Evening star., 1923-10-14
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

Fifty years ago the cost of making
is today, and
The Low Cost" of it was COM
Journalism. aosx - .tar,
new publication. But even so. it
cost more than some not familiar
with the matter thought. This is
discussed In The Star of October Z.
1873:
Some very crude notions about
conducting newspaper were put
forth at a meeting of the pastors of
the Methodist Episcopal churches In
Baltimore yesterday. held for the pur-
pose of considering the feasibility OF
establishing religious journal In
Baltimore. One clergyman said the
success of the paper would be assured
if 1t could once get 2,o0a subscribers,
and one said he would propose TO get
a Job printer and make the job office
pay the expenses of the paper. Twelve
hundred dollars a year would pay for
all the telegraphic dispatches that
would be needed, and they could all
write editorials and send items to the
paper, so that IL would not need ell
ther editors and local reporters! Each
clergyman who learned OF an item
| could write il out and drop II In the
! post office or give II to carrier and
| It would be IN time for the paper next
! day The same clerical genius as
serted that two columns OF advertise
ments would support paper and that
the rest would be clear profit. One
| brother said he had written three or
| four pages OF matter a week for three
or four months for a Methodist jour
| nal and had received but $11, or about
25 cents page, for the whole work.
| It is quite evident that these clerical
gentlemen know more about preach
| Ing than they do about running a
newspaper"
What would be nowadays styled a
"fayorite indoor sport" of the Wash
ington correspond
criticizinp ents Of out-of-towu
ry..l:S new papers fifty
! washington. years ago was the
writing of letters and dispatches
| criticizing the way things we're being
run here in the District. In The Star
of October 9, 1873, the following from
| the Washington correspondence of
the New York Tribune is quoted:
Eight of the schools of the city
were closed today for want of money
and fuel. The trustees, 1t seems, had
$4,000 in the First National Bank
when 1t failed, which was all OF their
available funds. The teachers have
not been paid for four months and
the taxes have not all been collected.
To add to the complications, the
! schools are without coal, owing TO
: some trouble with the contractors,
! who refuse to deliver any more"
The Star made the following re-
joinder:
! loving are the facts In this matter:
j Tuesday last was cold day and sew
eral schools were closAd for half q
J day In consequence. ~ the failure OF
| the contractor to furnish the neces-
! sary fuel, which was ordered some
time ag9 hs t sis sxeqss fSe, q sa the not eeE ar
rived, besides the weather on that
day was unusually cold for this sea
| son of the year. The trustees thought
| It better to dismiss the schools for 2
! half day than to endanger the heaith
/ of the children. The treasurer OF the
! public schools did have several thou
sand dollars in the First National
| Bank when 1t failed. This money was
there to be checked against to meet
contingent expenses. The treasurer
! could not foresee the financial panic
J that was coming.
"Schoel officers inform US that the
city authorities, and especially the
governor. have manifested the great
est desire to aid the schools fpan-
ciaIly; but 1t seems that the growing
| needs of the rapidly increasing sys-
| tenn have more than absorbed the
money paid IN on account of the
| school tax. A statement submitted
at the close of the last school year
| shows that not one dollar OF the
school fund he's been appropriated to
J any other than its legitimate USE"