The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-15
THE MORNING NEWS IN 1850.
~. rIRsT ISSUE COMPARED WITH
THAT OF TODAY.

NATE for Its Time-Wns IA NewSpa-
r.r Pure and simple From the
.tart and Has Been Ever Since.
some of the Features Which Char
orterized the Paper in Its In
fancy and the Topics Which In
trrcsted Its Readers-SIavery ana
tbe Issues Pertaining to 1t the
vain Issue of That Day-SOme
GIimpses of the City of Half n Cen
tury Ago Cleaned From It's Col
umnS.
THE drst edition of the Morning News
anr-,red on Jan. 10. 1850 1t bore little re-
sen,bl9nce to the large seven-column, eight
70 tnenty-four-page paper, which the
Morning News now issues, except in that
a. WAS "A neat and well printed sheet. The
naoer was a five-column folio, the pages
n.ar, about half the present size of the
,rorrfrs News, and was printed in a clear
porn4rel type. There were no large dis
nIav advertisements, but there were plen-
~ Of small advertisements.
There were two other daily morning pa
nsrs in savannah when the Morning News
was founded, the Daily Georgian and the
savannah Republican, both partisans of
their respective parties, and the idea in
establishing the Morning News was to fur
risb ron-partisan news and commercial
organ.
The announcement in the first issue con-
tains the following paragraph "Our plat
form is embraced in the words neutral
inv. independence and industry. Our
aim viii be to give out subscribers a
cheap. reliable and comprehensive news
paper and to the business man an adver-
Using medium through which he may
reach all classes of the community. While
we shall preserve our neutrality invio-
late. we shall in no instance compromise
our Independence, and what patient in
dus,ry can do to make our sheet useful
and popular shall be accomplished In
so much we have defined the position of
our paper"
Its Policy Lived Up to.
Those who are acquainted in some de-
gree with the history of the paper know
that the platform has been well lived up
TO- and that practically it expresses the
policy Of the Morning News to-day.
John NJ Cooper was the publisher and
proprietor and w. T. Thompson the editor
of the first Morning News. Both are well
remembered by many of the older ciu-
zens The price was 81 a year for the
daily and So a year for the tri-weekly
which was intended for country circula-
ton. Considering the small size
of the paper and the small amount
oF
could not be considered small. The facii-
tiles for getting news were undeveloped
in those days. Mails were slow and UNI
certain, the telegraph had just begun it's
wonderful development and rates were fab
Y ulous. Considering the facilities at hand
and the spirit of the times, which pre-
ferred political discussions to lengthy news
4 reports the early editions of the Morning
News make a very creditable showing
4 The Morning News was departure from
the prevailing style and was published
from the first purely as a newspaper
The prospectus of the paper, which also
appears in the first issue contains the
N following announcement: THE Morning
n News viii be emphat icaly a commercial
newspaper, devoted to the diffusion of use
fui Information on all subjects of popular
a interest, and 10 the advancement of city
and stale interests generally, pursuing at
all times a strictly neutral and independ-
n ent position in regard to politics and par
4 Ties. The first part of this declara-
ton has Always been strictly adhered to-
With the meager news facilities at its
command the Morning News could not
have been expected to give its readers
great amount of reading matter and. in
l1cU all the reading matter contained in
n ihe hrst issue could easily be reprinted
a on one page of the present Morning News
ana stil leave column or so for ad-
Il vertising purposes. Much of this small
amount of news was miscellaneous read
N ing. There was but little local news and
VI geographic dispatches were meager Con-
sequently the paper depended largely for
n us reports of the happenings of the day
upon Its exchanges, and upon letters from
N correspondents.
Events of 30 Years Ago.
1t need not be supposed, however, that
"a me Ola files of the Morning News are
any me less interesting on this account:
~ MANY stirring events were happening and
many important questions were agitating
H7 Hduun and frequent mention of these
Is To- oe found in the files of 1880. The
III question of the extension of slavery into
III W." countries was then in hot debate be-
I'VE the States Rights and Free Soil
IONS The Wilmot proviso, the admls-
~ N' 'dlliOfhld as a free state, ana lhe
passage of the fugitive slave law were
' SUBJECTS of constant discussion. Sew
Northern states had adopted reso-
ln'''hs against the further extension or
gov ielHtory, while Southerners were
lt'iHiuS the right to take their slaves
NJ T'I mem into any part of the country.
INST issue of the Morning News con-
.'i7 ID reference to the inability of Con-
n To- complete its organization because
ID '"e Northern aud Southern members
~ dominant party could moi get to-
81 The old Wing and Democratic
q ' NNNs were already breaking up be-
'A' slavery question refused to be
Fl ''"'le 10 party. The impending con-
'"een the sections was already
"A aud threats of the dissolution of
A ZION were freely made.
II other things were occurring then
n awe proven of almost continuous
for fifty years The Isthmus ca
NJ WAS then under discussion. and the
"a N-'uiwer treaty, by which the Unit
~ 'r ana Great Britain. guaranteed