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BEGIN
-” THE YEAR
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SUBSCR BING
FOR THE
A WEEKLY flAZ
N. Y. WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
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BOTH P APERS
. Sent to Vanv Address
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FOR
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ADDRESS ALL ORDERS To GAZETTE.
‘fiag system and what not.
' lyn Items.” This was all the heading
‘since the word ”item” has been used
first page, but upon the fifth page, op-
0' T H 7E EVE mi N "G'G AZ‘ETT E
WAR NEWS, 1361-64.
HOW NEWSPAPERS OF THAT TIME“
TREATED STARTLING EVENTS.
01d “’ay and New—Three Inside Page
Columns Told of the Fall of Sumter—
Facts of _ Momentous History-Maki.ng
Events Secondary to Editorial Comment
A war with a foreign power would
tax the journalistic resources of Amer-
ica, vast as they are. There is no pos-
sible combination of brain, money and
muscle that would not be brought into
play. Hundreds of workers in all
branches of the profession would be
sent to the front. That paper which
falls to have its dispatch boat at the
first naval combat will be counted no
paper at all. Special wires will carry
the news of the fray to the dailies
which own them.‘ Every known system
of communication will be brought into
play. “Trained corps will demonstrate
the possibilities of the heliograph, the
.The cam-
era will reach its highest form of de-
velopment. Snap-shooting a bursting;
shell Ora crushes}. turret at the moment
of its subsidence will become a (:0!‘:l~
mon occurrence.
In this matter of news gathering
things have changed mightily since the
days of nearly forty years ago. There
were daily papers—plenty of them—
when theficable of the Union snapped
under the’long strain, and the two sec‘
tions of the country drifted apart. They
had what they called the “magnetic
telegraph,” too, but they were a little
chary about using it. It cost money,
and the leased wire had not been in-
vented. No correspondent sat on a
stump with a typewriter on his knees
and clicked off beautiful stuff, while
the bullets made sounds like splitting
silk in the air around :them, as Ste-
phen Crane and Richard Harding Da-
vis did for five or six weeks in Greece '
last year. News in those days came by
mail, and it was sent by correspondents
who had much reverence for the gen-
eral commanding, {ind took what he
said as matter inspired. They were not
more anxious to be killed than are the
correspondents of this day, and kept
out of harm’s way as much as possi-
ble. It stands to reason that when a
man is fifteen miles back of the zone
of fire all day, and is then forced to get‘
his information from a. flabbergasted
General who is thinking only how best
to preserve his own reputation and
save his head, the “news" he sends on
to his paper is likely to be a little off
color.
Any reader of the modern newspaper
who desires to have the strong contrast
between the paper of ’603 and the paper
of the ’905 brought to mind, has only
to examine a war file of some one of
the journals that are still nationally
known. Take the New York Tribune,
for instance, which at the outbreak of
hostilities was one of the most prosper-
ous and influential dailies in this coun-
try. It has a high-class editorial
screamer as its Washington correspon-
dent, and Horace Greeley as its editor.
One would think that there was a com-
bination to make envious rivals shiver
and turn pale. It did not. The rivals
were no better and no worse than it.
It used to subdivide its 'local intelli-
gence into departments, headed re-
spectively "Local Items" and “Brook-
they got. It has not been many years
in a newspaper to describe a news
story. The Tribune published a detail—
ed report of the proceedings of Con-
gress, much the same as is now given
to its million of readers by that accur-
ate and Sportive journal, the Congres-
sional Record. The important news of
each issue was not printed upon the
posite to the editorial page. Those were
the days of “personal editors,” when
one man dominated the paper and the
paper’s constituency. It got brief tel-
egrams from Washington each day,
which it printed, bearing the credit
line, “By Magnetic Telegraph.”
