Bay State Monthly, Vol. II, No. 1, October, 1884 by Various

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And that the s'd. Town of Groton as often as they shall call a Meeting
for the Choice of a Representative shall give seasonable Notice to the
Clerk of said District for the Time being, of the Time and place of
holding such Meeting, to the End that said District may join them
therein, and the Clerk of said District shall set up in some publick
place in s'd. District a Notification thereof accordingly or otherwise
give Seasonable Notice, as the District shall determine.

Provided Nevertheless and be it further enacted That the said District
shall pay their proportion: of all Town County and Province Taxes
already set on or granted to be raised by s'd. Town as if this Act had
not been made, and also be at one half the charge in building and
repairing the Two Bridges on Lancaster River aforesaid in s'd:
District.

Provided also and be it further Enacted That no poor Persons residing in
said District and Who have been Warn'd by the Selectmen of said Groton
to depart s'd: Town shall be understood as hereby exempted from any
Process they would have been exposed to if this Act had not been made.

And be it further enacted that W'm Lawrence[1] Esq'r Be and hereby is
impowered to issue his Warrant directed to some principal Inhabitant in
s'd. District requiring him to notify the Inhabitants of said District
to meet at such Time & place as he shall appoint to choose all such
Officers as by Law they are Impowered to Choose for conducting the
Affairs for s'd. District.

In the House of Rep'tives April 5, 1753

Read three several times and pass'd to be Engross'd

Sent up for Concurrence

T. Hubbard Spk'r.

In Council April 5 1753 AM

Read a first and Second Time and pass'd a Concurrence

Tho's. Clarke Dp'ty. Secry

[Massachusetts Archives, cxvi, 360-362.]

[Footnote 1: This name apparently inserted after the original draft was
made.]

* * * * *

THE BOSTON HERALD.

The newspapers of America have had their greatest growth within the past
quarter-century. Their progress in commercial prosperity during this
period has been remarkable. Before the Civil War the journals in this
country which returned large profits on the capital invested could
almost be numbered upon the fingers of one hand. Now they can be counted
up into the hundreds, and a well-established and successful newspaper is
rated as one of the most profitable of business ventures. This advance
in financial value has accompanied, and for the most part is due to, the
improvement in the character of the publications, which has been going
on steadily year by year. There has been a constant increase of
enterprise in all directions, especially in that of gathering news, and
with this has come the exercise of greater care and better taste in
presenting the intelligence collected to the reading public. The quality
of the work of reporters and correspondents has been vastly bettered,
and the number of special writers engaged has been gradually enlarged;
subjects which were once relegated to the monthlies and quarterlies for
discussion are now treated by the daily press in a style which, if less
ponderous, is nevertheless lucid and not unbefitting their importance.
In short, the tone of the American newspaper has been elevated without
the loss of its popular characteristics, and the tastes of its readers
have thereby--unconsciously, perhaps, but none the less surely--been
refined. For at least the length of time mentioned at the beginning of
this article, journalism has been regarded as worthy to rank beside, if
not exactly to be classed with, the "learned professions." The newspaper
writer has emerged from the confines of Bohemia, never to return, and
has taken a recognized position in the literary world. His connection
with a reputable journal gives him an unquestioned standing, of which
his credentials are the diploma.

In view of these great changes in journalism, the record of the progress
of a successful newspaper during the last four decades contains much
matter of general interest, and if excuse were needed, this would
warrant the publication here of a brief history of The Boston Herald.

Like most, if not all, of the leading journals of the country, The
Boston Herald had a very humble origin. Forty years ago some journeymen
printers on The Boston Daily Times began publishing a penny paper,
called The American Eagle, in advocacy of the Native American or
"Know-nothing" party.

Its publishers were "Baker, French, Harmon & Co." The full list of
proprietors was Albert Baker, John A. French, George W. Harmon, George
H. Campbell, Amos C. Clapp, J.W. Monroe, Justin Andrews, Augustus A.
Wallace, and James D. Stowers, and W.H. Waldron was subsequently
associated with them. The Eagle was successful at the outset, but its
fortunes declined with those of the party of which it was the exponent,
and in the summer of 1846 it was found to be moribund. The proprietors
had lost money and labor in the failing enterprise, and now lost
interest. After many protracted discussions they resolved to establish
an evening edition under another name, which should be neutral in
politics, and, if it proved successful, to let the Eagle die. The
Herald, therefore, came into existence on August 31, 1846, and an
edition of two thousand was printed of its first number. The editor of
the new sheet was William O. Eaton, a Bostonian, then but twenty-two
years of age, of little previous experience in journalism.

