10 Conservative.
FORTY YEARS AGO.
Edwin I. . . GodkliiV Newspaper Remliils-
COIICCB Grcolny and the Tribune The
Itcnnett Innovation.
Edward L. Godkiu , in a recent issue
of the New York Evening Post , relates
some very entertaining stories of the
aute-belluni days. He arrived in Amer
ica in the midst of the excitement of the
presidential campaign of the fall of
1856.
"The excitement was tremendous , "
said Mr. Godkin , "greater than I could
at first realize. The night of the day on
which I lauded , I attended a Fremont
meeting in the old Academy of Music ,
at which the Hutchinson family sang
songs about freedom , which were rapt
urously applauded in the intervals
between speeches that astounded me by
their heat and extravagance. But in a
few days I became aware that themes
were under popular discussion which
had never before been discussed popu
larly the rights and wrongs of slavery ,
the equality of man , the provisions of a
wricten constitution , the position of
leading public men on questions which
were half moral and only half political
or legal. Nothing else was talked of. I
went one night to a thronged meeting at
Tammany Hall , which was addressed by
a southern senator , whose name I for
get , but I was struck by the fact that he
seemed to have no answer to the north
ern arguments except denunciation of
the abolitionists , and he brought down
the house by the assertion that every
one of those present 'would be the bet
tor of a good nigger to wait upon him.1
To my preconceived notions of senatorial
dignity this was a good deal of a shock.
I got more light from hearing Mr. Carl
Schurz , who was then just beginning
his political career , and I think , but am
not sure , that I heard at the same time
Abraham Lincoln. He was not as yet a
sufficiently conspicuous person , at least
in the eastern states , to make much im
pression on a foreigner.
Grceley and Bryant.
"In the early spring of 1864 I was in
vited to a breakfast by the latoiir. John
A. O. Gray. I found there - Wendell
Phillips , Bryant , the poet , and one or
two other men. As I am now the sole
survivor of the party , I may relate what
occurred without indiscretion. Greeley
entered a few minutes after me , and
approached the host , who was standing
near the fire-place conversing with Mr.
Bryant j Bryant took no notice of him.
The host asked in a whisper , but in my
hearing : 'Don't you know Mr. Greeley ? '
The answer , in a still louder whisper ,
was : 'No , I don't ; he's a blackguard-
he's a blackguard. ' This , I thought ,
was due to one of Greeley's striking
peculiarities , his treating every opponent
with a sort of ferocious contempt. A
i. ' . ' - .
not uncommon heading of his articles
was 'Another Lie Nailed to the Coun
ter , ' and a not uncommon beginning to
his discussions was a plaintive inquiry
whether there was to be no end of
lying , ' and a not uncommon designation
of an antagonist was that he was 'a liar ,
knowing himself to be a liar , and lying
with naked intent to deceive. " I con
cluded that Mr. Bryant , who was a man
of refinement and cultivation , had met
with some of this mauling at Greeley's
bauds. But at the breakfast table
Greeley revealed more serious defects in
his character than addiction to rough
language. The talk turned on the war ,
and more particularly on the defense
of Washington. On this subject he
poured f orth'ppinions so comically absurd
that they might have figured in the
'Grande Duohesse. ' They were received
by the rest of the company in a silence ,
which , I fear , was not respectful.
Talking after breakfast , over our cigars ,
of the republican nomination of the suc
cessor to Lincoln , Greeley's one contri
bution to the discussion , frequently
repeated , was : 'Anybody you please ,
but not Old Abe. ' About this time his
influence had begun to decline , until at
last he finished it by accepting the
democratic nomination for the presi
dency.
Beginning of Yellow Journalism.
"Bennett found there was more
journalistic money to be made in record
ing the gossip that interested bar-rooms ,
work-shops , race-courses , and tenement-
houses than in consulting the tastes of
drawing-rooms and libraries. He intro
duced , too , an absolutely new feature ,
which has had , perhaps , the greatest
success of all. I mean the plan of treat
ing everything and everybody as some
what of a joke , and the knowledge of
everything about him , including his
family affairs , as something to which
the public is entitled. This was im
mensely taking in the world in which
he sought to make his way. It has since
been adopted by other papers , and it
always pays. It has indeed , given an
air of flippancy to the American charac
ter , and a certain fondness for things
that elsewhere are regarded as childish ,
which every foreign visitor now notices.
Under its influence nearly all our public
men are regarded as fair objects of ridi
cule by opponents. This is also true of
most serious men , whether public men
or not. Even crime and punishment
have received a touch of the comic. I
used to hear , at the time of which ]
write , that Bennett's editors all sat in
stalls , in one largo room , while he
walked up and down in the morning
distributing their parts for the day. To
he would 'Pitch into '
one say , Greeley ;
to another , 'Give Raymond hell ; ' and
so on. The result probably was that the
efforts of Greeley and Raymond for the
elevation of mankind on that particular
day were made futile. By adding to
iiis comic department wonderful enter
prise in collecting news from all parts of
the world , Bennett was able to realize a
fortune in the first half of the century ,
besides making a deep impression on all
ambitious young publishers.
Return to Specie Payments.
"Considering the amount of delusion
which was diffused by the legal-tender
decision and by the fortunes that were
made and the debts that were paid by
the greenbacks , I think the return to
gold was a masterpiece of statecraft.
The way in which it was managed
would not have been possible for a man
who had not been brought up in a
democracy.
"The credit for the return to specie
payments.was of course , due to Mr. John
Sherman , who displayed wonderful art
in getting people to go the whole way ,
under pretense of only going part way ,
and he evidently understood finance
thoroughly , under pretense of being a
plain , blunt man , who knew no more
about it than his neighbors. One man ,
however , who made no secret whatever
of his views , with whom I had a good
many talks on the subject , was Samuel
J. Tilden. No man in any country
understood finance , or could talk about
it better than he. On this subject he
had no caveats or subterfuges or un
pleasant truths to be hidden. As a
public financier he was not a bit like the
Tilden of politics. He was absolutely
straightforward and above board. On
the subject of the democratic party , his
meaning was a little too sublimated for
my comprehension , and his memory
went too far back. But he had clearly
one of the acntest intellects I have ever
met , and it would have achieved great
results in any science to which it was
applied. I used to think that it was a
pity that so much of its vigor was flung
away on politics.
The Decline of the Press.
' 'The old arts of persuasion are already
ceasing to be employed. Presidential
elections are less and less carried by
speeches and articles. The American
people is a less instructed body than it
used to be. The necessity for drilling ,
organizing , and guiding it , in order to
extract the vote from it , is becoming
plain , and out of this necessity has arisen
the 'boss' system , which is now found in
existence everywhere , is growing more
powerful , and has thus far resisted all
attempts to overthrow it. The old
statesman is defunct , and the adroit
manager of elections has taken his place.
The press has ceased to exert much in
fluence on'public opinion , and the pulpit
has become singularly and sadly dema
gogic. According to my observation ,
men of ability have largely ceased to
enter either profession something
which may be either a cause or a con
sequence. "