THE NEW CONTROLLER OF THE "DAILY BTATT,," [To THE EDITOR
Or THE " SPECTATOR."] Sre,—What manner of man is Lord Rothermere, the new chief proprietor of the Daily Mail, the most widely read newspaper in the world? This is a question which will doubtless be asked in many parts of the English-speaking world now that the announcement has been made that Lord Rothermere has acquired his brother's (Lord Northcliffe) holdings in the Associated Newspapers, Limited, the company which runs the Daily Mail, Evening News, and Weekly Dispatch, and therefore now becomes the directing spirit of that great organization. Lord Rothermere is first and foremost a great organizer and an extremely able man of business. Unlike his brother, he is not a great working journalist, although events have decreed that he finds himself the chief proprietor of three of the most widely read newspapers in the English language—the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, and the Sunday Pictorial. Since he started on his Fleet Street career thirty years ago he has always been the business brain which directed the vast enterprises created by Lord Northcliffe and himself.
Indeed, there are many of those acquainted with the early history of the Harmsworth brothers who question whether Lord Northcliffe would ever have been able to achieve the great success he did without the sterling common sense and level judgment of his brother Harold. Be this as it may, together Lord Northcliffe and Lord Rothermore made a wonderful com- bination, the younger brother supplying the qualities which the elder lacked. Lord Northcliffe had tho most profound respect for his brother's opinion, and many times after listening to some scheme he would tell his visitor to "Discuss it with Harold; if he approves. I will agree."
By stating that Lord Rothermere is not primarily a journalist.
I do not mean to imply that he does not understand the news- paper business or that he has not the ability to select the right kind of trained journalists to conduct his newspapers success- fully. But writing and editing newspapers is not the passion with him that it was with Lord Northcliffe.
. If those who worked under Lord Rothermere were asked to compare him with his elder brother I think they would say that he was more human and more accessible and, above all, not so changeable as Lord Northcliffe was. In dealings with Lord Rothermere his employees know just where they are, and that they have to do with a just employer who will always give them a fair -hearing and is not subject to some passing mood or whim. He is regarded with affection by all who work under him, and there can be few higher testimonies. Lord Rothermere has no political ambitions, and he has no desire to make a great political name for himself, while he hates public speaking. He does not care for Press publicity, and to those who meet him for the first time he gives the impression of a bluff and prosperous English country gentleman much interested in agriculture and farming problems. Lord Bother- mere possesses a large estate on the borders of Kent and Sussex, and has become a very successful farmer and fruit-grower.
Ever since his first visit to Canada twenty odd years ago he has been a great believer in that Dominion's future, and he has large interests throughout Canada. For the United States he has a great admiration, and he is always ready to help in any work which aims at making the English-speaking peoples better known to one another. In politics Lord Rothermere is a Liberal, but he owes allegiance to no group, and there is no doubt that the Daily Mail under his direction will continue to pursue its independent course. Above all, Lord Rothermere stands out as the great apostle of economy in Governmental administration, and we may be certain that his influence will always be thrown into the scale against any ambitious projects for increasing British responsibilities in the East or in any other part of the world. Lord Rothermere has always believed in young men, and many of the most responsible positions in his organizations are filled by those well on the right side of forty. He possesses the secret of all great organizers in the free hand which he gives to all who have once won his confidence.
One of Lord Rothermere's greatest achievements was the creation of the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, where the paper on which the Daily Mail and other journals is printed is manufactured, and which is now one of the largest concerns of its kind in the world. It was Lord Rothermere's vision which turned the virgin forests of Grand Falls, in the centre of our oldest colony, into a thriving town of six or seven thousand people in a decade.
There are few more genial hosts or kinder friends than Lord Rothermere. Nowhere is he seen to greater advantage than in the grounds of his charming villa at Cap Martin, where 'he spends a couple of months every year.
During the war Lord Rothermere lost two sons, the only surviving one being Mr. Esmond Harmsworth, the youthful Member for Thanet in the present House of Commons.
As to the future of the Daily Mail under Lord Rothermere's guidance, we may be certain that its influence will in no wise
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