The Herald, it must be admitted, was not a handsome sheet at the outset.
Its four pages contained but five columns each, and measured only nine
by fourteen inches. But, unpromising as was its appearance, it was
really the liveliest of the Boston dailies from the hour of its birth,
and received praise on all hands for the quality of its matter.

The total force of brain-workers consisted of but two men, Mr. Eaton
having the assistance, after the middle of September, of Thomas W.
Tucker. David Leavitt joined the "staff" later on, in 1847, and made a
specialty of local news. The editorial, composing, and press rooms were
the same as those of the Eagle, in Wilson's Lane, now Devonshire Street.

"Running a newspaper" in Boston in 1846 was a different thing altogether
from journalism at the present day. The telegraph was in operation
between Boston and New York, but the tolls were high and the dailies
could not afford to use it except upon the most important occasions.
Moreover, readers had not been educated up to the point of expecting to
see reports of events in all parts of the world printed on the same day
of their occurrence or, at the latest, the day following.

For several years before the extension of the wires overland to Nova
Scotia, the newsgatherers of Boston and New York resorted to various
devices in order to obtain the earliest reports from Europe. From 1846
to 1850 the revolutionary movements in many of the countries on the
continent were of a nature to be especially interesting to the people of
the United States, and this stimulated enterprise among the American
newspapers. Mr. D.H. Craig, afterward widely known as agent of the
Associated Press, conceived the idea of anticipating the news of each
incoming ocean-steamer by means of a pigeon-express, which he put into
successful operation in the year first named. He procured a number of
carrier-pigeons, and several days before the expected arrival of every
English mail-steamer took three of them to Halifax. There he boarded the
vessels, procured the latest British papers, collated and summarized
their news upon thin paper, secured the dispatches thus prepared to the
pigeons, and fifty miles or so outside of Boston released the birds. The
winged messengers, flying homeward, reached the city far in advance of
the steamers, and the intelligence they brought was at once delivered to
Mr. W.G. Blanchard, then connected with the Boston press, who had the
brief dispatches "extended," put in type, and printed as an "extra" for
all the papers subscribing to the enterprise. Sheets bearing the head
"New York Herald Extra" were also printed in Boston and sent to the
metropolis by the Sound steamers, thus anticipating the arrival of the
regular mail.

It is interesting, in these days of lightning, to read an account of how
the Herald beat its local rivals in getting out an account of the
President's Message in 1849. A column synopsis was received by telegraph
from New York, and published in the morning edition, and the second
edition, issued a few hours later, contained the long document in full,
and was put on the street at least a half-hour earlier than the other
dailies. How the message was brought from Washington is thus described:
J.F. Calhoun, of New Haven, was the messenger, and he started from the
capital by rail at two o'clock on the morning of December 24; a steamtug
in waiting conveyed him, on his arrival, from Jersey City to New York; a
horse and chaise took him from the wharf to the New Haven depot, then in
Thirty-second Street, where he mounted a special engine and at 10 P.M.
started for Boston. He reached Boston at 6.20 the next morning, after an
eventful journey, having lost a half-hour by a derailed tender and an
hour and a half by the smashup of a freight-train.

The Herald, feeble as it was in many respects at first, managed to
struggle through the financial diseases incident to newspaper infancy so
stoutly that at the opening of 1847, when it had attained the age of
four months, its sponsors were able to give it a New-Year dress of new
type, to increase the size of its pages to seven columns, measuring
twenty-one by seventeen inches, and to add a morning and a weekly
edition. The paper in its new form, with a neat head in Roman letters
replacing the former unsightly title, and printed on a new Adams press,
presented a marked improvement.

Mr. Eaton continued in charge of the evening edition, while the new
morning issue was placed in the hands of Mr. George W. Tyler. The Herald
under this joint management presented its readers with from eight to ten
columns of reading-matter daily. Two columns of editorials, four of
local news, and two of clippings from "exchanges," were about the
average. News by telegraph was not plenty, and, as has already been
intimated, very little of it was printed during the first year. Yet, the
Herald was a live and lively paper, and published nothing but "live
matter." Much prominence was given to reports of affairs about home, and
in consequence the circulation soon exhibited a marked improvement.

