taught the folly of ignoring it.

In the course of human aspiration Somebody who had a Bright Mind got the notion that in order to get his own way without fighting the crowd all he had to do was to educate the “Great Common Pee-pul” to his way of thinking and by sowing enough seed in public places up would come whatever kind of crop he wanted. Thus, by making Public Opinion himself he would avoid the hazard of opposing it. The name of this Sagacious Pioneer of Special Privilege who manufactured the first carload of Public Opinion is lost to posterity; all that is known about him is that he was a close student of the Art of concealing Artifice by Artlessness and therefore wore gum rubbers on his feet and carried around a lot of Presents to give away.

It is quite possible to direct the thought of Tom-Dick-and-Harry. A skillful orator can swing a crowd from laughter to anger and back again. The politician who prepares a speech for a set occasion builds his periods for applause with every confidence. But it was to the public prints that they who sought the manufacture of Public Opinion were in the habit of turning.

There has always been something very convincing about “cold print.” The little boy believes that the cow really did jump over the moon; for isn’t it right there in the nursery book with a picture of her doing it? And despite the disillusionments of an accelerated age many readers still cherish an old-time faith in their favorite newspaper a faith which is a relic of the days when the freedom of the press was a new and sacred heritage and the public bought the paper to learn what Joseph Howe, George Brown, Franklin, Greeley or Dana thought about things. This period gave place gradually to the great modern newspaper, the product in some cases of a publishing company so “limited” that it thought mostly in terms of dollars and cents and political preferments.

When the cub reporter rushed in to his city editor with eyes sparkling he cried out enthusiastically:

“Gee, I’ve got a peach of a story! Old John Smith’s daughter’s eloped with the chauffeur. She’s a movie fan and

But it did not get into the paper for the very good reason that “Old John” was the proprietor of the big departmental store which took a full-page advertisement in every issue the year around. The editor would have used it soon enough, but the business office !

Then there was the theatrical press-agent, a regular caller with his advance notices and free electros of coming attractions, his press passes.

“Give us a chance, old man,” he pleaded, perhaps laying down a good cigar. “Say, that was a rotten roast you handed us last week.”

“Yes, and it was a rotten show!” the editor would retort. “I saw it myself.”

The telephone rings, maybe the business office again.

“The Blank Theatre have doubled their space with us, Charlie. Go easy on ’em for awhile, will you?”

The floor around the editor’s desk was scuffed by the timid boots of the man who wanted his name kept out of the paper and the sure tread of the corporation representative who wanted his company’s name mentioned on every possible occasion. Business interests, railway corporations, financial institutions many of these had a regular department for the purpose of supplying “news” to the press. Some American railroads finally took to owning a string of papers outright, directly or indirectly, and one big Trust went so far as to control a telegraphic news service.

In fact, to such a pass did things come in the United States that the exploitation of the press became a menace to public interest and a law was passed, requiring every publication to register the name of its proprietor; in the case of corporate ownerships the names of the shareholders had to be filed and the actual owners of stock held in trust had to be named also. This information had to be printed in every issue and the penalties for suppression or falsification were drastic.

No such law was passed in Canada, although the reflection of the situation in the United States cast high lights and shadows across the northern boundary. Partizan politics were rife in Canada and too often have party “organs” and “subsidies” dampered down the fires of independence in the past. A few journals, however, even in the days before the great changes of the War, placed a jealous guard upon their absolute freedom from trammelling influences and to-day they reap the reward of public confidence.

While not a newspaper, the Grain Growers’ Guide was a highly specialized journal for the Western farmer, aiming frankly at educating him to be the owner of his land, his produce, his self-respect and his franchise; to make him self-thinking and self-reliant and to defend him from unjust slurs.

The editorial responsibility of carrying out such a programme in the face of existing conditions required a well chosen staff. In Roderick McKenzie, then Secretary of the Manitoba Grain Growers’ Association, the farmers had an editor upon whose viewpoint they could depend; for he was one of themselves. But lacking practical experience in newspaper work, it was necessary to secure an Associate Editor who would figure largely in the practical management of the publication. McKenzie was finding that his duties as Secretary of the Association were becoming too heavy for him to attempt editorial services as well; so that not long after the appointment of an Associate Editor he decided to devote his whole time to his official duties.

In its selection of a young man to take hold the Guide was fortunate. George Fisher Chipman was not only a very practical newspaper man to meet the immediate needs of the young journal, but he was capable of expanding rapidly with his opportunities. Well versed in the economic problems of the day, he was known already in many magazine offices as a reliable contributor upon current topics. He was well poised and, as legislative reporter for the Manitoba Free Press, Chipman had made something of a reputation for himself on both sides of the political fence as a man who endeavored to be fair and who upheld at all times the traditional honor of the press.

By training and inclination Chipman was in complete sympathy with the Farmers’ Movement in Western Canada. Away east, in the Valley of Evangeline, near Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, he was brought up on a farm, learning the farmers’ viewpoint as afterwards he came to know that of the big men in the cities. He believed in co-operation, his father having been a leader in every farmers’ organization in Nova Scotia for more than twenty years.

It was not long before the young editor’s influence made itself manifest in the official paper of the Western farmers. He saw many ways of improving it and organizing it for the widest possible service in its field. Editorially he believed in calling a spade a spade and, being free from political restrictions, Chipman did not hesitate to “get after” politicians of all stripes whenever their actions seemed to provide fit subject for criticism.

By the time the Commission Rule difficulty arose the Guide had increased its weekly circulation by many thousands. The new editor seized the opportunity for “active service” and waged an effective campaign. The Grain Exchange finally restored the One-Cent Commission Rule and never since has it been dropped.

