# History of American Journalism/Chapter 6

CHAPTER VI
COLONIAL PERIOD
17041765
THE colonial editor, to whom journalism was a trade rather than a profession, found many difficulties in publishing his paper. In the first place, it was hard for him to get stock, for most of the paper on which he printed the news was imported from Europe, or was secured with difficulty from the few paper- mills established in this country. The year 1690, which saw the appearance in Boston of Publick Occurrences, also saw the es- tablishment at Germantown, Pennsylvania, of the first paper- mill in the colonies. Other mills were erected so that the town became the early home of the paper industry in America. In one of them, William Bradford by 1697 had a fourth interest. When he came to New York and started his Gazette, he met the same difficulty in getting paper for his press that he had pre- viously experienced in Philadelphia, but found relief by start- ing in 1728 a paper-mill at " Elizabeth Town," New Jersey. In 1730 a paper-mill was erected at Milton, Massachusetts, and soon had a monopoly of the trade around Boston. Some- times the newspaper had to establish its own mill. Such was true of The Connecticut Courant, at Hartford. While this news- paper secured its own paper from Norwich, the droughts in summer or ice in the river in winter frequently curtailed the size of the sheet. Other newspapers, by inserting advertise- ments of "Rags Wanted," supplied the mills with material from which the paper was made.
TYPOGRAPHY OF PAPERS
The size of the newspaper has been so frequently given in con- nection with the mention of individual papers that little more needs to be said. From 1704 to 1765 newspapers were gener- ally printed on half-sheets. Shapes and sizes varie ​d greatly,
not only because of the scarcity of news of the various towns, but more frequently because of the scarcity of paper. In spite of his meager equipment the colonial printer seldom found it necessary, even when he gave his reader two whole sheets, to use more than one variety of type. Newspapers, however, varied much in their style of typography. One distinctive mechanical characteristic of the colonial newspaper was the frequent use of a large initial letter for the leading news item or essay. From the beginning of the printed newspaper in this country down to the time when Franklin gave up writing for his newspaper, all nouns were capitalized, and it seemed gen- erally permissible to capitalize any other word, at the printer's discretion. Extracts from colonial newspapers have been given frequently enough in the preceding pages to give the reader a fairly accurate idea of the orthography of the period. Some edi- tors, usually of other birth than English, evidently compiled a dictionary of their own for office use. John Peter Zenger, for example, invariably spelled "Monday" in his date line, "Mun- day," but frequently allowed contributors to spell the word "Monday."
PRESSES AND INKS
In the tools of his trade the colonial printer was under a severe handicap. Both press and type had to be imported from England, and in many instances the printer because of his pov- erty had to purchase second-hand outfits. Such presses as were used were built practically of wood, and were often so con- structed that only one page of even the small-sized colonial news- paper could be printed at one time. This handicap made four pulls necessary on the part of the printer before he could pro- duce a printed newspaper of a whole sheet. Even in the case of the larger presses, two impressions were necessary for every copy of the paper. In other words, the output of a press was equal to one half the number of pulls a printer could give in an hour. It took so much muscular strength to pull the lever of the old-fashioned press that the services of a man were required. The only help a boy could be in the colonial print-shop was to ink the type : this he did, in many instances, with the help of a ​
deerskin ball filled with wool and nailed to a stick of hickory. Not until 1750 were printing-presses manufactured in America: in that year, Christopher Sower, Jr., began to turn out hand- presses at Germantown, Pennsylvania. Handicapped by the lack of skilled labor, he was even then only able to manufacture presses inferior to those imported from Europe.
Reliable printing-ink also came from abroad. Substitutes were frequently attempted by the early printers and were manufactured from wild berries. The fading of the impression in some of the early colonial papers may be traced directly to the use of such substitutes. Not until the close of the first half of the eighteenth century was there a manufacture of a printers' ink that was worth the name.
