OF THE NEW YORK EVENING SUN.
At the beginning of the present century the newspapers published
in the United States numbered 200--one for each 26,450 of
population--while at the present time the total of regular
publications slightly exceeds 20,000--one for each 350 inhabitants of
the country; and in that growth and development of the business is
represented more of science and art, more of physical ingenuity and
mental activity, than in any other line of human endeavor. One hundred
years ago the publication of a newspaper did not rank as a business,
and the preparation of its contents was regarded as a pastime or the
indulgence of a whim, rather than a profession. At the end of the
century, journalism is the history of the world written day by day,
the chief medium of enlightenment for the masses, the universal forum
of scholar, sage, and scientist. As a business enterprise, the
newspaper of to-day commands unlimited capital, and as a profession it
ranks second to none.
For three centuries and a half following Gutenberg's invention of type
little progress was made in the art of printing, and the production of
a newspaper in this country in 1800 was accomplished with crude
machinery and involved much slow and difficult hand labor. The
printing was done on wooden presses of primitive pattern, the type was
large and ill formed, the paper used was in many cases inferior to the
lowest grade made at the present time, and the production of a large
number of copies of any issue was out of the question. No attempt was
made in this country to publish a daily paper until 1784, and in 1800
daily editions were issued only in four or five of the larger cities.
[Illustration: FROM THE NEW YORK GAZETTE AND GENERAL ADVERTISER OF
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1800.]
[Illustration: FROM THE NEW YORK GAZETTE AND GENERAL ADVERTISER OF
JANUARY 1, 1800.]
[Illustration: A MUNICIPAL NOTICE FROM THE NEW YORK GAZETTE AND
GENERAL ADVERTISER OF JANUARY 1, 1800.]
The publications of that period were not newspapers in the sense in
which the word is now used, because no particular effort was made to
present an account of the happenings of the day. Notices of the
arrival and departure of ships, time tables of mail coaches, and brief
announcements of matters of political interest filled the limited
space devoted to domestic news. Foreign news consisted entirely of
matter reprinted from the English journals received by sailing
vessels, and therefore weeks or months old when it appeared. The
wooden presses used a hundred years ago were operated entirely by
hand. After the type had been set it was placed in a frame or "form,"
with little or no regard to artistic arrangement of headlines or
displayed matter. To print the edition, the "form" was placed on the
bed of the press and ink spread over the type by the use of hand
rollers. The white paper was then dampened with water, sheet by sheet,
laid over the stationary "form," and the impression was made by
pulling down the upper part of the press with a lever. This work was
so slow that a circulation of three or four hundred copies of a daily
newspaper would severely tax the capacity of the press room. The
weekly publications were as a rule limited to about the same figures,
because the entire mechanical part of production devolved upon one
man, who was often owner and editor as well as printer. Some iron
presses were imported from England in 1810, and in 1817 George Clymer,
of Philadelphia, invented a lever press that was a marked improvement
over the crude machines then in general use, reducing the manual labor
required and increasing the speed with which printed papers could be
turned out. The first power press used in this country was invented by
Daniel Treadwell, of Boston, in 1822, and operated by the American
Bible Society, the power being furnished by a team of mules. These
presses were not adapted to newspaper work, and the first considerable
advance in the mechanical part of the business was made in 1829 and
1830, when a Washington hand press was invented. Seventeen years later
a cylinder power press was perfected by Richard M. Hoe, and the
mechanical ability to produce periodicals was more than doubled; but
during the time when American ingenuity developed the steam engine,
the cotton gin, the sewing machine, and the electric telegraph, the
progress made in the mechanism of newspaper making was comparatively
insignificant. The process of stereotyping was introduced into this
country from England in 1813, and a year later the New Testament was
printed from plates, but the discovery was not utilized in the
publication of newspapers until 1861.
[Illustration: ADVERTISEMENTS FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY ADVERTISER OF
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1800.]
[Illustration: The Daily Advertiser of Wednesday, January 1, 1800.]