Meanwhile, however, hostilities broke out anew in an unexpected direction. They took the form of “letters” to the press and they began to appear in five papers which were published in Winnipeg two newspapers and three farm journals. Concealing his identity under the nom-de-plume, “Observer,” the writer attacked the Grain Growers’ Grain Company and the men at the head of it. Declaring himself to be a farmer, Mr. “Observer” endeavored to discredit the farmers’ trading organization by casting suspicion upon its motives and methods of business. As letter followed letter it became evident that the object in view was to stir up discontent among the farmers with the way their own agency was being conducted.

After issuing a single, dignified and convincing refutation of these attacks, the Company ignored the anonymous enemy. But the gauntlet was picked up by the Grain Growers’ Guide. It lay right at the editor’s feet. Chipman recognized a direct challenge and did not propose to drop the matter with a denial in the columns of his paper even with a dozen denials. His old reportorial instinct was aroused. Who was this mysterious “Observer”? Why was he going to so much trouble as to launch a systematic campaign? One thing was certain he was NOT a farmer!

All good newspaper reporters have two qualifications well developed; they are able to recognize news values having “a nose for news,” it is called and they are able to run down a “story” with the instinct of a detective. G. P. Chipman had been a good reporter a good police reporter particularly. He had the detective’s instinct and it did not take him long to recognize that he was facing a situation which could be uncovered only by detective work.

In the first place, he reasoned, the letters were too cleverly written so cleverly, in fact, that they could be the product of a professional writer only, most likely a Winnipeg man. This narrowed the search at once. By process of elimination the list of possible “Observers” was soon reduced to a few names. It was an easy matter to verify the suspicion that the “letters” were paid for at advertising rates and the question uppermost became: “Who are the greatest beneficiaries of these attacks?”

“The elevator interests, of course!” was Chipman’s answer to his own question. He began to make progress in his investigations and before long he became very much interested in an office which happened to be located in the Merchant’s Bank Building, Winnipeg. Here a certain bright newspaper man with some farming experience had taken to business as a “Financial Agent” telephone, stenographer and all the rest of the equipment.

So sure was Chipman that he was on the right track in following this clue that finally he shut the door of his private office and wrote up the whole story of the “deal” which he expected to have been made between certain elevator men and this clever editorial writer who knew so much about money that he had opened up a Financial Agency. With the whole “exposure” ready for publication and the photograph of the “suspect” handy in a drawer of the desk, Chipman asked the “Financial Agent” to call at the Guide office.

“Thought you might like to look over that copy before we use it,” explained the editor casually when his visitor’s pipe was going well. He handed the write-up across his desk. “I want to be fair and there might be something

There decidedly was! a number of things, in fact! Not the least of them was the utter surprise of the pseudo Financial Agent. He did not attempt to deny the truth of the statements made for publication.

According to the story which he told the editor of the Guide, it had been the original intention to have these “letters to the press” signed by leading elevator men themselves; but when it was decided to hire an expert press agent to mould public opinion in such a way as to offset the “onesidedness” of the farmers’ movement, none of the elevator men cared to assume the publicity. The name, “Observer,” would do just as well. A committee was organized to direct and supervise the work of the press agent and the chairman of this committee conducted the negotiations with the newspaper man who was to undertake the preparation of the “letters” and other material.

By the terms of his contract the press agent was to be paid in equal monthly instalments at the rate of $4,000 per year, with a contract for two years. For this he was to write letters which would turn public opinion against this Grain Growers’ Grain Company, which was getting so much of the farmers’ grain, and minimize the growth of sentiment in favor of government ownership of internal and terminal elevators. These communications he was to have published in the various papers of Winnipeg and the West. Such was the story.

The better to conceal the wires beneath this publicity campaign and the identity of the writer, Mr. “Observer” opened his office as a Financial Agency and became a subscriber to the Grain Growers’ Guide one paper, of course, which could not be approached for the purpose in view. It was necessary, nevertheless, to clip and file the Guide very carefully for reference; hence the subscription.

The space used by the “correspondence” was paid for at regular advertising rates. The advertising bill each week amounted to about $150. But one factor in the success of the plan had been overlooked the influence of the Guide. No sooner had the official paper of the Grain Growers pointed out the situation to its readers and suggested that papers which accepted material antagonistic to the farmers’ cause were no friends of the farmers no sooner was this pointed out than letters began to arrive in batches at the offices of all the papers which were publishing the “Observer” attacks. Most of these letters cancelled subscriptions and so fast did they begin to come that one after another the papers refused to publish any more “Observations,” paid for or not.

For unknown reasons it was decided to call off the attempt to create public opinion against government ownership of elevators and with the letters aimed at the farmers’ trading activities being refused publication, the employers of “Observer” had no further work for him to do.

As they were still paying his interesting salary each month, they offered him $1,500 to tear up his contract, he said. But with more than a year and a half still to run over $6,000 coming to him Mr. “Observer” had a certain affection for that contract. Fifteen hundred dollars? Pooh, pooh! He would settle for well, say So-Much.

“You’re talking through your hat!” scoffed his employers in effect.

“It’s a six-thousand-dollar hat!” smiled “Observer” pleasantly.

“Well, we won’t pay any such lump sum as you say,” virtually declared his employers, not so pleasantly.

“Just as you wish, gentlemen. I’ll wait, then, and draw my salary $333.33 1/3 every month, according to contract. I know you don’t want me to sue for it; because we’d have to air the whole thing in the courts and there would be a lot of publicity. So we’ll just let her toddle along and no hard feelings.”

He got his money.

The alleged attempt of these elevator men, whether with or without the sanction of their associates, to make public opinion by means of the “Observer” letters began in the fall of 1909. It lasted but a few weeks.