At this time the proprietors entered on a novel journalistic experiment.
They allowed one editor to give "Whig" views and another to talk
"Democracy." The public did not take kindly to this mixed diet, and Mr.
Eaton, the purveyor of Democratic wisdom, was permitted to withdraw,
leaving Mr. Tyler, the Whiggite, in possession of the field.

Meantime, Mr. French had bought out the original proprietors one by one,
with the exception of Mr. Stowers, and in March their names appeared as
publishers at the head of the paper. The publication-office was removed
to more spacious quarters, and the press was thereafter run by
steam-power rented from a neighboring manufactory. At the end of the
month a statement of the circulation showed a total of eleven thousand
two hundred and seventy.

In May, 1847, The American Eagle died peacefully. About this period
Messrs. Tucker and Tyler left the Herald, and Mr. Stowers disposed of
his interest to Samuel K. Head. The new editor of the paper was William
Joseph Snelling, who acquired considerable local fame as a bold and
fearless writer. He died in the December of the following year. Under a
new manager, Mr. Samuel R. Glen, the Herald developed into a successful
news gatherer.

Special telegrams were regularly received from New York, a Washington
correspondent was secured, and the paper covered a much broader field
than it ever had before. Eight to ten columns of reading-matter were
printed daily, and it was invariably bright and entertaining. The
circulation showed a steady increase, and on August 17, 1848, was
declared to be eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifteen daily, a
figure from which it did not recede during the autumn and winter. After
the death of Mr. Snelling, Mr. Tyler was recalled to the chief editorial
chair, and heartily co-operated with Mr. Glen and the proprietors in
keeping the paper abreast of the times. On April 2, 1849, the custom of
printing four editions daily was inaugurated. The first was dated 5
o'clock, A.M., the second, 8, the third, 12 M., and the fourth, 2.30
P.M. That day the force of compositors was increased by four men, and
the paper was for the first time printed on a Hoe double-cylinder press,
run by steam-power, and capable of producing six thousand impressions an
hour. Mr. Head withdrew from the firm about this time, and Mr. French
was announced as sole proprietor throughout the remainder of the year.
In October the announcement was made that the Herald had a larger
circulation than any other paper published in Boston or elsewhere, and
the publisher made a successful demand for the post-office advertising,
which by law was to be given to the paper having the greatest
circulation.

During this year (1849) the Herald distanced its competitors and
accomplished a feat that was the talk of the town for a long time
afterwards, by reporting in full the trial of Professor Webster
for the murder of Dr. Parkman. Extras giving longhand reports of this
extraordinary case were issued hourly during the day, and the morning
edition contained a shorthand report of the testimony and proceedings
of the day previous. The extras were issued in New York as well as in
Boston, the report having been telegraphed sheet by sheet as fast as
written, and printed there simultaneously with the Herald's. The type
of the verbatim report was kept standing, and within an hour after the
verdict was rendered pamphlets containing a complete record of the
trial were for sale on the street. The year 1850 found the Herald as
prosperous as it had been during the previous twelvemonth. In September,
the editorial, composing, and press rooms were transferred to No. 6
Williams Court, where they remained until abandoned for the new Herald
Building, February 9, 1878, and the business-office was removed to No.
203 (now No. 241) Washington Street. Early in 1851, through some
inexplicable cause, Mr. French suddenly found himself financially
embarrassed. In July he disposed of the paper to John M. Barnard, and
soon after retired to a farm in Maine. Mr. Tyler was retained in charge
of the editorial department; but Mr. Glen resigned and was succeeded as
managing editor by Mr. A.A. Wallace. During the remainder of the year
the Herald did not display much enterprise in gathering news. Its
special telegraphic reports were meagre and averaged no more than a
"stickful" daily, and it was cut off from the privileges of the
Associated Press dispatches. In 1852 there was a marked improvement in
the paper, but it did not reach the standard it established in 1850.
Two new presses, one of Hoe's and the other a Taylor's Napier, were this
year put in use, which bettered the typography of the sheet. In 1853 the
Herald was little more than a record of local events, its telegraphic
reports being almost as brief and unsatisfactory as during the first
year of its existence. But the circulation kept up wonderfully well,
growing, according to the sworn statements of the proprietor, from
sixteen thousand five hundred and five in January to twenty-three
thousand two hundred and ten in December. The Herald of 1854 was a much
better paper than that of the year previous, exerting far more energy in
obtaining and printing news. On April 1 it was enlarged for the second
time and came out with columns lengthened two inches, the pages
measuring twenty-three by seventeen inches. The circulation continued to
increase, and, by the sworn statements published, grew from twenty-five
thousand two hundred and sixteen in January to thirty thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight in June. Success continued through the year
1855. In February, Mr. Barnard, while remaining proprietor, withdrew
from active management, and Edwin C. Bailey and A. Milton Lawrence
became the publishers. There were also some changes in the editorial and
reportorial staff. Henry R. Tracy became assistant editor, and Charles
H. Andrews (now one of the editors and proprietors) was engaged as a
reporter. There were then engaged in the composing-room a foreman and
eight compositors, one of whom, George G. Bailey, subsequently became
foreman, and later one of the proprietors. Printers will be interested
to know that the weekly composition bill averaged one hundred and
seventy-five dollars. This year but one edition was published in the
morning, while the first evening edition was dated 12 M., the second,
1.30 P.M., and a "postscript" was issued at 2.30 P.M., to contain the
latest news for city circulation. Twelve to fourteen columns of
reading-matter were printed daily, two of which were editorial, two news
by telegraph, two gleanings from "exchanges," and the remainder local
reports, correspondence, etc. The average daily circulation during 1855
was claimed to have been thirty thousand, but was probably something
less.