The national capital was then boil-
ing and: bubbling like a. caldron. All
men saw that the inevitable conflict
could not be much longer postponed,
and those who met their neighbors in
the morning after a restless night look-
ed at them with scared eyes and asked
for intelligence that was dreaded. The
Tribune had ample warning of the im-
pending crash, and the preparations
made to report the first overt act of
war were on a scale commensurate
with its standing and influence. It
hired a man in Charleston to send it
something in case the “rebels" succeed-
ed in scaring up nerve enough to do
anything. It may be said that it was
two years after this before the word
“Confederaes” found its way into col-
umns of the Tribune. ‘
Sumter was attacked, and the Tri-
bune man did himself and his paper
proud. He sent a total of three col—
umns, which were printed, of course,
on the fifth page, under a “scare head."
a. single column in width and contain-
ing twenty-two black lines. On April
12, while the guns from the island bat<
teries and the guns from the fort were
roaring all day, he sent on seven dis-
patches of an average length of 100
words, giving the progress of the en—
gagement. He announced the occur-
rence of 'the most momentous event
in national history in these words.
“The ball has opened.” He ended one
of his dispatches with the statement,
“These are lively times here,” and
another with the similar statement,
“These are reviving times on the
Palmetto coast. Evidently he de-
sired to give the paper its money’s
worth, and he coal-'1 not think of any-
thing else to say. He paid, however,
even at that early day, a. compliment
to the splendid gallantry of the Amer-
ican fighter. “'hclhel' he comes from the.
North or the South. “The soldiers are.
perfectly reckless of their lives," he
said, “and at every shot jump upon
the ramparts and then jump dowzf,
cheering/f The Tribune went to its
:-.:-:.~.:.'ers with the proud consciousness
at it. had done everything possible to
.zeat journal in covering the Sumter
tin-.12, an; doubtless its readers
1....._.':‘:it so. too.
On the morning of July 22, 1861, it
plastered itself with glory an inch
thick, and one can imagine without
difficulty the smile that spread itself
over the benigh features of “Uncle
Horace” when he picked up the paper
from his desk and saw that it had not
been beaten upon the battle of Bull
Run. To this wrestle of the gods and
Titans nearly a page is devoted-«the
fifth page.» The headlines are Still one
column wide, and, in the light of these
latter days, read quecrly. Here are
some of them: a “Great Battle Fought,”
“The Batteries of Bull’s Run Cap-
tured,” “Splendid Union Victory,” “A
Death~ Blow to Secession,” “Heroisrn of
the Union Forces,” “They Know No
Such'Word as Fail,” “Not Over 500
Killed and Wounded,” “Forty VVagon-
loads of Dead Rebels.” Two days later
the Tribune announced “The Battle
Decisively Won.” It did have some-
thing to say, however, of a. “panic
among the teamsters.” It will be seen
that the Bull Run man, like the
Charleston man, rose to the occasion
and demonstrated what a journalist
can do when put to it.
The files of the New York dailies for
the four years of the civil war are an
object lesson in the evolution of the
American newspaper. In that time
they gradually grew out of their inef-
ficiency, and grew used to war. Its cor-
respondents learned that they would
not be shot every time they got close
enough to battle to hear the bullets
sing overhead. They learned to es—
tablish lines of communication from
the front to the rear and from the rear
to the nearest telegraph office, indepen-
APntient and Long Suffering Class—The
den of the government lines. They
learned to judge of the progress of a
fray by what they saw of the wound-
ed streaming to the rear, of the or-
dering forward of reserves, of the
steady backward and forward move—
ment of the lines, of the thousand
things of a. battle-field that tell the
story of victory or defeat as plainly as
words. They became too wise for the
general commanding. His stereotyped
reply, “We are winning all along the
line," lost its force. They stopped ask—
ing him questions at all. He used to
send for them and ask .them questions,
which they answered correctly or not,
as they saw fit. The journalist was
developing into the newspaper man.
and newspaper man was beginning to
assert himself, to feel and to know that
he was by far the most dangerous ani-
mal on the field, despite the men with
the guns.
The consequence of this evolution
was that when Gettysburg was fought,
nearly two years afterward, the head-
lines of the Tribune on the morning
after the third day of the gigantic
struggle told the story of the result
fairly well. The news had been moved.
to the first page by that time.‘ Edi-
torial paragraphs had become a. sec-
ondary or tertiary feature of that and
other papers. The “personal editor” at
last had been brought into contact with
men and events bigger than he. He
might rise in his wrath and denounce
some contemporary as a “horse thief
and liar," and excite only a. fleeting
smile of amusement. Probably the
contemporary was so busy reading and.
editing the news from the front that
he did not 'see the denunciation. The
headlines of he Tribune on the fourth
day when the guns of Gettysburg were
hushed forever, said, among other
things: “The Severest Action of the
War," “Losses on Both Sides Heavy."
