Smyrna times., 1888-09-26
THE LONDON TIMES.
A WELL KNOWN CORRESPONDENTS
ACCOUNT OF THE JOURNAL.

The Famous Newspapers beginning One
Hundred Years Ago-POliticaI Shifting
of The Times-How Its Pages Are
FiIIed-EditOr John Delane.
M. BlOwitz, the well known Paris cor
respondent of The London Times, has
been writing an account of his journal in
the luXurioUsly printed review called Art
and Letters. "The Times does not mean
the time nor even the times, but the
ages, the centuries-that is to say, every
thing which, III the existence of peoples,
sOlicits human understanding" In
Franco it is often quoted as '.le jour
nal de la cite, but NJ Blowitz has been
unable to trace the origin or cause of this
designation. It's office, near Blackfriars
bridge, is scarcely, he thinks, part of the
city, while its leanings, its style, its pol
itics, and its aim have no relation with
the city, strictly speaking" Everybody
knows, or ought to know, tlat The Times
first appeared on the 1st of January, 1888,
and that The Morning Post is its only
senior among English dailies, The Post
having started ten years earlier.
The history of its birth and early strug-
giles under John Walter l has been often
told; how that worthy man, being an un-
derwIiter, lost his hereditary fortune of
100000 by the capture Of feet Of Eng
liSh merchant vessels by a French squad
ron, and, falling to get satisfaction out Of
the government, at once started a news
paper called The Universal Register,
primarily in order to develop wonderful
printing patent, which has never to this
day been Of any use; how, three years
late J. al. y-,.14 I,
to The Times; how he endured six months
Imprisonment, with the pillory and fine,
FOR publishing scandalous reports about
the royal dukes, and was ON the point of
abandoning journalism in consequence,
but, fortunately, did not do so. In 1903
| John Walter II, at the age of q, was in
! trusted by his father with the entire
management Of the paper, and its great
ness, influence and prosperity date, we
are told, from chat moment.
! The stiffness of The Times-though it
must be granted that it has been steady
| enough lately i'll the out-and out toryism
is explained by M. Blowitz, but not very
| lucidly. ''FrOm the commencement of its
existence to our day the line of conduct
| of The Times has not been varied, though
1t has often changed sides and combated
today those it supported yesterday, which
Is just the case at this moment. But il
has never hesitated to subordinate ques
tiOns of party or men to questions OF
principle, and to what it believed to bC
the supreme interest of the nation as re
garded England, or the supreme interest
of society as regarded foreigners.
Leaving the politics and coming to tht
actual composition of the paper, we lear1
that in the reign of John Walter III
who reigns, but does not rule-the rea
editorial work Of The Times begins abou
IL p. N. at that hour the outer sheet
containing the title, advertisements an(
some lengthy articles, is ready printed
and the editor has given his genera
orders. He is now conferring with hi
leader writer's, who will shortly retire t.
their rooms. From 11:30 o'clock tn
printers boys will come and fetch tn
copy every ten minutes-fancy the strail
of writing a leader under the perpetua
interruption thus indicated-and it is a
once set up by Il special staff of compost
tors assigned to each article. The edito
meanwhile, with his assistant and sui
editors, proceeds to the arrangement an
revision of the other matters forming tn
paper.
As every reader of The Times knows
there are certain pages unalterably a
lotted to the same subjects. This mus
save a lot of trouble, and the same rt
mark applies to the fixed headings in tn
columns of foreign news. For how man
weary months were we daily confronte
with that same heading, Egypt, Englan
and the Soudan," and others of simila
general import. Page five has become {
exceptional Importance since May 4, 1877
as from that date The Times has receive
continental letters only by wire, from
p m till a. m, going from the Bours
to the newspaper offices. Berlin an
Vienna have daily special wires, and a
other European capitals have them, bU
without fixed time. Philadelphia an
Calcutta have the wire on certain day
Thus every one knows that a long India
telegram will appear in Mondays editic
= Of The Times, and that whether there
any important news to send or not.
The Times is every day printed vii
new type. 1t employs sixteen shOrthaI
writer's in the two houses of parliamen
! and the telephone is employed for tran
| mitting the copy" to the compositor, O
rather, no copy is sent, but the me
sage is set up directly as it is received
I the compOsitor's ear. For thirty-tv
a years MIR. John Delane reached his off
l. when the first printed copy issued fro
/, the press. About a. m. the maker
, stated the amount of matter, and Mr.. L
3 lane, without looking at this mass of 1
= columns, indicated from memory VIII
had to be added to or cut out, paragral
, by paragraph, and almost line for Lin
II At 4 o'clock he went home, took lig
t supper, went to bed and arose abo
s, noon. He lunched about 1 p. m,
= patched his correspondence, receiv
: calls, went out about o'clock for ri
r on horseback, went to his club, dress
Is for dinner, dined nine times out of t
at the club in town, took a glance at WI
= there was to see; and wherever he mig
be- took leave at a quarter past 10 a
went to his office. 81 60 into these
. tails, adds M. Blowitz, ''to show at wi
cost a man can aspire to the honor
editing the Times. Literary World.