The Tribune

“ A newspaper is a living organism, threaded through with the nerves of men and women, inspired by their spirit, animated by their ideals and thought, the living vehicle of their own adventure of life. So The Tribune seemed to us then, in that last [Pg 108] hour, when we looked back on our labor and comradeship, our laughter, our good times together on “the rag,” as we had called it. ”

“ A slight shade darkened the Tribune’s brow at these words: but moving on, a long line of nobles and princes on either side, he regained his self-possession, and the dignity he had dropped with his former equals. Thus he passed through the crowd, and gradually disappeared.
“He bears him bravely,” said one, as the revellers reseated themselves. “Noticed you the ‘we’—the style royal?”
“But it must be owned that he lords it well,” said the ambassador of the Visconti: “less pride would be cringing to his haughty court.”
“Why,” said a professor of Bologna, “why is the Tribune called proud? ”

“ The Tribune is conceded by eminent men in this country and Europe to be “The leading American newspaper.” It is now spending more labor and money than ever before to deserve that pre-eminence. It secured and means to retain it by becoming the medium of the best thought and the voice of the best conscience of the time, by keeping abreast of the highest progress, favoring the freest discussion, hearing all sides, appealing always to the best intelligence and the purest morality, and refusing to cater to the tastes of the vile or the prejudices of the ignorant. ”

“ For the sake of the contrast of juxtaposition, an editorial tilt of a later period, when journalism had become impersonal, may be inserted. As The Tribune had the better of it in the edi- torial controversy just recorded, an illustration may be used which reverses the honor. Long after The Courier and Enquirer had become a part of The World, a Democratic President made a very poor appointment to an office at his disposal. The Tribune, thinking that it might embarrass its neighbor, asserted that it would leave the explanation of this appointment to the official Democratic spokesman, The World. ”

“ The Tribune, as its name imports, will labor to advance the interests of the people, and to promote their moral, social and political wellbeing. The immoral and degrading police reports, ad- vertisements and other matter which have been allowed to disgrace the columns of our leading penny papers will be carefully excluded from this, and no exertion spared to render it worthy of the hearty approval of the virtuous and refined, and a welcome visitant at the family fire- side. ”

“ I think most of her contributions to the Tribune, while she remained with us, were characterized by a directness, terseness, and practicality, which are wanting in some of her earlier productions. Good judges have confirmed my own opinion, that, while her essays in the Dial are more elaborate and ambitious, her reviews in the Tribune are far better adapted to win the favor and sway the judgment of the great majority of readers. ”

“ Our circulation has increased every week, our advertising columns crowd out news every issue, and they stand—as compared with those of other colored journals throughout the country—a weekly tribute to our facilities for reaching the eyes of purchasers.
"The reason for this is simple. The Tribune is a paper of the people and for the people. It is the organ of no clique or class. As its name indicates, its purpose is to lead the masses to appreciate their best interests and to suggest the best means for attaining deserved ends. ”

“ A bitter personal fight has been made against the Tribune because it printed the truth. It has fought anew the battle for the freedom of the press. It has been boycotted because its policy could not be controlled. Its editor has been thrown in jail, unjustly convicted and fined, slugged on the streets, and denied justice by two grand juries. . . But having established the justice of its cause, The Tribune, with charity for all, bears malice toward none.
The paper had 13 columns of advertising out of a total of 28 columns of space that day—a percentage which usually means a profitable paper. ”

“ I will admit, in advance, that a daily paper in such a place is absurd. None of us quite understood that when we established the Tribune. My nieces thought a daily the only satisfactory sort of newspaper, because they were used to such, but it did not take long to convince me—and perhaps them—that in spite of all our efforts the Millville Daily Tribune would never thrive. It is too expensive to pay its own way and requires too much work to be a pleasant plaything. Only unbounded enthusiasm and energy have enabled my clever nieces to avoid being swamped by the monster their ambition created. ”

“ The Tribune gives audience to all men, the poorest as the richest. Nay, there is not a ragged boor, or a bare-footed friar, who does not win access to him sooner than the proudest baron. That’s why the people love him so. ”

“ The Printer, as they called Mr Greeley, was at his desk when I came in at noon, never leaving the office but for dinner, until past midnight, those days. And he made the Tribune a mighty power in the state. His faith in its efficacy was sublime, and every line went under his eye before it went to his readers. I remember a night when he called me to his office about twelve o clock. He was up to his knees in the rubbish of the day-newspapers that he had read and thrown upon the floor; his desk was littered with proofs. ”

“ Undoubtedly this very versatility and variety unfitted the Tribune to be an organ of the National-American Association while it made it a most interesting and profitable family paper, in which Woman's Suffrage was commended to many by the very fact that it was made interesting by being associated with other subjects. Mrs. Colby had a good taste for poetry and not the least of the attractions of the Tribune were the charming selections of choice and often rare poems which appeared in every issue. ”

“ The leading papers in the United States were The Tribune, The Herald, The Times, The Evening Post, and The Express, which gave tone to the entire press of the country. All these journals were edited by men of marked ability, each representing a different class of thought in the community. The Tribune was independent, and fearless in the expression of opinions on unpopular reforms; its editor, Horace Greeley, ever ready for the consideration of new ideas, was on many points the leader of liberal thought. ”

“ We, on the contrary, eschew all such affectation as weak and silly; we think there is a difference between notoriety and distinction; we recognize the social obligation to act and dress ac- cording to our station in life; and we look upon cleanliness of person as inseparable from purity of thought and benevolence of heart. In short, there is not the slightest resemblance between the editor of The Tribune and ourself, politically, morally, or socially; and it is only when his affectation and impudence are unbearable, that we condescend to notice him or his press. ”

