The Newspaper and the Historian

by Lucy Maynard Salmon

THE NEWSPAPER AND THE HISTORIAN

BY

LUCY MAYNARD SALMON

 

"Is there anything in the paper, Sir?"

"Anything in the paper! All the world is in the paper. Why, Madam , if you will but read what is written in the Times of this very day, it is enough for a year's history, and ten times as much meditation ."—Thackeray.

 

NEW YORK

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 WEST 32ND STREET

LONDON , TORONTO, MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY

1923

Copyright, 1923
By Oxford University Press
American Branch

 

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

MEMORIAE

A. J. ET H. J.

FILIAE PATRISQUE

PREFACE

Peccavi should be the opening word of many prefaces. A consciousness of much left undone that ought to have been done, and of much done that ought not to have been done, detracts from the pleasure that otherwise might have been felt in passing from one piece of work to another. But the delinquent and offender may at least be heard in his own defense, and state what his object has and has not been.

The object of writing this book has been to discover if possible the advantages and the limitations of the periodical press, especially the newspaper, considered as historical material, and thus to determine the extent of its usefulness to the historian in his efforts to reconstruct the past. It therefore attempts to give an analysis of the component parts of the press, with a sufficient number of examples to illustrate or to justify the conclusions that have been deduced.

It is not the object of the book to give a history, even a fragmentary one, either of the newspaper or of journalism. It is not to be considered a brief for the press, or an indictment of the press, ore a "presentation of both sides of the case"; in a sense, it does not concern itself at all with the press, since the person ultimately in mind has been the student of history. But while it shows the pitfalls the historian must encounter in his use of the newspaper, it may also incidentally indicate how unnecessary has been the alarm constantly raised through the blanket arraignment of the press, and how inherent are the dangers found in the general statement.

The present volume considers the essential characteristics of the newspaper as they affect the historian and as they are made known by the newspaper itself, unaffected by official control. It considers the press only on its esoteric side. If in the discussion of the relations of the newspaper and the historian the newspaper has occupied the foreground, it is hoped that it will be found that all lines have converged on the historian in the background.

Many extracts from the newspapers themselves have been given since the newspaper is both consciously and unconsciously its own best record of its aimsand its methods of attaining them. Since it is essential to the purpose of the book to consider testimony, to weigh evidence, and to arrive at decisions, it is necessary to hear the evidence given by the press itself. A large number of the citations have been taken from the New York City papers, in part for reasons of convenience, and in part because news-collecting associations have standardized news, and advertising clubs and fashion have in a measure standardized advertisements. Illustrative newspapers, however, from practically every state in the Union, and many from other countries, have been examined, and it is thus hoped that no undue basis will be found for the charge of generalizing from insufficient data.

A companion volume now in press is entitled The Newspaper and Authority. This considers the advantages and the limitations of the press considered with reference to external control. The questions of regulation of the press, all forms of censorship of the press, freedom of the press, libel laws, press bureaus, press publicity, and press propaganda suggest conditions where the press is limited by an authority outside of itself. This exoteric side of the press and all its relations to external authority must be examined by the historian as well as the limitations arising from conditions within the press itself.

My obligations to others seem out of all proportion to the results visible in the book. They include a group of colleagues and friends, V. Barbour, L. F. Brown, E. Ellery, I. C. Thallon, and C. M. Thompson, all of whom have read the manuscript wholly or in part, and have at all times lent a listening ear as each new interest in the subject has developed. A group of friends, M. L. Berkemeier, R. L. Lowrie, H. Rottschaefer, and E. M. Rushmore, have given untiring help in the collection of material. Friends have sent to the Vassar College Library special copies of newspapers from all over the world; they can not all be named individually, but special gratitude goes to K. B. Béziat for newspapers from France covering a wide range of in terests and localities during 1914–1915; to Charles Upson Clark for copies of Italian papers during the war; to Burges Johnson for the material collected for the Vassar College Library in 1918; and to A. L. Walker for many consecutive numbers and special copies of Greek newspapers. H. M. Bartlett and M. Newcomer have contributed copies of inscriptions in London in memory of British war correspondents. C. Saunders has been a friendly adviser.

Special acknowledgment must gratefully be made to L. F. Brown for the preparation of the Biographical Notes and to Henry S. Fraser for making the Index and reading the proof. My obligations to F. G. Davenport, M. Relf, E. Rickert, Frank G . Royce, A. Underhill, B. C. Wilcox, and President Henry Noble MacCracken have been great and constant.

