Chapter VIII: Newspapers in the Provinces and in the Empire

One of the important facts about the home country that a Londoner can never get to understand is that there exist throughout Great Britain and Ireland, prosperous, successful and wealthy dailies, which in many respects are equal to and in some even superior to the great organs of the London press. Especially in the political influence they exert, they have the advantage over their metropolitan contemporaries, because there is so much give and take in the whole London press that both sides of a question are heard by most people, even if not generally accepted. In the provinces on the other hand, while there used to be as a rule two important dailies in every large town representing each side in politics, there has been a tendency in each centre to concentrate business on one of these dailies to the loss and perhaps extinction of the other. There has resulted therefore a considerable weeding out of provincial dailies and generally in each district there is one presiding genius of journalism, which wields an immense sway in local politics and has very considerable influence even in national affairs.

For instance the power of the _Scotsman_ about any matter affecting Edinburgh would be considerably more effective than even that of the _Times_ in any question which was of importance in London. And not only in civic matters does the _Scotsman_ hold sway but owing to its unique position in the capital without a rival and the provident business talent which gave it an extensive circulation throughout all Scotland, it has come to be the national newspaper of the country. Founded in 1817 it led only a precarious existence under the _régime_ of a 3s. 6d. tax on advertisements, the penny stamp on the paper and the paper duty. But when these were gradually reduced and removed the paper began to forge ahead. But the predominant position which it now holds in Scotland was due to the combined talents of two very remarkable men. One was the brilliant and untiring journalist, Alexander Russel, who sat in the editorial chair from 1848-1876. He took a leading part in the initial Free Trade controversy. His remarkable knowledge of church questions endeared him to a theological people but probably it was his gift of humour and his hatred of bigotry and shams of all kinds, which gained the paper its wide popularity. The other factor was the close attention to detail and remarkable foresight in affairs of Mr. James Law, probably the ablest newspaper manager in the kingdom, who has held the reins of business control for over fifty years. His achievement in placing the _Scotsman_ in the forefront as a national paper is the more remarkable, since the home city in whose midst it grew up was greatly exceeded in wealth and population by Glasgow. The _Scotsman_ now stands as one of the most solid newspaper properties in the whole country. Its ownership is in the hands of the Findlay and Law families and the present editor is Mr. Croall.

To give some idea of the upspringing of a provincial paper after the removal of the taxes in knowledge, I may quote the circulation figures of the _Scotsman_, which have been officially published. Before the abolition of the stamp tax the _Scotsman_ was a bi-weekly with an issue of perhaps 2,500. After 1855 it became a penny daily and reached 6,000 during the Russian War, settling down to 4,000 afterwards. In 1859 its average circulation was 10,000. In 1862 after the repeal of the paper duty it rose to 15,000. In 1865 it was well over 25,000; in 1870, 30,000; in 1877, 50,000 and during the eighties it reached 60,000 daily.

After the _Scotsman_ for power and influence most people would name the _Manchester Guardian_. But the _Manchester Guardian_ has an even stronger claim to eminence in being perhaps the only paper in the kingdom outside the metropolis, whose editorial conduct has caused it to be not only the leading paper in its district but also a newspaper of universal range and influence. It has been in the hands of one editor, Mr. C. P. Scott, for more than forty years and he has had the courage, besides leading his own community and representing its local interests with faithfulness and efficiency, to look higher still and to raise his standard of effort far beyond the natural demands in culture of a wealthy industrial district. There is no paper in England, which takes so seriously the intellectual side of life. It has become the unfortunate London habit to select here and there enclaves of culture, where the work has to be brilliantly done at the expense of much else neglected or left absolutely out of account, a failing which is no doubt due to the pressure of competing interests in the metropolis. All the painstaking details of culture such as reviewing, musical, dramatic, and artistic criticism are carried out in the _Manchester Guardian_ with something of the thoroughness of the German and with much of the wit and point of the Latin races. Work of this kind is the more praiseworthy, inasmuch as it has been done under a very strict rule of anonymity, a veil which was very seldom lifted.