MAKERS OF TYPE
Much of the poor printing in the Colonial Period was due to the fact that the type had become badly worn from frequent use. Often, the type had been used for years in printing colonial documents and pamphlets before it was employed to print the news. To get new type it was frequently necessary for the printer to make a special trip to England. The first attempt to cast type was made in Boston about 1768 by a Scotchman by the name of Michelson. With the scant materials available, he did the best that could be expected, but his type lacked the wearing qualities of the imported variety. Christopher Sower, Jr., of whom mention has already been made in connection with the manufacture of printing-presses, began to cast type in 1772 at his foundry in Germantown, but was compelled to secure his raw material in Germany. One of Sower's workmen, Jacob Bey, started the second type foundry in Germantown, and made several improvements in the composition of the metal employed in the manufacture of type. The most important type foun- dry was that established by Benjamin Franklin in 1775. For years Franklin had been whittling type out of wood and had been making cuts of metal, but not until the outbreak of the Revolution did he make a business of casting type. In charge of his foundry he put his son-in-law, B. F. Bache, who later figured in Philadelphia journalism. ​
WINTER WEATHER AND NEWS
Winter always brought its difficulties to the colonial printer. His shop often being poorly heated in severely cold weather the paper froze while it was being prepared for the press and caused endless delays. The colonial printer was forced to wet his paper before he could put it on the press. Winter also interfered seri- ously in the delivery of newspapers: post-riders who acted as mail-carriers frequently had to abandon their routes because the roads were closed by snowdrifts. Such irregularity in delivery frequently caused subscribers to discontinue their papers until the roads were open for travel again in the spring. This custom occasionally caused the colonial publisher so much annoyance that he threatened to move his paper to another town unless readers would subscribe for the paper for the entire year.
Possibly some of these discontinuances during the winter sea- son were the fault of the colonial editor. Rural subscribers cared more for local news than they did for reprints from English papers. During the winter months when ships neither arrived nor departed from the ports, early American editors had a hard time to fill their columns. Few of them, however, were as frank as William Bradford, of The New York Gazette, who, on one occasion, explained the presence of an abstruse discussion in his columns as follows: " There being a scarcity of Foreign News, we hope the following Essay may not be unacceptable to our READERS." Severely cold weather was often accepted by the colonial printer as the excuse for omitting an issue entirely. Benjamin Franklin was always equal to any emergency. He frankly admitted that when news was dull during the winter season, he amused the customers of The Pennsylvania Gazette by filling the vacant columns with anecdotes, fables, and fancies of his own. To these "fillers" he gave such an air of truth that he not infrequently deceived his own readers. Many of his anec- dotes, written only to amuse and entertain, were quoted as Gospel truth by European writers on American affairs. ​
One attempt during this period to get the news while it was still news should not be overlooked. Samuel Farley, the son of a Quaker printer of Bristol, England, brought out the seventh paper in New York City on March 20, 1762. He called his paper The American Chronicle, and being energetic he tried to make it live up to its name. In his efforts to gather news more quickly he tried to secure from The Pennsylvania Journal and from The Pennsylvania Gazette advance sheets of these newspapers, but in each instance he was unsuccessful, as the two Philadelphia pub- lishers positively refused to let him have copies of their papers before the usual time for city' delivery. The refusal showed the spirit that then prevailed among American newspapers. Not until the early part of the nineteenth century did newspapers cooperate in sharing the burden of news-gathering.
Farley did, however, introduce into The American Chronicle a department called "The Lion's Mouth," which attracted much attention for its day. Some idea of this innovation may be obtained from the announcement of the feature in the fourth issue, April 12, 1762:-
In order to convey such Papers to the Publisher of The Chronicle as may be of general entertainment and Instruction, in the most secret Manner; and to prevent all such authors as chuse to remain incog, from being known even to the Printer, he has procured a young Lion, thro' whose Mouth (which stands immoveably expanded) the said Composi- tions may be conveyed with the utmost Secrecy; and such of them as shall be deem'd acceptable to the Public, and are free from all Defama- tion and personal Reflection, and come properly recommended, shall be inserted in The Chronicle. The Lion will be seated in the Day Time near the Window fronting the Dock, and to prevent his annoying any of his Majesty's Liege Subjects (tho' he is extremely tame and good natured) he will be chained securely to the Post of the Window. . . In the Night Time, to prevent his taking cold by the noxious Dew of this Northern climate, he will be placed on a Pedestal in the Entry just behind or so near the Door, that any Materials may be conveyed into his Mouth (which is always open) thro' a Hole in the Upper Door which leads direct to his Jaw. N.B. He will Roar at no honest man whatsoever. ​
NEWS OF MODEEN FLAVOR
Some of the news items published as early as 1747 had a mod- ern flavor. But for the color of the paper and the spelling of the words a second glance for the date-line is almost necessary. When the American colonies were raising men to defend north- ern frontiers against invasions by the French and Indians and were voting appropriations with modern prodigality, there were newspapers which brought charges of graft against the men fur- nishing supplies to the troops. Parker's New-York Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy boldly printed an item which alleged that many of the guns purchased were out-of-date and practically useless, and that the beef for soldiers was more effective than powder because its odor would drive away the enemy. An edi- torial contributor, who had a keen sense of humor, offered the explanation that the guns were supplied by Quakers, who had scruples against the taking of human life, and that the loss on the meat could more easily be borne by the colonies than by the original owners. Veiled attacks were made that favoritism was shown in the selection of men to lead the troops and that incom- petency was common, especially among the British officers sent over to defend the colonies.
