New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-04-10
rur cnIYGEs az 4 GENERlTToN.

We publish this morning the last or Our
series Of articles on the fast printing press,
and the promised description of the new
machine which has given THE TRIBUNE
more remarkable capacity Of production than
any other journal in the world. 1t was
on the 10th of April, 1871, that Horace
Greeley published the first number of THE
Nrw-YoRK TRIBUNE, little sheet of four
pages, each about half the size of this page.
II was sold for one cent and it won success
from the very start, for it was always good
newspaper. But journalism in those days was
not what 1t is now. \ whole page OF the first
number of THE TRIBUNE was occupied
by a legal opinion which had at the
time a great deal Of interest and
importance another page was devoted to the
comments of the press and proceedings Of
vIblic bodies on the death of President llar-
risop. whose funeral was to take place that
day. A half column was ample for the city
"iutclligcnce," which consisted only of the
proceedings of two or three counts; another
half column contained all the news by mail,
amounting only to II few scraps. About the
same space was given to the financial and
commercial reports. There were some figures
of An election in Connecticut; and Mr..
Greeley filled nearly half page with plain
and vigorous editorials. There was nothing
else except advertisements. Within day or
two, however, the literary reviews and ex-
tracts for which The TRIBUNE early became
celebrated were prominent features of the
paper. and at the end of the first week Mr..
Greeley began the publication of "Barnaby
Ridge in daily instalments. Not only was
IL. "a
stood at that period, but the public appetite
for news was by he means what it is to-day.
Then it was at most langud and careless
taste, and now it is an Unsuitable craving.
The primitive printing presses Of 1911 were
quite sufficient for the papers of 1871. Mr..
Greeley printed 5000 copies of the first TRB-
UNE, aud | nearly succeeded" he said, " in
giving away all of them that would not sell.
"My folding and ,mailing must have staggered
"me but for the circumstance that | had few
"papers to mail, and not very many to fold.
The lack of the present machinery OF rail
"roads and expresses was grave obstacle to
" the circulation of my paper outside OF the
" city's suburbs but / think its paid-for is
" sues were 1000 at the close of the first
"week, and that they thenceforth increased
"pretty steadily at the rate OF 800 per
" week till they reached 10000. My cur
trent expenses for the first week were
"about 1925 my receipts 1922" fat press
that would print 1,500 papers an hour could
do all the work of THE TRIBUNE, or of any
of its rivals. Nearly the whole night was
given up to mechanical processes that must
now be completed in the last hours before dawn ;
andit was perhaps fortunate, in one sense, that
there was no telegraph to pour torrents of dis
patches into the newspaper offices between
midnight and day, no fast mails to bring an
unceasing stream of correspondence, for the
paper never could have been printed IN time
! for breakfast if its columns had not been
| closed at an early hour of the night.
1t is an illustration of what may be called
the correlation of inventions that improve
ments in jOurnalism--the enlargement of its
scope, the increase of its popularity, the ex-