Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-23

The majority Of the century-ol d publica-
lions are In the eastern states, Of course,
Pennsylvania heading the list with nine
teen, followed by New York with fifteen.
Strangely enough, Ohio comes next with
nine, and then Massachusetts, with seven.
The st. Louis Republic, 1O1 years old, is the
only one west Of the Mississippi river. The
first newspaper west Of the Alleghenies
was the "Kentucke Gazette" Of Lexington,
founded in 1857. and which still fourishes.
The growth Of the newspaper business
was so great that by 1880 the United States,
with 100000 population. had more news
papers than all Europe, with 100, OoO,O 900
people. The American record has been
maintained and the United States still has
more newspapers than all Europe, and un-
I'll the rise of the newspaper In Asia, It
had more than all the rest Of the world.
The New York Herald, founded by James
Gordon Bennett in 1885, was the first Of
the modern school Of newspapers. In De-
cember Of that year a great fire I'm New
York destroyed property worth $4,000, 900.
Mr.. Bennett wrote a report Of the fire,
with human interest embellishments. The
people were ~astoundsd, and the story was
repeated in the Herald the second day lin
response to popular demand. Before that
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their attention to politics and political
news, and to news from other cities. Loca,
news was ignored. II a fire occurred, it
was supposed that everybody knew about
II already, and that 1t would be silly to
print anything about 1t. That attitude to-
ward local news is responsible for the fact
that the first voyage Of Robert Fulton's
"Clermont" was considered to be worth
only seven lines in the New York Evening
Post, and not that until after an advertise
ment of the rates OF passage to Albany
was inserted. Mr.. Bennet wrote all about
the great fire, and made the great discov-
cry that the people who see a thing are
the very people who most want to read
about it. He made another discovery at
the same time, that human interest Is
quite as much a feature of the news as Is
Importance"
In England The Times became supreme
in the journalistic field in the latter part
Of the eighteenth century. In 1907 The
Times sent a special correspondent to the
continent to report the Napoleonic wars.
Before that time the newspapers had de-
pended altogether upon official sources for
news. Within a year The Times demon
strated the usefulness Of the special cor
respondent by furnishing important news
" NNN ~ AAANlN hege III AllNS " Nllb
official dispatches. From that day until
this the special correspondent has been an
increasingly important factor in interna-
tionAl affairs, and The Times has &C.
eupied a position Of commanding influence
IN political journalism. But the English
idea, as exemplified in The Times, had to
fail before the more catholic American idea,
and the English newspapers of the largest
circulation do not tail to realize the i'm
portance Of human interest"
These beginnings of the newspaper bust
mesa were small and insignificant compared
with the Journalism of today. The inven-
ton of the locomotive and the telegraph,
each in turn, aided enormously in the
development OF the press. But the civil
war of America was the most potent factor
in the evolution of the newspaper Of to-
day. During that conflict the American
newspapers began the use of the tele-
graph for gathering news, they illustrated
their dispatches with drawings and maps,
and they learned how to write headlines
and turn out extras.
The next great event In the development
of the American press was the Spanish
American war. 1t wasn't much of war,
as we see It now, but it seemed to be the
biggest thing in the world Just then.
And the newspapers did seemingly impos-
sible things every day, which they have
to do every day since. The close
of the war didn't end the war Journalism
at all. For the past decade there has been
little change in American newspapers ex-
cept that they hRve shared in the won
derful growth of the nation.
II Mr.. Bennett in 1910, when his paper
was five years old and e prosperous sheet,
with the facilities he than possessed, had
to publish the Sunday Herald
as it appeared last week his presses would
be running yet and the edition would not
be finished. Things progress rapidly in
these days-in fact there has been more
in the newspaper business in the
last twenty years than there was in the
preceding $50 years since the birth Of the
first daily newspaper. What wonders will
be developed in the mex century no man
may say. It appears that war has a most
potent influence upon journalism. II there
shall be a great war in Europe what
then7 What with ~aeroplanes having wire
less apparatus attached, with dirigible bal
looms, with wireless telephones and with
things not now unfolded to the gaze OF
man, It is a safe wager that the news
papers would set a new mark for them
selves and fill every '~long-felt want"
BY FREDERICK ]. HAsKIN.
Tomorrow-The American ConRrsss-The