Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-19
DONE IN PHILADELPHIA

| n ford, who chats so pieasanlly eNoiS '
noon in the next column but one to this, was
man of historic figure in any account Oh
American journalism or printing. As already
have mentioned the editor who first pub
llshed an evening paper in this city, I now
want to call to your mind the man who
printed the first newspaper published in this
country south Of Massachusetts,.
This was Andrew Bradford the son of
| William Bradford, who was the first printer
in Pennsylvania, and, for that matter, in the
Middle Colonies. Andrew was born in Phila-
delpha in 1886, the year his father issued the
first publication from his press.
| There is strong reason to believe that VIII
| lam Bradford came to this country with Will
| lam Penn and this is one of the things that
| will be cleared up when my friend Albert
| Cook Myers completes his search for mate
! rails for life of the founder of Pennsylvania.
| Mr.. Myers is now in England and Is hard at
! work gathering and copying letters and docu-
ments for his projected defnitive edition of
the works of Penn. 1 have assumed that
he will subsequently write life of Penn in
view Of the immense amount of unknown
material he has already garnered from the
old families in this country and in England
and Ireland.
1t is only fair to Mr.. Myers to say that
he has not yet declared that he will do this,
but when suggested it to him, he would not
deny that such an idea had come to him, also.
All the early Bradfords were men of dis.
tinction and held high position among their
fellow citizens here and in New York, but
today want t. talk about Andrew in par
ticular.
Readers of Franklin's Autobiography will
get an impression of the and printer
that probably is little prejudced. l have
no doubt that Franklin intended to be fair
to his rival in business both as "a printer and
as a newspaper publisher, but he does at
tempt to deride both the subject matter that
appeared in Bradfords Weekly Mercury and
also the typography of that and the other
publications that came from Bradfords press
After the elder Bradford has been arrested
for an indiscreton, by order of the Provin-
cial Assembly, and his printing shop over
hauled with the thoroughness of the old Rus
sian Secret Police, the victim decided to
shake the dust Of Philadelphia and set up Il
shop in New York, where inducements had
been made TO him by the Legislature. This
was in 1898, when his son Andrew was about
seven years of age. The boy afterward was
placed in his fathers shop and learned the
trade.
There was only a limited amount of print
ing to be obtained in New York and the Brad
fords got it.. There was a little in New Jer-
sey, and they got that. too. but in the greater
city of Philadelphia and in the more promis-
ing province of Pennsylvania there was a lot
of trade that was going to others, and the
Bradfords seem to have decided that Andrew
would better go to Philadelphia and on the
strength of the house get the official and
other business.
So, in 1712. we find Andrew, now Il man.
back in the city of his birth opening print
ing house or, has been suggested, merely
taking over the shop which William Bradford
had left in the charge of Reiner Jensen.
At this time the only attempt to issue a
newspaper in this country had been promptly
suppressed in Boston This was the News
Letter a little half sheet that believe made
its appearance once; for the publisher, hav-
ing had the audacty to comment upon the
characters of the assembly, it was promptly
closed up.
In those days the liberty of the press had
not yet been regarded a constitutional
right, and no printer dared make the ven
ture. However. in 1919 another Boston at
tempt was made, with the Boston Gazette.
The same year Andrew Bradford b can the
publication of his American Weekly NIer-
curry, and this was continued for many
years lIc lIISl IblNbtI WAS lSSutu Oh utS-
day, December %, 1919, the day after Bostons
Gazette appeared Among the reasons an
nounced for the appearance of the paper was
the general one "the encouragement Of
trade"
1t a small four-paGe sheet, with a very
crude picture of u postboy ornamenting the
wings Of the title. There was little of what
We now would call news, and for a long time
the only attempt at literary embellishment
was occasional excerpts from some of the
English periodicals.
Although the elder Bradford renounced
his membership in the Society of Friends the
Friends seem to have brought great part
of their printing to the younger Bradford
when he began here. lie also became the
printer to the province, and the so-called
Bradford Laws We're all printed at his shop.
The exact location of his Office cannot be
learned, but it seems to have been at one
time at the corner Of Second street and
Black Horse alley between Market and
Chestnut streets. Outside hung his sign Of
the Bible
Andrew Bradford also was one Of the ear
liest postmasteTs Of Philadelphia if not the
first, and. of course, his shop was the post
office. Franklin was envious of him in this
position, realizing that to be postmaster and
have the control of the postboys was a dis
tinct advantage in the distribution of a news
paper. How Franklin managed to get this
office and how he turned the tables on Brad
ford by bribng the postboys to neglect Brad
fords Mercury and take care of his Gazette
Is very characteristic Of the great phioso-
pheri who was not all phianthropist where
business was concerned.
Bradford who died in 1872 published the
American Magazine the previous year. the
nmhlicatlnn maklng It's annenranna ahnm1 ll-n