In the first half of the century journalism did not at any time rank
as a profession requiring special training, and capacity, and the
returns of the counting room were so meager, the cost of material so
high, and the appliances in the mechanical department so imperfect,
that the publication of newspapers rose only by slow degrees to
recognition as a business enterprise in which capital might seek
investment with fair prospect of a satisfactory return. Modeled after
English publications, the early American newspapers depended, for
whatever of reputation or success they achieved, upon the fame and
ability of the editor. The reporting of current events without comment
was a secondary feature of the daily papers, and in the weekly
publications it was not attempted. Before the days of railroads and
prompt and reliable mail service, communication between men in public
life and, in fact, all persons of education, was chiefly by letter.
The custom grew into a fixed habit, and to a large extent influenced
the character of the newspapers published prior to 1850. The editor
addressed himself directly to his readers through long editorials upon
topics in which he was interested, and his publication was in reality
a mere instrument for the expression of opinions. Public men and
politicians were encouraged to write letters for publication upon
public questions, and a long communication from a man of national
reputation was regarded by the editor as matter of far more value to
his journal than any amount of news of the events of the day.
The organization and development of political parties in the early
part of the second quarter of the century resulted in a rapid increase
in the number of newspapers throughout the country. Party leaders
found that they could reach a greater number of citizens by means of
published letters and speeches than by the primitive process of
campaigning by easy stages from one State or county to another. From
writing personal letters to friends in their districts, senators and
representatives in Congress found that they could keep their
constituents better informed of the progress of legislation and
politics by means of signed statements in the press of their
respective States. The party organ and the personal journal were the
immediate natural results of this condition of public life and
politics. Every secular journal supported some political party or
organization without qualification, and there was little or no
independence of the press. The editor found his subscribers among
the members of his own party, and often looked to the organization or
the candidate for financial support. Papers were established and
editors hired by parties, factions, and individual leaders to advocate
some particular plan of finance or tariff, or some general policy for
the nation or State. During this stage of American journalism the
influence of a paper depended largely upon the reputation,
individuality, and force of character of the editor. He needed not to
possess any particular qualification for the work, except a general
knowledge of the affairs on which he was to write and a command of
vigorous language to compel attention to his utterances. For many
years the majority of the periodicals of the country, daily and
weekly, were critical reviews of the events of the time, rather than
mediums for the spread of general information. News of important
happenings at home spread through all the States ahead of the
circulation of the papers, and the people looked to the latter for
review and comment upon events, rather than for detailed accounts of
the occurrences. Foreign affairs, as reported in the English
publications received in this country, took precedence in the
classification of news in the journals of the first half of the
century, and local events, often matters that were subsequently
recognized as of great historical value, were briefly and too often
imperfectly recorded. It is a matter to be regretted that in the days
when American statesmen and orators were making history for the world,
when the new republic, having passed beyond the stage of experiment,
was advancing with prodigious strides toward glorious achievements in
material development, the journals of the country kept but an
imperfect and often inaccurate record of events that should have been
reported in full.
[Illustration: J. Russel's Gazette of Monday, September 1st, 1800.]
During the first forty years of the present century there was no
system of collecting the news for publication, and the capital
invested in the newspaper business was insufficient to permit of any
extra outlay to obtain reports of events occurring at a distance in
advance of the regular mails. Such reports as were obtained were
usually voluntary contributions written by a friend of the editor, and
often colored or distorted according to the prejudice of the writer.
These letters were, almost without exception, semi-editorial in
character, the writers indulging freely in comment and expression of
opinion upon the event they attempted to record, so that no political
or public matter was reported entirely free from partisan coloring.