NEWS "BOILED DOWN"
The colonial editor was often a master of bis trade in "boiling down" the news: he did not use three columns when three lines would tell the story. The Pennsylvania Gazette on January 7, 1752, saw no "sensational copy" in its item, "We hear that within these few Days, near 400 Five-penny Loaves have been seized among the Bakers of this City, by the Clerk of the Mar- ket, for wanting greatly in their due Weight"; nor did it place any "scare" headline over this one on February 25 of the same year: "Last Week William Kerr (lately mention'd in this Paper) was indicted and convicted at the Mayor's Court, of uttering counterfeit Mill'd Pieces of Eight, knowing them to be such, for which he receiv'd Sentence as follows : To stand in the Pillory one Hour To-morrow, to have his Ear naiPd to the same, and the Part nail'd cut off; and on Saturday next to stand an​
68 HISTORY OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM s
other Hour in the Pillory, and to be whipt Thirty-nine Lashes, at the Cart's Tail, round two Squares, and then to pay a Fine of Fifty Pounds."
COLONISTS SLOW PAY
Franklin, in his "Autobiography," has left a permanent record that the colonists were not especially interested either in newspapers or in books. To quote from the pen of this dis- tinguished editor of the Colonial Period: "At the time I estab- lished myself in Philadelphia 1723 there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the printers were in- deed stationers, but they sold only paper, almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books to England."
Even those most interested in reading preferred to buy their books and newspapers from England. This fact may explain why so many of the colonial editors reprinted pieces from Eng- lish papers : in other words, they attempted to give readers what the latter wanted. Then, too, the colonists often followed the English custom of reading their newspapers at the public tav- erns. Other conditions prevented a paper from having a large circulation in rural sections. Subscribers living at a distance from the place of publication had to pay not only the subscrip- tion price of the paper, but also the cost for distribution by the mail-carrier. The pine knot, the tallow candle, or the bit of bear oil burning in a saucer afforded poor light for the perusal of a newspaper by a farmer, already tired by the day's toil of clearing forest land.
The fervent appeals of colonial editors to delinquent sub- scribers show how hard it was for the poor printer to raise the necessary funds in cash to meet the cost of his materials sent from abroad. To judge by the notices, the colonial editor ex- perienced much the same difficulty in getting his subscribers to part with . provisions in exchange for newspapers. Yet the co- lonial printer was willing to take almost anything in exchange for subscriptions. Firewood, homespun cloth, butter, eggs, poultry almost anything was acceptable to "ye printer." ​
Some of the dunning appeals to subscribers were most unique. One printed by Thomas Fleet in The Boston Evening Post brought results even if some delinquents did not renew: "The Subscribers for this Paper, (especially those at a Distance) who are shamefully in Arrear for it, would do well (methinks) to remember those Apostolical Injunctions, Rom. xiii. 7, 8. Ren- der therefore to all their dues ; and Owe no man any thing. It is wonderful to observe, that while we hear so much about a great Revival of Religion in the Land; there is yet so little Regard had to Justice and Common Honesty ! Surely they are Abomi- nable Good Works!"
PRINTER CAPITALIZES MOTHER-IN-LAW Thomas Fleet, who has been mentioned in the preceding para- graph, found many ways to supplement the income from The Boston Evening Post. One of these was from the sale of "Mother Goose Rhymes." Fleet, who had married Elizabeth Goose, was very much amused at the nursery jingles with which his mother- in-law amused his children at night. After he had put them into type he found it necessary to print several editions to meet the demand. So far as can be learned Fleet was the first man to capitalize his mother-in-law.
