The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-03-23

port the canals. 1t has come. AS we'll tax
easy chairs, or segars, or any other commodity,
as railways, to make up the deficiency that
must be borne on the corporate back of the
people, not on class or single branch of in
dustry. A direct personal tax is the only re-
source and those who voted for the ten mil
lions cannot complain when they are called
upon to pay it. The canals Of this State will
come to be like those of Pennsylvania, the OBJ
ject of regular yearly appropriation.
THE New YORK PREss.-MOre and more
wrath among our country contemporaries! The
the occasion of any popular folly or accidental
crime reflects the highest honor on the moral
perception of the country. The virtuous men
and women who live in Boston, Philadelphia
and other country villages, and the primitive
Christians who inhabit the wilds formerly oc-
cupied by the Five Nations or the deserts on
Massachusetts, Bay and the great lakes. are
shocked and rightly too at the progress Of de-
pravity in this their metropolis Especially
are they indignant with the press; the vile
New York press, which as they inform their
pure minded subscribers, is an agent of Satan,
and the nucleus and fount of all the vice in the
country. Were it not for the press of New
York, say they, the United States might fulfil
their destiny and elevate humanity to the
highest point it is destined to attain. Having
said this, our country contemporaries fill their
columns with extracts from the New York
papers and 60 to press.
There is little injustice here, good
friends New York with nearly a million
human creatures in its midst, all born in origi-
nal sin, perforce contains some in whom the
devil preponderates so vastly over the saint
that the police station and the prison cell are
their natural bourne in this life. So, contain
ing several scores of newspapers, New York
is not free from some who furnish argu-
ments to young debaters questioning the value
of the invention Of printing. But strike
balance Is nothing done tor humanity, for
progress, for reform, for virtue by the New
York press? Is it nothing to shed light on eve
~ passing subject? Long, long before Congress
hints at reform, or society ferments under
grievance. or religion seeks a new vent, the
change is anticipated in some journal or other
here, its merits canvassed, sides taken, and
truth brought out by collision Of intellects.
Every shade of opinion is represented, every
possible argument brought to bear. Thus, un-
consciously, men reading these arguments, often
fierce strites between rival journals, form q
sound and rational opinion on the points in
dispute; which opinion may be afterwards set
on record in the shape of acts of Congress, pub
licinstitutons, religious sects; may even, perme-
ating the land, grope its way into the brains Of
country journalists, and form the staple of half
digested articles, recommendable only by their
abuse of New York.
The following is a fair estimate OF New York
journalism
New York Daily Herald. ................... 1000
All other daily papers. &c, 600
Circulation Of the daily journals .l4o, 900
Weekly Political and Commercial. .25o. 600
DO. Rehgous... l0o oo0
Circulation of the weekly journals. $50 900
Thus every morning one hundred and forty
thousand newspapers exclusive Of weeklies)
good, bad and Indifferent, white, black and
red, are sent out from the New York presses
filed with facts and opinions. Fifty thousand
more issue in the course of the day as IN ave.
rage Of the weeklies; each one read by an ave-
rage Of three or four thinking and acting citi-
zeDs. Note the amount Of mind thus governed
directed, impelled, restrained. Where in his
tory can you find machine more powerful,
and practically more useful. Our country
friends-shall we call them the Robin Hoods
Of the printing room S-cannot do better than
continue to appropriate the matter Of the New
York press; but Of Robin it is never said that
he villifed the travellers he robbed.