The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-03-25
Old-Fashioned journalism.

He was an old Now Yorker, and he
talked with the precision of the printed
page, says the Turf. Field and Farm.
from which we quote: would you be-
lieve it? When the Tribune was started,
it refused to publish theatrical adyer-
tisements or to chronicle the move
ments of players. Now it gives much
space to the stage. When Mr.. Bonner
was pushing the Ledger, he bought
page in the daily, semi-weekly, and
weekly Tribune, agreeing to pay $4,000
for it. After the advertisement had ap-
peared in the daily, Mr.. Greeley raised
the objection that it would hurt the
weekly, which had a very large circu-
lation, to allow one man to occupy so
much space in it. MIR. Bonner insisted
that the contract should be carried out
in good faith, but Mr.. Greeley was OBJ
stinate, and the matter was compro-
missed by no charge being made for the
page occupied in the daily
s.When Mr. Bennett, the founder of
the Herald, heard of the transaction, he
said to his trusted lieutenant, Joe FL
liott, that the Tribune people were fool
ish; that no advertiser could ask for too
much space at the regular rates in the
Herald. Mr.. Elliott repeated this con-
versation to Mr.. Bonner, and the pro-
prietor of the Ledger quickly remarked,
Tell Mr. Bennett that / will take eight
pages of his paper As the Herald
was an eight page journal, the adver-
tiser put in a bid for its entire space.
Mr. Bennett was equal to the emergency.
He put on sixteen pages, three pages of
the Ledger. advertisement going into
one half section and five into the other
half. This was the first time the Herald
ever issued a sixteen page paper, and
the feat was regarded as something
wonderful. How different at the pres
ent, when more than thirty-two pages
are sometimes caught and folded from
the press! Sam Sinclair, the publisher
of the Tribune, lived at that time in
26th Street, near Eighth Ave. The
morning that the sixteen page Herald
came out, he took his seat in the street
car and bought copy of Mr.. Benefits
paper. When he opened the first half,
and saw three of the pages monopolized
by the Ledger, scowf came on his
face, and he tossed the sheet over his
shoulder through the open window. Mr..
Bonner, who had got into the same car,
one block higher up, was amused by
Sinclair's act, and he called out: You
have thrown away the lesser part; you
| will find the greater in what you have
kept Mr.. Sinclair colored to the roots
of his hair, and opened the sheet and
was greatly surprised to see that five
of the pages were given up to the Led
ger.
The fact then dawned on him that
he and Greeley had made mistake in
refusing to carry out the contract with
Mr.. Bonner for one page in the Tribune.
The first Sunday Herald was issued to
get rid of the leftover matter which en-
numbered the galleys. 1t was an ex-
pertinent; but it brought such good re-
suits as to lead to the establishment Of
a regular Sunday edition of the paper.
Mr. Bennett was quick to seize point
and profit by it. Now all the morning
| journals, including the Tribune, print y
Sunday issue, and it is really the elab-
crate and most costly paper of the week.
The changes in the newspaper world
are marvellous to an old-timer like my
self" A far-awsy look came into the
eyes of the speaker as he uttered the
| last words, as if the faces of the elder
Bennett, Horace Greeley, Henry j.
Raymond, and other journalistic stars
rose before him from the mists of the
past Then he muttered something
about time moving on with remorseless
tread, Indifferent to change, and thrust
his hands into his pockets and walked
| away.