Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-09
WAR TIME JOURNALISM,

|
swelled it to about $4,000. Johnston's
army of $4,000 men=a few miles away
| temporarily added a large element, which
| was of great Importance from business,
and especially from newspaper, point
| of view.
The newspapers fourished in those red
| days
Atlanta had six morning dailies and
one afternoon paper when ShermanS
| guns were booming on the banks of the
| Chattahoochee, seven miles westward
| The lntelligencer, Southern Confederacy,
Gate City Guardian, Reveille, Appeal and
| Register were all good papers, when the
| fact is considered that they were publish
| ed in a small inland city, about to under-
| go one of the fiercest sieges of the war.
| The Commonwealth was a bright after
| noon paper, and the Appeal and Register
| attracted good deal of attention be4
| cause the former hailed from Memphis
| and the latter from Knoxville, Tenn.
They were all four page sheets, with
| five or six columns to the page when
| they could get paper of the right SIZE
but 1T was common thing to see them
| issue half sheets of brown wrapping pa
per, and sometimes they were printed on
| cheap wall paper. Their Geographic news
| service was very limited and two COLI
| umns of kilograms in an issue always at
| tracted attention. These kilograms were
never padded and the result of a great
battle was often told in four or five print
| ed lines.
In the local columns of these war news
| papers there was very little news, but the
| editorial pages were always well filled.
| Howell Cobb and L. @. C. Lamar fire.
| quently wrote the Registers editorials,
and Henry Watterson was for several
| months on the staff of the Southern Con-
| federacy, which achieved great success
| under the management of Col George
w. Adalr, who afterward made a reputa-
tion as a dashing officer in Forests
| cavalry.
At that time Watterson was a slim,
| pale-faced young man, and he was any
| thing but an enthusiastic worker. 1t Is
| quite likely that he saw the handwriting
/ on the wall and knew that the cause of
the south was doomed. But there wers
| twenty writers on the Southern Confedf
| eracy, and among them were some wh6
| felt hopeful and confident to the last,
| One of these was an old gentleman named
| Cardozo whose financial articles would
make interesting reading just now to the
advocates of an inflated currency. Car
| dozo had a scheme for making Confedery
ate money as good as gold, and the SURF
render at Appomattox found him still ex-
| planning it to the public.
| Very little space was then devoted to-,
| miscellaneous reading ma tier, but tho,
poets were well represented, and some1
very promising short story writers Gang
| to the front War editorials, however9I
were the chief stock in trade of these
| newspapers, and they owed their existT
| ence to the fact that the Confederate
leaders needed their aid in shaping public
| opinion. ~
Fifty cents a copy for a newspaper did
| not profit it's owners at a time when Con-
| federate money was almost worthless,
and advertising did not yield much Ma
| terial and labor cost a great deal, and
each Office had numerous editors and
compositors whose services We're not res
| ally needed. Some of these journalists
never wrote line and were not expected
| to do anything. They were men of some
means or influence, who connected themy
| selves with newspapers in order to evade
| the conscript law, which exempted news@
paper proprietors and their employees.
Once when the printers on the Com
monwealth struck for higher wages there
| was some trouble and considerable fun.
The business manager at once dis
| charged the printers and notified the
| conscript officer, who Immediately or
dered them to the camp of instruction.
The printers were not slow to retaliate.
They made a point that the proprietors.
business manager and editors of the pa
per were idle in consequence of the strike
and were therefore not exempt from mill
itary duty. The authorities held sins
liar view and the result was fresh batch
of conscripts. This did not suit either
side and compromise was effected. The
editors and printers resumed work and
bodied men.
During the first two or three weeks OF
the siege the newspapers either suspend
er or moved southwark. The Appeal re-
treated before the federals until it was
| finally captured in Alabama, its whole
outfit having been reduced to small
| job press and a few pounds of type.
| The Intelligencer continued to issue a
| little sheet containing a column sum-
before
| the city fell.
| Before the bombardment commenced
| the Atlanta papers ridiculed the idea of
| a siege and predicted that Sherman
would never, cross the Chattahoochee.
When the federals crossed the river the
Confederate editors declared that they
were rushing into a trap set for their
destruction. Then came the siege, and
with it more editorial predictions to the
effect that the city could never be taken.
| Even when the exhausted Confederates
| marched out, it was claimed by the edi-
] tors that the invaders would find the
| place second Moscow and would soon
| be forced into disastrous retreat.
| They were jubilantly making these pre-
| dictions when Sherman laid the town in
asises and started to the sea.
| Only a few Of Atlanta's war Journal
| lists are now living. Henry Watterson
| is among the two or three survivors who
| have stuck to Journalism; the others are
| real estate agents, insurance men or re-
| tired capitalists. Not one of the old pa
| pers is now in existence, and instead of
supporting seven fiourishing dailies this
city of 100000 inhabitants is satisfied
with one morning paper, the Constitu-
ton, and two afternoon papers, the Jour
nal and Commercial.
A great newspaper center was destroy
ed when Sherman turned Atlanta into a
pillar of fire by night and cloud by day
to guard his marching legions
The Embroidered Batiste Waists.
Chicago Evening Post.
Separate waists of embroidered batlste
to wear with various skirts. just as silk
waists are worn, are very popular this
season. The embroidery is in all-over de-
signs and the waists copy all the models
now fashionable They have yokes, jack
ct fronts dropping and box pleated eff
fects, and are lace and insertion trimmed,
like ether fabrics. Pale yellow and pink
batiste waists that are not embroidered