, 1880-04-15
Old Newspaper Habits.

and public buildings in Washington in
1914, they destroyed the public records.
Among the debris few papers were
found and preserved, bus in the Senate
and House libraries the official record
only goes back to 1915. The Senate
library, however, contains the files Of
newspapers running back to 1900, and
in the absence of the official records
they become very valuable These files
can interesting study, especially to o
citizen, Of Washington. The Oldest
paper on file is the "National Intelli-
gencer and Washington Advertiser,
printed by Samuel Harrison Smith, New
Jersey avenue, near the Capitol The
first issue was on Friday, October 81,
1900, and it contains lengthy apology
for delay in getting the paper out. The
mission of the paper, so the editor states
in double loaded salutatory, 'is to diff
fuse correct information through the
whole extent Of the Union"
An examination of the files shows
that the stirring events Of the great civil
war worked quite revolution in the
methods of journalism. 1t then became
necessary to utilize every avenue for the
collection of news, and, naturally, the
telegraph took the lead of everything
else. The rivalry between leading New
York journals, prior to the civil war, led
to wonderful display of enterprise and
an enormous expenditure Of money in
gathering news. In those days the
whole country looked to the New York
papers for news, and any means by
which information could be obtained,
even few hours earlier than through
the regular channels, We're adopted, with.
out regard to cost. In the early days of
journalism, however, and before such
men as Bennett entered the field, 1T was
quiet, easy gong sort Of business.
Taking the files in the Senate Library
from 1900 down for more than quar-
ter Of century, it appears that the
chief duty of journalism was to write
long editorials, A& ia
Great Importance was attached then
to editorial utterances, as the theory
prevailed that the papers nodded and di.
iected public opinion. A. leading fea'
ture Of the papers then was the publica-
tion of long essays on various topics
from "prominent" or "leading" citizens.
for instance, "letter from prominent
citizen of Virginia to friend in Con-
gress would be given two or three col
umns' space, though nowhere, did it
touch upon the events of the day. At
one time dis iscussion upon the virtues
Of vaccination ran through tho columns
Of the Intelligencer and drew very long
letters from different parts Of the
Union.
In those days, instead of the system
Of interviewing now in vogue, the editor
would write to public man asking his
views upon certain subject, or an ex-
planatlon of some act CT his, and then
the correspondence would be published.
In this way letters from Madison,
Henry Clay and many other leading
men il the carly days of our country
appeared in the newspapers. Very
little space was devoted to current
events, and reports Of Congressional pro-
ceedings, even down to 1925, for two or
three days, were frequently published on
the same day. For instance, Thursdays
issue would contain the Congressional
report for Monday, Tuesday and Wed
nesday, each day under its proper
date. Occasionally as much as half a
column would be given to local news,
but as a general thing the space was
consumed in long editorials and letters
from "noted citizens.
In one of tho oldest papers is pub
Iished q proclamation from George
Washington, as President of the United
States, suspending "the first and third
articles Of the terms and conditions de-
clarcd by the President OF the United
States on the 18th of October, 1871,
for regulating the material and manner
Of building improvements in the city of
Washington These terms prescribed
that buildings should be constructed
only Of brick or stone, and that no
house should be higher than forty feet
TO the roof, nor any lower than thirty
five feet. Washington in his proclaina
ton says that Il had been "found by
experiences that these terms impadcd the
settlement Of the city by mechanics and
others whose circumstance DO not al
nit oi erecting houses Of the description
authorized Therefore be- Suspended
she art and permitted tbe ereciioa oi