The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-05-15
HAS THE "HERALD" BEEN SOLD ?

The disappearance from the head of the
editorial column of the New York Herald
of the ornamental words, James Gordon
Bennett, proprietor" which have -four
ished there for fifty-seven years, has given
rise 10 surmise that the great New York
paper had been sold-probably to a syndi-
cate-and names and amounts have been
conJecturally mentioned. There is, how
ever, no reason 20 suppose that any trans
fer of property has taken place. The in
novation is probably mere within Of Mr..
Bennett; one OF tie notions of that
restless spirit which finds in incessant
change relief from the gloom of friend
lessness
1t would be difficult to arrive at an ap-
pTalsement of the value of a newspaper
like the Herald. 1t is said to realize over
million year, aud this is derived not
from mushroom boom like that of the
World, but from a regularly established
business which has existed for years, and
which 1t would take years of fragrant mis-
management to impair. In such a case the
old rule that a newspaper is worth three
years income evidently fails to apply; nor
can the purchase of the Pal Mall gazette
by William Waldorf Aston constitute q
precedent a more reliable guide would
be the recent refusal of the owners of the
Paris Figaro TO accept 10000 coo francs for
their paper. which certainly does not make
anything like 100000 francs year. In
| that case the possibility OF decay was off
| set against tie probability of growth
| the proprietors' ideas of capt. aliZation was
| based on the current value of money and
| the probable future fluctuations of that
! commodity. II the Herald were ap-
! praised on that plan its present value
would be about S20.000.OOO far larger
sum than syndicate of capitalists would
be willing to embark in single newspaper
| enterprise.
Attempts are occasionally made to predi-
cate valuations of newspapers on circula.
ton. But this method ignores the fluctu.
ating character of academia! circulai ion
! The Daily NGgS and the Telegraph OF
London nave a circulation more than twice
as large as the Times, and the circulation
produces larger ephemeral advertising
patronage. but if all three papers were PM
up at auction the Times would probably
fetch twice as much as the other two com.
| bined, from the reason that buyers would
regard its income as assured, like the in
rivals were subject to the vicissitudes oil
! business. Where newspapers business
depends on the life of an individual, or on
his capacity to keep up succession Of
exciting sensations, it is evidently more
| precarious than business which owes
its existence to no adventitious circum.
stances. The business of the London
| Times and the New York Herald belong
to the same category.
Mr.. Bennett is unmarried and has nc
children, His natural heir will be his
nephew, the son Of his sister, who married
Isaac Bell, youth of whom the world
knows nothing. But there is no reason tC
| doubt that he viii step into his uncle's
| place and carry on the Herald Just as
smoothly as the four generations of John
Walters have carried on the London Times
| When these papers passed out of the hands
oftheir founders both had reached the stage
| when 1t only required little ability to
conduct them, but it now becomes very
difficult to wreck them. 1t is quite doubt
full whether the Herald was helped by the
| startling explosions of enterprise in which
| the younger Bennett has al times in
| dulged. Some of his freaks have been cal
| cula!ed TO be positively detrimental. but
their injurious effect has been hardly ap-
preciatle on the business of the great
paper. Like the Walters he has spared no
| money to supply his readers with the
news, and all the news, presented in the
most graphic style by the most gifted pens
of the age. In consideration CT this the
public have cOndoned his wild eccentricitie:
and even the feeble puerIity of his edito
rial judgment. His policy has been al
easy one to follow. 1t may be desert bee
as policy Of conservatism, qualified by
progress. It contrasts as sharply will
the conservatism which sets its face
against progress as it does with tn,
progress which denies that there Is any
virtue in conservatism.