“Advantage on Our Side.” That was
the truth, even as we see it to~day.
Still, a scant four columns were de-
voted to the intelligence. The paper of‘
this time which printed less than five-
pages about so enormous a conflict
would consider itself irretrievably dis.-
"graced.
If the battle of Gettysburg or Shiloh.
or the Wildness or Hampton Roads
were fought over again to—morrow,
people would listen to the roar of the
guns in a thousand theatres by holding
telephone receivers to their ears. Next
would come the cheers of the charging
regiments, given in the squeaky tones
of the phonograph. Lastly. every dime
museum in the land would coin money
by vitascope reproductions of the (ap—
ture of a battery.
The Pope's Idea of~ Proportion.
During a recent brief outing in the
Vatican gardens Leo XIII. came :xcl‘nss
an assistant gardener who was diggug
the soil. ,
“My good man,” he said to the 3. ar-
dener, "how much do you l‘et'c‘iu. J.
day for your labor?” a
“Two francs your holiness,"
reply.
The pontiff mused awhile.
“And how many children have :mc‘.“
“None, your holiness.”
“And does your wife also work 1:."
her livelihood?”
“Holy Father," said the
have never been married.”
Once more the pontiff mused in rs»-
flection. "
“Then, my good man.” he said.
shall give instructions List from hem :-
forward, instead of two francs n.
you will receive a franc and a half 12‘
that half a franc will be added
wages of some other workman ‘.
has a wife and family to support?»—
Chicago Inter-ocean.
was 1.2.3
labor".- 1. "I
l. (‘1
\
..\
Willowy.
“i don't say all women are ..
remarked Mr. Meekton, with a Hie“.
“but Elizabeth hasn’t changed lulu
Before we were married she w::s-
\‘I. 1
till. ’3
what they call a ‘willowy’ sort of gi; 2.
She is now a. pronounced I-will-owy
sort of a woman."—-Clzicago Tribune. ‘
t
THESPANISH PEASAmrs.
Creani'of the People. > ':
In the Spanish low'er classes you will
find poverty and appalling ign cranes——
a. neglect of the intelligence which is
positively animal—yet nevertheless no:
unallied with an obvious capacity of
education and improvement, an actual
and admirable pluck and cheerfulness,
a. temper grateful, hospitable, and afw
fectionate, and a marvelous sobzieiy of :
living. ;
There is one especial word particul-I
arly applicable to this genie baja. It,
is the Spanish word sufrida, which we
must render in a single English word
by patient; but it means more than
patient; it'mcanspatient and unviu-
dictive under grievous injury and '
wrong. I
Such are the Spanishpeasantry—the
cream of the Spanish people. Their:
only prOVince in relation to their gov- l
ernment is to pay. They are a pas-l
sive vehicle for ministerial extortion.
The contribuciones are already heavier
than they can bear, and grow moral
merciless as each successive admin- 1
istration plunges the country deeper]
deeper into debt. In return for this,
continuous disbursement they receive!
nothing. Their lands are without a...
road, their children without a school;
their navy is furnished with ships con- I
tracted for at double the price of ours, I
whose only quality is to go to the bot-
tOm Without the shadow of a cause; ‘
their army is unpaid, unofiicered, and;
undrilled, and absolutely incompetent!
to engage with any‘European power.l
The last Spanish census shows that of a
total population of 18,000,000 over .
6,000,000 can neither read nor write,’
while over half have no determined 00- I
cupation. This statement is in itself so '
damaging that it appears hardly nee-e!
essary to inquire further.—Westmin- ]_
ster Review. .3
_- m‘ I .
l
Nearly Exterminatcd the Caterpillar from
the Trees.
When a. horde of hairy, yellow catar-
pillars infested the linden trees in the
Philadelphia Zoological Gardens the
superintendent was much troubled for
a way to get rid of the pests. Poison-
ous sprinkling mixtures, tar and coal 1
oil were all applied to the trees, but the ’
results fell far short of what had been
hoped. The caterpillars flourished in
spite of all, and seemed to increase
in numbers.
