The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-11-11
CURIOUS FACTS IN JOURNALISM,
NORTH AND SOUTH. IS

NORTH AND SOUTH.
Richmond, in the State of Virginia, is tow
of about forty Thousand inhabitants, OF al shade
of color. In 1850, its population was onl,
1850, of which only 1924 were white ana
supposing the present estimated number to be Oil
vided in similar proportions, the whites wouls
fall below twenty-five thousand. Yet this SINAI
population supports FIVE daily journals, if ne
more, and four Of theIn-viz: the Ehq,9rer, tn'
Wig, the Examiner, and the Souti-are among
the most widely read and quoted newspapers II
the whole Union, if we except those OF New
York. 1t is to be remembered that there il
nothing ephemeral or spasmodic In the success
of the Richmond press. The Enquirer has beer
in existence fifty -four years, the Wing perhaps
forty, the Eraminer for several years, and the
South, though of recent origin, is not behind
the oldest in the mark it makes upon the poll
ties of the day. These newspapers are large
and well printed, and keepiup with the progress
of the age by enlarging their dimensions and
improving their Typography.
Charleston has white population not greater
than that of Richmond, and is equally distin-
guished for the ability and influence Of its
newspaper press. The whole country is famil
lar with the editorials of the Mercury, which are
quoted by friends and foes for their oracular
! significance. 1t is one of the oldest and best
established journals in the Union, and bids fair
to out-last the peculiar institution ITSELF
which at present supplies the pabulum on which
it subssts.
New Orleans is likewise distinguished, like
Richmond and Charleston, for an undue share
of editorial vitality and force. The Delta, the
Picayu,,e, the Crescent, the Bee, and the Courier
are all able and leading journals, whose die
Ia we see quoted as authorities in other parts
of the Union.
But, if we go North, we find that the press out
side of New York city, however well conducted
has an influence upon the politics of the country
far less marked than that Of the Southern Jour
mails referred to- Boston, with its two hundred
thousand inhabitants, its immense wealth,
its admirable institutions of learning, its
unapproachabe literary culture, so far as
this continent is concerned, has no news
paper like the Charleston Mercury or the
Richmond Enquirer, whose editorials are read
in all parts of the land with eager interest We
doubt not that the Atlas, the Post, and the
advertiser, are conducted with as much abl-
| ity as their Southern cotemporaries, but they
fail to make an equal impression upon the
public mind. The same is true of the press
of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and
scores of places whose population far exceeds
that of the cities of Virginia and South Car
DINA.
The facts to which we have called attention
are notorious, little fattering as they may be to
Northern pride We have a theory for explain
ing the anomaly which we submit, but we
shall be glad to. see the views of Others upon
the subject.
| The circumstances by which the newspapers
in the Northern and Southern cities are sur
rounded differ in the following particulars
l. There are very few daily newspapers in
Virginia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, out
side of the three principal cities, Richmond,
Charleston, and New Orleans whereas, in the
free States, every town of five or ten thousand
inhabitants has from to three dailies, and
such towns are numerous and the effect of
this excessive competition is to reduce the price
of newspapers below the point at which safe
and permanent investments can be made.
2. In the free States, there is a common
focus of news and mandatory of opinion, New
York city, which has, in consequence of its
commercial superiority, acquired an ascendency
in this particular which is indisputable This
common centre will not answer for the South
as it does for the North and West in conse-
quence of the sensitiveness in that section upon
the subject of Slavery. The great newspapers
of New York, which, in consequence partly of
their cheapness, are serious obstacle to the
| success of other Northern city papers, are rare
ly seen south of Mason and Dixon's line, except
by editors and few leading politicians.
3. But a third and material cause for the supe-
rior success of the Southern journals, and the
sole cause of their superior influence, is the fact
that they are identified acith a great, though bad
cause. They are superatively and intensely on
one side of the great controversy, and act as if
they were ready to sink or swim with it, Their
vocation is not so much that of journalists as
propagandists of ideas, and educators of the
people. The great facts and principles which
divide parties and sections form the staple of
their editorial comments and by vigorous
statement passionate appeals to the prejudces
of section and caste, and eloquent exhortation
to action, they awaken and keep awake that
spirit of "eternal vigilance" which is the price
of political success. When will Northern edit
ors learn the moral which these facts teach