COST OF PRODUCTION
Fleet also left a memorandum which illustrated trade condi- tions of his day. In it he said: "In the days of Mr. Campbell (the founder of The Boston News-Letter), who published a news- paper here, which is forty years ago, Paper was bought for eight or nine shillings a Ream, and now tis Five Pounds; his Paper was never more than half a sheet, and that he had Two Dollars a year for, and had also the art of getting his Pay for it; and that size has continued until within a little more than one year, since which we are expected to publish a whole sheet, so that the Paper now stands us in near as much as all the other charges." For the sake of comparison of the cost of production of The Bos- ton Evening Post with that of a similar paper published later in the century, the figures may be given for 1798. In that year the editor of The Northern Budget, a weekly paper published at ​
Troy, New York, asserted that he could, with the utmost econ- omy, conduct his paper at thirty dollars a week. His estimate was somewhat lower than that of other editors of his time be- cause he was able to get paper cheaper on account of the fact that a paper-mill had been built in Troy about five years pre- vious.
ADVERTISEMENTS OF PERIOD
When John Campbell brought out The Boston News-Letter on April 24, 1704, he announced that "Persons who have any Houses, Lands, Tenements, Farms, Ships, Vessels, Goods, Wares or Merchandizes, &c. to be Sold, or Let; or Servants Runaway, or Goods Stole or Lost; may have the same inserted at a Reasonable Rate, from Twelve Pence to Five Shillings, and not to exceed: Who may agree with John Campbel Post-master of Boston." This list is fairly typical of the advertisements in- serted in colonial newspapers. In many instances the Boston post-office was made the clearing-house: the first advertise- ment in the second number of The News-Letter offered a reward for the return of two iron anvils, weighing between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and forty pounds each, which had been lost "Off Mr. Shippen's Wharff," provided they were re- turned to John Campbell, Postmaster. Many of the advertise- ments contained the stereotyped expression, "For further in- formation, inquire of John Campbell, Postmaster."
The third number of The News-Letter contained the following advertisement :
A t Oysterbay on Long-Island in the Province of N. York, There is a very good Fulling-Mill, to be Let or Sold, as also a Plantation, having on it a large new Brick house, and another good house by it for a Kit- chin, & work house, with a Barn, Stable, &c. a young Orchard and 20 Acres clear Land. The Mill is to be Let with or without the Planta- tion: Enquire of Mr. William Bradford Printer in N. York and know further.
This insertion in the third number showed quick action on the part of Bradford when it is considered how long it took to get a letter from New York to Boston at that time: it also showed that Bradford was familiar with, and was ​doubtless
watching with much interest, the attempt to found a newspaper in Boston.
Advertisements similar to the following were found in colonial papers:
/Captain Peter Lawrence is going a Privateering from Rhode-Island in a good Sloop, about 60 Tuns, six Guns, and 90 Men for Canada, and any Gentlemen or Sailors that are disposed to go shall be kindly enter- tained.
The first advertisements of any size were those announcing the sale of books and pamphlets especially those dealing with religious topics, or giving the sermons of noted divines. After the colonial publishers had reprinted extracts from The London Gazette, The London Flying Post, The London Post-Boy, etc., they advertised these English newspapers for sale at greatly reduced prices.
Franklin especially knew the value of The Pennsylvania Gazette as an advertising medium, and used it frequently, not only for himself, but also the members of his family. His wife, for example, sold in the print-shop a so-called very fine grade of toilet soap, said to have been imported from abroad, but doubt- less manufactured by Franklin's father in Boston. He occa- sionally put into his " house" advertisements some of the humor found in "Poor Richard's Almanac." The following advertise- ment of this character was taken from The Pennsylvania Ga- zette:
HPAKEN out of Pew in the Church some months since, a Common Prayer Book, bound in red, gilt, and lettered D.F. (Deborah Frank- lin) on each cover. The Person who took it is desired to open it and read the eighth Commandment, and afterwards return it into the same Pew again, upon which no further Notice will be taken.
Another advertisement, inserted by Franklin in 1742, must have given his subscribers the impression that he was in the im- porting as well as in the printing business:
TUst import'd from Lond and to be sold by B. Franklin, at the Post- U Office, near the Market in Philadelphia.
