The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-12-30
TIE New Era of Telssraphs aud News
papers.


be found a thoughtful little article which we
reprint from the Euening Mali Of yesterday.
The Mail, with its usual good sense, appre-
ciates our enterprise. In It's opening sentence
the Mail speaks Of ''the HERALD plenipoten-
tiary who has been let loose on the Continent
of Europe" "Plenipotentiary is good, but it
is not the right word. Our ambassadors are
everywhere-near to all emperors, kings,
princes, generals, statesmen, diploniatists-
their name is legion, and they are oil plenipo-
tentiaries. In Europe alone, at the present
moment, we have not one, but many plenipo-
tentiaries. We maintain them at enormous
cost but as we owe and edit great news
paper, as it is our vocation to give the people
news the growing necessity is to enlarge, not
to diminish, the number Of our special repre-
sentatives. Evidently the editor of the
Epening Mas1, like the rest of mankind, finds
every morning fresh cause for wonderment at
the enterprise and success of the Herald.
We take to ourselves far less credit than the
wondering public is disposed to give US. We
know what an Independent newspaper means;
we are not ignorant Of the wants Of the Ameri-
can people, and we think we understand the
age in which we live. Knowing our position
we strive to honor it, Our success is our re-
ward. The truth is we live in an age which
is entirely new. All old things are passing
away. The days of the old stage coach, the
"tally ho!' or the yellow independent" are
no more. Life is no longer sleep, dream.
1t is race feverous, ever-onward rush.
We live years in days, days in minutes The
waysde inn, with all its delights, has passed
away from the region of fact into the region
of memory. Life has no longer its leisure
moments. In the journey there is no hating
place; in the battle there is no truce. Steam
and electricity have revolutionized society
quite as much as they have changed the face
of the globe. Under the manipulation of
science time and space have become very
little things. In this late age of the
world distance does not separate the
sons Of men; natures barriers-ocean and
Alpine heights-do not hinder their progress.
In nothing are the quckening and resistless
impulses of modern times more strikingly re-
vealed than in the Independent newspaper.
The people are hungry for news. They can
ncS, they will not wait. Nor is this hunger
for news limited to matters Of local or national
interest. 1t is universal The stirring events
which are taking place around the walls Of
Paris to-day must be reported in to-morrow's
HERALD with as much fulness and accuracy as
the events which are now taking place in
Washington or Philadelphia or Boston. AS
the means of communication multiply this
public craving for news increases. 1t doth
not mock the meat it feeds on; it grows and
thrives upon it. II il the business of the great
Independent newspaper to meet this want, to
appcase this daily hunger which it cannot hope
to satisfy. IF we have been more successful
than most of our contemporaries in the accom-
plisiment of this task it is because we have
worked with perhaps o 81 am and f with
less regard for the considerations of miscr
able and fruitless economy.
We have already said that the age is pecu-.
liarly new. It's scientific triumphs have very
special bearing upon journalism. The steam
ship was an immense Improvement on the old
sailing vessel; the steam car was big stride
in advance Of the old stage coach; but as a
newspaper agent the telegraph leaves the
steamship and the steam car thousand miles
behind. 1t was great day in the history of
the United States, in the history of the world,
when the first message tripped along the
wires between Baltimore and Washington an
nouncing the doings Of the Democratic Con-
vention in the former city. It is not forgotten
that HERALD correspondent, standing in one
Of the windows of the north end of the Senate
wing Of the Capitol, proposed on that summerl
day of 1874, amid the plaudits of assembled
thousands, the first resolution recognizing the
merits Of this new agent Of civilization. How
have worked! How they have multiplied!
How they have told on trade, on politics,
on journalism We have never been
blind either to the advantages or to the respon-
sibilities resulting to the independent news
paper from this new lever of power. How we
used 1t during our civil war-at cost of not
less than four hundred thousand dolars-is to
the world generally matter Of history, to us
specially matter Of pride. It is not necessary
to refer to the use which we made Of the tele-
graphic wires during the Abyssinian war. In
advance even Of the British government we
gave news to England while providing for the
wants Of the American people. Not to speak
Of our special efforts in peace times, we can
refer with pride to the columns Of this journal
since the outbreak of this Franco German
war. At a cost Of scarcely less than one hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars we have
kept our readers posted in all the de-
tails of this tremendous struggle. Our
correspondents, in their eager search
for information, have refused to know
difficulties. From Woerth. from Weis-
senbourg, from Gravelotte, from Strasbourg,
h.