Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-03-29
Five EpOcbS With Newspapers
BY FREDERICK ). HAsKINs.

.fNNS'ic4i was Tic DulIllllS ISSUE anu
trouble with England was expected,
the cry of "fifty-four forty or fight"
caused a combination of papers to
charter a swift pilot boat to get the
latest news from England
News Three Weeks Old.
When Lincoln was killed more than
three weeks elapsed before the COM
ment OF the European press appeared
in American papers. When Garfield
was shot the Associated Press next
morning furnished two columns of
what the monarchs and newspapers Of
the Old World had to say in deplor-
ing the tragedy.
The oceanic cable was a success as
early as 1866 but 1t was in the
Franco Prussian war of 1870 that 1t
considerabl extent. A first the cable
rate was 800 for 20 words, and it took
rich newspaper to pay the tariff.
Practically all of the newspapers in
the years Just before the civil war had
the same make up" Congressional or
Washington news came first, then the
European news, If a vessel had arriv-
ed, and after that whatever little local
news could measure up to the stand
ard OF the day. There were always
some poetry, chapter Of a novel, and
advertisements galore.
Dana Begins Revolution.
Charles A. Dana of the New York
Sun more than any other one man
was responsible for the revolution in
the manner of handling the news. He
broke away from the conventional no.
ton that Washington events were al
ways most important and made each
bit of news stand on its own merits as
to interest
style of reporting the deliberations of
congress verbatim and in sequence,
as is now done only in the Congression-
al Record
This way of printing the news from
congress was responsible for the fact
that, when President Andrew Johnson
was impeached. the subscriber OF the
New York Tribune was forced to read
through four columns of unimportant
matter to get to the Impeachment of
the president in the house of repre-
sentatives.
Great Feats of Enterprise.
Feats of American newspaper en-
terprise have astonished the world.
The New York Herald sent Henry H.
Stanley to Africa to find Livingston.
Only last year James Kelley of the
Chicago Tribune went to Africa in
pursuit of an absconding bank cashier
and caught him.
When the New Testament was re-
vised in London, w. w. Stony of the
old Chicago Times, had 5000 words Of
it cabled to him, and when the COM
plete copy reached New York he had
it telegraphed to Chicago over 81 wires
for publication in the Times.
During the civil war the New York
Herald had So special correspondents
in the field, a field staff larger than
any paper has ever had, before or since
working on one line.
The Spanish American war gave the
modern American newspaper q chance
to show what 1t could do. When the
the bows of the Buua Ventura, the
New York Journal found enough in
terest in the fact to Justify a paper
next morning that devoted more space
to that one event than all the news
papers in New York mt together had
devoted TO the battle Of cettvsburg.
The battle of Gettysburg got a headline
across one column, while the first shot
of the war with Spain commanded
headlines as wide as the paper, and
nearly all of a twenty-four page paper
was revoted to half-tone pictures of
battleshins, forts, naval commanders
army officers, Spanish grandees and
the experts" who were analyzing the
situation.
The invention of the photo-enerav-
ing process, from which comes the
half-tone. has done much to change
the character and appearance of the
newspapers. illustrator by wood cuts
was slow and expensive.
Zinc etching was failure nine times
out of ten, and the chalk plate was an
abomination. The half-tone is SO
suick and accurate that it is the ideal
illustration. In the nineties the color
press came into use.
Printing papers in colo:s has never
proved popular in the greater part OF
the United States, although in Colo
RADIO there is an epidemic of long
continued headlines. The color press
made the comic supplement possible
and put many of the old-time politico-
comic weeklies out of business.
The variety has cheapened them
and there is a distinct movement ag.
ainst the Comic, not only In the
churches and schools, but among the
newspaper men, too. However, tn,
funny section" has been popularizet
to such an extent that Buster Brown
Maude the Mule, and Happy Hooligal
are as much a part of American life a.