The courtesy of librarians in arranging inter-library loans has made possible the use of books loaned the Vassar College Library from the libraries of Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, and Yale Universities, the New Bedford Free Public Library, the New York State Library, and the Library of Congress. Frequent use has also been made of the important collections of the New York Public Library. An abiding sense of appreciation for such kindnesses must remain with every one who has had similar opportunities.

All those to whom acknowledgment has directly or indirectly been made are absolved from all responsibility for errors of omission or commission; the ultimate liability for such errors must rest with the writer alone. The closing word must be peccavi.

L. M. S.

Poughkeepsie, New York,
April 23, 1923.

Contents

Introduction
Page
The use of periodical literature as an historical source		xxxvii
Its legitimacy not yet unquestioned		xxxviii
Demand of historian for authoritative material		xxxviii
Standards of authoritativeness for other classes		xxxix
No standard of authoritativeness for the press		xxxix
Skepticism in regard to credibility of the press		xxxix
Reasons for skepticism		xxxix
Recent more favorable attitude of historians		xl
How far can the press be considered authoritative		xl
Analysis of press into component parts		xli
Tests to be applied to separate parts		xli
Importance of contemporary material		xli
How far is the historian justified in considering the press authoritative material		xlii

 

Chapter I
The Development of the Newspaper
Universal desire for news		1
Means of gratifying it in Greece		2
The Roman journal		2
The early Gauls		3
Les nouvellistes		3
Nouvelles à la main		4
The English coffee house		5
News letters in the provinces		5
The news letter in Scotland		6
Paper criers and caddies		6
Broadsides		7
Bulletin boards		8
The town crier		8
Plantation guests		8
News facilities in New England		8
Distribution of news on the Continent		8
Genesis of the newspaper in England		9
Renaudot and the Gazette de France		9
Creed of Renaudot		10
Development of modern newspaper		10
Accretion of new interests		10
Decline of "the scoop"		11
Undertakings abroad		11
Collective activities of the press		12
Activities of a single newspaper		12
Early activities of the Athenæum		13
Important expeditions financed by the press		13
A twentieth century daily		13
Activities of Renaudot		14
Early efforts to stimulate circulation		14
Prizes and medals		14
Effect of inventions on growth of the press		15
Manufacture of paper		15
Facilities for distribution		16
Increase in influence of the press		16
Growth of business management		16
Dangers feared from this		17
Increased circulation both cause and result		17
Newspaper no longer a personal organ		17
The press groups society and unifies groups		17
Specialized groups		18
Press exploits group hostility		18
Religious journalism		19
Lord Acton and the Roman Catholic press		19
F. D Maurice and the religious press		19
Orthodoxy and heterodoxy in America		20
Regroupings in the religious press		21
Problems of religious and of political press different		21
Similar tendencies in the political press		21
New interests demand new channels of expression		22
Society journals		23
Amateur journals		23
College journalism		24
Journalism of the trench		24
Early journals for troops		24
Early journalism of women		25
Labor journals		26
Foreign language press		26
Journalism of undeveloped groups		26
Prison journalism		26
Fluctuating interests reflected in the press		27
Widening interests recorded by press		27
Syndicated articles		28
Changes in character of the press		28
Undue emphasis on abnormal events		28
Mr. Dooley on the news		29
Personal journalism		30
The yellow press		30
Changes in relative importance of various parts of press		31
Connection of the newspaper with the past		32
Changes important for historian		32
The newspaper and expansion of interests		32
Party journalism		33
Appearance of the Times		33
The independent press		34
Effect of education on the press		34
Function of newspaper changing		34
Newspaper repeats experience of museum of natural science		35
And of public library		35
And of method of writing history		35
Newspaper records its own times		36
Historian must examine sources of news		36
Press in part records these sources		36
Records imperfectly governmental control		36
Increasing complexity of the press		37
Historian must consider these transformations		37
Different tests for authoritativeness for different classes		38
Difference between the press and journalism		38
Changing tendencies in the press do not lessen its value for the historian		39
Chapter II
The Newspaper as a Personality
Personality eludes definition		40
Elements contributing to personality		40
External features of the newspaper		40
Beliefs and opinions of the newspaper		41
Business habits of the newspaper		42
Ideals expressed in mottoes adopted		43
Appeals made to readers		44
