State

Carolina's Fourth Estate Tlie stale has hail some great newspaper¬ men since Revolutionary days. Mr. Law¬ rence lists several off the outstanding' ones in the accompanying' article. HE press was named the “Fourth Estate” by Thomas Carlyle in "Heroes and Hero Worship" and never was name more aptly chosen, for from the founding of the Republic the press has been the forum for the expression of the public will, the bulwark for main¬ taining the public rights. President Jefferson, in his First Inaugural, got at the very root of things when he said: “ Equal and exact justice to all men . . . the freedom of the press . . . these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.” The press in Carolina was first set up by James Davis at Newbern in 1749 with a newspaper called the Gazette, and here also was pub¬ lished the first book which ever came from the press in the state, a law book called from the color of its cover the "Yellow Jacket." We have scant glimpses of the pre¬ revolutionary era, but as soon as the red tide of the Revolution flowed past, the press asserted itself. Keith's Paper at Newbern In 1783, again at Newbern, Rob¬ ert Keith set up the first post¬ revolutionary press and began the publication of the Gazette and opened a bookstore. His "devil" was a young French lad, Francis X. Martin, who became a distin¬ guished lawyer in Carolina, a Fed¬ eral Judge in Mississippi, and Chief Justice in Louisiana. It was the fashion of the day to write under a nom de plume. Those who could command the customary Latin wrote as "Atticus,” "Pro Bono Publico," "Iberius Gracchus"; those who could not quite make the Latin wrote as “True Citizen" and the like. As the Federal Constitution had not then been adopted and as there was no Federal law covering copy¬ rights, the legislature as early as 1785 passed an act for the protec¬ tion of men of letters, "to en¬ courage genius, to promote useful discoveries and the general exten¬ sion of arts and commerce.” By R. C. LAWRENCE In 1799 the Republicans estab¬ lished in the new capital at Ra¬ leigh, the Register, a party organ edited by Joseph Gales. He was a native of England, a man who had suffered imprisonment for his bold¬ ness in espousing the cause of the masses against the classes, and who had been forced to flee from politi¬ cal oppression. He became one of the great editors of the state; his son, Weston R., succeeding him, and his grandson, Seaton, followed in line of succession — so that for nearly a century the Gales were leading editors at Raleigh as were the Hales at Fayetteville. First Daily Paper Seaton Gales published at Ra¬ leigh in 1851, the Bulletin, the first daily paper ever to be published in the slate. Soon after Gales established his paper in Raleigh the Federalists in¬ duced William Boylan to move his Minerva from Fayetteville to Ra¬ leigh. where it became the organ of that party, and ever since then the Boyians have been prominent folk in the life of our capital. From ten papers in 1810 the number increased to forty-four by 1850. Included in the number were certain religious papers, organs of the different denominations, such as the Presbyterians at Fayette¬ ville, the Baptists at Raleigh, the Primitive Baptists at Tarboro, the Methodists at Raleigh, the Episco¬ palians at Raleigh, and the Chris¬ tians at Hillsboro. Two of these, the Biblical Recorder and the Christian Advocate are still being published — the oldest denominational papers in the state. The oldest newspaper in North Carolina now published under its original name, is the Fayetteville Observer, founded in 1817 and for more than a century edited by E. J. Hale and his descendants — a forum whose editorial page com¬ manded respect and attention not only throughout the state but in a large part of the larger field of the South. Before the Civil War. Carolina produced other editors whose words influenced the public thought. There was Philo White, editor of the Western Carolinian at Salisbury; there was John J. Bruner, also of Salisbury, editor of the Watchman, who made that pa¬ per a powerful force in the pied¬ mont. William Swaim, editor of the Greensboro Patriot was distin¬ guished for his bold and fearles stand against slavery from as early a date as 1827, a position in which he was joined by the eminent statesman. Judge William Gaston, in 1832. Holden and Turner Of the Civil War and reconstruc¬ tion era two names stand in bold relief, in a class by themselves, not only for that era but in the entire history of the state— William W. Holden and Josiah Turner, Jr., both from Orange County, bitter politi¬ cal foes. No editor in Carolina has ever attained the heights or wielded the power that Holden did when he edited the Raleigh Standard. He boasted and with truth "the Stand¬ ard speaks the sentiments and has the confidence of the Democratic masses of the state and because of this and for no other reason, it can kill and make alive." Defeated in his candidacy for Governor by a narrow margin, Holden became so embittered that he broke with his party and became first the military and then the reconstruction Gov¬ ernor of the state. His bitter editorial and political foe was Josiah Turner, Jr., great editor of the Raleigh Sentinel. As an adept in all the expedients of warfare of the press Turner stands alone. Up to the time he assumed the editorial chair in 1868 the Con¬ servative parly was led by the Wil¬ mington Journal, the Charlotte Democrat, the Tarboro Southerner, but it was only a "passive resist¬ ance" that they asserted against the reign of the reconstructionists. But as soon as Turner started with (Continued on page 21 ) 7