Then the ingenious head keeper had
a happy idea. He took the South
American ant-eater from its cage, and
securing it with a collar and a long
cord, started it up one of the trees. The
way the creature laid about with its
long, sticky tongue, scooping. in cater-
pillars by the dozen, more than realized ‘
the keeper’s greatest expectations. It”
took to them with as much relish as
though they were its natural food, and
in the course of half an hour complete-
ly cleaned the tree. .
Then the ant-eater was put up an-
other tree, and it ate until it was
gorged. Since then it has been turned
out three times a day, and so great.
have been its industry and appetite
that the caterpillars are nearly exter-
minated.
i
A USEFUL ANT-EATER.
THROWN OFF THE SCENT.
Device by Which Burglar; Fooled the
Bloodhoundh
Sometime ago a bank in Shipshe—
wana, Ind.,‘ Was visited by burglars,
who blew open the safe and secured a
large sum of money. A famous pack
of bloodhounds was brought from In- .
dianapolis and” turned loose upon the
robbers’ trail. The man hunt lasted i
only a few minutes. Suddenly the lead-
ing dog began howling dismally and
refused to go farther, and. it was im-
possible to continue the chase.
Later a prisoner in jail at Ligonier,
Ind, turned State’s evidence and gave
the police all the facts concerning the
bank burglary and the subsequent es-
cape of the men. He said the blood-
hounds were thrownoff the scent with-
out any trouble by rubbing an onion
on the shoes worn by the burglars. He
added that no bloodhound can be in-
duced to follow an onion trail.——Chi-
cage Times-Herald.
Compressed Flour.
The importance of lightness and
compactness in the kit of soldiers has
stimulated the manufacturers of army
food stuffs to produce all manner of
concentrated products for use on the
march or in camp. Of these the latest
is compressed flour, which is now being
tested by the British War Department.
The objection to the establishment of
national granaries is. the impossibility
of storing wheat for any length of
time. The grain soon germinates and
is ruined. The flour is now molded in-
to bricks by hydraulic pressure, in
which'shape it is unaffected by damp,
is mold—proof and sweet and Whole-
some. The compression is said tode-
stroy all forms of larval life, and the
flour becomes immune against the at-
tacks of insects. Since the cubic space
occupied by 100 pounds of loose flour.
will hold more than 300 pounds of the
compressed flour, it will be seen that
the saving in storage is immense—St.
Louis Globe-Democrat. -
Inherited the College Yell.
“My dear,” said the young wife,
“there was a. time when I was proud
of the powerful voice you put into your
college yell, but now I wish it had been
merely a. whisper.”
“Why, dearest?” asked the
ished young husband.
“Because,” she replied, “the baby
has inherited it.”—Chicago News.
aston-
Druggist—Lightning never ' strikes
twice in the’ same place.
Farmer—Neither does‘ a mule. The
place is never thar after th’ first strike.
--Cliicago Inter-Ocean.
- J
,delays- ,
.Moscow to Vladivostock,,149.1 hours;
'Vladivostock’to San Francisco; 271-
FOR 'STAMP TOOLFECTORS.
It ngs' to Have Thole That Are in if Good
Condition. .
One of-the most noteworthy feature:
\ever introduced into. stamp collecting
and one which bids fair to play an im~ '
portant 'part in the valueof a speci-
men; Will this year make its-presencq
strongly felt among the philatelists
The feature referred to can‘be explain-
ed in the one word. "condition.” For
months past this new criterion of val-
ue has been slowly but surely making
its way into the good graces of the col~
lector, and unless all signs fail it prom-
ises -to revolutionize , prices before .
