The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-04-07
HAS THUNDERER'
LOST ITS PRESTIGE?
FAMOUS "LErTERS TO THE
TIMES" MAY SOON DIS
APPEAR
is A CHANGED PAPER
LITERARY REVIEWS AND FOR
ETCN DISPATCHES ARE
TREATED IN NEW
MANNER.
is A CHANGED PAPER


character OF the London Times, which
has been SO marked of late, and the
circumstantiai rumors in Fleet street
made the recent lowering of the price
Of the Times to two cents one of the
exceptional things in journalism. The
Times of today is not even like the
Times of a month ago. Interviews
appear in Its columns and book re-
views have jumped from the literary
supplement (the finest thing in Eng
lish literary reviews of today to the
news pages that were the special glo-
~ of English Journalism have assum-
ed a different character, while the
parliamentary report is exceeded by
other London papers
A question that Is being asked is
whether the changed Times, approx
mating more closely to Lord North
cliffe's great half penny Cone cent?
paper, will continue 10 attract the
cream OF England's letters to the ed
itor. or whether they will he d.
verted to other journals which hold
more closely to a consistent and
continued tradition. Broadly the point
is whether we are now TO say good-by
to the Times as a national record and
whether in the successful career that
is doubtless before 1t its popularity
Will De RTedLeT IMAM ATS pi eSl6C.
Lord Northcliffes Problem.
Lord Northcliffe may be said to
have created the standard London one
cent paper. 1t remains to be seen
whether he can create the standard
London two cent paper.
None of the great English daily
newspapers Is now sold in England
for more, than two cents. The price
of the Times on the continent will
remain six cents There are two at
one cent, but the general price Is
two cents.
The Times Ia the last convert to
the cheaper price OF ALL its nearest
rival being the Morning Advertiser,
which was reduced from six cents to
its present price In 1891. Ten years
before that date the Morning Post,
the oldest existing London daily pa
per, had come down from six cents
to one cent. and in September. 1855.
the Daily Telegraph. first published
in June OF the same year at four
cents, had been launched upon the
world as the first two cent daily. Two
years ago. in October. 1857. the Man
chester Guardian, the best English
provincial daily and one of the fore
most journals of the world, was re-
duced from four cents to its present
price.
A change In price is no new thing
with the Times. Like all the old es-
tablished papers born In the days
when newspapers blazoned upon their
first sheets the red seal of the stamp
tax, It's price has fiuctuated with the
varying demands of the tax. From
nine cents in 1896. Its price had wan
dered up to fourteen cents, In 1873,
when tax of eight cents copy on
rr1htiQhRd mA6o
fourteen cents the usual price of an
English paper. BY 1851 it had de-
clined to six cents, at which price 1t
remained Except to subscribers) TIL
May 5. 1913. Its latest move has
therefore been the quickest in the MS
tory of the paper. the interval having
been less than a year
Was National Organ
The Times has always been great
and influential journal. In 1.-The
"Thunderer" days Of the middle Nine
| teenth century It's opinions were &C
cepted, certainly on the continent and
to great extent in England, as rep
resenting the authentic attitude OF the
Englishman. In point of circulation
alone it was at this time head and
shoulders above its contemporaries.
In 1854 it's average circulation was
5I,648 copies daily, Its nearest com
petitor. the Morning Advertiser. had
daily circulation OF T,644, the Daily
News 4,160 and the Morning Post
asst.
In politics the Times has always
professed to be "a national rather
than a party organ and to give
general support to the government q
the day; but although in the reform
days it expressed liberal views, from
the time of the first home rule bill
onward 1t has grown steadily more
conservative and played a great part
in the formation OF the Liberal Gnlon-
list party Today, although heartily
conservative and imperiallstiC IN out
| look, it is. among the great English
dailies, the most temperate and fea-
sonable exponent of those views
! The Times Is usually stated to
| have been first published in 17SS, but
| properly its first appearance was IN
| 1885, under the name of the London
Daily Universal Register and 1t was
| only in 1888 that 1t shed this cum
brous title for its present one: 1t mad
been founded by John Walter--of the
| famous family under whose financial
control the paper remained until
| 1908. when 1t passed into the hands
of Lord Northcliffe. Even at ms
early date the paper was building Tor
itself a reputation for the excellence
of it's foreign news service.
John Walter refused to accept the
! foreign news that was issued to him
| by the government of the day ana
| built up q system of his own. where
| by the victory of Waterloo and other
| important news from the continent
/ was announced to the British public
before the governments own de-
spatches had arrived.
! Proud OF Foreign Service.
| From the beginning the Times mas
been Justly proud OF its foreign news
service. When Julius Reuter-. a
Prussian government messenger,
| fresh from establishing the begin
ming of Reuters famous agency on
the continent, came to England about
1850 and offered his service TO the
Times it was so proud that ne was
at first Informed that I'VE generasty
find that we can do our business bet
ter than any one else"
The first of the Walters went
through the usual adventures that
fell to the newspaper proprietor in the
troublous Georgian days. In addl-
ton to fines he spent three spells IN
| Newgate, chiefly for having stated
that the Prince of Wales and the
Dukes of York and Clarence had
misconducted themselves In such
way "as to incur the Just disappro-