Early in 1856 a change took place in the proprietorship, Mr. Barnard
selling out to Mr. Bailey, and Mr. Lawrence retiring.

Mr. Bailey brought to his new task a great deal of native energy and
enterprise, and he was ably seconded by the other gentlemen connected
with the paper, in his efforts to make the Herald a thoroughly live
journal. He strengthened his staff by engaging as assistant editor,
Justin Andrews, who had for some years held a similar position on The
Daily Times, and who subsequently became one of the news-managers of the
Herald, holding the office until, as one of the proprietors, he disposed
of his interest in 1873.

During Mr. Bailey's first year as proprietor he enlarged the facilities
for obtaining news, and paid particular attention to reporting the
events of the political campaign when Fremont was run against Buchanan
for the presidency. The result of the election was announced with a
degree of detail never before displayed in the Herald's columns or in
those of its contemporaries. The editorial course of the paper that year
is perhaps best explained by the following paragraph, printed a few days
after the election: "One of our contemporaries says the Herald has
alternately pleased and displeased both parties during this campaign.
That is our opinion. How could it be different if we told them the
truth? And that was our only aim." The circulation during election week
averaged forty-one thousand six hundred and ninety-three copies daily;
throughout the year it was nearly thirty thousand--considerably larger
than during the preceding year--and the boast that it was more than
double that of any other paper in Boston undoubtedly was justified by
the facts. Mechanically, the paper was well got up; in July the two
presses which had been in use for a number of years were discarded,
and a new four-cylinder Hoe press, having a capacity of ten thousand
impressions an hour, was set up in their place. Ten compositors were
employed, and the weekly composition bill averaged one hundred and sixty
dollars. In 1857 the Herald was a much better paper than it had ever
been, the Messrs. Andrews, upon whom the burden of its management
devolved, sparing no effort to make it newsy and bright in every
department. Beginning the year with a daily circulation of about thirty
thousand, in April it reached forty-two thousand, and when on the
twenty-third of that month the subscription list, carriers' routes,
agencies, etc., of The Daily Times were acquired by purchase, there was
another considerable increase, the issue of May 30 reaching forty-five
thousand one hundred and twenty. In 1858 the Herald continued its
prosperous career in the same general direction. Its telegraphic
facilities were improved, and events in all parts of the country were
well reported, while local news was most carefully attended to. The
editors and reporters this year numbered eleven, and the force in the
mechanical departments was correspondingly increased. A new six-cylinder
Hoe press was put in use, alongside the four-cylinder machine, and both
were frequently taxed to their utmost capacity to print the large
editions demanded by the public. The bills for white paper during the
year were upwards of seventy thousand dollars, which, in those ante-war
times, was a large sum. The circulation averaged over forty thousand
per diem. In 1859 the system of keeping an accurate account of the
circulation was inaugurated, and the actual figures of each day's issue
were recorded and published. From this record it is learned that the
Herald, from a circulation of forty-one thousand one hundred and
ninety-three in January, rose to fifty-three thousand and twenty-six in
December. Twelve compositors were regularly employed this year, and the
weekly composition bill was two hundred dollars. The year 1860 brought
the exciting presidential campaign which resulted in the election of
Abraham Lincoln. Great pains were taken to keep the Herald's readers
fully informed of the movements of all the political parties, and its
long reports of the national conventions, meetings, speeches, etc., in
all parts of the country, especially in New England, brought it to the
notice of many new readers. The average daily circulation for the year
was a little over fifty-four thousand, and the issue on the morning
after the November election reached seventy-three thousand seven hundred
and fifty-two, the largest edition since the Webster trial. E.B.
Haskell, now one of the proprietors, entered the office as a reporter in
1860, and was soon promoted to an editorial position. A year later R.M.
Pulsifer, another of the present proprietors, entered the business
department.