All sorts of fine Paper, Parchment, Ink-powder, Sealing Wax, Wafers, fountain Pens, Ink and Sand Glasses with Brass Heads, Pou ​nce, and
Pounce Boxes, Curious, large Ivory Books and Common ditto, large and small slates, Gunters Scales, Dividers, Protactors, Pocket Com- passes, both large and small, fine Pewter Stands proper for Offices and Counting Houses, fine Mezzotinto and grav'd Pictures of Mr. White- field.
Where may be had great Variety of Bibles, Testaments, Psalters, Spelling Books, Primers, Hornbooks, and other sorts of stationery ware.
Even James Franklin, Benjamin's brother, was a good adver- tiser of the products of his press. Before he started The New- England Courant, and while he was still printing The Boston Gazette for Postmaster Brooker, he inserted this advertisement in the latter paper on April 25, 1720:
nphe Printer hereof prints Linens, Calicoes, Silks, &c., in good Figures, very livily and durable colours, and without the offensive Smell which commonly attends the Linens printed here.
PILLS AND POWDERS SOLD AT PRINT-SHOPS
Even the most successful of the colonial printer-editors had to supplement the income from their presses by work in other fields. Attention has already been called to how frequently they were postmasters, or employed in the postal department. Almost invariably they were booksellers and stationers, espe- cially of their own presses. To read the list of things which might be obtained at the print-shop gives one the impression that the colonial editor practically ran a store. Often he sold over the counter the goods accepted in payment for subscrip- tions. He seemed to make a specialty of selling quack medi- cines : he early discovered the value of his own newspaper as an advertising medium for such nostrums. The colonial editors of New York practically acted as wholesale distributors for such nostrums and encouraged their brother editors in other colonies to put pills and powders alongside of the Bibles and printed sermons on the shelves of the print-shop. Some of these nos- trums " cured diseases not to be mentioned in the newspaper"; for full details sufferers might call at the office of the colonial papers and editors would answer any questions asked. In the North, most of these so-called remedies were imported from Europe and frequently bore the endorsement of royal ​persons;
in the South, most of the proprietary medicines offered for sale by local printers were manufactured from herbs after prescrip- tions furnished by Indian doctors. Typical of the latter The South Carolina Gazette advertised in January, 1744:
Hphe Seneka-Rattle-Snake-Root, so famous for its effectually curing of Pleurisy; and an excellent Eye-Water, to be sold by the Printer hereof.
TALES TOLD BY ADVERTISEMENTS
Save for their headlines, advertisements were frequently set up like regular reading matter. They were usually small in size, and not infrequently limited in size by the'printer. Occasionally, one finds a colonial printer using the margins for an advertise- ment which came in late. Strange as it may seem, however, these advertisements when read to-day are almost as interest- ing as the text. They tell a story which needs but little by way of interpretation. They tell us of the fads and fancies in the matter of dress of the colonial period. If there were no mention of the prevalence of smallpox in the colonies, one would know that it was common because the word "pock-fretten" was used in describing a slave who had run away and for whom a reward was offered in the local press. The advertisements of servants and apprentices, who, like the slaves, had run away from their masters, recall a time when people were sold in bondage for a limited time until the money owed for their passage across the ocean, or for debts incurred after their arrival, was paid in full. The amount of the reward offered was often small six cents. Such small rewards, however, are explained by the fact that masters were required by law to advertise runaway servants and slaves.
The advertisements of the colonial department stores if that term may be used correctly need to-day a glossary in order that articles described may be intelligible, even to women. How many readers of this book, for example, are familiar with the items listed by Isaac Jones, when hi 1752 he advertised in The Pennsylvania Gazette to be sold cheap the following things?
Boiled and common camblets, single and double alopeens, broad and narrow shaloons, tammies, durants, plain and corded poplins, duroys, ​
74 HISTORY OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM;
calimancoes, common and silk sagathies, florettas, bearskins, common and hair grazets, tabbies, ducapes, stay galloon and twist, men's and women's thread, dowlas, ozenbrigs, etc.
