The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-09-12

rect predicates For in~t.rc.
taxes are not required to be pa,a A. 80
the point y
When was the .firs: crop Of Sea Island
:. ,- s.o.K.
'i'e banana or Barbados islands.
| --
a JOURNALISTIC NAPOLEON
me staid and solid bursher Of Brix.
ton and camberwell and other suburbs Of
London were startled the other day when
.ney looked at the Daily Telegraph and
round In 1t flaring scare head" about
a quarter Of column in length. The
scare head" was not particularly vivid
or picturesque, nor was the article ac-
companying 1t Of sufficient Importance To
| warrant more than the usual single line
OF superscription Yet, II the subject mat
Ter mad been OF the utmost Importance and
Hs Ieautres wildly sensational, this head
line could not have created greater con-
sternation In the minds OF the Telegraph
readers They have for years been accus-
TONED to look for their news at the bot
| seAA VI coihS Jul VI Tue way CUiuun, uuu
| tney could not understand that the big
head line was really concession ny the
great Peoples Paper to The aew Jour
naltsm which has taken root in London
with firm hold, and that the famous d.
+ had struck its colors and thrown N its
lot with the revolutionists. And hereby
hangs q tale.
| The organizer Of the newspaper re, oiu.
| tbo yho ~. ~, Ne
the task Of introducing the new or
American Journalism to London, is Mr..
Alfred G. Harmsworth. Fe Is young
man, barely over 30 years OF age, and he
already owns over thirty papers Of all
kinds and descriptions, including dailies,
weeklies, monthlies. women's and chill
dren's magazines. bicycle papers. and PEN
ny dreadfuls. How many he will own or
| control by the end of the year 1t is i'm
possible to predict, because he Is con-
| stantly projecting new ones and discon-
tinuing those with which he does not care
to bother longer. This young man is as
much a marvel in the journalistic world
as Mr.. Ernest Terah Hooley. the all pow
| erful promoter of public companies, is In
fina.ce. We have always been led to be-
| leve that no man could succeed in Eng
| land unless his nair was 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 a short, audacious charge Yet
4 here all precedent is upset and man VINO
| looks like a youth fresh from college has
| caused al! the great journals o. the world s
metropolis TO totter on the pcaestals upon
| which conservatism placed them, and FORCED
them to founder out of lrAir ruts in
| blind and helpless attempt to follow him.
whittier they know not.
| Alfred g. Harmsworth went from Oxford
to the Daily Graphic as reporter ten
years ago. Here he learned what the aver
age London reporter considers good living
wages" about g. per week. Then. with a
capital that could be counted on his fingers.
he started Answers, a weekly paper. copied
after Sir George Newnes' It'd Bits-that is.
a hodge podge Of clippings from American
papers and weekly prize OF ESQ to the
winner of some stupid puzzle. Harmsworth
| hit upon the missing word" scheme, and
this made such hit and SO increased the
| sale of Answers that In very short time
he found himself enjoying an enormous in
come. This has steadily increased, and to-
day the circulation of Ans ers is over $780,
600 weekly and pays something like $780,
900 year. Four years ago Harmsworth
who had in the meantime taken four OF
his younger brothers into his business,
sold Answers and several minor rApers to
a public company for aaO0,O0O stiil retain
ing for himself the majority Of the stock.
This operation was repeated this year,
when Harmsworth Bros. QPnited), was
formed, or rather, the old business was
resold for $500, OOO Mr.. Harmsworth sAll
keeping control and pocketing huge profit.
When the first sale was completed the en-
terprlsing young man, acting upon the i'm
pulse to extend his scope. purchased for
a mere song the Evening News and Post
a halfpenny paper that had steadily lost
money for years. He made this an imme-
diate success and sold 1t early this year
| to a public company for a huge sum,
though he still remains the principal pro-
prietor. Then came daily paper in Glas-
gov and another at Portsmouth, both sue
cessful, and finally, in May of last year. tile
Daily Mail, which has turned London jour-
nalism upside down. Harmsworth. who
has been in America on short tours, became
convinced that paper bearing the ear
marks of American enterprise, system and
progress could make Roadway In England,
and he Immediately made up his mind to
inaugurate such journal.
Oddly enough, Sir George Newnes. the
owner of It'd Bits and the Westminster
Gazette, hit upon the same idea. and
tho two newspapers were launched in the
same week. Newnes' paper, the Courier,
was cast in the old. old mould, and died
in the old, old way, after few weeks
of absolute torpor and hamilton The Mail
on the other hand, burst upon London like
a meteor. 1t was bright and newsy and
tiippent--that is, for London-and its price
was only one-half penny. The half-pcnny
augured Ill for the success OF the bant-
ling. London has never had successful
half penny paper and the title, Daily
Mail, was doubly unfortunate, because the
Times once started half-pcnny Daily
Mail, and was badly nit with It, But The
marveli, US luck which has attended
Harmsworth everywhere chung to him In
this instance, and the new paper. after
short struggle with London's pride, mas
tered and drove conservatism to the foul
winds, and its success was assured. Blu
looked at through American eyes the paper
was q dreadful specimen. 1t had big head
lines, which conveyed anything except Thu