Public Ledger (Philadelphia)

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Public Ledger
The newspaper's first edition on March 25, 1836
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Founder(s)William Moseley Swain, Arunah S. Abell, Azariah H. Simmons
FoundedMarch 25, 1836; 188 years ago (1836-03-25)
Political alignmentRepublican
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publicationJanuary 1942; 82 years ago (1942-01)
HeadquartersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Public Ledger was a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published from March 25, 1836, to January 1942. Its motto was "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence". It was Philadelphia's most widely-circulated newspaper for a period, but its circulation began declining in the mid-1930s. The newspaper also operated a syndicate, the Ledger Syndicate, from 1915 until 1946.

History

19th century

The Public Ledger Building at 6th and Chestnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia, designed by John McArthur Jr., built in 1867, and demolished in 1920
The press room of the Public Ledger in 1867

The Public Ledger was founded by William Moseley Swain, Arunah S. Abell, and Azariah H. Simmons, and edited by Swain. It was the first penny paper in Philadelphia. At the time, most newspapers sold for five cents (equal to $1.39 today) or more, a relatively high price which limited their appeal to readers who ser reasonably well-off.

Swain and Abell drew on the success of the New York Herald, one of the first penny papers and decided to use a one cent cover price to appeal to a broad audience. They mimicked the Herald's use of bold headlines to draw sales. The formula was a success and the Public Ledger posted a circulation of 15,000 in 1840, growing to 40,000 a decade later. To put this into perspective, the entire circulation of all newspapers in Philadelphia was estimated at only 8,000 when the Public Ledger was founded.[1]

The Public Ledger favored the abolition of slavery, and in 1838 its office was threatened by a pro-slavery mob, two days after the same pro-slavery group burned down the new Pennsylvania Hall (Philadelphia).[2]

The Public Ledger was a technological innovator as well. It was the first daily to make use of a

electromagnetic telegraph. From 1846, it was printed on the first rotary printing press
.

By the early 1860s, The Ledger was a money-losing operation, squeezed by rising paper and printing costs. It had lost circulation by supporting the

Union, although there was a strong contingent of Confederate
sympathizers and families with ties to the South, since many Southerners maintained second homes in Philadelphia and sent their daughters to finishing schools there.

In the face of declining circulation, publishers were reluctant to increase the one-cent subscription cost, although it was needed to cover the costs of production.

Anthony J. Drexel for a reported $20,000 (equal to $389,617 today).[4]

After acquring the Public Ledger, Childs changed the newspaper's policies and operations. He changed the editorial policy to support the Union, raised advertising rates, and doubled the cover price to two cents. After an initial drop, circulation rebounded and the paper resumed profitability. Childs was closely involved in all operations of the paper, from the press room to the composing room. He intentionally upgraded the quality of advertisements appearing in the publication to suit a higher-end readership.

Childs's efforts bore fruit and the Public Ledger became one of the most influential journals in the country. Circulation growth led the firm to outgrow its facilities; in 1866 Childs bought property at Sixth and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia, where the Public Ledger Building was constructed. Designed by John McArthur Jr., the building had at its corner a larger-than-life-sized statue of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph A. Bailly (1825–1883), which Childs had commissioned.

The quality and profitability of the Ledger improved dramatically. By 1894, The New York Times described it as "...the finest newspaper office in the country."[3] Toward the end of Child's leadership, the Ledger was estimated to generate profits of approximately $500,000 per year.

In 1870, Mark Twain mocked the Ledger for its rhyming obituaries, in a piece entitled "Post-Mortem Poetry",[5] in his column for The Galaxy:

There is an element about some poetry which is able to make even physical suffering and death cheerful things to contemplate and consummations to be desired.

20th century

The Public Ledger Building in 1924

In 1902,

Philadelphia Times (which he had bought the previous year), and installed his brother George Oakes
as editor. Oakes served as editor until 1914, two years after Curtis bought the publication.

In 1913, Cyrus H. K. Curtis purchased the paper from Ochs for $2 million and hired his step son-in-law John Charles Martin as editor.[7]

Curtis also owned

Philadelphia North American, and The Philadelphia Press
.

In 1900, Philadelphia had 13 newspapers.

