28 MAY 1904, Page 3

The Times has bowed its head to the storm which

now rages in favour of cheaper daily newspapers. Its conductors announce that in future they will send the paper, by an improved system of delivery, to all who order it direct from the office, for £3 a year, a reduction of 23 per cent, upon the present price. We sincerely hope the new system will succeed, for the Times, though it has unfortunately become of late very much of a partisan organ, has dropped its better tradition of impartiality, and can no longer be said accurately to reflect the saner side of public opinion in its editorial articles, is still the most instructive news- paper in existence. No one feels quite well informed till he has seen the issue for the day, with its marvellous wealth of telegrams from every quarter of the world. We fancy, how- ever, that the experiment will be short-lived, and that the proprietors will, after no long delay, adopt the simpler system of a reduction to twopence, which will enable them to tap social strata of whose thickness even they have no idea. The number of householders who will pay a shilling a week for a paper, but will not pay eighteenpence, must be very large.