Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-26

Two hundred years ago the good people
of London awoke to find themselves the
possessors of what no people ever before
had possessed-a daily newspaper. The
Daily Courant" was a tiny single-sheet
publication appearing six times a week
Like all its successors, living and dead
1t was intended to supply a 'long-felt
want" The particular demand existing
at that time was the desire of the people
of London to obtain news Of the cam
paigns being waged on he continent by the
Duke Marlborough. for in the good year
1903 Europe was bleeding in the war OF
the Spanish succession. The history OF
daily newspapers from that day until this
is the history of the world, but there is
particular trade history which is of in
terest even to those not engaged in jour
nalism.
The United States and Canada now
boast $500 daily journals and the rest Of
the world has about as many. There are
60, 900 newspapers and other periodicals
in the world 2, 900 of which are published
In the United States and Canada More
than half of all the periodicals in the
world appear in the English language.
The development of modern journalism
has been the peculiar mission of the Eng
lish and American nations. 1t is fitting,
therefore, that London should have the
honor of being the birthplace of the daily
newspaper and that it should now be the
home of the most powerful of all daily
journals; while the United States sur
passes all other countries in the versatil-
ity, scope and prosperity of its press.
The newspaper however is an Italian
invention. Leaving aside the Chinese an
tiquities and reckoning only the western
world, the first newspaper editor was Ju-
Illus Caesar. The great Roman did not
possess the facilities of the 10th century,
but he had the soul of a press agent.
| He used the dead walls Of Rome to dis
play bulletins of the news-news carefully
colored to suit the political desires Of j.
Caesar. If this early effort at publicity be
| barred, still the Italians have the claim to
the first newspaper. In the latter part OF
i he 10th century the first regular publica-
ton OF a bulletin containing information
for the public was undertaken in Venice.
These bulletins were not printed, but
were written on large sheets and display
ed in a public room. They were called
gazetta," from which comes the English
newspaper title gazette" The popular
| clamor for news of the war between the
Venetians and the Turks was the long
felt want" supplied by the appearance of
these "gazetta. The files of so years of
it's issues are preserved in a museum in
Florence.
The first printed paper was the English
Mercurie,' a religious publication which
appeared in London in 1858. The earliest
real newspaper was the London Weekly
News, born in 1919. For 90 years the Lon
1nn Id ia
than 800 newspapers being started only to
perish in early failure. But in the full
ness of time several weeklies were firmly
established, and there were seven thrice
| a-week journals in England when The
Daily Courant" made it's bow to the pub
lie in the autumn of 1909.
The first newspaper venture in America
was a tragic failure. Mr.. Richard Pierce
4 of Boston, in 1890, began the publication
of Public Occurrences" He declared in
his salutatory that there were too many
unfounded and baseless rumors floating
| about Boston, and that the mission Of his
paper was to record them, and then trace
them to their source Mr.. Pierce appears
to be entitled to the honor of being the
first journalistic muck-raker. But those
were cruel times. and the legislature sup
pressed the sheet after its first issue sol
EMMY declaring it to be "a pamphlet
which came out contrary to law, and con.
tanned reflections of very high nature "
A generation later BENJAMIN Franklin
confided to his mother his intention to
start a newspaper. The worthy woman
exclaimed: What can you be thinking
OF, there are two newspapers in America
now" AS a matter of fact there were
five, but three Of them were so far away
that Mrs. Franklin had not heard OF
| them. The successor of the paper which
Franklin did establish now has the larg-
est circulation of any weekly publication
in the world-mOre than a million and a
quarter a week.
The first daily newspaper in the United
States, the American Daily Advertiser
appeared in Philadelphia in 1884, three
years after England had acknowledged
the independence of the states and five
years before the beginning of the gov
eminent under the constitution The
New York Daily Advertiser followed in
! 1IS5, and In 1855 the Pittsburg Gazette be-
gan its present prosperous career.
/
| The United States now has s. newspa-
pers more than a 100 years old, and in
| this respect, at least, America is quite as
old and quite as mature as her European
| sisters. Many OF the IS members of the
newspaper century club" are still week
lies, but most of them, weeklies in 1903
are now dailies. The Baltimore Ameri-
can, the Philadelphia North American
and the Charleston News and Courier are
the most venerable.