the Treasury Department withheld its advertising in The Post.
Because The New York Evening Post thought the Secretary of
the Navy had acted with gross partiality in a naval court-martial,
advertising from that department in The Post was promptly can-
celled. Because The Evening Post exposed the duplicity of the
Collector of the Port of New York, it lost the advertising supplied
by the Custom House. In view of the "Government patronage"
of the day, independence of the press was very expensive in
1835, but William Leggett hewed to an upright line in his
Evening Post and let the Government patronage chips fall where
they would.
ADVEETISING OF THE PERIOD
Before the advent of the penny press the advertiser usually took a "square" in the newspaper for which he paid thirty dol- lars a year: this amount also included a subscription to the news- paper. After the first year the advertiser sometimes paid and not infrequently he neglected to do so. As the number of adver- tisers increased, the size of the sheets was enlarged until they became too bulky to hold conveniently in the hands. For this reason they were called by the penny papers "our bed-quilt contemporaries. ' '
The first penny papers asked the same rate of thirty dollars per year for advertising, but the squares were smaller, and the sum did not include a subscription to the paper. Later, the penny papers adjusted their prices for advertising according to a more modern rate card and insisted that advertisers change their copy more frequently. They developed a new field with the small ad- vertiser: what is now called "classified advertising" began to make its appearance.
In their first issues penny papers reprinted somewhat more desirable advertising, such as railroads, steamboats, stage- coaches, etc., and inserted a notice similar to the following taken from The New York Daily Bee :
The advertisements inserted in this number we insert gratuitously, hoping to obtain the patronage of the advertising public, as this will be our greatest support. We would respectfully request those persons whose advertisements are inserted, if they wish to have them continued to call and make it known.
