The sun., 1897-08-29
BRITISH JOURNALISM.
4 TERRIBLE RATTLING AMoNo THE
DRY BoSES or THE PRESS.

OF British Newspnpcrdom-' The Times"
LONDON, Aug. 2O.-The staid and solid burgh
ers Of Brixton and Cambcrwell aud other
suburbs OF London were started the other day
when they looked at tho DdiV Tticgrdph and
found in IL q haring scare head about quar-
ter OF q column In length. The scare head
was not particularly vivid or picturesque. nor
was the article accompanying 1t OF sufficient I'M
portance to warrant more than the usual single
limo OF superscriptioti Yet, II the subject matter
s-d been OF the utmost Importance and Its
features wildly sensational, this headline could
not have created greater CONSERVATION in the
minds of the Ttiegrdph's readers. They have
for years been accustomed to look for their
news at tho bottom OF some out-of.the-way coll
umn, and they could not understand that tho
big head line really concession by the
great Peoples Paper" 10 the new journalism
which has taken root in London with firm
hold. and that the famous u. T. had struck its
oolors and thrown in its lot with the revolution.
lists. And hereby hangs a tale.
Tho organizer OF the newspaper revolution,
the man who has taken upon himself the task OF
introducing tho new or American journalism
to London, is Mr. Alfred G. Harmsworth. He is
n young man. barely over 80 years OF age. ana he
already owns over thirty papers OF all kinds and
descriptions, including dailies, weeklies, month
lies, women's and children's magazines. bicycle
papers, ana penny ureaululS. HOW many no
will own or control by the end of the year it is
impossible to predict because ho is constantly
projecting new ones and disseminating those
with which he does not care to bother longer.
This young man 10 much marvel In the
journalistic world as Mr.. Ernest Terah Hoolcy.
the allpoworful promoter Of public companies.
10 in finance. We have always been led to believe
chat no man could succeed In England unless
his hair either very gray or had partially
disappeared from the top OF his head. In other
words, conservative England prefers age to
youth and long struggle to short, audacous
charge. Yet here all precedent is upset and
man who looks like youth fresh from college
has caused all the great journals Of the worlds
metropolis to totter on the pedestals upon
which conservatism placed them. and forced
them to founder out OF their ruts in blind and
helpless attempt TO follow him, whittier they
know not.
Alfred G. Harmsworth went from Oxford to
the Daily Graphic as n reporter ten years ago.
Here he earned what the average London
porter considers good "living wages" about
RS per week. Then, with a capital that
could be counted on his fingers, he started
Anstrcrs. weekly paper. copied after Sir
George Newnes's Tit. BITS that is. a hodge-podge
of clippings from American papers and weekly
prize OF $50 to the winner of some stupid puZ-
fle. Harmsworth hit upon the missing word
scheme and this made such hit and so in
time he found himself enjoying an enormous in
come. This has steadily increased. and to-day
" and pays some thing like Z 100. 900 year. Four
years. ago Harmsworth. who had in the mean
time taken four OF his younger brothers INTO his
business. sold Anspers and several minor
papers to q public company for 93OO 900. still
This OPERATION % Was repeatad rep tn this year. ear when when
Harmsworth Bros, Limited, was formed. or or.
s anS
citing huge profit. When the first sale was
completed the enterprising young man. acting
chased for mere song the Erenin0 Neus ard
Pos. q halfpenny paper that had ad steadily
year 70 a public -, company for huge
and another at Portsmouth. both successful, and
which has M @ turned London Lon nj Journalism urn S upside d
down. Harmsworth, who has boon in America
bearing the. earmarks Of American enterprise.
.tem and progress could ID make make heatdway in IN
70 inaueura!e such a Journal. Oddly en- enough,
str George Newnes. the owner of Tit Bits and
ana Ss seon dia
Sss s .hs in od th0 ola Sd sd .3ss %sud sR s%
yeeks Of absolute torpqr and inanition. The
f. for Ss its price
never had a successful half.penny paper and
fhs title pai5g Maft was doably uHfoTtunste.
@srSeiioas luck which has attended iSi Harms: ms
strqsRe a With Iondohs RfDsp pras s.'9 mas
tered and drove conservatism to the four
winds, and its success assured. But
looked et through American eyes the paper was
which Conveyed anything except The Stects suSjects
they heraded; its makeup was amatcurish.
{udieFous. Still it was so much better r'nin than
4nythi3g g we had nae ever seen not omittinE MI
forgotten London edition that we weicomoa " Il
10 tho harbinger OF improvement. Inside tho
DG Ma %fsS Gcs there was and
dedeiing and i had grown 50 strong and vIFor.
SHs SHs, far beyond their widest hopes, r that they
their wants. 1t needod head who knew how
I' sades aa the w rHssnss to
1can newspapers it is unusual to find more than
column Of news matter set up and left out for
press. This is merely matter of organization
end It was as lust this lack lack Of 3rsanizaton which @
one to two pages every night. Every man in the
place was his own editor, more or less. and ma t.
The news that finally found place in tn the col col
umns OF the paper was, as is usual In London
s 70 ss the IN Ss
much like a carpenter, puts in the panels OF a
door. Then, one fine day Mr.. Harmsworth re
Peivod call from Mr.. SAMUEL ]. Pryor
late of The Sun. He had spent good
many years In THE Sun office as a general
allround man and had learned all the litlls
ways that combine to make THE Sun the bes
edited and handsomest paper in existence, ant
he knew that with a free hand in the Dahl
Mail he could apply his Invaluable SUN expert
snce to great advantage. "A man who has gone
Through The sun school need have no fear o.
failure any paper in the world. Pryor
did not ask for /. hxed ,sis, salary; what ht
with tho result that in few weeks thu
Afdl became the talk OF tho town, and
to-day, after about eight months OF SUN meth
DDS. 1t has circulation OF 100000 daily. IL
printed In three or four places at the same time
has given Hoe s. Co. orders for half a dozen biz
presses, has knocked great holes in the DALI
Telegraph. the Standard, the Chronicle, and tht
Daily Ne,cs and has, besides, created new
GLASS OF readers who, before its advent, haC
mover looked at a paper of any kind.
That is the reason why tho DdiiH Telegraph
game out the other morning with IL farin(
tscare head" Sir Edward Lawson. the proprie
tor. and Mr.. JOIN, lie Sage, the rrsponsipl,
cluson that the loss OF 100000 circulation mus