THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 106, 15 January 1853, Page 8

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER.

[From " Tait's Magazine."] Of these three, (the "Morning Post, the Morning Herald, and the Times) the Times is undoubtedly that whose career, if traced clown to the present time, would be the most striking and eventful. The pre-eminence it has acquired amongst the journals not only of this country, but of Europe, is now of no recent date. The causes of its great success are not difficult to arrive at. Although its founder (Mr. Walter) was evidently a man of indomitable energy and perseverance —as any man indeed must be to establish a daily newspaper—and although there is no reason to' believe it was otherwise than successful and profitable in his hands, it yet did not in his time, by any means uniformly keep ahead of its rivals, either in influence or circulation. Its rise dates from the management of his son, who assumed the reins in ISO 3, and by his independent line of action, his sagacity, and enterprise, laid the solid foundations of the vast edifice he ultimately succeeded in raising up. He struggled hard for priority of intelligence, not only against other papers, but against the government itself; and by enormous outlay and great risk achieved the position of the earliest newsmonger. This alone, it need hardly lo be pointed out, sufficed, during the war, to secure the public preference of the Times. Steam printing was his next triumph, won in the teeth of innumerable difficulties, bravely overcome. Whilst pursuing this darling scheme, his funds ran short, his men combined against him, he was in danger of personal violence. The project was abandoned, but only for a time, it was afterwards revived and realized, A highly interesting sketch of his labours was given on the occasion of his death (July 29th, 1847) in the pages of the paper whose advancement and prosperity had been the aim and object of his whole existence. Under him it may truly be said, that nothing "was neglected ; and in all departments he was equally successful. Whilst perfecting the steam press, accelerating communication with foreign parts to a degree that seemed almost miraculous, and attending to the commercial organizations of a concern which soon attained dimensions unprecedented in the annals of Journalism, he had the judgment and good fortune to obtain the co-operation of very high literary talent. In editors he was as fortunate as in writers.

Even those persons most opposed to the principles and doctrines of the Times must admit and admire the editorial .skill with which the paper has been conducted from the days when Thomas Barnes first assumed the reins,"clown to the present time. In this country editorial matters are usually mysterious. In Paris, even before .the gross, infringement of the liberty of the press, writers were compelled to sign their articles, the names of editors and of many of the principal writers of the leading French journals were as well known in educated circles, as those of the leading members of any learned profession. In London, the case is different, and but very few penetrate the veil that shrouds the concoction of newspapers. The rulers of the press are perhaps not altogether unwilling to encourage this obscurity, and to let the in°credulous millions suppose that the contents of each day's journal is the result of the deliberations of some grave political conclave. But however numerous and distinguished the contributors to its columns, in every great newspaper, as in every army, there must be one person to direct the whole and to secure combined and effective action. • No "prentice hand" is that which is equal to the task. Great are the cares and responsibilities of the editor of a first class daily paper, all important the duties he performs, and the superintendence he exercises. Justly has it been remarked that "no human occupation requires more incessant industry and rigorous temperament;" or, we may add, greater tact, judgment, intelligence, and discretion. _An editor may rarely or never write himself; his far more arduous duty is to five tone and harmony to the whole, and to Tuanl against incongruity and bad taste. If thoroughly competent, in his presence, all goes smoothly on. like some complicated machine, kf.'jH in motion seemingly, without an effort, by one cunning workman. With such steadiness and apparent iViuiiity does each part of the intricate mechanism perform its allotted movement, that one might imagine nothing could get it wrong, and tUat its guidance and control

was anything but difficult. Intrust it for a moment to a less efficient hand, and at once the difficulty is revealed. Its action soon loses in uniformity and effect, partial derangement ensues, and, were the absence of the presiding genious prolonged,'tne mutilation of his substitute's fingers, and the ruin of the machine might probably be the result. So with the newspaper that is fortunate enough to possess an editor of first-rate ability. His absence can never pass long unperceived by the move intelligent and attentive portion of its readers. Parliament is up, London empty, sportsmen are blazing in tne covers, and idlers lounging by the sea; Scotland and the lakes, Switzerland and the Rhine, are overrun with fugitives from .metropolitan smoke. Who better than the jaded Editor has eartied a holiday ? So he, too, escapes for the annual recreation needful to preserve the health and revive the energies upon which drafts so large have been made, by long vigils and constant brain work. Joyously speeds the weary slave of the lamp to enjoy his well merited leisure from the city's din. Well for him if he be left to the uninterrupted enjoyment of a few allotted weeks. What man is sure of his morrow ? Least of all can the journalist divine what his may bring forth. Before the bright sand of his holiday glass has half run out, some pressing occasion or start-ling-novelty occurs. Perhaps a foreign revolution, a ministerial crisis ; a war is imminent, or an urgent and perilous social question is involved. Or it may be (most vexatious of all) that his temporary substitute goes wrong—mistakes the public pulse— attempts to drive where he should rather follow, or, at most, gently lead. The public are disgusted ; the paper loses credit —on such trifles depend the position and prosperity of a powerful journal. It is felt that one man's presence is indispensable to check the evil, and skilfully retrace the steps astray. Then works the telegraph, then whirls the wheel. From his sunny saunter in Italian citie?, or his breezy ramble amidst Pyrennean peaks, the truent is summoned back, as fast as steam and post horses can bring him, to repair the blunders of his clumsy subaltern—balancing, as he scours the highway, the loss of half his holiday against the pleasureable consciousness of power and importance.

