The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-09-11

this at the time, in the face of the most violent
opposition on the part Of the clergy tine religious
press and a large body Of the religious commu-
nifty. Now they are Infinitely Obliged to US for
so doing. and our contemporaries, who have im-
tated us in almost every thing, have not
neglected the anniversaries
While all this has been going on, while the
newspaper was making itself for the public, the
public was making itself for the newspaper.
This metropolis strobe steadily on to Its proud
position. The Great West was populated with
miraculous rapidity. New States poured into
the Union On the Pacific shore Ell Dorado
arose, sending an auriferous tide through
the country. We had busting, active, ner
vous bilious population, which demanded at the
with brie!, pithy, pointed and appropriate COM
ments-aot always grave, heavy and senten-
tious but q judicious admixture Of the lively
with the severe. And that is the American
newspaper of today. And the journal that ap-
proximates to greater degree the ideal we
have sketched out, and to attain which has been
our aim ever since we established the HERALD,
is the perfect newspaper. If imitation is, az
they say the sincerest form of fattery, we should
be delighted, for our contemporaries have not
| only reproduced all of our ideas with pre-
Raphaelite exactnese, but have in some instances
! claimed them as their own.
1t is not in the nature Of free press to stand
STILL even in such phlegmatic country "a Eng
land, and if we look across the Atlantic we shall
find progress quite as remarkable in proportion
as that of our own journals The English paper
of twenty-five years ago was better than ours,
but it was very heavy, very grave, very learned
and very dear. 1t was good for the nobility,
the gentry, the learned professions aud the re-
tired merchant. No one else had time to
read it. Now, to zee an Englishman attack
the Times makes one think Of eternity. For
merly the artisan, the small tradesmap, the
agricultural laborer, rarely saw newspaper.
But when the liberal or radical party grew
to be power in the realm, it became fashion
able to ameliorate the physical and improve the
mental condition of the lower orders. Model
schools, free libraries, popular lectures, made
o newspaper audience which no existing Jour-
nal addressed in its own way and at its own
| price, When we were in London some four or
five years ago, the question of cheap daily news
popels nss agitated among such men as Golden,
Bright and Miner Gibson. The idea proceeded
manif.stly from the American newspaper, Of
which the New YORK HERALD WAS taken as
the type. The proprietor of this journal
was consulted upon the subject, and gave
the results Of his experience. There are
now two daily papers in London-the
Star and 7eleyroph-both large and handsome
sheets, well conducted, and sold at a penny EACH
Their circulation is immense, and has encouraged
the establishment Of similar enterprises in
various parts Of the United Kingdom. The
success Of this new movement is accomplished
and only one thing is needed to place the cheap
press in position equally as influential as the
older journals. Mr.. Golden saw what this desi-
deratum was, and said when he was in this
country that the English dailies should have
short, pointed articles, like those of the American
journals. The English papers, including the
new lights, still adhere to the old elaborate sys-
tem-three solid essays per day-while we give
sometimes fifteen or twenty articles in one i'm
preston Of the HERALD, each treating upon
some fresh topic. Everybody reads them be-
cause they are to the point. The most illiterate
of our readers can thus be thoroughly posted on
the events Of the day, and can interchange them
with his fellows. This makes circle Of influ-
ence among the masses which the old English
journal never reached, and which the London Star
and Telegraph only affect, at present, in part The
Oxonian tendency to elaboration Of style which
prevails in English journalism totally neutral.
ICES the intended effect of ever so clever an arti-
Gle upon the common mind
We can claim to certain extent, the new
English journals as the children of the independ-
ent press Of America We believe that there
is still room for improvement on both sides of
the water. For our own part, our work has only
just begun. We hail with much satisfaction the
progress Of the cheap press in England, and be-
lieve that it will do much to strengthen the hap.
Ply accord which now prevails between the two
countries