POSTAL ORGAN OF MASSACHUSETTS
When John Campbell, the founder of American journalism and the publisher of The News-Letter, was, in 1719, removed from his office as postmaster at Boston, his successor was William Brooker. The latter for several reasons evidently felt the need of a special organ, for on December 21, 1719, he started The Boston Gazette. Campbell, said to have been so indignant over his removal from office that he would not let his paper be distributed through the mails, intimated that his News-Letter was "held up" in the post-office so that "people remote have been prevented from having the News-Paper." Whatever his reason he kept his paper out of the mails, a fact which is said to have helped Brooker's decision to bring out The Gazette. The latter paper became practically the organ of the Boston postmaster and was accordingly passed along one to the other until it became a part of The England Weekly Journal in 1741. From 1719 to 1754 every postmaster had his own paper, and five out of the six who held the office during this time were connected with The Boston Gazette.
So long as Brooker was postmaster, the printer of The Gazette was James Franklin. When the paper changed hands, the printing went to Samuel Kneeland. Peeved at the loss of this business, Franklin retaliated by starting The New-England Courant on August 7, 1721.
FIRST NEWSPAPER WAR
Of the newspaper war which arose after the starting of The New-England Courant between or among the three Boston papers, only the briefest mention is necessary. Campbell doubtless felt the competition, for his appeals for support of The News-Letter became more urgent. If, in the end, he had to yield, he at least "died with his boots on."
The conflict, however, that Franklin had, not only with the authorities, but also with the clergy, deserves more than passing mention. The controversy with the latter started over vaccination for smallpox. Franklin was bitterly opposed to such a practice, and the way he lampooned the Reverend Increase
