The Secrets of the Great City Part 8

The press of New York is a subject which requires more time and s.p.a.ce in its treatment than can be given to it in this volume, and we must therefore confine ourselves to a brief glance at it. It is divided into two branches, the secular and religious, and in the former we include all the political and literary journals of the City.

THE MORNING PAPERS.

The daily journals of New York are the ablest and best conducted in America, and among the most brilliant in the world. Their power is immense, and they generally shape and direct the tone of the provincial journals. They are conducted upon a most excellent system as far as their internal arrangements are concerned, and the persons employed upon them are men of ability and experience. As pecuniary investments, they pay handsomely. The stock is very valuable, and it is impossible to purchase it at any price, the present owners being unwilling to sell. Nearly all the princ.i.p.al journals have handsome printing houses of their own. The new Herald office is one of the most magnificent edifices in the City, and in its internal arrangement is the most convenient in the world.

The morning papers are the _Herald, Tribune, Times, World, Sun, Democrat, Journal of Commerce, Staats Zeitung_, and _Commercial Advertiser_.

THE HERALD

The Herald is regarded as the model newspaper of the United States. Its office is located at the corner of Broadway and Ann Streets, and is built of white marble, in the modern French style. Below the sidewalk are two immense cellars, or vaults, one below the other, in which are two steam engines of thirty-five horse power each. Three immense Hoe presses are kept running constantly from midnight until seven in the morning, printing the daily edition. The rooms and machinery are kept in the most perfect order. Nothing is allowed to be out of place, and the slightest speck of dirt visible in any part, calls forth a sharp rebuke from Mr. Bennett, who makes frequent visits to every department of the paper.

On the street floor, the main room is the public office of the journal.

Its entrances are on Broadway and Ann street. It is paved with marble tiles, and the desks, counters, racks, etc., are of solid black walnut, ornamented with plate gla.s.s. Every thing is scrupulously clean, and the room presents the appearance of some wealthy banking office.

On the third floor are the editorial rooms. The princ.i.p.al apartment is the "Council Room," which overlooks Broadway. Every other branch of the editorial department has its separate room, and all are furnished with every convenience necessary for doing their work with the utmost precision and dispatch.

Each day, at noon, the editors of the _Herald_, twelve in number, a.s.semble in the "Council Room." Mr. Bennett, if he is in the City, takes his seat at the head of the table, and the others a.s.sume the places a.s.signed. If Mr. Bennett is not present, his son, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., presides at the council, and, in the absence of both father and son, the managing editor takes the head of the table.

The council is opened by Mr. Bennett, or his representative, who presents a list of subjects. These are taken up, seriatim, and discussed by all present. The topics to be presented, in the editorial columns of the _Herald_ the next day, are determined upon, and each editor is a.s.signed the subject he is to "write up." All this is determined in a short while. Then Mr. Bennett asks the gentlemen present for suggestions. He listens attentively to each one, and decides quickly whether they shall be presented in the _Herald_, and at what time; and if he desires any subject to be written upon, he states his wish, and "sketches," in his peculiar and decisive manner, the various headings and the style of treatment.

There are twelve editors and thirty-five reporters employed on the _Herald_. They are liberally paid for their services. Any one bringing in news is well rewarded for his trouble.

The composing rooms are located on the top floor, and are s.p.a.cious, airy, and excellently lighted. A "dumb waiter," or vertical railway, communicates with the press room; and speaking tubes, and a smaller "railway," afford the means of conversation and transmitting small parcels between this room and the various parts of the building. Five hundred men are employed in the various departments of the paper.

THE OTHER JOURNALS.

The _World, Tribune, Times_, and other journals, have fine establishments of their own, that of the _Times_ ranking next to the one just described. The advantages of the _Herald_ system are so manifest that the other City dailies are adopting it as rapidly as possible.

THE EVENING PAPERS.

