The Red Cloud chief., 1878-05-02


Journalism Tive TheuAant Years Ago.
There seems to have been n necessity
since time immemorinl among a, lcas,
half-civili1cd nations To bring events VI
Importance to the knowledge oi the PEG.
pie by the medium of writing. To this
purpose answered the hicroglyphic in.
\ scriptions Of the Egyptians. the tombs
vof Babylon, covered with Assyrian
characters. the PhTnician tablets, and
the w~ell-knswn Marmor Radium.
The first Roman journal. over two
thousand years ago, appeared only
once u year. This paper. Intended
especially to be- read by the public. was
known BY the title ''Annalcs Maximi."
The editor Of this paper was the Ponti-
feN Maximus. whose duty 1t Vas To
Chronicle all the important events Of
the year. The news was written ON
white wooden tablets. and attached to
the residences of the citizens. II mus,
have been a very curious sight To see
the old Romans c%rowding around the
tablets to get "A look nj the latest news.
But the thirst after knowledge and the
the curiosity Of the people grew so
rapidly, and In suck n measure, that
The government, the only issucr of the
Journal. found itself obliged to issue a
daily. IL is very interesting To know
that some Of these journals. having
reached 2.041 years. are still in exist
ence. The name of the journal was
''ActA Populi Romano Diurna." and
appeared daily. either ~ Album, i.c.,
while the contents hung out in public.
or the contents we've written with red
chalk on the walls Of the houses. The
contents of this journal comprised
what would he classed as daily news In
our modern papers. From the want Of
the necessary material political articles
were not To be- had. Nevertheless. ac-
cording to the views Of the Roman
Government, II Wa u true journal. and
intended as reading matter for the pub
lie, which might also be inferred from
the fact that the archives Of the State
J were carved in bronze and inaccessible
to the public. Perhaps II would be Of
interest 10 some Of our readers 10
peruse n copy Of a verbal translation
from the oldest journal known, issued
1913 years before the birth II Christ /:
Consul Sicinus WAS the acting Judge
to-day. There WAS a heavy thunder
storm. and the lightning split an oak
nj the foot Of the hills Of Veil. In q
hostelry mt the foot Of the hills Of Janus
there was a fight. in which the landlord
WA badly injured. Titinius punished
some butchers on account Of their SELL
ing meat which had not been Inspected;
the money thus paid was used to erect
IA chapel to the Goddess Laverea. The
broker Ausidius He'd from town to-day,
taking money with him belonging 10
other people; he was caught. and had
to refund the money. The brigand
Uemiphon, who was captured by officer
Nerva, has been crucifed TODAY. The
fotilla from Astix arrived to-day"
You can see from this that II was In
olden time pretty much the same ~ in
our days. We would only wish that
our officials would attend to the butchers
rs well ~ Titinius did. II must be Of
ipSprest to journalists TO know that
julius Caesar. the greatest Of all
Romans, paid special attention to jour.
nalisnl. He saw the necessity Of in
structing his people in everything oc-
curing in the State; and We find this
quotation In Suetonius:
'JNlits Cesar, as soon rs he had en-
tered his public Office, caused not only
to be written, but also spread among
the people, the proceedings Of the Sen
ate"
This was the first political paper. and.
4 il contained news about buildings.
births, deaths, executions, and anec-
dotes, it can be likened very much to
modern papers. Ii seems incredi-
BILE. but il a be proved. that already
in the olden times there were stenogra.
piers who took down the speeches
made in the Senate or in public. They
werlcalled ~aotdrii: and we find . place
in Suctonius where Augustus Is angry
because the stenograPhers rep )rtsd the
speech Of Caesar for Metellus In . very
imperfect manner. There must have
been reporters. judging from q letter a
Cicero TO CGlius, also private report
ers, who gathered the news and sent
thdn by the eErsus pNbiscss-an insti-
tuition similar to our mail -tbroughout
the provinces.
You can zee from this that Alcibs's
saving, There Il nothing new under
the SUM-" IL verified once Trass-