The _Manchester Guardian_, founded in 1821, two years after the “massacre of Peterloo,” an event, which ranked in the mind of Manchester radicals almost as July 14 does with a French “red,” has been until the last few years practically in the hands of two men of the same name, John Edward Taylor, father and son. They were both men of independent character, not over-valuing the wealth which came to them. They preserved the traditional opposition of the paper to anything like aristocratic dominance or reactionary foreign policy and this policy is still faithfully carried on. The business history of the paper was very much the same as that of the _Scotsman_, the price of the two papers being reduced to a penny within one month of each other. One of the most prominent events in its career was the attack made by the paper on the misuse of trade marks in the Eastern trade, leading to a libel action, which, though it was indeed lost, brought the paper more than popularity. It established it as the rightful representative of Manchester interests.

A very important newspaper property and the leading organ of the Midlands is the _Birmingham Daily Post_, which was developed out of the weekly _Journal_ in the form of a penny daily in 1857. The establishment of this property was the joint work of John Feeney and Sir John Jaffray aided by the editorial work of J. J. Bunce. The late Mr. Feeney, the son of the co-founder, bought back the various papers in the group and they are still administered as part of his estate by Mr. J. R. Smyth. It maintains a high level of editorial excellence under the care of Mr. G. W. Hubbard.

One of the oldest papers in the kingdom, perhaps the oldest still alive, is the _Leeds Mercury_, founded in 1717, which has gradually grown weaker in a contest with a younger and more vigorous rival and finally subsided to a halfpenny price. The _Yorkshire Post_ was originated by a group of landowners and Conservative manufacturers in opposition to the _Mercury_, always a Liberal organ. It gradually grew to the position of leading newspaper in Leeds, mainly through the skill and energy of H. Palmer, one of the few men in this country, who could combine in himself the functions of editor and manager. The present editor is Mr. J. R. S. Phillips.

The honour of being the first penny daily newspaper in England appears to belong to the _Liverpool Daily Post_, which anticipated several others by one or two months in 1855. The _Post_ was always an enterprising Liberal organ, aggressive in business under its able manager, Mr. A. G. Jeans. Its present editor, Sir Edward Russell, has had control since 1869, anticipating Mr. C. P. Scott of the _Manchester Guardian_ by a couple of years. About ten years ago the _Post_ executed a notable stroke in business by effecting an amalgamation with the moderate Liberal paper, the _Liverpool Mercury_, to the great advantage of both. The _Liverpool Courier_ is still the representative of Conservatism.

Among well-known Northern papers is the _Newcastle Chronicle_, celebrated through its connection with a noted figure of his time, Joseph Cowen. The _Bradford Observer_ has become after some vicissitudes the _Yorkshire Observer_. The _Sheffield Telegraph_ with several satellites is a prosperous property held jointly by the Clifford and Lang families. In Manchester besides the _Guardian_ there is the Conservative _Courier_ owned by Lord Northcliffe and a very successful group of papers belonging to Mr. Hulton. These are all of a sporting tendency, with none of them specially remarkable as newspapers. But as a publishing house the Hulton group of papers come near to be commercial rivals on equal terms with the Harmsworth group in London. Their chief publications are the _Sporting Chronicle_ and the _Daily Despatch_. One of the most successful papers in the kingdom is the _Manchester Evening News_, under the editorship of Mr. Parkinson which has been the pioneer of rapid production and distribution. In this office were perfected the various devices for printing late news, generally known as the “fudge box,” which were adopted ten years later by London and fifteen years later by New York. It is the property of the Allen family.

