The New York herald., 1873-08-15
ADVANCE IN JOURNALISM.
. BNs1 49,
THE HERALD IN 1885 AND 1873.
How News Was ObtaineSl
Then and Now.

From the Springfield Mass) Republic IN. Au>.
gust 12-l
Even our dreadful American moving nv has tts
utilities and compensations. There is more -va,u
able fotsam washed ashore in this ear.v commo.
lion OF the social elements than ost/ NJ ma have
any idea Of 1t was while prov Alnet around the
new house,n Robinson Crusoe Asb,ox,. that a oood
friend Of ours discovered, last sprtpr IN an outof
the-way corner, q small bu' Is,e Of very b,,,ons-
looking old newspapers. Dt xnterred from The dust
ana cobwebs and brought 10 the light thew proved
TO be Nos. 6, 8, and 70 OF the rst volume OF the
NEW YORK HERALD; b caring date, respec lively.
September 4. and nd November 80, 1885.
what the NEW Y.oxK HERALD is to-day our
readers know without our telling them. It dis
covers lost, explOrers It's commissioners" not
only standin F.lngs' palaces. but exchange views
on current politics with the royal proprietors The
sun never sets upon its "bureaus." We may add,
that lttappears to enjoy. in good degree the
favor and patronage OF the advertising public.
Let H see how matters stood with 1t thirty-eight
years ago.
The NEW YORK HERALD of 1885 was four page
paper, four columns to the page; dimensions, II
by 161S inches. 1t published daily at 202 Broad
way basement story" by James Gordon Bennett.
1t sold for penny The terms for advertising con-
trast very queery with the present schedule at the
corner of Ann street and Broadway. Explaining
that sixteen lines make o square, Publisher Ben
nett offers that space for year to any enterpris
ing merchant at the very reasonable rental OF $780,
The price for three months is IS, for one month";
So; for a week, 81 rs; for a single insertion, soc.
geographically, the little paper is neatness it
sell: the makeup, however, would hardly pass
muster If judged by the modern canons Taking
mp the HERALD for September 4, 1885, we ind on
the first page, after Mr. Benefits schedule OF
advertising rates. directory OF the city and
brooklyn banks, occupying column and half;
hall column OF court calendar, an original
poem erouc) and highly classical story
from the last american Monthly Magazine, which
''runs over" to The second or editorial page. Next
come loaded editorial articles ON 1.-THE United
States and the Manhattan Banks' Qn which the
miserable TRADES OF the threepenny papers, the
Journal OF Commerce, the Times, the Courier and
Others are contrasted with the independence Of
the HERALD, "Almshouse Arairs'' (highly per.
sonal and, We regret to add, improper), ana "The
Hoax"-Mr Locke's moonhoax, to w.t. which Mr..
Bennett finds very ingenious and amusing, though
he is shocked at the immoral and unprincped
conduct Of the san IN averring It's truth in order
to get money out Of creduous publicn Then fol-
low few personal and local paragraphs we
learn that Miss Martineau is in Boston, that
there is scarcely vacancy" In the
hotels, the city is so crowded with
strangers, and that several new volunteer
companies are "about being formed in the course
Of few weeks" Then come more editorial ar
tices headed Melancholy Fate OF Matthias the
Prophet (he wasn't drowned, though after ally,
Literary" "More Strikes" and "Catholic.n In
the fourth column we have the police reports
Hpicy and interlarded with poetry, statistics OF
10,
bags In the Exchange reading room, hatter's ad-
vertsement, and an election notice over the
signature OF John A. Dix, Secretary of State. The
third page opens with the regular money article
under the head of ''Wan Street.n Then come the
'Marine Intelligence" q brace OF advertisements
and marriages and deaths The rest OF this page
and the whole Of the fourth are given up to adj
vertisements We should have mentioned that all
the editorials are ''sideheads.n
In more than respect the HERALD OF 1885
suggests and prophesles the HERALD OF 1873. .The
child Is father OF the man." There Is the same
acute selfsatislactiOn, for one thing; the same
hal-pitying. halkcontemptuous bearing towards
metropolitan contemporaries and rivals for an
other. Indeed. Mr.. Bennett was good deal more
aggressive and 'ugy'' in his newspaper wars than
his successors ever dream OF being. "The sun is
Boosting OF its advertisements and its circulation
boast OF. Its editorial columns are ever as barren,
dull and stupid as the desert OF Arabia. But we
60 from the garret TO the cellar says the sun
No doubt you do. There is much wrapping paper
used in garrets and cellars to tie up sausages
and bundle away old Clothes" Again PROM
the very fact that the three-penny papers do q
species OF race-horse business, that they are en-
trely dependent on this or that Institution, they
dare not for their soul's salvation, or the throwing
out out, OF their ,o notes sive iree candid fun and
present state Of the money market or its future
prospects. They only support party in stocks, or
fhe HERALD. we are obviously to inler, Is quite
Independent OF party In all three; and, to do It
Justice, we notice that 1t does slosh around
rather promiscuous 1t has its own opinion Of
the United States Bank and it thinks the Man.
haitian, with its huge capital OF 900, will
pursueS him as ruthlessly as 1t has since Dur.
6ued that uhlucky Doubling Thomas, Professor
Loomis. IT appears also to dislike Mr.. Van
that he ordinarily rides when In Washington in
$3.50 barouche, 1t remarks:- :-'He formerly, in
kinderhooS' Kim .ro rolled wheeloarrow with Pota
rate, It's Washington correspondent has-a very
poor opinion OF the Cabinet; Mr.. Ken iall is the
only man in the lot. 1t is bitterly hostile to the
abolitionists, and prints such little items as this
about Mr.. Lewis Tappan:- have been In
aa this who resides n Rose
OF his house. so as 10 be ready in case OF an attack
There is no danger, however, at PRESENT. And It
the ant-savery society are merely aboiitionfsts In
disguise. Its own QS35) position on the slavery
issue is sufficiently defined by the following para
graph-"ln this section OF the country there Is no
excitement, no regard paid to the slave Questi on
except ny alew miserable politicians and . lew
equally miserable oockheads. The great mass OF
tne people here only know the coored people to
contemn and desplse them as q distinct race from
themselves Here, in fact the blacks are "a Inuch
slaves as at the south. They are degraded in the
mass, ana no educaton could raise them to loot
ing OF equality
What we had meant to say OF the business social
life, &c, OF New York. limited at in these socals,
and advertisements OF thirty-eight years AGO must
wait till another day, But this article would be
sadly Incomplete II we failed to tender the proper
compliments anu congratulations to the HERALD
on the improvements effected upon its former
methods OF procuring foreign news. Thrty-eiQht
years ago II was Indebted Tor its 'sensation,-the
attempted blowing up OF Louis Philippe with an in
fernal machlne-t0 the New Bedford MeTc,uy
winch was indebted, In It's turn, the captain OF
4 pilot boat, who boarded the shin Poland thirf ".