Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/464

434 NEWSPAPERS [UNITED STATES. but 3, the oldest of them being The New York Gazette, the publication of which had commenced on the 16th October 1725. Up to that period (1725) Boston and Philadelphia were the only towns possessing a newspaper throughout America. In the middle and southern colonies there were, in 1775, in the aggregate, 10 journals, of which Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina possessed each 2, South Carolina 3, and Georgia 1. The total number of the Anglo-American papers was 34, and all of them were of weekly publication. The New Hampshire Gazette still exists, and is the "father" of the New-England press. In 1810 this State possessed 12 papers -, in 1828, 17; in 1840, 27; in 1850, 32, viz., 22 described as "political," and 10 as "mis cellaneous." The earliest paper established in Vermont was The Green Mountain Postboy, first published in April 1781. In 1850 the number of newspapers was 30, 27 of which are described as "political." Maine possessed in 1850 29, 4 of them of daily publication. Rhode Island had 13, of which 5 were daily; Connecticut had 28, including 7 daily papers; Massachusetts possessed in 1850 no less than 91 newspapers, about two- thirds of them published in Boston. Of the whole number, 22 were of daily and 54 of weekly publication. Pennsylvania had in 1810 71 newspapers; in 1850, 210, with a collective circulation of 338,336 copies; in 1870, 540, with a circulation of 3,419,765 copies; and in 1880, 973, with a circulation of 5,031,061 copies. The Aurora was the most notable of the early Phila delphia papers, next to Franklin s Gazette. Its hostility to Federalism, and to Washington as the main pillar of the Federalists, was violent. The Daily National Gazette, started in 1820, soon became prominent for its union of literature with politics. The earliest journal of Maryland was William Parker s Maryland Gazette, established in 1727, when in all America it had but six existing predecessors. Discontinued in 1736, it was revived in 1745 by Jonas Green, to exist to the present day as the nourishing patriarch of American journals. In Maryland there were, at the census of 1850, 40 newspapers; at that of 1870, 88, with an aggregate circulation of 235,450 copies. In March 1880 its capital, Baltimore, had 4 daily newspapers a number equal to that of Boston, and surpassed only by Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago. New Jersey had no really established newspaper before the Revolution, although the first number of an intended journal was published in 1765, under the title of The Constitutional Gazette, containing matters interesting to Liberty, but no wise repugnant to Royalty. The earliest regular paper was The Neio Jersey Gazette, which began in December 1777. New Jersey in 1850 had 45 newspapers ; in 1870, 122. Virginia, notwithstanding its illustrious precedency, the province of Raleigh, the cradle of Washington, possessed neither newspaper nor printing office until 1736, so that (as respects one-half at least of the wish) there was once a prospect that the devout aspiration of Sir William Berkeley might be realized. "Thank God," said this Virginian governor in 1671, "we have neither free school nor print ing press, and I hope may not have for a hundred years to come." The earliest journal established in the State was The Virginia Gazette, commenced in 1736. The Richmond Inquirer, which started in 1804, early attained a leading position. In 1810 the total number of Virginian papers was 23; in 1828, 37; at the census of 1850, 67; in 1870, 173, with an average total circulation of 198,272 copies. North Carolina had, in 1850, 37 journals, with an aggregate circulation of 25,439 copies; in 1870 it had 64, with 64,820 ; South Carolina in 1870 had 55, with 80,900 ; Georgia 110, with 150,987 of circulation ; Florida 23, with 10,545 ; Alabama 89, with a circulation of 91,165 copies. In New York, the Gazette already mentioned was followed by The Weekly Journal (No. 1, 5th November 1733), still memorable for the prosecution for sedition which it entailed on its printer, John Peter Zenger, and for the masterly defence of the accused by Andrew Hamilton. " The trial of Zenger," said Gouverneur Morris, "was the germ of American freedom." Gaines s Neiv York Mercury was published from 1752 to 1783. Rivington s Royal Gazette was established in 1773, and in the first year of- its existence is said to have attained a circulation of 3600. After the Revolution this paper was continued under the title New York Gazette and Universal Advertiser. The first daily newspaper published in the city or State of New York was The New York Journal and Register, com menced in 1788. In 1810 the aggregate number of papers published within the State was 66, of which 14 belonged to New York city. Ten years later the city press included 8 daily journals, with an aggregate daily circulation of 10,800 copies. No one paper circulated more than 2000, and but two The Evening Post and The Commercial Advertiser attained that number. In 1832 there were 13 daily journals, with a collective daily circulation of 18,200. In 1850 the number of daily papers was 51, with an aggregate annual circulation of 63,928,685. The penny press of America began in New York, and the pioneer was The Daily Sun (No. 1, 23d September 1833), written, edited, set up, and worked off by Benjamin Franklin Day, a journeyman printer. Its circulation at first was 600 copies ; in 1854 its average issue was 36,525 copies. Its success has been described with sufficient significancy as mainly owing to " piquant police reports," at least at the outset. It was afterwards reorganized, and made to take a more vigorous political course, chiefly on the Democratic side. Without increasing its size or chang ing its price, it has thus become one of the most profitable journals in New York. The New York Herald followed in May 1835. Exceptional and eccentric forms of advertisement were persistently used to gain notoriety for the new paper, and its commercial success was great. Within twenty years it had attained a circulation of 36,158 copies, which was at that date about five times the circulation of any London newspaper, The Times only excepted, and the issue has since greatly increased. The Herald is said to be still " the most fickle, coarse, and blustering of American papers," but it is none the less conducted with conspicuous skill and enterprise. It often contains several columns of " exclusive " telegrams, obtained by a lavish outlay. In a single number during 1882, forty columns of original matter appeared. In another number (also of 1882) one hundred columns of advertise ments appeared, containing nearly 4000 several insertions. The one fact explains the other. James Gordon Bennett, the founder, proprietor, and editor of the Herald, gradually yielded its management in the later years of his life to his only son, of the same name, who succeeded to the absolute control on his father s death. The elder Bennett left a large fortune ; and of part of this a noble use was eventu ally made. Besides the expenditure on the world-famous mission in search of Livingstone, a generous but unfor tunate Arctic exploration enterprise was fitted out from the same fund. A popular subscription for the relief of the suffering in Ireland was also started with a gift of a hundred thousand dollars from the Herald. The Neiv York Tribune was established in 1841 by Horace Greeley, who remained its editor and one of its proprietors until his death, shortly after his defeat for the presidency in 1872. It was also, at the outset, a penny paper, but it differed from its cheap rivals in being a vigorous political pro-