The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1866-05-01
New York Newspapers Twenty-Five years
Auo

is commemOyated by general enlarge
ment and improVen ent Of that shcct,a
tonight the association Of It's owners cele-
b.stes the completion Of its FIRST quarter
of century by dinner at Delmonico's.
The Tribune Nas started by Dir. Gree
ley on the 10th of April, l84l-the day
of President Harrson's funeral. Its
capital was but Que thousand dollars, the
smallest sum, probably, upon which any
prosperous daily Journal was ever begun.
This pitiful amount, besides. borrowed
money, and so dismal Hes the prospect of
success twenty FIVE years ago that the ed
tor of the Tribune has since frankly
avowed that he would not have started
the paper but for the fact that lis pro-
spectus bad been issued before the death
of General Harrison. The success which
has since attended the TriGune is the just
reward of the enterprise and Industry
with which it has been conducted; and
although, 10 common with many others,
we have teen compelled to differ from nlaIy
of the positions assumed Ia It's editorial
columns, it cannot be forgotten that the
paper has baen bold champion os free
labor in the days when 10 iuconsi1erabIe
degree Of courage was required for the
expression Of unpopular opinions.
The condition Of New orl journalist,
squarterofa century ago forms so slriking
contrast with the advantages Of tine
present that it is curious TO recall some Of
the early memories. Then, there were no
telegraphs nor fast ocean steamers, no
"Associated Press to systematic the col
lection of news, no "lightuing, presses, no
schemes for laying cables under the sea,
10 great newspaper Offices filed with in,
geuious contrIvaIceS for saving labor In
the spring of lS4 when the first number
of the TrjJune appeared, it came into di-
rect rivalry with the Uercld, which was
then a young paper, while the oldest
journals in the city were the EVENING
Posi-, the Commerciat AdUertjSer, the
Journal Of Commerce aud the Courisr
and Enquirer. Levi D. Slamm published
The PieGejan, the Sun was conducted By
Moses Y. Beach, aud the present editor
Of the Times was a sub, editor with Mr..
Greeley. The World was not thought Of
and the Times did DOT appear until the
Tribune was ten years old.
Ia those days pony expresses were run
Oh election nights, and in times of great
excitement the Heluid and the Tribune
raced locomotive engines against each other
in order to get the earliest news ou one
occasion, we remember, the sharp reporter
engaged for the Tribune "appropriating"
an engine which was waiting, under steam
for the use Of the opposition agent, and SO
beating the HeruW at ITS own game
Such passages as this gave zest to the
pursuit Of Intelligence, and sometimes
provoked acrimonious discussions between
the rival sheets. Nor was the compcti-
tion confined to enterprises like these
For want Of the bouudlcs5 facilities now
afforded by the organized cutcrprse Of
the newspaper Offices, there we're curious
experiments in unexpected directions
type was set on boaId Of North River
steamboats, by corps Of printers, who had
a speech ready for the press in New lork
eight hours after its delivery n 4 lbany
carrier pigeons carefully trained flew from
Halifax or Boston with the latest news
from Europe tucked under their wings,
aud delivered their charge to their trainer
IN his room near Wall street; an adven-
turous person, known at the time by the
mysterious title Of "the man III the glazed
cap" made a voyage across the Atlantic
IN a common pilot boat twenty years ago
secretly and witb only three or four
panions,in the Ii terGst Of two or three
journals which determined 10 cheat" the
others in their arrancem cuts forob,a,uing
early news from abroad. The hero Of
this exploit is now the foreman Of one Of
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