The drivers of mail coaches, the captains of coastwise or river
vessels, strolling peddlers, lawyers, surveyors, and wandering
missionaries, who made long journeys into the interior and from town
to town, were the news reporters of early days. When they arrived in
a city or town they would tell the latest news from the places they
had visited, and the next issue of the local paper would contain a
story beginning, "The Rev. Mr. Bland, the traveling missionary,
relates," etc., or, "Captain Smith, of the schooner ----, reports
having heard," etc. Information received in this way might relate to
Indian uprisings, fires, floods, crimes, accidents, or political
events; but in every case the published account would be interspersed
with opinions of the narrator and the comments of the editor who
prepared the story for publication. For news of events happening in
the larger cities, the journals of the first half of the century
depended almost entirely on reprinting from exchanges. They had no
regular correspondents anywhere, and a paper published in New York
would reprint from the papers of Boston and Philadelphia such of the
news of those cities as impressed the editor as being of more than
local interest. During the War of 1812, the subsequent Indian wars,
and the conflict with Mexico, news of battles and movements of armies
in the field was obtained by the slow process of waiting for official
reports to the Government or private letters from officers and men at
the front. The Mexican War stimulated the public demand for news,
increased the circulation of newspapers, and did more than any other
event up to that time to arouse the editors of the country to the fact
that the people wanted early and complete information of what was
going on in the world, rather than individual opinions on general
problems. While that struggle was in progress the arrival of the
weekly mail in a remote village was an event of importance. The
inhabitants would gather in large numbers at the post office, and the
meager war news contained in the newspapers would be read aloud. The
postmaster or some subscriber to a paper would often post a copy of
the latest journal in some conspicuous place in the town, and from
that simple beginning there was developed the newspaper bulletin
board, where the public may obtain brief information of great events
before the full report can be put in type.
[Illustration: FROM THE NEW YORK EVENING POST OF NOVEMBER 16, 1801.]
[Illustration: New York Evening Post of Monday, November 16, 1801.]
After the division of the voters of the country into organized
political parties, the tariff, banking and currency, the acquisition
of additional territory, and States rights developed into great
national questions, precipitating prolonged and heated discussion by
the statesmen of that period. This condition stimulated the growth of
a certain class of newspapers, and brought into prominence many
writers of ability. The statesmen and politicians of that time turned
to the press as an available and valuable medium through which to
disseminate arguments. They sought to convince rather than to inform
the public, and the journalism of that period made no substantial
progress except as an instrument for the development and exploitation
of writers of force and influence. Whatever power the press exerted in
shaping events, whatever it accomplished in swaying the public mind in
the days when nullification was scotched and territorial expansion was
accepted as a fixed policy of the majority, should be credited to the
genius and individuality of the leading writers of that time, rather
than to a full presentation of facts. The years of agitation of the
question of slavery still further developed individuality in
journalism. The newspaper became an instrument for educating the
people on certain public questions, and an influence upon public
opinion by means of editorial writing. That was the period of
so-called great editors, of whom Horace Greeley may be mentioned as a
conspicuous example, who made and unmade politicians with their praise
or criticism, who shaped the policy of political parties, controlled
conventions and nominated candidates, changed the current of their
country's history at critical points, and in many ways wielded an
influence in public affairs greater than that of the leading
statesmen. The editor of that time was greater than his newspaper, and
the power of the press was in reality the force of character of the
individual exerted through the instrument within his control.
[Illustration: A BOOKSELLER'S ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE NEW YORK EVENING
POST OF FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1801.]
From 1830 to 1860 the progress made in the mechanical department of
the business was slow and unimportant in comparison with recent
inventions. Cylinder presses came into general use for the printing of
daily papers, but the weekly and monthly publications continued to use
the primitive hand machines. The speed of press-work was still limited
to a few hundred copies per hour, so that an extensive circulation
could not be supplied even if there had been a demand for it. The
white paper used was still made entirely of rags, and most of the
material was imported from Austria and Italy. The cost of production
was high, and few newspapers in the United States were published at a
fair profit. The uncertainty of the financial returns from the
business greatly retarded its development. Inventors found that their
ingenuity would receive more substantial rewards in other fields, and
editors and publishers were rarely practical men who could discover
imperfections in mechanism and suggest improvements in their own
shops. Throughout the first half of the century most of the improved
methods of printing were developed in the establishments of book and
job printers. There new presses and all new mechanical devices were
first installed, and the newspaper followed, instead of leading, in
the work of material progress in the art.
[Illustration: AN EDEN MUSÉE OF 1801. FROM THE NEW YORK EVENING POST
OF DECEMBER 23, 1801.]
To the New York Herald is generally credited the departure from
old-time methods that resulted in the creation of newspapers devoted
entirely to the publication of news, the reporting of the happenings
of the world day by day. The innovation was not well received by the
editors, who believed that the public cared more for opinions than a
record of events. The new method proved popular, however, and the
development of the newspaper from the personal journal and party organ
dates from that time. The founder of the Herald and the new school of
journalism spent money to obtain the news of the world ahead of the
ordinary channels of communication. He established a system of special
couriers, employed correspondents, and made the collection of reports
of events of general interest a matter of first importance in the
business of making a newspaper. Other editors followed the new
movement slowly, and often with much doubt and hesitation, but those
who stood still and refused to supply their readers with the news were
in time compelled to go out of the business.
