ican in 1847.
POLITICAL LEADER OF PRESS IN NEW ENGLAND
Of the early political papers of the period, the most interest- ing and also the most conservative was unquestionably The Massachusetts Centinel and The Republican Journal founded on March 24, 1784, by Benjamin Russell. In the first number he printed the following conditions under which he hoped to bring out his paper : ,
(1). This paper shall be printed with a legible type, on good paper, to contain four quarto pages, demi. (2). The price of this paper (will) be Twelve Shillings, the year, one quarter to be paid on subscribing. If agreeable to the custom in the cities of London, New- York and Phila- delphia, the subscribers should choose to pay per number, the price will be Two Pence. (3). The papers in the town of Boston, shall be deliv- ered to the subscribers as early as possible on publication days. (4). Advertisements shall be inserted at as low a price as is demanded by any of their brethren in the art, and continued, if desired in Six Num- bers. (5). Gentlemen in the country may be supplied with this paper at the above price, (postage excepted) which is cheaper than any other papers, if the advantage of receiving them twice in the week is consid- ered. The publishers engage to use every effort to obtain, and the most scrutinous circumspection in collecting whatever may be thought of public utility, or private amusement: Variety shall be courted in all its shapes, in the importance of political information in the sprightli- ness of mirth in the playful levity of imagination in the just se- verity of satire in the vivacity of ridicule in the luxuriance of poe- try and in the simplicity of truth. We shall examine the regulations of office with candor approve with pleasure or condemn with boldness. Uninfluenced by party, we aim only to be just. The assistance of the learned, the judicious and the curious is solicited: Productions of public utility, however severe, if consistent with truth, shall be ad- mitted; and the modest correspondent may depend on the strictest se- crecy. Reservoirs will be established in public houses for the reception of information, whether foreign, local or poetical.
RUSSELL'S DEVICES TO ATTRACT ATTENTION In spite of this rather pretentious announcement for a paper, The Centinel increased in circulation, not because of the amount or the quality of its news, but because its publisher was the first to realize the value of dramatized and illustrated features for his subscribers. He was extremely fertile in devices and never hesitated to use pictures or mechanical arrangement in types