The evening papers are a noticeable feature of the great city. They are the _Evening Post_, the _Evening Mail_, the _Express_, the _Telegram_, the _News_, and the _Star_. These issue their first editions at one o'clock in the afternoon, and their latest at five or six o'clock. On occasions of more than usual interest, extras are issued hourly as late into the night as eleven or twelve o'clock. The evening papers contain the latest news, gossip, and a variety of light and entertaining matter, and are bought chiefly by persons who wish to read them at home, after the cares and fatigues of the day are over.

THE WEEKLIES.

The weeklies are too numerous to mention. The princ.i.p.al are the _Round Table_, the _Nation_, the _Ledger_, the _Mercury_, the _New York Weekly_, the _Sunday Mercury_, the _News_, the _Dispatch_, the _Leader_, the _Examiner and Chronicle_, the _Courier_, the _Clipper_, _Wilkes' Spirit_, the _Turf, Field and Farm_, _Harper's Weekly_, _Frank Leslie's Newspaper_, the _Bazaar_, the _Albion_, the _Citizen_, the _Irish Citizen_, _Irish American_, etc., etc. All of these journals display more or less ability, and each one has its specialty. Some are devoted to politics, some to literature alone, some to sporting matters, some to police items, and some to general news.

THE RELIGIOUS PAPERS.

The princ.i.p.al religious papers are, the _Observer_, the _Independent_, the _Protestant Churchman_, the _Church Journal_, the _Methodist_, etc., etc. They are devoted princ.i.p.ally to denominational and sectarian matters, but too frequently dabble in politics to an extent that renders them more partisan than laymen care to see religious sheets.

PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE.

Opposite the City Hall, at the junction of Na.s.sau and Spruce streets and Park Row, is a large open s.p.a.ce, known as "Printing House Square,"

so called because the offices of the leading journals of the city are either immediately on this square, or within a couple of blocks of it.

Standing in the Park at this point, one may count the signs of at least thirty first-cla.s.s journals of various kinds.

A PRESS CURIOSITY.

One of the curiosities of Printing-House Square is the huge engine which runs so many presses. This is owned by a firm in Spruce street between William and Na.s.sau, and occupies the bas.e.m.e.nt of their building. There is a large one hundred and fifty horse-power engine which runs during the day, and a seventy-five horse-power which relieves it at night. From this shafting and belting distribute the power in every direction. One shaft runs to and across Frankfort street, supplying THE MAIL and other offices, another crosses William street and runs the six cylinder presses which pile the three hundred thousand copies of the _Ledger_ in its beautiful press-room. Another shaft crosses Spruce street, runs through and across Beekman, and even supplies presses in Ann street.

Altogether these engines supply over one hundred and twenty-five presses--each being estimated and charged so much per horse-power according to this estimate. It runs three quarters of a mile of main shafting, beside a mile or more connecting shafts and as much belting.

One of these belts, an india-rubber one, one hundred and twenty feet long, connects a fifth-story press on Na.s.sau street with the main shafting on Spruce, across the intervening yards, and another leather one on Beekman street, one hundred and forty feet long, perfectly perpendicular, connects the sub-cellar and attic.

"This engine prints all McLaughlin's toy books, runs the immense establishments of Bradstreet and J. W. Oliver, besides many other job printers, a hoop-skirt manufactory and several binderies, and prints nearly fifty papers, besides magazines and books innumerable; among them, the '_Mail_,' the '_Independent_,' '_Dispatch_,' '_Leader_,'

'_Star_,' '_Examiner and Chronicle_,' '_Observer_,' '_Courier_,'

'_Clipper_,' '_Wilkes' Spirit_,' '_Turf, Field and Farm_,' '_Police Gazette_,' '_La Crosse Democrat_,' '_Ledger_,' '_New York Weekly_,'

'_Literary Alb.u.m_,' '_Sunday Times_,' '_New Yorker Democrat_,'

'_Commonwealth_,' '_Scottish American_,' '_Freeman's Journal_,'

'_Tablet_,' '_Emerald_,' '_Irish American_,' '_Irish People_,' etc., etc. Truly a power in the world."