“ Strange that such papers as the Tribune can wish that it had been made at some other time! We don’t want victory, if at such sacrifice as the Tribune proposes. Let me assure you that such sentiments as you have uttered are what keep very many men in the Republican ranks.”
E. P. Hill, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, wrote:—
“Allow me to congratulate you upon the delivery of one of the most effective speeches upon the great question of the age that have ever been given to the American people. ”

“ It is a people conscious of their political power and dignity, an organised people; it is a people with a constituted head, capable of instructing them in the doctrine of political duties and rights. It is the tribune now who conducts this review of the Military Hero's civil claims. It is the careful, learned Tribune who initiates, from the heights of his civil wisdom, this great, popular veto, this deliberate 'rejection' of the popular affirmation. ”

“ The Tribune, of Chicago, accepted the view that the modern newspaper "must not only help in the fight for a clean city, but must aid the clergy and others to fight for a clean home, and in entering the everyday life of its readers, it must, like the parish priest, be guide, counselor, and friend." It was while speaking on this point that the general manager of The Tribune said: "I have often thought that a newspaper can most closely realize its real mission the nearer it comes to attaining the ideals of the parish priest and the clergyman in his ministrations to his flock. ”

“ The success of the Herald led Horace Greeley to found the Tribune, in 1841. We can see at once that, like Bennett and Raymond, he was greatly endowed with that species of sagacity which divines at a glance the capabilities of a new project or speculation. Greeley was the son of a New England farmer, and came to New York a poor penniless boy. His earlier essays in newspaper management were total failures; but the Tribune was remarkably successful from its very commencement. ”

“ For instance, there is the editor of the Tribune—a man who thinks editorially and talks colossally. He claims that any one who has read Boswell's Life of Johnson, Cervantes' Don Quixote, and Carlyle's French Revolution is educated. He never reads anything else, but keeps on reading these three in an endless cycle. We have perfectly stupendous arguments that never get anywhere, but utterly exhaust both of us. ”

“ We produced a paper which was almost too good for a public educated in the new journalism of the Harmsworth school, with its daily sensations, its snippety articles, its “stunt” stories. We were long, and serious, and “high-brow,” and—to tell the truth—dull. The public utterly refused to buy The Tribune. Nothing that we could do would tempt them to buy it. As literary editor of special articles and stories, I bought some of the most brilliant work of the best writers in England. ”

“ The Tribune has always dealt liberally with its friends who have used their time and influence in extending its circulation, but it now announces a Premium List surpassing in liberality any heretofore offered by any newspaper. ”

“ We have no sympathy with the spirit of many colored editors, who complain that their race does not support their ventures. We have been admirably supported. Our past year has been a complete success. We believe that it has been due to our effort to please our patrons and to be worthy of their confidence. It shall be our purpose in the future, as it has been in the past, to maintain The Tribune's reputation for consistency, reliability and news enterprise. ”

“ In the Tribune, is a Holy Family, into which he has introduced a variety of naked figures in different attitudes, that have not the smallest connection with the subject of the picture, but intrude impertinently to mar its effect. ”

“ Yet all must admit that no man of the age has the organ or faculty of Destructiveness so fully developed. The Tribune has been, from the time of the controversy of which we have spoken, to the present day, the great Organ of Socialism, of Free Love, and of all the other isms which propose to overthrow and rebuild society and government, or to dispense with them altogether. Steadily pursuing this destructive course, the Tribune has for [Pg 140] years become the most popular paper in the North, and, 'tis said, has more readers in Europe and America than any paper in the world ”

“ Earnestly believing that the political revolution which has called William Henry Harrison to the Chief Magistracy of the nation was a triumph of right reason and public good over error and sinister am- bition, The Tribune will give to the new administration a frank and can- did, but manly and independent, support, judging it always by its acts, and commending these only so far as they shall seem calculated to subserve the great end of all government the welfare of the people. ”

“ When he had completed that operation we proceeded to business."
Among the editors he met, Cassell specially notes Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, whose career was not unlike his own. "Popularly known as The Tribune Philosopher, he is one of the most remarkable men in America. Originally a journeyman printer, he has become by dint of great energy and ability one of the guiding spirits of American politics." But on the whole Cassell was not enamoured of American newspaper methods. ”

“ With the acquaintances I had made the year before in the Empire City, I had no trouble in obtaining proper introductions to the editors of the principal American and German dailies — namely, the Tribune, Times, Herald, and the Staats-Zeitung, the Democratic paper. It was far more difficult to obtain personal interviews with several people, whom, however, I managed to see after more or less antechambering — Charles A. Dana, the editorial manager of the Tribune, and also Henry J. Raymond and Frederic Hudson, who filled like positions on the Times and Herald. ”

“ Admit, as we do, that he is not as wealthy as we wish he was, it is not because the Tribune has not made his fortune, but because he did not keep it—because it went, as other people's money goes, to friends, to pay indorsements, and in bad investments. ”

“ Anybody who comes in his way is a fit subject for the penitentiary. We saw a striking illustration of his entire insensibility to the demands of truth and honor in his behavior towards a rival newspaper a few weeks ago. At the close of the year, The Times made great efforts to secure the old subscribers of The Tribune, who were supposed to be dissatisfied with that paper's recent declaration of political independence, and the means which it took to secure them was one which in any other business would have resulted in a suit for slander and a verdict in very heavy [pg 759] damages. ”