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The Psychology of Jingoism

having this immense fund of popular confidence to draw upon, has recklessly abused its trust, pouring misstatements into the public mind. The credulity which swallows new lies from the same sources whence issued the old detested lies, the apparent indifference with which each fresh detection is received, must not deceive us. Public confidence buoyed by passion is slow to fall, but the habit of mistrust once established will grow, until the credit of the press sustains a fatal collapse.

Those papers which have lent themselves to this unscrupulous enterprise are debasing the intellectual currency of print – one of the foulest injuries which can be inflicted upon a civilized nation.

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