The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-10

almost like the gift OF prophecy, foreshadowed
its own future and the future of the nation
and of the metropolis. The entire independ-
ence of the new paper was emphatically an
nounced, and we cannot better describe the
principles 1t laid down than by quoting the
words of its founder re
In debates OF this kind many talk OF prnciple-po-
trap to catch the public. We mean to be perfectly
understood on this point, and therefore openly
Sasa party our ony su a. sha Il
be good, sound, practical common sense, applicable
to the business and bosoms OF men engaged in
organ Of no faction or cotere, and care nothing
for amy e election Or candidate from
deavor to record facts, on every public and
proper subject, stripped Of verbiage and color
n nG with CONNER comments when suitable, Just,
HERALD wants the mere expansion which many
journals possess, we shall try to make it up In in
and o&espness II is equally intended for the great
masses OF the communicable merchant, mechanic,
working people; the private family, as well as the
poyer, the clerk and and lis sI" principal ANS There
are in this city at least 10000 persons
every day Only $4,000 daily sheets are issued to
supply them. We have plenty Of room, therefore,
90 or o 10
HERALD, and leave something for others who come
after u.s.
Shortly afterwards the HERALD thus COM
mented on the prospects of the city of New
York-then containing about two hundred and
fifty or three hundred thousand inhabitants-
when the vacant lots above Twenty-frst street
should be covered with buildings =
These lots, allowing them to be occupied at an
average OF nine persons to the lot, viii require
population of720, 900 persons.
That number added to present population
26o GOWN make nearly million Of souls for the
Nov the question is, shall we have that
population iiity years hence Let t, us see;
in being bounded by two great water courses; its
accessibility to the ocean at all seasons; the great
extent OF fertile lands within the state which are
and connected as the State is hourly becoming by
other canals and railroads, opening to the whole
present time, should great national calamity be-
fall US, require all that active population even II the
whole Island 10 ID. should be peopied to transact the
Less than forty years have passed since
these words flowed from Mr.. Benefits pen,
and New York has already reached the pre-
dicted million of inhabitants, while the HER
AIDS daily circulation has risen from the
coveted thirty thousand to over one hundred
thousand. Calculating five readers for each
copy, its proprietor then looked for the time
when the paper should address one hundred
and fifty thousand persons at each issue; in
the same ratio it now speaks daily to nearly
three-quarters of million of people.
7 Thus the HERALD entered on the field of
journalism. Its mission was to revolutionize
the existing management of newspapers; to
release the country from political thraldom; to
break up the close corporation of financial
power; to correct the glazing vices Of society;
to raise labor to it's proper equality
with capital; to protect conscience against
fanaticism; to spread intelligence among
the people; to develop the resources and aid
the progress of the young and vigorous repub-
lie. We may turn aside here to notice some Of
the most prominent errors into which many Of
the commentators on the early career of the
HERALD have, sometimes unwittingly, fallen.
1t has been said. and is probably generally
believed, that the HERALD owed its establish
ment as an independent journal to some offence
given to its founder by the politicians.
Nothing can be further from the truth. indie
pendence was the principle underlying Mr..
Benefits earliest idea of a newspaper. It was
on this very account that he offended the poll
ticians when he managed the Pennsylvania in
accordance with his own views, and alarmed
them when he started the HERALD. They
found themselves confronted, for the first
time in the history Of the country,
by power they could not control Party
journals are excellent in their sphere, es-
pecially as now conducted. They are neces-
sary in o country where every man is voter
and more or less politician. But for many
reasons they do not fill all the requirements
of daily newspaper for the people. They
are, probably Internationally, one-sided,
their views being BIASED by the insidious in
fuence of party. They are apt to cover up
the faults Of their friends and to exaggerate
the failings and misrepresent the action Of
their opponents. As general rule they find
their way only into the hands of people who
think as they think, and who thus, without
the Intervention of the independent press,
would accept prejudice as truth. This was
especially the case forty years ago, when there
was no such thing as independence in jour
nalism, and Mr.. Bennett saw that the
situation afforded an opening such
as he had long been seeking He
started the HERALD upon this Judgment;
not from revenge against the politicians,
but in his own interest and in the interest of
the people to whom he looked for support
His steady perseverance in his original resolve
has made the paper what it now is; but its
business success is Of slight importance as
compared with the benefit the country has
derived from its services. From the time of
it's establishment dates not alone o revolution
in journalism, but new era in the progress
and welfare of the nation; better understand
ing of political questions by the people;
greater sense of responsibility on the part of
public officers more exalted patriotism q
broader iberality; higher standard of moral
ity. In the natural progress and education of
the country an independent press would
l. - 1,,4 .l~~I