Daily globe., 1883-05-14
THE WORLD.

1t Has Been Managed In the Interest of tho
Flesh and the Devil-"Gath's' RecolIec-
tions of Its Checkered Career-From a
Religious Sheet to the Organ of Rings
and MonopolIsts-Its Change of Manage
nent and Character.
| New York Letter of George Alfred Townsend. |
NEW YORK, May 12,-Ths sale of the
New York World recalls some episodes in
its history. This paper was not originally
designed to be Democratic. A few years
before the war sentiment arose in certain
moralistic quarters that the New York
newspapers were altogether too worldly.
Bennett at that time set the example of
the New York press, and Greeley & Ray
mond, his main rivals, were known to be
unorthodox, if religious men at all. Ben
nett was always saeering at Beecher,
Cheever, Chaplin and other anti-slavery
clergymen, and it was understood that his
wife and children were being brought up
in the Catholic church. Raymond, though
of religious origin, was very worldly
man, whose rapid success somewhat spoiled
him, and his paper was chiefly taken by
the decent classes of conservatives who, on
the one side, hated Greeley's radicalism,
and on the other, considered Benefits
paper filthy. Nevertheless the sue
cess Of the Times was probably
the cause of the World being
started. The Times made point at that
day much moro than now, of omitting to
publish the misdeeds of mankind. Even
its advertisements were carefully watched
lest bad word or idea might get in. At
that time, while all the religious classes
were content to see the great crime of slav-
cry respectable and regarded an aboli-
zionist as only another form of 33infdel,
this great distinction between fact and
appearance gave great deal of comfort
to the pious soul. A man by the name of
Alex. Cummings, a gentle sniff1er from
Philadelphia, whose religion consisted in
the company he kept rather than in the
principles he maintained in his business,
put himself at the head of movement to
regenerate the American people through
another New York newspaper which should
leave out the news that had an Old Testa-
ment flavor, yet interest human nature
than the news. Considerable money
was collected and the enterprise was
launched with fair show of
success. About the only thing the paper
made any point on was some of its special
correspondence about the time the Prince
of Wales visited this country.
In comparatively short time the World
exhausted its money and credit, and turned
out to be moral sham. Scores of i'm
practicable clergymsn were stumbling
against each other on the stairs and drop
ping their spectacles as they berated each
other and the management, each insisting
he knew all about a newspaper, and that
the Lord specially revealed to him the par
ticular bias he took. Clergymen have the
same propensity to insist that the Lord
inspires them that sinners have to damn
other people in the name of the Lord.
The bad mans oath is only the goodman's
inspiration.
The World was finally put up for
sale, and it is understood that q
man by the name of Marble,
mere writer upon it with more genius for
trade than for English composition, got
the agency to sell it. The paper had been
fortunate in procuring admission to the
l.
of the old Courier and Enquirer. AS TO
the fact, however,, am not sure, The
Courier and Enquirer was chiefly purchas-
| ed because it had nearly the monopoly of
the auction advertising which amounted to
several columns day. 1 think, however,
that in the purchase was included the
press franchise. After that time the AS
sociated Press turned deaf ear to appli-
cants for admission. The World got in,
it is said, through the rival jealousies in
the press monopoly.
| Marble was an oriental looking fellow,
with wiley tongue, reared somewhere
about Albany, and brought up, it is under
stood, by some patron there, who educated
him. He made a show of selling the
paper to the Harpers and two or three
partnerships but finally formed little
ring of his own to buy it and he made
with them contract, something of the
same kind, presume, that Hurlburt has
recently had with Field. The men who
| put up the money to buy the paper in both
cases did not wish to have their names pa
raded before the public and, of course,
some name had to be prominent, and it
suited Marble as we'll as his hackers to let
him take the honors.
The men who bought the paper from the
|
moraiistic crowd were Belmont, broker.
Barlow, a diplomatic lawyer, and John
Anderson, the tobacconist who was also
the fRther-in law of the celebrated Judge
Barnard, who was afterward impeached
and removed. These three men all Dem
ocrats and desirons to have Democratic
organ in the city of New York, where the
Democratic party was strong enough to
control the revenues Of the city, and even
during the war to carry the
state under Horatio Seymour. It was in
the grand day of stealing. The old board
of supervisors, at the head of which was
Tweed, had started on their enormous
career of speculation, and having to raise
volunteers and prevent drafts in the city,
they had just been given the largest power
ever extended to men of similar character
and trading in this world to spend the
public moneys. They enacted all the
horrors of war in the peaceful city of New
York. The jails and asyluns were
stripped Of their inmates to furnish sub
'stitutes at $4,000 piece for frightened
and money making citizens. In the evil
operations of that period the World news
paper had its regular pickings. 1t did
not get as much as the Herald or the Star.