The breaking out of the Civil War in the spring of 1861 created a great
demand for news, and an increase in the circulation of all the daily
papers was the immediate result. It is hardly necessary to say here that
the Herald warmly espoused the cause of the Union, and that the events
of that stirring period were faithfully chronicled in its columns. To
meet a call for news on Sunday, a morning edition for that day was
established on May 26; the new sheet was received with favor by the
reading public, and from an issue of ten thousand at the outset its
circulation has reached, at the present time, nearly one hundred
thousand. The Herald's enterprise was appreciated all through the war,
and as there were no essential changes in the methods of its management
or in the members of its staff, a recapitulation of statistics taken
from its books will suffice here as a record of its progress. In 1861
the average circulation was sixty thousand; the largest edition
(reporting the attack on the sixth Massachusetts regiment in Baltimore),
ninety-two thousand four hundred and forty-eight; the white paper bill,
one hundred and eight thousand dollars; the salary list, forty thousand
dollars; telegraph tolls, sixty-five hundred dollars. In 1862 the
average circulation was sixty-five thousand one hundred and sixteen; the
largest edition, eighty-four thousand; the white paper bill,
ninety-three thousand five hundred dollars; the salary list, forty-three
thousand dollars; telegraph tolls, eight thousand dollars. In 1863 the
average circulation was thirty-six thousand one hundred and
twenty-eight; the largest issue, seventy-four thousand; the paper bill,
ninety-five thousand dollars; salaries, forty-six thousand five hundred
dollars; telegraphing, eight thousand dollars. In July the four-cylinder
Hoe press was replaced by one with six cylinders, from the same maker.
In 1864 the average circulation was thirty-seven thousand and
eighty-eight; largest issue, fifty thousand eight hundred and eighty;
paper bill, one hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars; salaries,
fifty-eight thousand dollars; telegraph, ten thousand five hundred
dollars. The cost of white paper rose to such a figure that the
proprietors of Boston dailies were compelled to increase the price of
their journals, and a mutual agreement was made on August 15 whereby the
Herald charged three cents a copy and the others five cents. On June 1,
1865, the price of the Herald was reduced to its former rate of two
cents. The average circulation that year was thirty-seven thousand six
hundred and seventeen; the largest day's issue, eighty-three thousand
five hundred and twenty; the paper bill was about the same as in 1864,
but the telegraphic expenses ran up to fifteen thousand dollars. The
circulation in 1866 averaged forty-five thousand eight hundred and
forty-eight, and on several occasions rose to seventy thousand and more.
Twenty-one compositors were regularly employed, and the average weekly
composition bill was five hundred dollars. Paper that year cost one
hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars, and the telegraph bill was
fifteen thousand five hundred dollars. In 1867 seventy persons were on
the Herald's payroll, a larger number than ever before. The circulation
showed a steady gain, and the average for the year was fifty-two
thousand one hundred and eighteen. The paper bill was one hundred
and fifty-six thousand dollars, and the expense of telegraphing,
twenty-three thousand dollars. In 1868 the circulation continued to
increase, and the daily average reached fifty-four thousand seven
hundred and forty; white paper cost one hundred and fifty-three thousand
dollars, and telegraphing, twenty-eight thousand dollars.

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