many more months shall have rolled
by. That the value of a. stamp depend:
i largely upon the order it is in has been
admitted "for a. number of years, but
the fact of the matter is the theory has
rarely been put into practice. As is
Well known, the value of a rare coin
has always been fegulated by its con-
dition; for instance, a. piece which
would be worth fifty dollars in a good
state of preservation would scarcely
bring fifty cents if badly worn or mu:
tilated. So it Will be With stamps; ii
a. specimen is heavily cancelled, torn
I faded, cracked or badly centered, it
will not bring nearly so high a price as
if in good or fine condition. This new ~
condition of things is going to alter the
value of a great many stamp collec-
tions. The enthusiast who has been
careless in selecting his stamps, taking
here and there a. damaged or otherwise
poor specimen, which he secured at a
bargain price. will discover his col:
lection decreasing in value year by
year; while, on the other hand, he whc
has used care in the selection of hi:
stamps, substituting a. good specimen
for a poor one whenever the opportu-
nity offered, will find that his collec-
tion has increased in value very mate
rially.—-Golden Days.
THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY.
The Globe May be circled in Thirty Dayl
When This Road is in Operation.
Imperial Railway Commissioner
Chilkoff has-recently made a long re
port to the Czar concerning the Trans-
Siberian Railway. The road will bl
opened throughout its entire length
next summer, and the journey may
then be made from St. Petersburg to
Vladivostock in ten days. American
rolling stock and locomotives will b!
chiefly employed. The Russian Como
missioner has obtained an interesting
result by Calculating the actual run.
' ning time of the various railways and
steamship lines east and west around
the world, and comes to the conclusion -
that the globe may, in ordinary time: ‘
andwith present facilities, be circled
in thirty-three days. , The itinerary i:
as follows: St. Petersburg to Vladh
vostock, 10 days; Viadivostock to San
Francisco, 10 days; San Fransico, to
Newaork, 4% days; New York to Bre-
men, 7 days; Bremen to St. Petersburg
1% days. But by engaging special
trains and the fastest steamers the tom
may be reduced to twenty-eight days
with an allowance of seven hours fol
This itinerary is as follows:
hours; San Francisco to New York, 73.].
hours; New York to Plymouth, 133.!”
hours; Plymouth to London, 3.2 hours;
London to Moscow, 36 hours; total;
665.2 hours. It is suggested that when
the Trans-Siberian Railway. be . com- .
pleted that a. commission including
Russian, English, German, French and
American representatives, under th't
auspices of the Russian Government.
make ‘a tour oth-he world, following tho
second itinerary. L-z‘ - '
THE”! ONLY CRIME.
Death of Two Boys {or Shouting “ Cuba'
Libre.” -
Mr. Stephen Bonsai, in his “The.
Real Condition of Cuba. To-da‘y," de-
scribes the execution of two little Cu-
ban boys, whose only sin had been that .
they always shouted “Long Live Free-
Cuba.” An old sergeant tells him the '
story. 'They had been kept impris-
oned but “they were very much pleased
when the lieutenant said they would
die together; he would not separate
them. Then the oldest lost his cour-
age a little, whispered imploringly to
the captain, and we thought he was
going to give way, poor little worm,
and I would not. have blamed him. He'
should have been at home with his
mother, curled up in her lap. But
then the, captain answered, loud and
sharp, and we knew he had. not been
wavering. The captain said: ‘What
you ask is impossible. I cannot have
your arms unbound. I must obey or-
ders, and you must be shot just as you.
are, and like all other prisoners, sen-
tenced to death for rebellion’ Then
the little chap, who was not a. year
older than his brother, blew out his
chest like the little game cock he was,
and said: ‘I only asked because Carlito
is so young; because I Wanted to put-
my arms about him when you fired to
save him all I could when the bullets
came; but Carlito is a Cuban; he will
be brave.’ Then the sergeant made
them kneel down, three feet apart, on
the ground, with their backs to the
firingplatoon. It was hardly a sec-
ond. The file was drawn up, and the
lieutenant cried, ‘Apuntar!’.(aim-). But,
you know, these little fellows had
edged toward each other, working on
their knees hard, and were kneeling
shoulder touching shoulder, and with
cheek to cheek. Then the volley came,
and the bullets lifted the poor little
feather-weights, that they were, off
the ground and blew them against the
wall. You know, paisano, I have not '
been at all easy in my mind about the
rights of these things which I see, and
sometimes I think that you and I, who
sit here and see these things done with-
out trying to stop them, are sin ver—
guenzas (without shame) like all the
rest—no better and no worse.”
Norwalk Chronicler