Daily observations		45
Creeds		46
Names of newspapers		47
Names indicating functions		48
Changes in name		49
Favorite names in different countries		50
Nicknames given to newspapers		50
Nicknames given by newspapers		50
Emblems used by the press		51
Headlines		51
Price		52
Sense of proportion		53
Changing standards of conventionality		53
Cartoons		54
Early discourtesy of the newspaper		54
The Covent-Garden Journal		54
Personal abuse common		55
Dickens on abuse in American papers		55
De Tocqueville on American journalists		55
Matthew Arnold on personality of American press		55
Walt Whitman on the press		56
Ill temper of newspapers		56
Provincial spirit		56
Independence of view		56
"Letters to the editor"		57
These characteristic of American and British press		58
"Answers to correspondents"		59
The Athenian Gazette		59
John Dunton and Defoe		59
Infallibility of the press		60
Omniscience of the press		60
"The Dogma of Journalistic Inerrancy"		60
"A saving sense of humor"		61
Charles Lamb and his "sixpenny jokes"		61
Professional humorists		61
"The colyum"		61
Personality seen in questions selected or omitted		62
Special editions		63
Differences in personality of metropolitan and of country press		63
Contrasts in personality of dailies, weeklies, and monthlies		63
Personality affected by personality of editor		64
But personality of paper independent of editor		64
Eccentric newspapers		65
Interest in such papers psychological rather than historical		65
Anonymity as an element in personality		65
Tendency towards signature		66
Signature favors pamphleteering		66
Explanation of change in tendency		66
Zola on signature		67
French law requiring signature		67
Effect of this in France		67
Effect of signature on personality of press		68
Advocates for and against signature		68
Schopenhauer on anonymity		69
Daily and weekly press accept signature in part		70
Monthlies and quarterlies accept signature wholly		70
John Morley on signature		70
Experiments of The Unpopular Review		70
Effect of controversy on periodical press		71
Authoritativeness as affected by anonymity or signature		71
National preferences		71
The press an organ or a forum		72
The "wegotism" of the press		73
Comparative merits of both systems		73
"Have Papers Souls?"		73
Efforts to determine personality by comparing relative proportions of subjects		73
Matthew Arnold and the personality of the Times		74
Historian must understand personality of periodicals used		74
Chapter III
Guarantees of Probability
General constitutional guarantees		75
Specific guarantees of federal government		75
Federal post office and the press		76
State laws affording guarantees		77
Federal government the authority for information		77
State governments responsible for information		77
Responsibility of local governments		77
Guarantees under normal conditions		77
Guarantees afforded by press itself		78
Regulations of press for protecting readers		78
Explicit guarantees given		79
Guarantees as a business enterprise		80
Guarantees given advertisers		81
Information guaranteed by the press		82
Guarantees afforded by business interests		83
The church responsible for religious notices		83
Responsibility of educational authorities		83
Health boards a source of information		84
Responsible organizations behind information		84
Permanent sources of information		84
Importance of guarantees in using the press		84
Chapter IV
The Press and Other Activities
PAGE
"No man liveth unto himself"		85
Expansion of classes of material used by the historian		85
Connection between press and government		85
Specific questions involved		86
Official patronage		86
Advertisements		87
Political office and the press in France		87
Political honors in England		88
Financial rewards for the press		89
Effect of government connection on authoritativeness		89
Party organs declining		90
General effect of connection between press and governmental parties		90
Relation between press and Church		91
Explanation of relation		91
Mutual dependence of press and Church		92
Compromise on disagreements between the two		92
Effect of mutual relation on authoritativeness of the press		93
Effect where Church is independent		93
Effect of an established Church		93
Effect of still different conditions in America and France		94
The newspaper and public health		95
Press supports certain conditions of health		95
Cautious on other sides of public health		96
Caution needed by historian		96
The press in the industrial world		97
May incur enmity of employers		97
Minimum wage for journalists		97
The press as a business enterprise		98
Its own difficulties		98
The press and social welfare		98
Its general social activities		98
Social activities among newsboys		99
Welfare work among its own employees		99
La Prensa		99
Object of welfare work unimportant to historian		100
Welfare work through correspondence columns		100
Social workers apparently indifferent to press		101
Mutual relations of press and education		101
Interest of press in education		101
