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Page 21
In 1869 occurred an important event in the Herald's history. Mr. Bailey,
who had acquired an interest in 1855 and became sole proprietor a year
later, decided to sell out, and on April 1 it was announced that he had
disposed of the paper to Royal M. Pulsifer, Edwin B. Haskell, Charles H.
Andrews, Justin Andrews, and George G. Bailey. All these gentlemen were
at the time and had for some years previously been connected with the
Herald: the first-named in the business department, the next three on
the editorial staff, and the last as foreman of the composing-room. In
announcing their purchase, the firm, which was then and ever since has
been styled R.M. Pulsifer and Company, said in the editorial column: "We
shall use our best endeavors to make the Herald strictly a newspaper,
with the freshest and most trustworthy intelligence of all that is going
on in this busy age; and to this end we shall spare no expense in any
department.... The Herald will be in the future, as it has been in the
past, essentially a people's paper, the organ of no clique or party,
advocating at all proper times those measures which tend to promote the
welfare of our country, and to secure the greatest good to the greatest
number. It will exert its influence in favor of simplicity and economy
in the administration of the government, and toleration and liberality
in our social institutions. It will not hesitate to point out abuses or
to commend good measures, from whatever source they come, and it will
contain candid reports of all proceedings which go to make up the
discussions of current topics. It will give its readers all the news,
condensed when necessary and in an intelligible and readable form, with
a free use of the telegraph by reliable reporters and correspondents."
That these promises have been sacredly fulfilled up to the present
moment cannot be denied even by readers and contemporary sheets whose
opinions have been in direct opposition to those expressed in the
Herald's editorial columns. No pains or expense have been spared to
obtain the news from all quarters of the globe, and the paper's most
violent opponent will find it impossible to substantiate a charge that
the intelligence collected with such care and thoroughness has in a
single instance been distorted or colored in the publication to suit the
editorial policy pursued at the time. The expression of opinions has
always, under the present management, been confined to the editorial
columns, and here a course of absolute independence has been followed.
The Herald, immediately upon coming under the control of the new
proprietors, showed a marked accession of enterprise, and that this
change for the better was appreciated by the reading public was proved
by the fact that during the year 1869 the circulation rose from a daily
average of fifty-three thousand four hundred and sixty-five in January
to sixty thousand five hundred and thirty-five in December, the increase
having been regular and permanent, and not caused by any "spurts"
arising from extraordinary events. On New Year's day, 1870, the Herald
was enlarged for the third time, to its present size, by the addition of
another column and lengthening the pages to correspond. On September 3,
of that year, the circulation for the first time passed above one
hundred thousand, the issue containing an account of the battle of Sedan
reaching a sale of over one hundred and five thousand copies. The
average daily circulation for the year was more than seventy-three
thousand. Finding it impossible, from the growing circulation of the
paper, to supply the demand with the two six-cylinder presses printing
from type, it was determined, early in the year, to stereotype the
forms, so that duplicate plates could be used simultaneously on both.
The requisite machinery was introduced therefor, and on June 8, 1870,
was put in use for the first time. For nearly ten years the Herald was
the only paper in Boston printed from stereotype plates. In 1871 the
average daily circulatian was eighty-three thousand nine hundred, a gain
of nearly eleven thousand over the previous year. On a number of
occasions the edition reached as high as one hundred and twelve
thousand. On October 1 George G. Bailey disposed of his interest in the
paper to the other proprietors, and retired from the firm. In 1872 there
was a further increase in the circulation, the daily average having been
ninety-three thousand five hundred. One issue (after the Great Fire)
reached two hundred and twenty thousand, and several were not much below
that figure. The first Bullock perfecting-press ever used east of New
York was put in operation in the Herald office in June, 1872; this press
feeds itself from a continuous roll of paper, and prints both sides,
cutting and delivering the papers complete. On January 1, 1873, Justin
Andrews, who had been connected with the Herald, as one of its editors
since 1856, and as one of the proprietors who succeeded Mr. Bailey in
1869, sold his interest to his partners, and retired from newspaper life
altogether. Since that date, the ownership in the Herald has been vested
in R.M. Pulsifer, E.B. Haskell, and Charles H. Andrews. The circulation
in 1873 exceeded one hundred and one thousand daily; in 1874 one hundred
and seven thousand; in 1875 one hundred and twelve thousand; in 1876 one
hundred and sixteen thousand five hundred. On November 8, of that year,
the day after the presidential election, the issue was two hundred and
twenty-three thousand two hundred and fifty-six. The two six-cylinder
Hoe presses had given place, in 1874, to two more Bullock machines, and
a Mayall press was added in 1876; the four were run to their utmost
capacity on the occasion just mentioned, and the magnitude of the day's
work will be better understood when it is stated that between 4 A.M. and
11 P.M. fourteen tons of paper were printed and sold, an amount which
would make a continuous sheet the width of the Herald two hundred and
fifty miles long. In 1877 a fourth Bullock press was put in use, and the
Mayall was removed to Hawley Street, where type, stands for fifty
compositors, a complete apparatus for stereotyping, and all the
necessary machinery, materials, and implements are kept in readiness to
"start up" at any moment, in case a fire or other disaster prevents the
issue of the regular editions in the main office.
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