then be able to stand "the assaults of prejudice, now fatal in the unassisted hands of single and comparatively indigent in- dividuals." He pointed out that in England the principal news- papers were joint-stock property, many having hundreds and some thousands of owners whose interests are attended to by a committee of directors of their own selection. By way of con- trast, Mr. Leggett added :
Among us, the newspapers are the property of single individuals; and it is found that administering to the depraved tastes and appe- tites of the community, consulting the passions and caprice of the hour, and guiding their course by the variable breath of the multitude, is a more profitable, as well as an easier task, than steering undeviatingly by fixed principles, referring all subjects to the touchstone of truth, and addressing themselves with inflexible constancy to the judgments of men. It is not to be wondered at, however much it is to be deplored, that they adopt the readiest and most lucrative mode of discharging their functions, and forego the glorious opportunity their vocation af- fords, of effectually advancing the great interests of mankind.
The first paper to be thus published by a stock company was The New York Tribune. On January 1, 1849, a meeting was called for the purpose of distributing the stock among its em- ployees. Every one was placed on a salary from editor-in-chief down to printer's devil. This system of association ownership was especially pleasing to Greeley because of its socialistic aspect.
PRESS MODESTY OF POLITICIANS
During the first half of the nineteenth century, even the ablest statesmen delivered their speeches primarily for home consumption. They did not care to have their utterances given widespread publication. They were to be reported in the friendly organs of the political parties. Henry Clay, for example, when he was about to make a speech at Lexington, Kentucky, was told that a reporter of the Associated Press was present. The great Kentucky statesman then promptly refused to go on with his address until the reporter had folded up his paper and left the grounds. Clay was deeply insulted and did not hesitate to say so in picturesque language that a writer for newspapers unknown to him should have the audacity to report