Interest of education in the press		101
Embarrassment of the press in dealing with education		102
The press and literature		103
Early dependence of press on authors		103
Change in press interests		104
Change in literary style of the press		104
Crude form does not necessarily vitiate material		104
Opposite literary tendencies seen		105
Important literary works in the newspaper		106
Disadvantages of collecting newspaper articles into book form		106
Differences between journalism and literature		107
Effect of headline on English language		108
The headline and spelling		109
Catling on the headline		109
Headlines and the historian		109
Services of the press to language		110
The newspaper and the library		110
Press records library development		110
Library interested in the material newspaper		111
W. C. Ford on preservation of newspaper files		111
Early indifference of library to newspaper files		112
Concern of historian with these questions		113
Interdependence of press and all human activities		113
Chapter V
News-Collecting and News-Distributing Organizations
Ben Jonson's "staple of newes"		115
Bureaux et pelotons		116
Edward Cave and his exchange		116
Alaric Watts and Blackwood		116
The "partly-printed newspapers" of Watts		116
Organization of the Central Press		117
The Press Association		118
Reuters		118
Importance of news collecting agencies		118
Beginnings of news collecting in America		119
The Journal of Commerce		119
Development of the Associated Press		119
Its plan of organization		120
News collecting agencies and the historian		121
Criticisms made of the Associated Press		121
Examination of these criticisms		121
Charge of "suppressing the facts" dismissed by Court		124
Infallibility not claimed by or for the Associated Press		124
Associated Press not responsible for changes made by others		125
Precautions and preparation of Associated Press		126
Errors redressed		126
Other co-operative associations		126
Different forms of news collecting agencies		128
Proprietary associations		128
Organizations controlled by a single paper		129
Agencies controlled by government		129
Co-operative associations		130
Difficulties encountered by news agencies		130
Court decisions on property in news		131
Complications due to war		131
International misunderstanding due to war		132
Responsibilities entailed by war		133
News-distributing agencies		133
"Boiler-plate" and "ready-print" service		134
Character of material used		134
Dangers possible		135
"Ready-made" book notices		135
Newspaper distributing agencies		136
The Times and the Napoleonic wars		136
Central distributing agencies		136
Relation of historian to newspaper distribution		136
Importance of news collecting agencies to historian		137
Chapter VI
The General Reporter
Parts of the newspaper affording guarantees		138
Tests for authoritativeness applied to local reporter		139
Sources of information available for reporters		139
Regular recognized sources		139
Occasional sources		140
Special sources		140
The "story" as written out		140
Dickens as a reporter		140
General criticism of the reporter		141
Analysis of his errors possible		142
Ignorance explains many errors		142
Sensational ignorance		143
Wilful ignorance		143
Errors due to jesting		144
Errors due to carelessness		145
Love of sensation		145
Errors of advertisers		146
Proof-reader shares in errors		146
Blunders of the reporter		146
Exigencies of publication explain errors		147
Variations between headlines and reports		147
Errors by telephone		148
"Tricks of the trade"		148
"Temperament" of distinguished men		148
Deliberate errors of reporters		148
Incorrect impressions		149
Imaginative reports		149
Absence of proportion in reports		149
"Only the rich man is interesting"		149
Forehanded reports		150
Dangers of		150
Reports of Coronation of Edward VII		150
Variations due to weather		150
Mistranslation a source of error		151
Trials of reporters		151
Interest in reports varies with conditions		152
Reporter between two conflicting types		152
Other handicaps of the reporter		152
Emphasis on his work given by schools of journalism		152
"The man higher up"		153
Influence on his work of general press conditions		153
Specialization improving his work		154
Changing social status of reporter		154
The reporter as he is and as he is believed to be		155
The local report a fertile source of error		155
Legislative effort to reduce errors		155
The cheerful reporter		156
His errors many but their importance unduly magnified		156
Number of errors of reporter explains distrust of press		157
Errors of local reporter need not disquiet historian		157
Chapter VII
The Official Reporter
Development of the official reporter		158
Sir Symonds D'Ewes and his Journals		158
The Commons Debates for 1629		159
"Separates" and news-letters		160
News-letters in great demand		160
Edward Cave and the Gentleman's Magazine		161
Beginnings of parliamentary reporting		161
Opposition of Parliament		161
Circumventing Parliament		162