LIVE NEWS IN ADVERTISEMENTS
Charles Dudley Warner, who was connected for many years with The Courant of Hartford, Connecticut, once asserted that the colonial newspaper was a "broadside of stale news with a moral essay attached." Whatever may be true of the news, the advertisements in these old papers were rather interesting read- ing. There was nothing stale in this item inserted at regular rates in the columns of The New-York Gazette for 1734:
Whereas James Moor of Woodbridge has advertised in this Gazette, as well as by Papers sent out and posted up, that his Wife, Deliverance, has eloped from his Bed and Board. These are to certifie, that the Same is altogether false, for She has lived with Him above Eight Years under His tyranny and increditble Abuses, for He has several times attempted to murder Her and also turned Her out of Doors, shamefully abusing Her, which is well known to the Neighbors and Neighbourhood in Woodbridge.
An advertisement in The New York Weekly Post-Boy in 1756 showed that Barnum was not the first to discover that the Ameri- can people liked to be fooled once in a while :
To be seen at the sign of the Golden Apple, at Peck's Slip, price six- pence, children four coppers, a large snake-skin, 21 feet long and four feet one inch wide. It was killed by some of Gen. Braddock's men by firing six balls into him, close by the Allegheny Mountains, supposed to be coming down to feed on dead men. When it was killed, there was found in its belly a child, supposed to be four years old, together with a live dog! It had a horn on its tail seven inches long, and it ran as fast as a horse. All gentlemen and ladies desirous to see it may apply to the subscriber at Peck's Slip.
ADVERTISING AGENCY IN POST-OFFICES
In many localities, advertisements for colonial papers might be left at the local post-office. In some instances the local post- office would accept advertising copy for publication in papers in other places: it did so with the permission of the postal authorities. Sometimes the post-office made pu ​blic in print
standing announcements similar to the following which ap- peared during the middle of the eighteenth century in The Pennsylvania Gazette at Philadelphia: "Advertisements for the German and English Gazettes printed at Lancaster by Miller and Holland are taken at the post-office." In fact, the colonial post-office always stood ready to help the newspaper when the postmaster was not financially interested in the printing-plant. William Bradford, the publisher of the first colonial weekly in New York, made an arrangement with Richard Nichols, post- master in 1727, whereby the latter accepted advertisements for The New-York Gazette at regular rates and sold single copies of the paper at what to-day would be the stamp window.
FREE POSTAGE AT FIRST
When John Campbell first sent out his written news-letters to colonial Governors, they were mailed without cost. Later, when he printed his letters under the title, The Boston News- Letter, he undoubtedly was able to mail many of them free and only had to pay a nominal charge in other cases. One of the reasons why the colonial printer-editor desired to be postmaster was undoubtedly the opportunity that was afforded by such an office to make advantageous arrangements with local post- riders to deliver newspapers. Certainly, the postmaster-editor possessed better facilities for the distribution of his paper than rival editors; Benjamin Franklin and William Weyman have already borne testimony to this fact.
Franklin was a master at the art of securing free distribution of his Pennsylvania Gazette. In his issue for January 28, 1735, he published the following item: "By the indulgence of the Honorable Colonel Spotswood, Post-Master-General, the printer hereof is allowed to send the Gazettes by the post, postage free, to all parts of the postroad, from Virginia to New England."
REGULATIONS OF FRANKLIN
But as newspapers increased, a change from the plan just out- lined was made. In 1758 Franklin and Hunter were in charge of the general post-office for the colonies, and on March 10 of that year they issued the following statement : ​
Whereas the News-papers of the several Colonies on this Continent, heretofore permitted to be sent by the Post free of Charge, are of late years so much increased as to become extremely burthensome to the Riders, who demand additional Salaries or Allowances from the Post Office on that Account, and it is not reasonable that the Office which receives no Benefit from the Carriage of News-papers, should be at any Expence for such Carriage; and Whereas the Printers of News-papers complain that they frequently receive orders for News-papers from distant Post-Offices, which they comply with by sending the Papers tho they know not the Persons to whom the Papers are to be directed, and have no convenient Means of collecting the Money, so that much of it is lost; and that for Want of due Notice when distant Subscribers die, become Bankrupt, or remove out of the County, they continue to send Papers some years directed to such Persons, whereby the Posts are loaded with Many Papers to No Purpose, and the Loss so great to the Printers, as that they cannot afford to make any Allowance to the Riders for carrying the Papers; And whereas some of the Riders do, and others may demand exorbitant Rates of Persons living on the Roads, for carrying and delivering the Papers that do not go into Any Office, but are delivered by the Riders themselves.
