"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it.
I can heartily agree with that line, but as to the rest of it I could not be sure without reading the context to learn exactly what he means byWe are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."Exactly who, and what perspective, does he claim are the secret evil suborners of perjury? If it is the Associated Press and the owners of the newspapers, he has a point. If it is advertisers, I hold the opinion that they are more victims of a protection racket than evil preventers of the publication of the truth. Look at the infamous exploding truck on, I believe, ABC. The producers of the "documentary" torched the gas tank to cause the fuel to flare up - and even then, they ended on a freeze-frame when the flame was at its maximum dramatic appearance, before the fire went out without consuming the truck.
My reading of it indicates that those are EXACTLY who he is talking about - the signers of the pay checks - but I could be wrong.