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

/
i ford, who chats so pleasantly every after
noon in the next column but one to this, was
a man of historic figure in any account Of
American journalism or printing. As already
have mentioned the editor who first pub
| lished evening paper In this city, 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 Phlla-
delphia in 1885, the year his father issued the
! first publication from his press.
| There is strong reason to believe that Will
| 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
! rlals for a 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 def1nitive edition of
| the works of Penn. l have assumed that
! he will subsequently write a 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
but when 1 suggested 1t to him, he would not
deny that such an idea had come to him, also.
All the early Bradfords were men of dis
tnction, and held high position among their
fellow citizens here and in New York, but
today want talk about Andrew in par
tcular.
ID EADERS of Franltns Autobiography"
lG will get an impression Of the man and
info tI,ot I,ol IA, ia n iudi I
have no doubt that Franklin intended to be
fair to his rival In business. both as a printer
and a newspaper publisher but he does
attempt 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 indiscretion, 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 q
shop in New York, where inducements had
been made to him by the Legislature This
was in 1693 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 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 a man.
back in the city of his birth, opening a print
ing house or, as has been suggested, merely
taking the shop which William Bradford
had left in the charge of Rener 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
it's appearance once; for the publisher, hav-
ing had the audacity to comment upon the
characters of the assembly, it was promptly
closed up.
TN THOSE days the liberty of the press had
not yet been regarded a constitutional
right, and printer dared make the ven-
ture. However in 1719 another Boston at
tempt was made with the Boston Gazette.
The same year Andrew Bradford %sn the
publication of his American Weekly Mer-
curry, and this was continued for many
years The first number was issued on Tues
day, December %, 1Il9, the day after Boston's
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 very
crude picture of postboy ornamenting the
wings of the title. There little of what
we now would call news, and for long time
the only attempt at literary establishment
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 a great part
of their printing to the younger Bradford
when he began here. He also became the
printer to the province and the so-called
Bradford Laws were 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 |
"A earliest postmasters of Philadelphia, if |
not the first, and, of course, his shop was the |
postoffice Franklin was envious of him in |
this position, realizing that 10 be postmaster
and have the control OF the postboys was a |
distinct advantage in the distribution OF a |
newspaper How Franklin managed to get this |
Office and how he turned the tables on Brad |
ford by brbng the postboys to neglect Brad |
ford's Mercury and take care Of his Gazette |
is very characteristic of the great philoso- |
pher, who was not all philanthropist where |