To remedy these Inconveniences, and yet not to discourage the Spreading of News-papers, which are on many Occasions useful to Government, and advantageous to Commerce, and to the Publick; You are, after the first Day of June Next, to deliver No News-paper at your Office (except the single Papers exchanged between Printer and Printer) but to such Persons only as do agree to pay you, for the Use of the Rider which brings such papers a small addition Consideration per Annum, for each Paper, over and above the Price of the Papers: that is to say, For any Distance not exceeding 50 miles, each Paper is carried, the Sum of 9d. Ster. per Annum, or an equivalent in Currency: For any Distance exceeding 50 miles, and not exceeding One Hundred Miles the Sum of One Shilling and Six Pence Ster. per Annum; and in the same proportion for every other Fifty Miles which such Paper shall be car- ried; which Money for the Rider or Riders, together with the Price of the Papers for the Printers, you are to receive and pay respectively once a Year at least, deducting for your Care and Trouble therein a Commission of Twenty per cent. And you are to send no Order to any Printer for Papers, except the Persons, to whom the Papers are to be sent, are in your Opinion responsible, and such as you will be account- able for. And you are to suffer no Rider employed or paid by you to receive more than the rates above for carrying any Papers by them de- livered on their respective Roads: Nor to carry and deliver any Papers but such as they will be accountable for to the Printers, in considera- tion of an Allowance of the same Commission as aforesaid for Collect- ing and paying the Money.
And as some of the Papers pass thro' the Hands of several Riders ​
between the Places where they are printed and the Place of Delivery; You are to pay the Carriage-money you collect for the Riders to the several Riders who have carried such Papers in Proportion, as near as conveniently may be made, to the Distance, they have been carried by each Rider respectively.
(Signed) FRANKLIN AND HUNTER.
This order remained in force until the relations between the colonies and England and the postal service became interrupted on account of the approaching conflict of the Revolution. Then many of the newspaper publishers arranged for a private dis- tribution of their papers to country subscribers.
The reforms of Franklin and Hunter in the reorganization of the colonial post-office and in the increase of post-roads had two effects on the journalism of the period. First, there was an in- crease in letters among correspondents in the several colonies, and as these letters often contained news items of considerable importance, they not infrequently found their way into the newspapers under some such caption as "From a Gentleman Residing in Virginia"; second, the newspapers were placed on a better subscription basis, and the exchange papers, being more regular in their receipt, not only improved the news service, but also aroused a news interest in what was going on in all the colo- nies. Without this awakened interest, it might have been im- possible to have persuaded the colonies to unite for common defense in the Revolutionary Period.
LOST ELEVEN DAYS
Readers who turn the files of colonial newspapers for 1752 are often surprised at the irregularity in the matter of dating found in the papers for the first week of September of that year. The fifth issue of The Mercury, published by Hugh Gaine at New York, was dated August 31, 1752: seven days later, the sixth was dated September 18. Yet no mistake had been made; eleven days had simply been wiped out of existence by the change to the Gregorian style in figuring time, adopted the first week of September, 1752. Several writers have thought that Benjamin Franklin skipped a week in publishing his Pennsyl- vania Gazette at Philadelphia in the September of 1752. The ​
irregularity here, as elsewhere, was due to the change to the Gregorian system of time.
B. FRANKLIN, CARTOONIST
Benjamin Franklin, who introduced many innovations into the American press, was the first to print the cartoon in his Pennsylvania Gazette. The occasion was a memorable one in American history. The government of the New York colony, on the recommendation of the Lords of Trade, issued on Decem- ber 24, 1753, a call for a meeting in Albany of the British colo- nies in America and announced the date for that meeting for June 14, 1754. Rumors of a possible war with the French was the immediate cause of the action. The rumors were not with- out some foundation, for on May 9, 1754, Franklin, who was one of the three commissioners to attend the Albany convention on behalf of Pennsylvania, published in The Pennsylvania Ga- zette an "advice" for Major Washington that the fort in the Forks of the Monongahela had been surrendered to the French. To increase the force of his appeal for "our common defense and security," he inserted a cartoon which represented a snake cut into eight parts: the head represented New England, and the seven other parts stood for New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Caro- lina. By way of a caption Franklin inserted under the cartoon the words "Join or Die."
