The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-17
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

It is strange how hard 1t is to get at the Facts of even apparently simple things. It would seem easy to ascertain the origin and dates of the founding of newspapers, but the more you search the more befuddled you become over the various claims set up as to priority in the various countries.
 I got interested in the subject and bought some books on the question and consulted the leading encyclopedias, but I am not in a position to state anything definitely and therefore will simply try and approximate the truth in relating at least some of the interesting matters in connection wiA the establishment of newspapers.
 I knew when I began my investigation China would, as usual, with the calm placidty of the east, put over one on the hustling west, and so I was pre- pared to read that the first attempts in the field of Journalism were made before the Christian era in China, where the art of printinaewas then known; but we have little knowledge concerning these early specimens of the printed sheet.
 Now, one author states that the first real newspaper, in the modern sense of the term, was the Pelxin Gazette, which is still published and which is the off, cial organ of the Chinese government. It Is the oldest daily in the world, hay ing been first issued about 1940 A D. It prints the edicts of the government, the appointment of officials, and other gov ernment news.
 Another authority, blandly informs me and others who care to consult it, that the earliest newspaper is supposed to be the Chinese Tchingpao, or News of the Capital" which has appeared daily in Picking since about 750 A. D. It consists chiefly of official news, imperial de- crees, etc. This last claimant only goes the first one cited some 300 years better in the matter of first occupying the field with a paper.
 Now comes the trusty old Encyclope- dia Britannica, saying: "In China the | Peking Gazette, as foreigners call it. con | taining imperial rescY1pts and officia news, has appeared regularly ever since | the days of the Tang dynasty GA. D. ] 61S-905).' Now, turn back, or rathe1 I to-I- obox,e and x1o, will caa my fi~s- I informant gave the date of its first issu ance as 1340 A. D. There is only mat ter of some hundreds of years to bring ! about reconciliation between the va riants. They do not even spell the name of the Chinese capital alike, for one sets it's down as "Pekin' while the othel writes it Picking
 1 sIs
 1 I do not see how the old Egyptian. | failed to get into the newspaper game l for when it comes to handing out an l tiques they have usually been able tt score. was also shocked that the Phoe
 nicians, who gave us our alphabet, hat nothing to offer. By the way, speaking
 of the alphabet is it being neglected O
 made joke of under our public schoo system? I recall when Fthe first thini we asked the little tots when we wante
 to fathom the depth CT their knowledg lswas, Do you know the alphabet?''
 But it is no longer either the index o
 the test of learning when applied to be gnners for I was shocked to pick u
 a late work by sure enough scholar
 '"rhe Study and Practice of Writing 1 English" and to find under the head | 'The Use of the Dictionary" the ad
 vice, Learn the order of the alphabet
 thought I was "seeing things" unti read: Tn these days of teaching b, the sentence methods' it is not uncom
 mon to find young people who are ia more sure as to the order of the letter
 in the latter part of the alphabet. Tn student should make up any deficienc
 of this sort. I think this is a soun
 tip. If you are letter perfect on A (
 but a bit shaky on x Y z, get busy an
 memorize the entire alphabet.
 If it be true that the newspaper ha it's origin in the east, time came whe
 itswas in the western world, and, strang
 to say, it was not among the Greeks.
 suppose they were such good talker
 and met so often fin the market place
 to discuss matters that they just cor
 veyed the news of the day by word
 mouth. Yll freely admit it is better t
 see and hear thing than it is to req
 about it, but in these days when W
 can't spend our time on street corners,
 tn ebath in the public forum or in ~tr
 schools of philosophy, we will have {
 content ourselves with printed account
 of the daily happenings.
 The newspaper of the western worl lsaw light in ancient Rome, where tr Acta Diurna Daily Events) was a sma
 bulletin which aimed to give the citizer of the Roman capital the news of u
 empire. featuring the happenings s Rome. In it were short announcement , containing official intelligence of battle
 Wouldn't it be interesting to know wi
 the famous war correspondents were
 those days long before Archibald Forbt ] Imade fame for himself in the Crimea 5 and the F'ranco-Prussian war and set ti fashion until America got in the war r : porting game in the civil struggle, ar furnished some of the best in the la t great war, which is in it's last sta,