The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-14

a ghost in a Berkshire tavern and an
authentic recipe for strawberry short
cake, a clown who reads Moliere and
king who plays pinochle, digest Of
ten volumes OF history and the shortest
complete poem c'This biz knocks
'biz') ever written, a dark tragedy in
the Jersey pines ana a plan for a new
subway, a talk with the Grand Lama
and a home run by Roger Common, a
panic in Wall Street and a poor little
girl who finds quarter"
Yellow journalism said to its readers:
This way to the big show, We
have a muti!ated corpse. a scandal In
high life. divorce details that weren't
brought out in court. a personal at
tack on the Mayor, lifelike pictures OF
dressmaker, some neatly invented
prison horrors and a general denun-
citation, of everybody who owns more
than $500. Don't miss it."
In the long run-and it did not have
to be very long more attractive
offering was permanently chosen by
newspaper readers.
The curious effect on American iour-
nalism of the ccAflict between SuS
methods and the so-called new Jour-
nal!sm was referred 10 in an address
delivered at Yale University on jan
uary IL. 1908, by Frank A Munsey,
then owner of the New York DdiIy
Neics and now proprietor of THE Sun:
The newspaperman OF to-day is a COM
posite type. the product of THE sun and
the New York World of fifteen or eight
cen years ago. These two newspapers
represented two distinct and widely dir-
ferent styles Of journalism. The World
was alert. daring. aggressive and sensa-
tional. 1t was about the lveliest thing
that ever swung into New York from the
West. - No man has ever stamped
himself more thoroughly upon his gen.
Grafton than has Joseph Pulitzer on the
Journalism OF America. He was the
originator and the founder OF our pres
ent type OF oyergrowp newspaper. with
its illustrations and its merits and its
defects.
The part THE Sun played In this re-
creating and rejuvenating of the Ameri-
can press was purely literary. Il was
the first newspaper to make fiction out
or factS-that is, to handle facts with
the skill and manner OF the novelist, so
that they read like fiction and posses sed
all its charm and fascination. THE SuN
at that time consisted OF hut four pages,
and am convinced that it was the best
example of newspaper making ever pro-
duced anywhere With the exception of
one or two OF these hction-fact stories
so charmingly told. Il was the perfec-
tion OF condensation, accuracy, brilliancy.
Mr.. Munsey did not say because 1t
was not germane to his subject, that
for fourteen years before the advent OF
Pulitzer. Dana had been demonstrating
the news value OF the human interest
story. and that 1t was almost entirely
upon the human interest story, twisted
! and exaggerated, that yellow journal
| ism'was founded. Mr. Munsey did not
say, for he could not know. that fifteen
years after his address at Yale the new
journalism would he extinct and THE
! SIN would be still THE SUN. The
editors of to-day do not ask reporter
whether he can climb a porch or pho
| tograph an unwilling person, but
! whether he can see news and write il.
Dann's Political Independence.
| An adequate history of THE SUNS
political activities during Danas time
would fill volumes. Rather than the
editor OF an organ of the opposition
Dana was usually an opposition party
in himself; not merely for the sake OF
opposition, but because the parties In
power from 1869 to 1897 usually hap
pened to have practices or principles
with which he. as the editor of THE
SrN. was in disagreement. His attacks
on the Grant Administration for the
thievery that spotted i. and on the
Hayes Administration because OF the
circumstances under which Mr. Hayes
came TO the Presidential chair, were
bitter and without relent. His opposi-