Dr. Johnson as reporter		163
His debates		164
Their limitations for the historian		164
John Wilkes and parliamentary reporting		166
Present theory of parliamentary reporting		167
Difficulties of reporting		167
Position of provincial reporters		167
Development of organization of reporting		168
Social status of reporters		169
General limitations of reporting		170
Difficulties with speakers		170
Variations between Hansard and collected speeches		170
"Reporting speeches which never were made"		171
Verbatim reports		172
Comparative merits of different forms of reports		172
Decline of interest in verbatim reports		173
Explanation of opposition of Parliament to reporters		174
Parliament accepts reporters		174
Reporters in Congress		174
Right of the public to know the business of the public		174
Three general systems of reporting		175
Reporting in the hands of the press		175
Official reporting		175
Contract system		175
Parliamentary reports on reporting		175
Press reports and parliamentary records		176
Comparative advantages		176
"Man always to be blest"		176
Objections to reporting at first general		177
Kossuth and reporting		177
Reporters and court trials		178
J. G. Bennett and court reporting		178
Reporters not alone responsible for unreliable reports		179
Real service may be rendered justice by reporters		179
Chapter VIII
The Special Correspondent
Many forms of special correspondence		180
The Letters of Junius		180
Cramped opportunities of early papers		180
Material often contributed by prominent men		181
Development of reporter into special correspondent		181
Function of special correspondence		181
The correspondent in time of peace		181
At foreign capitals		181
J. G. Bennett on qualifications of correspondents		182
The special correspondent on himself		182
Lord Salisbury on the special correspondent		183
Correspondents of the London Times		183
Question of authoritativeness of correspondence		183
Sources of news		184
Multiplicity of sources a possible handicap		184
Disadvantages under which the correspondent works		184
Expansion of skeleton messages		185
False impressions created by correspondents		185
Labouchere and foreign correspondents		186
International controversies from foreign correspondence		186
The expelled correspondent		186
Responsibilities and opportunities of foreign correspondents		186
Prone to magnify their office		187
Difficulties of the special correspondent		187
Bismarck and the Pall Mall Gazette		187
Royalty as special correspondent		188
Attitude of governments towards the foreign correspondent		188
The special correspondent in South Africa		188
A. H. Layard and the Constantinople correspondents		189
"Letters from Europe"		190
"Letters from the trenches"		190
"Truth tours"		191
Limitations of special correspondence		191
Restrictions through official relations		191
Censorship and special correspondence		192
Special correspondence "for home consumption"		192
The free lance correspondent		193
"Inspired" special correspondence		193
Insidious temptations of work		194
George Borrow on foreign correspondents		194
General high type of special correspondents		194
Chapter IX
The War Correspondent
Early war correspondence		195
Development during the Thirty Years' War		195
Functions of early war correspondents		196
Predictions of his disappearance		196
Difficulties of war correspondent		197
Opposition of Military Officials		198
The Duke of Wellington and war correspondents		198
W. H. Russell and the Crimean War		200
Opposition of War Office		201
Opposition of governments		201
Lord Wolseley and the correspondents		202
W. H. Sherman and war correspondents		202
W. H. Russell in the Civil War		203
Reasons for opposition of authority to war correspondents		204
Climax of opposition in 1914		204
Vacillating regulations applied to correspondents		205
Reasons for dislike of correspondents by War Office		205
Reasons for dislike felt by army		206
Drain on resources of the press		207
Strictures on war correspondent		208
His speedy disappearance again foretold		211
Side of the war correspondent		211
Difficulties he meets		211
Lack of appreciation of his work		212
His own pride in his achievements		214
Rebels at needless entanglements		217
But appreciates opportunities		217
Correspondent often victim of conditions		217
External difficulties		218
Responsibility of the public		218
War correspondent faces an impasse		219
Changing direction of correspondence		220
Charges brought against war correspondence		221
Charge that enemy profits by news sent		221
Examination of charges		221
Denial of them by war correspondents		221
Personal equation of correspondent		222
Golden age of war correspondence		223
Advantage of social neglect of war correspondent		224
Disadvantage of his social importance		225
Efforts to improve correspondence		226
War correspondence of recent war		227
Development of war correspondence		227
Generalizations concerning it impossible		228
Difference in war correspondents		228
