The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-11-08
NEW YORK NEWSP4PERS.
An Interesting Review Of the Great Dailies.
T lFrOnlthe Writer.

lOlll lilc w lllcI.
Thirty-nine newspapers enllghtcn
the inhabitants Of New York City,
One-fourth of them could as we'll sup
ply the needs Of the people. \ briei
glance at some ofthese journals, with a
few remarks on their varying charac-
teristics, may be Of interest to distant
newspaper writers not already very
thoroughly acquainted with them. OF
the morning papers let us select the
Sun, the World, the Tribune, the
Times, the Herald, the Press and the
Journal.
Perhaps the oldest of these is the Sun
One can scarcely imagine a paper
which would be apt to interest two
more widely different classes Of peo-
pie, which has greater faults, or more
admirable qualities. AS to its two
sides, Irefer to its editorial and its news
columns. The latter are bright, crisp,
and catchy. The Sun publishes the
news, and does it well; it is trustwor-
thy; it succeeds i'll getting pretty near
ly all that is going on, and it tells its
daily story in readable shape and in
good English. Editorially it is, by
turns, profound, scientific, philoso-
phic: "heavy," and sometimes little
dull. cr radical, tart, and mildly cyni-
Cal. 1t strikes one as odd that paper
which devotes more space than its con-
temporaries to reports of prize fights,
bear hunts, and sporting matter gen.
orally, which publishes the year round,
a aSunday edition with perhaps four or
five closely printed pages devoted to
sporting news, should, in its editorial
columns, show a decided leaning to-
ward the profound discussion of such
matters as the demise of the Ameer,
the difference between Christianity and
Mohammedanism, the meaning of a
Greek phrase, the value Of peach
blow vase, the character of the inhabi-
tants Of Patagonia, the philosophy Of
Heathenism, or the Niebelungenlied.
One can hardly reconcile the two, and
one wonders why more space is not de-
voted editorially to the kind Of matter
which, as shown by the news columns,
most interests the Sun readers, or why
the news columns do not show little
regard for the cravings of those for
whom the editorials are written.
We are surprised that the editorials
are not more of them short and spicy;
we cannot imagine g reader, who pores
over column cablegram about Sulli-
vans shaking hands with fellow
fighter in London, becoming recon-
ci!ed to the presence of a column and
half editorial article on the gold stand
ard, or the coming struggle in Central
Africa.
In its political editorials the Sun is
also peculiar. ! said it was radical. It
was the Sun which, when accused Of
Inconsistency, answered that every edi-
ton of the paper was a separate vol
ume, and that there was nothing lilo
gical in its condemnation, one day, of
principle it advocated the next. There
is however, one principle which 1t
never deserts-it is for the spoils sys-
tenn first, last, and all the time.
All the shorter Sun editorials have a
peculiarly cynical tone. Its apparent
praise is often its most effective attack,
and one always notices in it the curling
of the lip. In censure a quaint rfdl-
cule is much employed. There Is deal
of digging in the ribs, in various stages
Of viciousness, never with laughter and
fun. Withal, it is pungent and tart.
The Suns staff is an able one; it has
learned editorial writers, witty para
graphers, skilled political writers, and
a thoroughly good staff of reporters,
who write well and report accurately;
but it is eccentric--that one word con-
veys to me picture of the Sun-and it
does not appear to be sincere.
The World is enterprising. 1t lsa
paper of vast resources. 1t publishes
all the news and sometimes little
more than all. 1t is sensational, and
cannot be termed trustworthy; yet it
publishes a vast amount Of real and ex-
elusive news. We awake one morning
to find that it has interviewed the
President; again that it has sent host
of reporters to Washington and has In
terviewed Congress. 1t starts Brook
lvn edition and publishes two papers
for the price Of one; it starts Jersey
edition that publishes more jersey news
than any paper published in jersey.
Vet. with all its enterprise, 90 not
like It: there is an indetinable some
thing about it that is unpleasant. Per-
hans it is because it devotes half as
much space to telling us how it gives
as it does to giving it-what does the
public care how the news was obtained:
50 long as it is served up piping hot
every morning" 1t boasts too much; 1t
has worked some reforms, it claims to
have worked all. 1t is newspaper
braggart.
The Worlds circulation is the largest
among the New York morning news
papers. People buy the paper who do
not like it, because it gives them what
other papers do not give. 1t spends a
fortune every day getting news las IN
deed does every paper, but 1t spends a
larger fortune than other papers spend,
vet it has a. air of cheapness. Perhaps,
after a time, there will be more dignl-
twin its editorial columns and less
cause for the suspicion that 1t veers as