Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-11-06
A Brief History of the Press.


American journalism is one hundred
and eighty-five years old; next year il
will be older than our centennial by
eighty-six years. The head of the press
was BENJAMIN Harris, of Boston. His
paper was entitled Publick Occurren-
ces. Franklin's brother, surly James,
came in second, and afterwards fourth.
In 1772 Benjamin became live editor,
and considering his times he was the
greatest editor humanity has produced.
In our period such man would be a
vast advance upon any known editor.
How he found SO much leisure for So
cial and political life and science is a
marvel. We look with sympathy upon
the Philadelphia editor of the present
day when we remember Franklin-his
library, his hospital, his streets and rail-
roads, his fire buckets and his kite.
New York journalism began six
years after Philadelphia, and thirty
Eve years after Boston. William
Bradford, at the age of seventy, start
ed the New York Gazette in 1725, un-
der Governor Fietchers patronage, and
SO yirtuous was the business in those
days that he lived to ninety-two. Go
over the Trinity church yard and see
his gravestone, itself one hundred and
twenty three years old, and reflect that
if the old chap had lived in these days
he would have been called a political
stipendiary and his paper kitchen or
gan. The fourth city to have a press
was Annapolis. Maryland, in 1727, and
the fifth in Newport, in 1872, james
Franklin. before referred to founding
it. The first newspaper in the South
was published at Charleston, In 173I,
five years before Virginia had press
at Williamsburg. Connecticut had
newspaper at Ncw Haven in IT'S, Del
aware one at Wilmington in 176l, New
Jersey the first in 1777. There were
forty three papers in America at the
date King George acknowledged our
independence. The first regular daily
in America was issued in 1884 by
Franklin S gra ndson, Bache-the Phil
adelphia ADVERTISER. The next year
New York had adaily issued by Childs
(not G. W). also called the Adver-
tiser. The first Western daily paper
was The Cincinnati Gazette, issued in
1927, after twenty-one years of heb
domadal existence. The st. Louis
Republican followed in 1923 The
Charleston Courier, started by Mas
sachusetts Yankee more than seventy
years ago, disposed of its files in one
hundred and fifty volumes last year for
the sum of 50, 250-a- remarkably low
price, as there is no duplicate of them.
Albany had her first daily in 1924, the
News. The New York daily press of
the present dates as follows: Sun. 1913;
Herald, 1885; Tribune, 1871; Times.
1851, World, 1863. The great names
in journalism are. Franklin, Gales,
Bryant, Greeley. Morse and Hoe.
There are about $50 daily newspapers
in America now, with combined cir
culation of not less than 5000, 900, or
one newspaper TO every twelve souls.
No country in the world approaches
this standard of circulation, no other
form of government could stimulate
it. The press owes everything to the
republic; the republic too often gets
scant encouragement from the press.
To-day in France the editors are petit
tioning the Government for liberty in
San Francisco the editors are outrag-
ing the distinguished dead. Rochefort
is banished to New Caledonia; but
men like Storey live without challeng-
ing everything.
The cessation of Niles Register in
1913, after thirty-seven years of pub
lication, leaves a blank in annual
record that no modern publisher has
had the foresight orenterprise to sup
ply. Niles Register was published
originally inBaltimore afterwards in
Washington City. 1t was weekly
tract of the compiled occurrences of
the year, bound in semi-annual
volumes and infinitely indorsed. A
complete set is rare; [ own nearly ten
full sets. and wbi.s have l have
bought twenty yofdmes nearly conse
cutive, for one dollar volume, have
paid ten dollars for a single volume.
The full setis worth about three hun
dred dollars. Iti almost invaluable
to any good collection of Americana
Niles son is a man OF wealth in Wash
ington, who was associated with the
Board of Public Works. The only
continuation of this record is a meagre
appendix to Harpers' Magazine called
the " Record of Current Events. -
Neao York Graphic.