Different types of wars		228
Different types of war correspondents		228
Relation of these questions to the historian		229
New directions of war correspondence		229
New interests of the historian		229
Adaptation of correspondent to new conditions		230
Archibald Forbes and his conception of the ideal war correspondent		231
Chapter X
The Interview
The interview apparently recent		233
Dr. Johnson and George III		234
Attitude of historian towards interview		234
Discredit attached to it as historical material		234
Interviews sought with persons momentarily prominent		234
Prepared interviews		235
Inspired interviews		235
Repudiated interviews		236
De Blowitz and Count Münster		236
The Emperor William interview and the Century		236
Emperor William and the Daily Telegraph		236
Edited interviews		237
Difficulties on the side of the press		237
Faked interviews		238
Impatience with faked interviews		238
Interviewing by intuition		239
Reversible interviews		239
The wooden interview		239
The stolen interview		239
The interviewer at the Second Hague Conference		239
Interview sought for definite ends		240
Von Bülow and the interview		240
Von Bissing and the interview		240
Interviews sought by officials		240
The politician and the interview		240
The interview for "domestic consumption"		241
The social interview		241
General lack of authoritativeness of interview		242
Distrust of form given it		242
National prejudices against the interview		243
Interview distrusted because of object		243
Interviewers often not specially qualified		243
Troubles of interviewers		244
Henry James on the interview		244
Opposition of medical profession		245
Difficulties put in way of interviewers		245
Prejudice against them		246
Interviews still part of newspaper		246
Improvement in interview		246
Advantages of interview		247
Interview of group activities		247
Collective interviews		247
Interview prolific source of error		248
Genera] reasons for questioning its authoritativeness		248
Chapter XI
The Editor and the Editorial
Development of the editorial		249
Defoe and the editorial		249
The early editorial in America		250
The Alien and Sedition Acts and the editorial		250
Is the editorial declining		251
Personal journalism		251
Decline of personal journalism		252
Uncertainty as to its reflection of public opinion		252
Identification of editor with community		252
Harvey W. Scott and the Pacific Northwest		253
Responsibility of such identification		253
Carlyle on the editor		253
Lord Acton as editor		254
"A soldier of conscience"		254
Social evolution of the editor		254
A. A. Watts on the editor		254
Sir Wemyss Reid on the press		255
Catling and the press		255
Changes in opinion of the editor		255
Bohemia and the editor		256
Titled editors		256
De Tocqueville on the American editor		256
Editorial omniscience		257
Delane and the Civil War		257
Lowell to Leslie Stephen		257
John Stuart Mill to Motley		258
Cobden and Delane		258
Division of labor in the sanctum		258
Corporate ownership supersedes personal ownership		259
Effect of change on editorial		259
Possible explanation of decline of editorial		259
Explanation seen in government relation to press		259
This debatable		260
Canning and Jerdan		260
The editor in Germany		260
Influences undermining power of editorial		261
Development of news-collecting agencies		261
The headline		262
Special articles by experts		262
The advertisement		262
Changes in business administration		263
Mutual relations of editor and owner		263
Early difficulties between them		263
Defoe's difficulties with owners		263
Jerdan and West End landlords		263
Murray and Blackwood and their editors		264
Macdonell and his chief		264
Opinion of J. A. Spender		264
Henry Watterson on the business manager		264
W. S. Robinson and conservative owners		264
Walt Whitman and owners		265
Incompatibility of temperament		265
Repudiation by owners of charge of interference		265
The London Echo		265
Defense of Thomas Frost		265
Brodrick and the Times		266
The New Republic		266
The Evening Post		266
Should an editor write		266
How far is his pen at service of owner		266
Different opinions		267
Editors and the Pall Mall Gazette		267
Owners and illustrators		267
Ultimate control of policy		268
Differences in different countries		268
The article de fond		268
"Sitting editors" in Germany		268
Change in editorial in England		268
Off-hand decision impossible		270
Many factors involved		270
Editors may change		270
Samuel Bowles and the Springfield Republican		270
The editorial and public opinion		270
Editorial influenced by opposing tendencies		271
Editors of the old school		271
Editors of the new school		271
Changes in the country editor		272
Changes in the editorial		272
Early types		272
William Leggett and his editorials		272
Collections of editorials		272
Circulation of editorials through other means		272
Improvement in editorials		273
Wider range of subjects		273
Improvement in facilities		274
Extension of newspaper plant		275
