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28-539: 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 were reasonably well-off. Swain and Abell drew on the success of the New York Herald , one of

56-465: A newspaper titled The Public Record in 1870, which later became The Philadelphia Record . Philadelphia Times The Times was a daily newspaper published from March 13, 1875, to August 11, 1902, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The paper was founded by Alexander McClure and Frank McLaughlin as an independent voice against party machine politics and corruption. Despite this, by

84-669: The Bulletin in 1900, grew to nearly three-fourths of its pages in 1920. 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. Throughout the 1920s and prior to the Great Depression , the Public Ledger was profitable. But with

112-603: 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

140-399: The Public Ledger was founded. 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) . The Public Ledger was a technological innovator as well. It was the first daily to make use of a pony express , and among the first papers to use

168-617: The Supreme Court chambers on Capitol Hill , forty miles southwest. Three years later, both The Sun and The Ledger made extensive use of the new revolutionary quick communications system to transmit news of the events and battles of the Mexican–American War (1847–1848), thousands of miles southwest as hostilities extended into the capital of Mexico City . In 1847, the Philadelphia Public Ledger

196-627: The 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 Copperhead Policy of opposing the American Civil War and advocating an immediate peace settlement with the Confederate States of America . Most readers in Philadelphia at

224-524: 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

252-584: 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." Toward

280-616: The articles, was later appointed head of the journalism department at Columbia University . In 1931, a Public Ledger reporter, Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker , was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles he authored on the Five Year Plan of the former Soviet Union . William Moseley Swain William Moseley Swain (May 12, 1809 – February 16, 1868) was an American newspaper owner, journalist, publisher, editor, and businessman. William Moseley Swain

308-522: The contemporary present style of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times . 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

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336-629: The eastern states. The system was made famous twenty-five years later, in 1861, by the United States Post Office Department , with a series of riders and horses across the Western United States from Missouri to California, at the same time of the construction of the Western Union telegraph line, coast to coast. The Ledger and its younger sister paper, The Sun of Baltimore , which

364-486: 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", 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. In 1902, Adolph Ochs , owner of The New York Times , bought

392-452: The end of the 19th century, the Times effectively competed with its older rival, and in 1900 both papers claimed a daily circulation of about 70,000 copies. Adolph Ochs became proprietor and editor of the Times in 1901. The following year, he purchased the Philadelphia Public Ledger and merged the Times into his new acquisition. This article about a Pennsylvania newspaper is

420-469: The first English-language translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion . The article was headlined "Red Bible", and the newspaper published the excerpts from The Protocols , a text proposing the existence of a Jewish plot to take over the world, After removing all references to the purported Jewish authorship of it, The Protocols was recast as a Bolshevist manifesto. Carl W. Ackerman , who wrote

448-457: 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

476-583: The mid-1890s it had become aligned with the city's ruling Republican Party machine. The Times , along with Philadelphia papers such as the Public Ledger , the Press , and the Evening Telegraph catered to a middle-class readership, and by 1880, it had the third-largest circulation in the city, with 32,500 copies sold daily. Though the Public Ledger maintained its circulation lead through

504-589: The paper from George W. Childs Drexel for a reported $ 2.25 million. He merged it with the 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. Curtis also owned Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post . His intention

532-477: The paper was sold to George William Childs and Anthony J. Drexel for a reported $ 20,000 (equal to $ 389,617 today). After acquiring 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

560-473: The strike. 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. In 1934, the Public Ledger was absorbed into the Inquirer, and management

588-541: The time supported 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. In December 1864,

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616-565: 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. On October 27 and October 28, 1919, the Public Ledger published excerpts from

644-548: 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

672-480: Was born in Manlius, New York in 1809. In 1936, along with Arunah Shepherdson Abell and Azariah H. Simmons, he established a daily newspaper in Philadelphia , The Public Ledger . He also served as its editor. The paper was the first daily to establish a pony-express -style delivery service during the late 1830s and through the next few decades for routing its reporter/correspondent dispatches from throughout

700-473: 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

728-620: Was established a year later by both Abell and Swain, were two of the first publications to use the new electric telegraph that was invented by their friend, former artist/painter Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872). Using Morse code , the system was first tested in 1844 on a line between Baltimore and Washington . That transmission was sent from a telegraph set that was located in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 's old first main terminal station on Pratt Street in Baltimore's waterfront district to

756-493: Was printed on the first rotary press ever built. Swain, who had become one of the incorporators of the pioneering Magnetic Telegraph Company in 1845, served as its president beginning in 1850. He married Sarah James on November 19, 1837, and they had five children. Swain died at his home in Philadelphia on February 16, 1868, and was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery . His son William J. Swain founded

784-692: Was to establish the Public Ledger as Philadelphia's premier newspaper, which he achieved by buying and closing competing newspapers in the city at the time, including the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph , the 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

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