New-York tribune., 1871-11-16
A. BoOK ABOUT NEWSPAPERS


I0NDoN, Oct. 26.--Mr. James Grants "The
Nsvsbsber Press its Origin Progress, Present Posi-
Tim "A book Of which those who did not know Mr..
James Grant conceived high expectations He had boen
for many years editor Of TIE Morning Adpertissr daily
London paper. Although that journal Il not an iu.
TOrtan one except beinG the organ Of the licensed
vtotualers who tcOnStitue powerful body, its editor
could scarcely help might have supposed, being
ven informed about London journalism. But his book
WIdsappoint the most moderate expectations. These
two pretentous ocavns large type contain nothing OF
VElus respecting the origin Of newspapers which m"y
ROA be found told IN other books especially Knight
Huns Whist they contain respecting the present PoSl-
ton Of London press hardly like ~ charct"rnc In
nttng erms. Some Of the papers concerned have met
Mr.. Grants reckless assertiOus with fiat dcIlals NV
contributions u the literature Of contradictions sha "e
confined two chapters Of the second volume, those on
~T0e Special Correspondent" and on THE Ei''""
Telegraph" and shall coufne myself mainly 4" E''"H
hrst Mr. GRANTS statements and then the facts
To begin with special correspondents Mr. Gran, S"S
in biz peculiar English that aS rule the o"s' o I'
GeInen prnt abroad war coTTrsp"hd'n'S arc r"''"
EDeptary reportcrr" know II good many war 'Orr'-
spondents of different L0ndOn Journals 90 hO' FDo"
enc who is Parliamentary reporter. The majority ol
these are allowed" Mr. Grant weekly SAihly VI
$50 and 'rEpcnscs Their weekly HA"IF !" "i"'" '"""
twice that, even H. peace tHncs MT "raht sayS 'n'
weekly 90 pcnscs amount 10 m much as the salary
sentemce or two later be saysagdn IN hs "xtraordl
nary EuglisI-witIr ,, gard TO The Times, that "the
eTpeHses per week which each Of lis correspondents
o4st" were between $50 and $500 Fatigued with this
effort NJ prcclon h adds that altogether the expenses
Of that and come other papers must have been enoT
InOusIy great" Finally, IN gush OF tanRness Whl'h
might have saved him from writing his chapter. he de-
slsres that we have no means Of making, with any
e0ndcncr. approximate guess a. u what they
were" Now the public may may not care TO know
how much the leading Journals pay their special CORE
sp0ndcnts Mr. Grant has assumed that 1t does care,
f,n nd haQ made 81
mistakes ~ there arr paragraphs in his chapter.
When we come the telegraph, and especially to the
Transatlantic Telegraph the Interest OF Mr Grants rev
citations increases We have what purports to be an AZ
count Of the of cable dispatches betweon England
and America He with statement Of the cost
of certain newspaper dispatches III s70 during the war
and prncecds fortunately for newspapers and the
public both sides of the Atlantic. great reduction
lately made IN the charges for messages o and
from Americ0" That S news indeed w" paid during
the war 40 T5) for thousand words We pay now S2o
ClO Mr. Grants idea IL that paid then $40 word
and nay now o. co. Hc thinks It in consequence OF
This reduction that an American publisher con
reived tie idea Of telegraphing Lothair IN nII
from advance sheets. DOos he suppose LOthair
was ISSUED after the wari That LOthair story
WAS ahsurd enough first told; but Mr.. Grant Is
incapable of accuracy any point and the mad design
which rumo attributed 10 the AppletOns he now assigns
20 the Hnrpers lie does not honor the name OF either
the existing cable companies lie believes there are
Telegraph Company" which no longer exists and In the
nsIt about the American Telegraph Company" which
never did exist. Further on he invents the Anglo
Telegraph Company" and, for aught know he has
other varieties MI Grant fires even more random shots
when he tries to discourse Of Associated Press On
maze 3ll he names il "The NewEOrk Associated Press
COMPANY" On page 3i7. at the top, it becomes "The
American Associated Press and at the bottom the |
Associated Press Of America All thes" names are put
between inverted commas, and al three are wrong Oh
The French cable company he appears never TO |
have heard. The three existing cables he sup |
poses 10 belong to three different companies |
snd remarks that late last year. by a curious CO
Incidence the cables Of two OF the companies broke,
IL cnrous coincidence Of bunders. On page Sn he
thinks the existing tariff II so word On page SAG he
n1es II at n for words and neither is right He Ia
wholly unaware that press messages were once trans
itted at half rates and that that concession has since
been withdrawn. He als that The Times, in addition
10 its Reuter- DISPATCHES has almost daily cOmmunjca-
tOns by telegraph from its correspondents IN the United
States" The Times has correspondent in America
except at Philadelphia and receives kilograms from him
perhaps once fortnight He Mr.. Grant declares that,
rule whenever the messages Of private parties are
not urgent kind those Of the journalistic class get
the preference regard 10 priority sentence equally
astounding In poiut OF elegance and accuracy What
win M Csrus Field say What will Wall-st sayi How
much does Mr. Grant suppose we have paid for prvl-
Ieee which mghtlhave been worth million OF dollars
on any 2 seygral mornings Of last year' IN point
fact Il Was the press business which often postponed
for that OF the general public.
But we have not touched bottom yet After the lapse
OF two years from the start says Nj Grant the cable
charges we're reduced One-hslf, and NewYork Journal
seEed the opportunity Of great length was
transmitted to that journal 1t so long that its cost
nj the usual rates would have considerably exceeded
5000 hut the company, generous souls, would accept
nothing beyond that amount. On paying II, adds Mr..
Grant Mr. Bennett it need hardly he said took care
his display public spirit the occasion as not only
unparaeed in the history of the newspaper press but
himself the only the world had ever seen, who
would have the patriotic SOUL TO make It," But what
was wonderful which cost 5000 and which
passe over the cable years after its Openngf The
message" says Mr. Grant Twas an account Of the
prEe-fght between the American pugistic champion
and Tum sayers, the English puglstic champion" Tie
fight occurred April II, 1862 The Atlantic Gable was
completed July q, 1856.
IaImost hesitate 10 describe such bunders for can
,magne that my readers will find it difficult to believe
they should been committed. However there are
COPIES OF the book New-YOrk and the most incredu
lous have only refer TO the chapter and pages quoted
They will hnd a good many other things not less
amazing They will find that Mr.. Grant, who boasts Of
being the author Of 50 volumes many piOus and
Thousands OF editorial articles cannot write page, can
hardly write sentence Of accurate English They will
hud his filled with pOntless anecdotes spun out TO
wearisome length, With reflections in the style Of
pchOoiboy's earliest compositions, with wretched gossip
about matters wholly unimportant, with mpertinent
comments on men living and dead the ge
MUS OF naccurRcy presiding cOmplacently over
the whole. The AheH@um pointed out that
,Nr Grant spoke Of MT. Murray, who
was Byron's publisher, still living. Mr. Grant replied
IN his needless way that IL printers bunder, and
that he wrote the late Mr.. Murray" The AIhen9Um
had only 70 quote the sentence to show that the expsna
tion ae snbterfuge and the pretended printers mis-
~ AkaNla aknw NkaNTo IA