Under Curtis' ownership, the Public Ledger had a conservative aesthetic appearance. It avoided bold headlines and seldom printed photographs on its front page. Its conservative format has been compared to the contemporary present style of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.[8] Curtis built the Public Ledger's foreign news service and syndicated it to other papers through the Ledger Syndicate.

From 1918 through 1921, former U.S. president William Howard Taft was on the newspaper's staff as an editorial contributor. In 1914, seeking to broaden its market and compete against The Evening Bulletin, Curtis began publishing the Evening Public Ledger, a bolder paper designed to appeal to a broader public.

The Public Ledger suffered by competition from The Evening Bulletin, an ascendant newspaper published by William L. McLean, which grew from 12 pages in 1900 to 28 pages in 1920, and from circulation of 6,000 to a leadership position of over 500,000 readers in the same time. The Bulletin's bolder and more commercial approach attracted additional advertising, which in turn drew more readers. Advertising, which comprised only one-third of the Bulletin in 1900, grew to nearly three-fourths of its pages in 1920.[8] At the same time, the circulation at the Public Ledger stagnated.

In 1924, Curtis built a new Public Ledger Building on the same site as its prior building, which was designed by Horace Trumbauer and built in Georgian Revival style.[9][10]

Throughout the 1920s and prior to the Great Depression, the Public Ledger was profitable. But with the Great Depression's onset, circulation fell in half and profits disappeared. Some observers criticized the newspaper for an indistinct editorial policy, which they contend may have alienated readers. On the one hand, it endorsed reform politicians; on the other hand, the newspaper was decidedly anti-labor. The newspaper ran anti-union advertisements during the 1919 Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America strike, and ran no advertisements supporting the strike.[11]

In 1930, despite the circulation slump caused by the Great Depression, Curtis expanded by buying The Philadelphia Inquirer for $18 million, but he did not consolidate the two newspapers. When he died in 1933, Cutis was estimated to have lost $30 million on his newspaper ventures, with little to show for the investment.[8]

In 1934, the Public Ledger was absorbed into the Inquirer, and management was assumed by John C. Martin, son-in-law of Curtis' second wife. Martin became general manager of Curtis-Martin Newspapers.

On April 16, 1934, the morning and Sunday editions were merged into The Philadelphia Inquirer, which were also owned by Curtis' heirs. The Evening Public Ledger continued to be published independently.

In 1939, John Martin was forced out of the management of the Evening Ledger, and control was assumed by Cary W. Bok, Curtis's younger grandson. Bok spent two years unsuccessfully trying to make the newspaper profitable. In 1941, the Evening Public Ledger was sold to Robert Cresswell, formerly of the New York Herald Tribune. Mounting debts led to a court-ordered liquidation of the newspaper, which ceased publication in January 1942.

Controversy

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and Bolshevism

On October 27 and October 28, 1919, the Public Ledger published excerpts from the first English-language translation of

Bolshevist manifesto.[12] Carl W. Ackerman, who wrote the articles, was later appointed head of the journalism department at Columbia University.[citation needed
]

Awards

In 1931, a Public Ledger reporter,

Five Year Plan of the former Soviet Union.[13][14]

Editors

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780812219661
    . Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  2. newspapers.com
    .
  3. ^ a b New York Times, 3 Feb., 1894
  4. ^ Brown, John Howard (1997). The Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Comprising The Men And Women Of The United States Who Have Been Identified With The Growth Of The Nation. Univ of North Carolina Press. p. 11.
    ISBN 0-8078-2316-3
    .
  5. ^ "Post-Mortem Poetry". Twainquotes.com. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  6. ISBN 9780271038391
    . Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  7. ^ Anonymous (17 March 1930). "Again, Curtis-Martin". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  8. ^
    ISBN 9780812237238
    .
  9. ISBN 0962290815
    , p.101
  10. ISBN 0262700212
    , p.31
  11. ^ Klein p 546
  12. ^ Jenkins, Philip (1997). Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania, 1925-1950.
    ISBN 0-8078-2316-3
    .
  13. ISBN 9781573561112
    . Retrieved 10 June 2009.
  14. ISBN 9783598301704
    . Retrieved 10 June 2009.

External links

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