When the civil war began the new order of journalism had progressed
far enough to create a general demand for a full report of the
progress of that great conflict. All the larger cities of the country
were connected by railroads and telegraph lines, the political
agitation for five years prior to the beginning of hostilities had
aroused the people to a feeling of intense interest in the struggle,
the circulation of the daily papers had increased almost to the limit
of their mechanical capacity, and every condition favored a rapid
development of the business with a certainty of profitable returns.
The leading editors of the country still exerted a far-reaching
influence in public affairs, and they were consulted by the highest
officers of the Government; but the time had come when the people
wanted the news, rather than individual opinions. American genius and
ingenuity responded promptly and adequately to the demand, and from
the time of the civil war the development of the newspaper has been a
marvel of science and art. The telegraph came into general use for the
transmission of news, correspondents and artists were sent to the
front with all the armies, the men employed in Washington to write
their own views of public questions were instructed to send to their
papers only a record of the great events then transpiring around them,
and in a month, or at most a year, American journalism was well
advanced upon a new era of marvelous development. The time when the
opinions, the power in phraseology, or the individuality of one man
could alone make a daily newspaper a financial, literary, or political
success had passed. The press had become an institution, journalism a
profession, and the publication of newspapers a practical business
requiring and rewarding enterprise and sagacity.
With the sudden demand for more papers came rapid progress in the
mechanical department of the business. Double cylinder presses capable
of printing twenty thousand papers an hour were soon perfected,
folding machines came into general use, stereotyping was employed to
save time, labor, and wear of type, white paper was made from wood
pulp at greatly reduced cost, and the progress in all departments of
the business was by leaps and bounds until every demand was more than
supplied and new expectations created. From that time forward
invention kept pace with every increase of circulation. As soon as one
press was found inadequate or imperfect, the manufacturers were ready
to set up a faster and better one. As competition reduced the selling
price of the newspaper, invention supplied every demand for the
material of production at a reduced rate. The impetus to circulation
imparted by the civil war created a new reading public, which rapidly
grew to include every person who could read and a demand for all the
news of the world once created would not be denied. The collection of
news was quickly reduced to a system and perfected, until to-day no
event of importance occurring in any part of the world is omitted from
the daily record of current history.
The great cost of collecting news at the front and transmitting by
telegraph full reports of battles during the civil war caused certain
newspapers in New York city to enter into an arrangement to receive
reports in duplicate and share expenses. Then the cost was further
reduced by selling the news to papers in other cities. That was the
beginning of the Associated Press, a plan of newspaper combination
that ultimately made the buying and selling of news a great commercial
enterprise. Within a few years after the close of the war this system
had been developed until practically all the daily newspapers of the
country were interested in it or subscribers to the news collected and
sold. This feature of the business continued to grow until agencies
for the collection and transmission of news were established
throughout the world. Similar associations were formed in England and
on the continent of Europe, and news exchanged with the American
organization. In the United States the business was developed until
newspapers of particular sections of the country and even those of
single States formed associations on the principle of mutual benefit
for the collection of full reports of all important events within the
territory where they circulated. At the present time the system has
been perfected until the great news agencies of the country receive
reports of important events from every quarter of the globe with a
degree of promptness and accuracy rendered possible only by
thoroughness of organization and the constant exercise of the keenest
intelligence. The collection of all the news of the world would not be
possible under any other plan, but the American newspapers, having
created a demand for the news, were the first to devise a system of
obtaining it promptly at a cost that made possible the publication of
daily papers at a profit in almost every town in the country. Brief
reports of all important events are transmitted by cable or telegraph
to a central office in New York, Washington, or Chicago, where they
are condensed or elaborated, as occasion may require, and then sent
out over special telegraph wires to papers all over the country that
are subscribers to the service. The larger papers of the country,
however, do not rely upon this service alone. They are represented by
special correspondents not only in all the chief cities of the United
States, but in London. Paris, Berlin, and other news centers of the
Old World.