Freedom from errors of fact in editorials		275
Independence in treatment		276
The editorial impersonal		276
The editorial "we"		276
The deadly parallel		277
John Bright and The Times		277
Editorial dilemmas		278
Editorials in absentia		278
Editorial changes of manuscript		278
The Edinburgh Review		278
Carlyle, Napier, and Jeffrey		279
Dickens and Mrs. Gaskell		279
Hazlitt on editors		280
Delane and Henry Reeve		280
"Editorial tinkering" in Paris		280
Howells and the Atlantic		280
Blanchard Jerrold and Catling		281
Other difficulties between editors and contributors		281
Napier and Brougham		281
Napier and Dickens		282
Napier, Brougham, Macaulay, and the Whigs		283
Troubles of the editors of the Edinburgh typical		283
The editorial as historical material		284
"The Twelve Labors of an Editor"		285
To readers, the editorial is "the paper"		286
Chapter XII
Criticism and the Critic
Difficulty in using criticism as historical material		287
No agreement concerning functions of criticism		287
Absence of recognized standards		288
Theory of Matthew Arnold		288
The New Laokoon		289
Theory of Bliss Perry		289
The ideal critic		289
Courses at the University of Lille		458
Plan of de Blowitz		459
Sentiment against it in England		459
And in Canada		459
The Pulitzer School		460
Spread of schools of journalism		460
Present limitations		461
Suggested explanations		462
Future possibilities		462
The endowed press		462
General arguments in favor		463
Confusion as to nature		463
Technical journals		463
Goldwin Smith's plan		463
Lack of enthusiasm for endowed press		464
The Congressional Record		465
State and municipal journals		466
General tendency towards increasing authoritativeness of the press		467
Chapter XVII
How Far Can the Past Be Reconstructed from the Press?
The press enjoined to "tell the facts"		468
Inaccuracy of the press inevitable		469
Difference between accuracy and authoritativeness		469
Edward Dicey on the English press		469
Interpretation by the press necessary		470
Interpretation of the press		470
Parts of press most used in reconstructing past		470
Value of the editorial		470
Series of editorials		470
J. F. Rhodes on value of press		471
Value of illustration in reconstruction		471
Comparative freedom from authority		471
Punch, Harper's Weekly, and Life		472
Press called "anti-social"		472
Illustration enlarges horizon		472
Glimpses of luxury		473
Obverse of the shield		473
"The middle class"		473
Development of new interests shown		474
Permanent elements in society illustrated		474
Relative position of children		474
The woman's era		475
Accessories of life		475
Tendency toward specialization		475
Changes in character of illustration		475
Fashions in humor		476
Interest in health shown		476
Industrial conditions		476
Illustrations an aid to justice		476
Changes in celebrating holidays shown		477
Easter in the illustration		477
Reconstruction through foreign language press		477
The illustrated advertisement		478
Changes in character		478
Advertisement shows new demands		478
Reconstruction through advertisements of department store		479
Wide range of interests disclosed		479
But reconstruct only favorable conditions		480
Other advertisements record adverse conditions		480
Effect of a serious fire on advertisements		480
Strikes in advertising		480
"Out of work"		480
"Help wanted"		481
Effect of war on advertising		482
The seamy side shown		482
Miseries of war disclosed by advertisements		482
War and industrial society		483
Prohibition and liquor in advertisements		484
Parts of the press less helpful in reconstruction		484
The press in reconstructing social life		484
The country press		485
The press in high life		485
England in the Spectator		487
Frontier conditions in the press		487
Test of place of press in reconstruction		488
Limitations of authority		490
Importance of press in reconstructing normal life		491
Appendix I: Biographical Notes		493
Appendix II: Bibliographical Notes		517
Index		523

ILLUSTRATIONS

Théophraste Renaudot	Frontispiece
From a statue in Paris. The pedestal symbolizes the Maison du Grand Coq where many of the activities of Renaudot were carried on.
Les Nouvellistes	Facing Page	4
From F . Funck-Brentano, Les Nouvellistes.
The First English Newspaper, December 2, 1620	9
See Page 115.
The First English Newspaper, July 9, 1621	115
This shows the progress made in the arrangement of the paper since the appearance of the first number the previous December.
War Correspondents' Monument	213
Erected in the Blue Ridge Mountains in honor of the War Correspondents of the American Civil War. The photograph was secured through the courtesy of Miss Grace Terry, Washington, D. C.
The Ulster County Gazette	420
This gives the headings of sixteen of the twenty-four known reprints of a possible issue of January 4, 1800. The variations in type, paragraphing, and minor details indicate that they can not all be "an original copy."
Fetridge and Company's Periodical Arcade	474
From an unidentified periodical