"Backstairs Gossip"

Honor among thieves exists only when it is enforced by the menace of mutual guilt. Righteousness among thieves, on the other hand, is chiefly conspicuous when one cutpurse can better himself by loudly proclaiming the iniquity of his rival or accomplice. This inversion, found among the practitioners of many trades, was illustrated last week by a scuffle between two Manhattan sheetlets--the Danly Mirror and The New York Evening Graphic.

The Mirror, seeing the illimitable controversial possibilities in the rumor of the engagement of a millionaire Hebrew songwriter to the daughter of a Roman Catholic "rich man," made this rumor a fact, announced the engagement of Miss Ellin Mackay, daughter of Charles H. Mackay, to Composer Irving Berlin. It added that the Pope had granted his dispensation.

Thereupon the unsullied Graphic blazed like another Galahad to the defense of Truth, stated that "creating a sensation out of backstairs gossip . . . dragging in one of New York's leading citizens and his daughter" is not the kind of journalism the Graphic believes in. "It believes in fighting for the Truth." With this jobation appeared a cartoon in which a youth in negligee, mounted on an ice-horse, scored the legend NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH on the boarding of an empty lot. It was entitled "Our Motto."

The Mirror retaliated by printing a cable from Rome which substantiated its first announcement, described how, "in the morning Mr. Berlin motored to the estate of a wealthy Long Island friend. Miss Mackay joined him there for lunchtime. Later in the day, the couple were seen strolling hand in hand. . . ."

Next day, in the Graphic appeared the head: A FAKE NAILED TO THE MAST. Under it was a United Press cable denying that the Pope had granted, or been petitioned for, any dispensation for Mr. Berlin, Miss Mackay. Said the Graphic: "The Jews are a great people and the Catholic Church has the respect of the world. Any newspaper which uses its columns to stir up strife between Jews and Catholics should dismantle its presses and nail the crape of despair on its door. This country is beyond cellar journalism."

Said Mr. Mackay: "His Holiness Pope Pius has never been asked to sanction a marriage between any daughter of mine and the person referred to. . . . I have never sought nor held an interview with that gentleman, nor have I ever seen him. . . ."

Said Mr. Berlin: "The story of our engagement seems to be based on my writing What'll I do? and All Alone. . . . It has always been assumed, after I have written a ballad, that I have been through some heart-breaking experience. But the real reason is that the public would rather buy tears than smiles. . . . There is only one* I ever wrote about my own experience. . . . I am not engaged to anybody except Sam Harris. .

* When I Lost You, a ballad written in 1913 after the death of his wife, Dorothy Goetz. Berlin was then 25.