The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-12
THE SECRET OF A
E NEWSPAPER

1.-THE Story OF The sun, New York.
1SS2-ia1s" BY Frank NJ. o'Brien.
with an introduction by Edward PAGE
Mitchell, editor OF Tho sun, Iilu-
STATIONS and facsimilcs New York
George Fl. Doran Company
As Mr.. Mitchell points out in his
Introduction, IL is a peculiar fact that
a great newspaper is not only person
flied by it, readers. but it loo actu-
ally, in course OF time. come to &C
quire an individuality of its own-an
individuality which survives even
changes tgf editorial control. The
New NoF< sun is prominently such 81
newspaper II possessed something
~ Its present Individuality before the
AuEustan age of Mr.. Dana; something
~ tina individuality remains in its
contemporary silver age. And IS
readers have always. regarded The
Sun in the light of a personal oracle
a Neritabte artocrat Of the breakfast
table. Indeed. to many New Workers.
breakfast wos not breakfast without
g. seasoning of The suns ohiter dIcta.
hey measured the radius OF civiliza-
t1en hN the distance a train could
travel and Yet manage to deliver The
sun ia time for bacon and eggs its
reputation has been paraiielrd or sur
passed only ny it's elder, The London
Times. n that in another land.
What is this secret or a great news
papers hold upon its readers Why
is II that news read in an unfamiliar
sheet. hardly Gems news; that other
editorials appear 70 lack sayor on
thos= days when. for a particular rea-
son. tine old favori,e is u~uprocurah.or
There arc 90 specific 20 these
Questions or olso all newspaper
would he great newspapers. Habit
alone VIII not furnish an adequate ex-
PLANTATION, although it may he cne &C
the ingredients Mr. O'Erien's story
reveals Some Of the causes Of Tic
Suns popularity. the whole If them
probably lies beyond the power Of
man 10 explain.
In the first place. even from the
DAYS # is founder. Benjamin Fl. Da1.
ne sun has been fortunate in able
leadership This leadership. as far IS
an outsider can Judge. has aimed al
interesting the readers. and has
wisely seen hat the best way 20 ar
e0np}ish this result was 10 pick
saftfi writers and t7eu fet them have
their own way. All Of which sounds
much like the recipe for rabbit stew
Hrst, catch your rabbit. But. when
The sun began to shine for all the
man In the street was mot Interested
in newspapers. and hence mt In The
worlds or even the nations affairs.
The sun TAUGHT This mythical being.
who - in reality an NJ us. to take IN
interest not only in the details Of the
Aie about him. but in those more i'm
p~"rtant events In which all must be
interested II democracy is to be a sue
crssfFl form Of government.
.fFfts 4:S4r'1 ct first supplemented and
later s9pplanfcd. the old six-cent
blanket newspapers. crowded with
long. damn editorials on political all
Observation-Disclosures which the worker.
hurry ing 10 his daily task, had neither
the leisure nor the education -ta all
sorh. American newspapers were
content 80 initiate the p~ondnrous Ems
ish sheets. which were written solry
tor the point o} view Of the upper
Classes. MFR. Day was tho first success
fnI venturcr into the one-cent 6e1d.
with n paper which condensed tho
news end made politics comnrehon-
sihtee Others had tried II before him.
hut he was the Aladdin whose lamn,
tE vigorous rubbing. became The Sun.
Like many others who haze IN the
affairs Of this world huf'ded better
thar they knew. Mr.. Day seems 70
nave begun with no clearer policy
than a desire 70 advertise and TO fur
Their the interests of his toh-prfnttnv
business, This is mot quite a fair
statement, for the front page of the
first issue does announce that "the
object OF this paper is to lay before
the public. at n price within the means
of every one, all the news of the day.
and at the same time afford an advan-
> 1r~-H4,- ,.1ssaxz e. .-... y
his own mind it appears. however. to
rave been the arriere-rensee about
advertising that was uppcrmost. Nev-
e~rtheless, Mr., nay was determined
TO make the paper sell To this end.
he instituted h innovation of news
boys, instead, as in the case of his
dignifed rivals, of placing reliance
upon yearly subscriber, The other
departure was 10 feature local news,
by setting down skillfully chosen
scenes from the comedie humane Of
a great city. Human interest stories'
these pictures have since been called.
in a phrase which today is often over
worked. But II was the fndividuahtv
of these local sketches which first
built up the personal interest Of the
readers and later taught them the i'm
portance Of the every day. or course,
along with Mr.. Days newspaper
theories. a certain measure OF luck In
finding men to write and the extraor-
dinarilv rapid growth OF New York
assisted In The suns uccess On the
other hand. several competing imi-
tators failed. AS was rue in later
years, 1t was leadership that kept tho
chariot OF The Sun on its course.
There is not space here TO chronicle
all the achievements OF The Sun. Mr..
o'Brien's o % must be cad for these,
and indeed IL would be impossible to
improve upon his account. Today. az
We think OF The"Sun, the name Of
Charles A. Dana flashes at once into
Imagination. He it is who has typified
The sun and It's individuality for so
many thousands OF readers. Ma
turaIiy the latter half Of Mr.. O'Brien's
story is devoted to him and to the
men Dana gathered about him.
Dana was almost an ideal editor.
He was Il scholar and a gentleman:
the wielder 81 a shrewd and clever
pen that neve clogged a paragraph
with an unnecessary word; he hated
shams n "jobbery"; he loved truth
as he knew II and attacked abuses
wherever found. He knew news and
printed It In addition TO these quail
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