Various points, relating to the statistics and organization of the London press, were elucidated a few months ago by the evidence given before the select committee on Newspaper Stamps—evidence which has not, we believe, been as yet placed before the public in any more convenient form than that of a Blue Book. Some of these revelations of the Press 'are both curious and interesting, particularly those that concern " The Times." Of this Leviathan journal, it appears upwards of thirtyeight thousand copies are daily sold, being nearly double the aggregate daily sale of all other morning and evening papers published in London. One of its managers, charged especially with the superintendence of the financial and commercial departments, declared his conviction that its circulation might be doubled within a couple of years, were increase of circulation the sole object considered. The stamp on the supplement he held to be the chief obstacle to so vast an increase. This stamp it is which hampers the expansive energies of the paper, by compelling its conductors to stop the press, when the value of the advertisements contained in the supplement are exactly balanced by the supplement's cost in paper, stamps and printing. The supplement, it must be borne in mind, is given gratis; and at fixed rates its contents can produce but a certain sum. So that, after a certain number of impressions, the cost of each additional copy of the supplement may be deducted from the profit of the corresponding Times with which it is given. But the cost of the supplement—so it results from the evidence—exceeds the profit on a " Times," and hence a positive loss to the proprietors. Although very clearly put and exexemplied by the witness, these facts puzzled some of the Manchester men on the Committee, who had difficulty in comprehending the possibility of loss by the large sale of an article of which a smaller sale yielded a great profit. A double supplement, having a penny stamp, invariably leaves a loss, the set-off against which is the larger profit upon the paper on those occasions—not very frequent—when no supplement is given. Those are the profitable days, when half the double sheet is packed full of advertisements. Then of course the wore copies Bold the better, there being a positive

profit on the price of every one. Occasionally, when events of great public interest occur, the Time.?, published without a supplement, sells to an enormous extent. On the Ist of May, 1851, the opening- day of the Great Exhibition, 50,000 copies were printed, and the publication was stopped only because there was not time to produce more ; the day was not long enough. It so happened, however, a newspaper agent deposed—a man who transmits to the provinces one-seventh of all the London daily papers published—that on the Ist of May the Times was later than usual in going1 to press, (a ciroumstance that might have its origin in various slight accidents,) so that part of the additional supply was too late for the.morning trains, and consequently useless. This leads us to the manner in which the sale is kept within profitable limits. The paper is valueless after a certain hour, so that there is nothing to do to check the sale but slacken the rate of printing or delivery. The influx of advertisements is tremendous. From twenty to thirty columns, the Committee were informed, were daily excluded at that season of the year (May).

It is clearly shown, by tins part of its manager's evidence, that the Times involuntarily plays the part of the dog in the manger, appropriating that " which not enriches it," but whose want makes others "poor indeed." The supplement, if divided amongst the Daily News, Herald, Chronicle and Post, a page a piece, would make the fortunes of those papers. Thrust upon the Times, the plethora of wealth causes a positive loss. It were not uninteresting to examine in detail the causes of this marked preference of the public for the Times, as a medium of advertisement. Doubtless, in the first instance, advertisements are attracted to a paper in proportion to its known circulation and popularity. Then there is a reaction, and the circulation increases by reason of the numerous advertisements. We have already adverted to the causes of the first rise of the Times to its supremacy in the London press. The lion's share of advertisements—for which it was originally indebted to the assumption of a perfectly independent tone, thereby addresing itself to the largest number of readers in the country—to its early information, and able management —has, doubtless, contributed in no mean degree, to maintain it in its high position, and further to increase its circulation to the most extended limit compatible with the necessity of stamped supplements.