Down in the South we have the _Bristol Times and Mirror_ and the _Bristol Mercury_; at Plymouth, the _Western Daily Mercury_ and the _Western Morning News_ from which the notable journalistic family of the Spenders take their origin. Nearly all these newspapers have also allied evening papers but it is impossible to do justice here to the widespread organization of the provincial evening press; in some respects it is more important by its bulk than the better known morning papers. The evening paper in the provinces is the workman’s daily paper. But there are so many of them that it is very difficult to make distinctions.

Returning North, we find a wealthy property and a newspaper powerful by its able editorial conduct in the _Glasgow Herald_. Until recently there was some uncertainty as to the real date of the first appearance of this journal under the name of _Glasgow Advertiser_. The proprietors themselves were under the impression, obtained through counting backwards from early issues that it began in 1782 but the first number was unearthed the other day announcing the conclusion of the Peace of Versailles--concluding the American war--in January, 1783. Twenty years later it became the _Herald and Advertiser_ and in 1805 the _Herald_ only. Distinguished editors have been Samuel Hunter, soldier and surgeon as well, who raised 1000 volunteers with himself as colonel to put down the Radicals in 1819; George Outram, Dr. Russell, Dr. Wallace, and Mr. F. H. Kitchin the present editor. The _Herald_ became a penny paper in 1859. It is held by a joint-stock company. There is also a halfpenny daily, the _Glasgow Daily Record_. In Aberdeen there are two excellent dailies, which it is very much to the credit of a comparatively small town to keep in comparative prosperity, the _Aberdeen Journal_ (1748--daily 1876) and the _Aberdeen Free Press_ (1853). Dundee is a very energetic newspaper centre, which not only has two dailies the _Dundee Advertiser_ (1801) and the _Dundee Courier_ (1851) but it has developed weekly papers of large circulation of the family type, whose circulation extends far over the borders of Scotland.

In South Wales there are two flourishing dailies, the _Western Mail_ (1869) a Conservative organ allied with the _News of the World_ and the _South Daily News_ (1872) a Liberal paper. Other Welsh papers are evening papers or weeklies.

In Ireland perhaps the most secure newspaper property is the _Irish Times_ of Dublin but it cannot be regarded as a national paper in the same sense as is the _Scotsman_. Politics in that country have made so deep a cleavage that they have thrown the bulk of the wealth of Ireland into the hands of that party which the majority of the population do not deem to be national. The title of the paper was an old one, revived in 1859, but the paper only started its modern successful career after its purchase in 1873 by Sir John Arnott. Since that time it has consistently supported the Union but with moderation. It was heartily in favour of the Butt scheme of conciliation. The out and out defender of the landed gentry and the party of “ascendency” is the _Dublin Daily Express_ (1551). On the Nationalist side are the famous _Freeman’s Journal_, a very old foundation dating from 1763 and the _Independent_. In Belfast are the old-established _Belfast Newsletter_ (1737) and the _Belfast Northern Whig_ (1824). In Cork there is the _Cork Examiner_ (1840).

Of papers of the Empire very little is known in the Mother country beyond the mere names. One of the oldest established is the _Montreal Gazette_ (1765) and the newer _Montreal Herald_ and _Star_, both very well written and edited. Perhaps the most influential newspaper in the Dominion is the Toronto _Globe_, which represents the Liberal party but to some extent supports the policy of Protection. The chief Australian papers are the _Sydney Morning Herald_ (1831) and the _Sydney Daily Telegraph_, the _Melbourne Argus_ (1846) and the _Melbourne Age_ (1854). A rather unique journalistic effort in Australia is the _Sydney Bulletin_, a paper often capable of bitter and effective satire reminding one of _Simplicissimus_ but not always able to keep up to the high level of brilliancy and wit, which it has elected to take as its standard. In South Africa there are the well-known _Cape Times_ (1876) and the _Johannesburg Star_. The oldest established paper in India is the _Calcutta Englishman_ and elsewhere the _Bombay Gazette_, the _Madras Mail_, the _Pioneer_ at Allahabad and the _Civil and Military Gazette_ at Lahore.