in the house; but when newspapers sold for a penny a copy, they crept into the pockets of the working-man to be glanced at has- tily at his noonday lunch and to be read religiously after his evening meal. Naturally, politicians bitterly opposed this new press, and did what they could to prevent it from feeding at the political crib of State and National advertising. Nevertheless, the new journalism, opposed to politics and independent in spirit, continued to thrive. It was said that in ten years it did more good by exposure of municipal scandals than the older press had done in twenty. In the birth of the penny newspaper may be found the beginning of the independent press in America. The new press when it discussed politics did so without taking orders from Washington: it ceased to be a minor or a servant controlled by party class or personal clique.