INFLUENCE OF FIRST CARTOON
The power of the cartoon was at once recognized by the other editors of colonial papers. Before the end of the month, the snake cartoon had been copied in The New-York Gazette, The New-York Mercury, The Boston Gazette, and The Boston News- Letter. The Boston Gazette improved the original by putting the following words into the mouth of the snake, "Unite and Con- quer." The influence of the cartoon was not entirely confined to the papers already mentioned. The South Carolina Gazette, for example, doing the best it could with the mechanical facili- ties at its disposal, printed a "near-snake" with straight lines to represent its parts. Even The Virginia Gazette spoke of a ​
"late ingenious emblem" which was arousing the colonies. The snake of this cartoon was not allowed to die, but in its charmed life it appeared twice more in the newspapers at critical periods in American history. After a sleep of eleven years the snake appeared when the British Stamp Act was scheduled to go into effect, and after another rest it appeared at the outbreak of the Revolution.
TAXES ON NEWSPAPERS
During the Colonial Period two attempts were made to tax newspapers. The first was in Massachusetts, the second in New York. In both instances the tax was designed simply to raise revenue for the colony and not to restrict in any way the pub- lishing of a newspaper. In each colony the tax was paid by the ultimate consumer and not by the producer of the news- paper.
FIRST IN MASSACHUSETTS
The Provincial Legislature of Massachusetts published on January 13, 1755, an act, passed on January 8 of that year, which imposed a tax of a halfpenny on every newspaper printed on and after April 30, 1755. The act was to cover a period of two years, from April 30, 1755, to April 30, 1757. There were three papers published in Boston: all of these appeared with "the little red stamp," save those preserved for office files. The stamp, usually put on the lower part of the right-hand margin of the paper, was a bird with outstretched wings. Of it The Boston Evening Post spoke as follows in its issue for May 5, 1755:
The little pretty Picture here,
O' the Side looks well enough; Though nothing to the purpose 't is,
It will serve to set it off.
As has already been intimated, the subscribers rather than the printers paid for the adornment of "the little red bird" which stood for the tax. The Boston News-Letter in its issue for April 24, 1755, published the following announ ​cement:
As the Stamp-Duty takes Place on Wednesday next, the 30th Cur- rent, the Publisher of this Paper desires such of his good Customers in Town or Country, who intend to take in on the Terms lately adver- tised, and have not yet given notice thereof, to do it on or before the said Day, that he may know what Number to print off.
The Boston Evening Post, shortly before the bird flew away when the tax ceased to be levied, May 1, 1757, printed this note for the benefit of its customers who were to benefit by the re- duction in price:
As the Stamp-Act will expire the second Day of May next, (after which there will be some Abatement of the present Price, notwith- standing the very high Price of Paper, &c. since the War) the Publisher thinks it proper to inform you that he will send out no Papers to any one who does not clear off all Accounts to that Time.
SECOND IN NEW YORK
The colony of New York passed on December 1, 1756, an act which went into effect on January 1, 1757, and which placed a halfpenny weekly tax on newspapers. The act originally was for one year, but it was renewed in December, 1757, and again in December, 1758, for one year. The purpose of this tax was practically the same as that of the one just mentioned in Massa- chusetts: it was to raise funds to help defray the cost of running the local government.
The subscribers in New York, as in Massachusetts, had to pay this tax. The situation was thus explained by The New-York Weekly Mercury for December 20, 1756:
Consider that the Sum to be raised by the Stamp Office is to be laid out in the Defence of their Country; and that the Advanced Price of the Paper is not extorted from them by the Printer, but is owing to the Act, legally passed by the three different Branches of the Legislature of this Province.
When the New York provincial tax on newspapers ceased to be collected at the end of the year 1759 the papers, including The Mercury, went back to subscription rates asked before they were adorned with the red halfpenny stamps. ​
LITERARY INFLUENCES
Moses Coit Tyler, in his " History of American Literature," has thus summed up the literary influence of the newspapers of the first era:
Our colonial journalism soon became, in itself, a really important literary force. It could not remain forever a mere disseminator of pub- lic gossip or a placard for the display advertisements. The instinct of critical and brave debate was strong even among those puny editors, and it kept struggling for expression. Moreover, each editor was sur- rounded by a coterie of friends, with active brains and a propensity to utterance; and these constituted a sort of unpaid staff of editorial con- tributors, who, in various forms letters, essays, anecdotes, epigrams, poems, lampoons helped to give vivacity and even literary value to the paper.