The New York herald., 1920-01-27
Sun and Herald
Merger as Seen
by Other Papers
The Sun-HeraId Merger.
lTrom the Brooklyn Eagle.

lfrom the Brooklyn Eagle.l
Frank A. Munsey, purchaser OF the
New York HERALD, announces that the
HERALD will be merged with the Sun.
which Mr.. Munsey owns. under the name
Inc sun and New York Herald" The
Press, which was combined with the Sun.
is lost entirely. so three of the great
daiiies OF the New York city of recade
ago resolve themselves into one. Greater
ana fewer dailies are demanded by the
trend OF the times.
The combination rs undoubtedly to follow
the general lines of the Sun as conducted
py Munsey with a few notifications. We
note that the Sun. over the proprietor's
signature, announces this morning the
abandonment or its "Latin-American
once week feature pages" Mr.. Munsey
said Departments in newspaper do
not make for very satisfactory journalism.
rhey are bound to be uneven, sometimes
interesting and very good, and at other
timeo uninteresting and very bad" Also
liked spaces in journalism are intoler-
able"
The announcement is likewise made that
w. A. Rogers. the veteran cartoonist be-
cause OF Mr.. Munsey's policy of no car
toons, retires from the HERALD after nine
teen years service. He is, we believe the
last active worker of the small group that
worked with Mast on Harper's Weekly.
1t will be noted that Mr.. Munsey, both
in the abandonment Of fixed feature pages
and In the rejection of the cartoon, is
showing himself conservative, even old
fashioned. That is interesting. even sig
nif,cant. But Frank A. Munsey is an op-
portunist. without obstinate adherence to
any predetermined course, and quick to
change when change is advisable. With
or without features, with or without car
toons, he will make the merger a paying
venture. That is his aim, and it is a
worthy aim. because influence that is
worth while is impossible without the cir
culation that makes prosperity.
Historic AID Prophetic Survey Of New
York Journalism.
[From the Toronto Mail and Empire.]
Mr.. Munsey is a publishing genius. He
began life as telegraph operator, went
to New York as youth and started the
Golden Argosy, boys magazine, to
which he was large contributor. He had
no capital, no backing, but the venture
prospered and continues today as the Ar
cosy. Later on he established Munsey's s
Magazine, tor a long time the leading ten
cent American magazine, and at the
present time he owns the Railroad Mans
Magazine and the All Story Weekly. His
first venture in the newspaper field was
when he bought the Baltimore News, and
greatly improved 1t. Later he became the
owner of the New York News, but aban-
doned 1T in a few months after vainly try
ing to make it pay. Shortly afterward the
paper went out of existence. Previously
he had owned the New York Star, whose
name he changed to the Continent, and
this he sold as a going concern. It's name
was changed to the Advertiser and later it
was merged with the New York American.
For number of years Mr.. Munsey owned
the Washington Times, the paper whose
sale to Arthur Brisbane. of the Hearst
papers, financed by number Of German
American brewers, was the subject Of a
Congressional investigation in the course
of the war.
The NEW York HERALD Is one of the
most remarkable of American newspap pers.
The story of it's founding and career is a
romance 1t was established by James
Gordon Bennett. an American Of Scottish
French descent, eighty-five years ago. In
its early issues IL was four page paper,
smaller than q handkerchief, and was
written almost entirely by the proprietor.
1t sold for a cent, but such was Bennett s
amazing industry and sense Of news that
after five years 1t was netting tho pro-
prietor 100000 a year.
Bennett was the greatest Of news ex-
perts, though he was by no means a great
editor in the sense that Greeley and Dana
were great. 1t was Bennett who made one
Iof the greatest newspaper discoveries,
namely that people like to read about
what they have seen. The idea which he
shattered was that if man saw fire he
felt he knew all about it and would not
bother reading about it in the paper next
day. 1t was in reporting fire that Ben
nett discovered that the most eager readers
OF his story were the people who had been
eyewtnesses
He was the first Of the sensationalists
His Journalism was intensely personal.
He was continually attacking, exposing
and insulting When he was chastised
for his articles he faithfully reported
the encounters. which must have been
painful to him. He had no respect for
the editorial page, and was just as we'll
pleased If in the hurry Of getting the
paper to press the page containing the
editorials was left out. The result was
that for many years the editorials Of the
HERALD were indescribably feeble. In
deed, II is only in the last fifteen years
or so that they have been worthy of an
important newspaper. But as a news
paper the HERALD was great, and even
today it has the most shipping news
Of any American paper. The HERALD
would pay more for news than any OF its
rivals. and consequently for many years
tne HERALD ndd more news. Inc clrcu-
lation went up, and up went the adver-
tising rates. From first to last Bennett
made millions out of the HERALD.
His son inherited the paper. and for
many years edited 1t from France by
cable. James Gordon Bennett the sec
ond had much of his fathers genius.
but gradually he abandoned personal
journalism for the impersonaI. lie also
established the Paris edition of the
HERALD, a unique and valuable contribu-
ton to journalism. He founded a Lon
don edition. but II was short lived. The
second Bennett rarely visited the United
States lie became a Frenchman in all
but name. Through the war he and his
papers were fiercely pro-Ally. He died
In May, 1918, and the chief item in his
will. the HERALD properties. was left to
maintain a home for broken down news
paper workers The will did not forbid
the sale Of the paper, and the money
that Mr.. Munsey paid for it-several
million dollars. it is said-will be used
TO found and maintain the home.
New Canadian Militia Minister.
OT'T MopJau HUGH Gftthrie So-