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Public Ledger (Philadelphia)

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Public Ledger
First edition, March 25, 1836
TypeDaily newspaper
FoundedMarch 25, 1836
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publicationJanuary, 1942
HeadquartersPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
The press room of the Public Ledger, 1867

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". For a time, it was Philadelphia's most popular newspaper, but circulation declined in the mid-1930s.

Early history

Founded by William Moseley Swain, Arunah S. Abell, and Azariah H. Simmons, and edited by Swain, the Public Ledger was the first penny paper in Philadelphia. At that time most papers sold for five cents or more, a relatively high price which limited their appeal to only the 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 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 Ledger was founded.[1]

The Ledger was a technological innovator as well. It was the first first daily to make use of a pony express, and among the first papers to use the electromagnetic telegraph. From 1846, it was printed on the first rotary printing press.

The Childs era

In 1864, the paper was sold to George William Childs and Anthony J. Drexel.[2] At that time The Ledger was a money-losing operation, squeezed by rising paper and printing costs. The paper had lost circulation by supporting the Copperhead Policy of opposing the American Civil War and advocating an immediate peace settlement with the Confederate States. Most readers in Philadelphia at the time supported the Union. Publishers were reluctant to increase the one-cent subscription cost to cover the actual costs of production in the face of declining circulation. Child's bought the paper in December, 1864 for a reported $20,000.[3]

Upon buying the paper Childs completely changed its policy and methods. He changed the editorial policy to the Loyalist (Union) line, raised advertising rates, and he doubled the cover price to two cents. After an initial drop, circulation rebounded and the paper resumed profitability. Childs was intimately involved in all operations of the paper, from the press room to the composing room, and he intentionally upgraded the quality of advertisements appearing in the publication to suit a higher end readership.

Child's efforts bore fruit and the Ledger became one of the most influential journals in the country. Circulation growth led the firm to outgrow its facilities, and in 1866 Childs bought property at Sixth and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia and constructed the Public Ledger Building, which was called at the time "...the finest newspaper office in the country."[4] It was estimated that toward the end of Child's association the Ledger was generating profits of approximately $500,000 per year.

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

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.

Public Ledger Building

The Public Ledger Building as it appeared when it opened in June 1867

The Public Ledger Building (1921) at 600-606 Chestnut Street was designed in the Georgian Revival style by Horace Trumbauer and houses a sculpture of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph A. Bailly (1825-1883).


The Ochs era

In 1902, The New York Times' owner Adolph Ochs bought the paper from Drexel's estate for a reported $2.25 million[5], merged in the Philadelphia Times (which he had bought the previous year), and installed his brother George as editor. George remained editor until 1914, two years after Curtis bought the publication.

The Curtis era

In 1913, Cyrus Curtis purchased the paper from Ochs for $2 million and hired his step son-in-law John Charles Martin as editor. [6] Curtis was owner of the Ladies Home Journal and the Saturday Evening Post. His strategy in buying the paper was to establish it as Philadelphia's premier newspaper, a plan he executed by buying and closing several competing papers; the Evening Telegraph and the North American among them. Philadelphia went from a peak of 13 papers in 1900 to only seven in 1920, a time when the newspaper industry in American was consolidating in general.[7]

Under Curtis' ownership the Ledger's already conservative presentation grew even more so. The paper avoided bold headlines and seldom printed photographs on the front page. The conservative approach of the Ledger's layout has been compared with the Wall Street Journal or New York Times today.[7] Curtis built the Ledger's foreign news service and syndicated it to other papers. Former President William Howard Taft was on staff as an editorial contributor from 1918 to 1921. To broaden the market, and compete against The Evening Bulletin, in 1914 Curtis began publishing the Evening Public Ledger, a bolder paper designed to appeal to a broader public.

Competitively, the Ledger suffered from an ascendant The Evening Bulletin, which under publisher William L. McLean grew in size 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 1/3 of the Bulletin in 1900 grew to nearly 3/4 of the pages in 1920.[7] At the same time the circulation at the Ledger was stagnant. When Curtis died in 1933 it was estimated he had lost $30 million on his newspaper ventures, with little to show for the investment.[7]

The paper made money in the 1920's, but saw circulation fall in half and profits disappear with the Great Depression. Some observers criticize the paper for an indistinct editorial policy which may have alienated readers. On the one hand they endorsed reform politicians, while on the other hand the paper was decidedly anti-labor. The paper ran anti-union advertisements during the 1919 Amalgamated Clothing Workers strike, but ran no pro-strike ads.[8]

Despite the circulation slump caused by the depression, Curtis expanded yet again by buying the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1930 for $18 million, but did not consolidate the two franchises. After Curtis died in 1934, the Ledger was absorbed into the Inquirer and management was assumed by the son-in-law of the second Mrs Curtis, John C. Martin, General Manager of Curtis-Martin Newspapers.

The final years

On April 16, 1934, the morning and Sunday editions were merged into The Philadelphia Inquirer (also held by the heirs of Curtis), but the paper continued an independent life as the Evening Public Ledger. John Martin was forced out of the management of the Evening Ledger in 1939 and control was assumed by Cary W Bok, Cyrus Curtis' grandson. He spent two years trying to make the paper pay without success. In 1941, the Evening Public Ledger was sold to Robert Cresswell, formerly of the New York Herald Tribune. Mounting debts brought on a court-ordered liquidation, and the paper ceased publication in January, 1942.

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and Bolshevism

On October 27 and October 28, 1919, the Public Ledger published excerpts from - and the first published English language translation of - The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as an article with the title, "Red Bible". The excerpts from The Protocols, a text proposing the existence of a Jewish plot to take over the world, had all references to the purported Jewish authorship removed and was re-cast as a Bolshevist manifesto.[9] The author of the articles was Carl W. Ackerman, who subsequently became the head of the journalism department at Columbia University.

Awards

In 1931 reporter Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker received a Pulitzer Prize for correspondence while working at the Ledger[10] for a series of articles on the Five Year Plan in the Soviet Union.[11]

Known editors

See also

References

  1. ^ Rottenberg, Dan (2006). The Man Who Made Wall Street. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 73. ISBN 081221966X, 9780812219661. Retrieved 6 June, 2009. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Brown, John Howard (142548610X). The Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Comprising The Men And Women Of The United States Who Have Been Identified With The Growth Of The Nation. p. 11. ISBN 0807823163. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ New York Times 3 Feb., 1894
  4. ^ New York Times 3 Feb., 1894
  5. ^ Klein, Philip (1973). A History of Pennsylvania. Penn State Press. Retrieved 6 June, 2009. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Anonymous (17 March 1930). "Again, Curtis-Martin". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
  7. ^ a b c d Hepp, John Henry (2003). The Middle Class City. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 130–131. ISBN 0812237234, 9780812237238. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Klein p 546
  9. ^ Jenkins, Philip (1997). Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania, 1925-1950. UNC Press. p. 114. ISBN 0807823163.
  10. ^ Brennan, Elizabeth A (1999). Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 71. ISBN 1573561118, 9781573561112. Retrieved 10 June, 2009. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Fischer, Heinz-Dietrich. The Pulitzer Prize archive: a history and anthology of award-winning materials in journalism, letters, and arts. Munich: Walter de Gruyter. p. 68. ISBN 3598301707, 9783598301704. Retrieved 10 June, 2009. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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