Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-07-14
HISTORY OF THEPRESS
Continued from First Pase.)

ana there was no copyright upon re-
porting the rise or fall Of bonds and
stocks, and Yet the reason for these
changes of value were open TO al, and
We're freely discussed And IL was d;f-
ticuit to forbid a newspaper to say that
such ana such securities rose and fell
ana lor the time the market was great
~ excited, but the cause Of this move
iheht was Il publication of news. the
terms of which the newspapers waTe
not allowed to quote
rms Is a curious Illustration of how
the success of one in any sphere. of life
necessarily affects beneficially the, in
terests of others. I is impossible nm
DER modern civilization. or indeed UNI
der any condition of mans existence
for any man to enjoy prosperity with
cut inevitably sharing it With others
ana the more he shares 1T the more
ne enjoys it. though this may not be
ca'ue of news gatllerers
Ihere are other British newspapers
especially the Edinburgh Scotsman and
the Glasgow Herald. which are most
a a,Il lor Tie ability With which
tney are edited and the success with
Whlch they gather news. They are
gotten up deliberately ana the business
must be of the most valuable character
me best account that ! have seen at
All Oh the American bIttlcshiIs in Gu
pan waters was in copy of the Lon
don Daily Telegraph which, a friend
kindly sent me
When We cross to the continent rho
character of newspapers changes com
pletelE. The French papers arr. utter
y unlike ours. They are generally
small and make no pretence to the eN
teht Oh news. foreign or domestic.
winch we and the English are accus-
toned to supply to our readers The
l'etlt journal Of Paris has a circ,lla-
ton OF about 100000. but there is no
paper in Paris, or indeed anywhere in
FRANCE, that pretends TO have the In
fluence that the best papers in England
ana the United States can Justly claim
One of the striking differences be-
tween the French papers on the one
side and the English and American on
the other is that all of the articles in
tiie French papers are signed by their
respective authors. SO that the article
has not merely its intrinsic merit, but
Whatever force can be derived from the
name and character of the Individual
who wrote it. While in England and
America the authorship is Suppressed
ana the effort for the most part of
those managers of papers who seek to
found a permanent institution is to let
the paper speak ana to merge the in
dlNidual in the greater aggrega ton.
TO this theory and practice l give nv
hearty consent and Studously endeav-
or to carry it out. Men are mortal and
perish. but principles are immortal and
1--we eternally. For Il newspaper or IL
party to hang its fortunes on the a bill
ity of Il writer or the success of a lead
er may lead to disastrous CONSEQUENCES
Vanity in an editor may induce him
to make his personality conspicuous.
but one so afflicted would be rather
playing to the galleries than promoting
the best interests OF an Influential
journal
In Germany the prospect is even more
desolate. Censorship there has broken
the spirit of Independence, and the en-
ergy for news gathering seems to be
para1yZed by the effort to avoid the
crime of 1ese majestic. OF speaking evil
Of his imperial absurdfty William H.
y friend of mine who spent some time
in Germany told me that there was
more news about Germany in any first.
class New York paper than you would
get in a German paper printed in Ber-
lin. ;g
] shall not detain you to speak of the
other papers of Europe or any other
part of the world except to say that
they have neither the circulation nor
the influence which would make them
comparable with ours.
should be unwilling to allow this
occasion to pass without considering
what especially concerns ourselves as
the newspaper managers of Virginia
A review of what others have done and
are doing is interest ting enough but our
chief interest lies in what we have dane
and are doing for the people OF Vir-
gina.
Charlottesville last year Judge Hughes,
himself veteran of the E1ess, deElv-
ered you most instructive address
upon the Editors of the Past. He re-
viewed the journalism of this State
from it's origin almost TO the present
time. and pointed out the bright par
tfcular stars that had adorned it's firm
ament. Certainly there is enough in
the personnel of the great Virginia ed
itnrs In make each member of the pro-
fe:'S!nn feel that ho is in noble compa-
ny
In this pursuit as in others which re-
late to public action and to public duty
Virginia has had her full share of able
men. It must be an inspiring thought
to every Virginia editor to know that
whether he accepts the Jefrersonian of
the Hamiltonian theory of our govern
mcnt. whether he comes of Wing or
Democratic antecedents. is /; Republ-
can or Democrat today. free trader or
prntectionist he has had antecedents
OF a noble and exalted character
1t is for us to concern ourselves as to
the discharge Of our duty in the pres
ent. l have watched With great inter
est the character and appearance of the
Virginia exchanges which have been
sent to my office. I shall be pardoned
II in the interest of my associates, and
without mentioning any by name.
fairly describe some OF these as types
of classes.
After examining more or less critical
~ thirty or forty of these exchanges 1
CLASSIFIED them as good better, best.
will begin by saying that the number
OF those which were placed In the cless-
cs of better and best We're even crater
than those that were good In all there
were indications Of thoughtful effort to
produce the hest results, which the
owners and the operators of the plant
could afford for the patrons of the pa
per. That there We're marked differ
ences in the success with which these
efforts.were crowned would be apparent
10 any one who examined the papers.
In the ability with which the material
was prepared. in the care and taste
with which it was set up. in the press
nj