[Ill.u.s.tration: View of Wall Street.]

CHAPTER XI.

WALL STREET.

If you pa.s.s down Broadway to the main entrance to Trinity Church, and then turn abruptly to your left and cross the street, you will find yourself at the head of Wall street, the great financial centre of America. It is a narrow street, extending from Broadway to East river, and lined with handsome brown stone, marble, and granite buildings.

Scarcely a house has less than a score of offices within its walls, and some have very near three times that number. s.p.a.ce is very valuable in Wall street, and some of the leading firms in it have to content themselves with a narrow, small, dark hole, which a conscientious man would hardly call an office. The rent demanded for these "offices" is enormous, and the buildings bring their owners princely fortunes every year. The houses are all covered with signs, the names on which one will immediately recognize as famous in the financial world. The streets running into Wall street, for the distance of one or two blocks, on the right hand and the left, are also occupied with the offices of bankers and brokers, and are included in the general term, "Wall street," or "the street."

ITS HISTORY.

Wall street has always been famous in the history of New York. It was originally used as a sheep pasture. Its natural condition being partly rolling upland and partly meadow of a swampy character. The name of the street originated thus: In 1653, the Dutch settlers, being threatened with an attack by their New England neighbors, resolved to fortify the town by constructing a wall or stockade across the island just beyond the northern limits of the settlement. The line selected was drawn across the old sheep pasture. In the course of a few years, the antic.i.p.ated hostilities having pa.s.sed over, the settlers began to build houses along the line of the city wall, and the new street, when laid off, received by common consent the name of "the Wall street," which it has since borne. The wall, having fallen into decay, was demolished about the year 1699, and the stones were used in building the first City Hall, which stood at what is now the corner of Na.s.sau and Wall streets, the site of the Sub-Treasury of to-day. This building was used for the various purposes of the city government until the close of the Revolution. It contained, besides the council and court rooms, a fire engine room, a jail for the detention and punishment of criminals, and a debtors' prison, which was located in the attic, a cage, and a pillory. A pair of stocks were set up on the opposite side of the street, wherein criminals were exposed to the indignant gaze of a virtuous public.

After the close of the Revolution, the building was enlarged and improved for the use of the Federal Government. The first Congress of the United States a.s.sembled within its walls in the year 1789, and upon its s.p.a.cious portico George Washington took the oath to support and defend the Const.i.tution, as President of the United States.

The street was originally taken up with private residences, but at length monetary inst.i.tutions commenced to find their way into it. The Bank of New York was located here in 1791, at the corner of William street. Other inst.i.tutions, and private bankers, soon followed it, and the work of improvement went on until the street of to-day is the result. Famous lawyers have also had their offices in this street.

Alexander Hamilton's sign might once have been seen here, not far from where his humble monument now stands in Trinity churchyard, and the name of Caleb Cushing is now to be found just a little below Broadway.

The street fairly began its present career in the days of Jacob Little, "the great bear of Wall street." He opened an office here in 1822, and, in twelve years, by dint of such labor as few men are capable of performing, placed himself at the head of American operators. His credit was good for any amount, for his integrity was unimpeachable. He could sway the market as he pleased, and his contracts were met with a punctuality and fidelity which made "his word as good as his bond."

Efforts were made to ruin him, but his genius and far-sightedness enabled him to defeat all his enemies with their own weapons. His gains were enormous, and so were his losses. He met the latter cheerfully.

The late war, however, brought his reverses so rapidly upon him that he had not the time to meet one before another stared him in the face.

Still, he was calm and undismayed. He gave up his last dollar without repining, saying that he would willingly sacrifice even life itself for the perpetuity of the Union and the Const.i.tution. He died early in the year 1861, honored by all, and leaving his life an example to those of us who are left behind him. He was a devout member of the Episcopal Church, but he extended his charities, which, though quiet, were unusually large, to all denominations.

THE SUB-TREASURY.