in three lines; in two sticks
The (Fort Morgan) Evening Times, Volume XIV, Number 40, (October 18, 1921) : 8
via Colorado Historic Newspapers : link
Daily Newspaper Will Be Smaller States Speaker
Papers Carry Too Much Uninteresting Material Which, of [if] Cut Out, Would Constitute a Great Saving.
Honolulu. Oct. 18. — (The Associated Press.) Herbert L. Bridgman, business manager of the Brooklyn Standard Union, told the Press Congress of the world today he believed the newspaper of tomorrow would be smaller than those of the present. On that point he asked:
“Why, in blind competition to print everything which everybody wants, print so much that nobody wants?” Mr. Bridgman asked. He expressed the opinion that the size of rhe newspaper would resolve itself largely into a commercial and mechanical problem, saying: “If the space can be sold for more than it costs it will be. Otherwise curtailment will follow, depending upon price of newsprint, labor and other materials of production.
“The retail selling price will doubtless follow the same laws but both size and price are the body, not the soul of the newspaper to tomorrow.
“Whatever may happen, it is my belief that if they were smaller they I would be better, though this thing must not be pushed to the vanishing point. But how many features, supplements, insets, juniors and other appendages could we discard with resignation and advantage.
“The New York Mercury reported the miraculous retreat of the American army after the battle of Long Island which saved the Revolution, in three lines; the London Times covered the battle of Waterloo in two sticks. We print first page telegraphed columns of the beastly men and women in a San Francisco hotel.”
Mr. Bridgman said he would not admit that the newspapers have lost their power nor outlived their influence even though the era of personal journalism of which Greeley, Bennett and Raymond were the “signal lights.”
Considering other phases of the newspaper of tomorrow, he said: “Nothing is more certain that if the vapid and amateur circulation statement law, enacted in spite and ignorance, were repealed, every self-respecting publisher would rejoice, not so much on his own account, but because a gratuitous insult on the whole profession had been withdrawn and a standing premium on falsehood and official incompetence abated. “If the government really cared to vindicate its own good name and faith and would check postage payments with sworn statements of circulation, the utter absurdity of the whole disgraceful situation would be demonstrated.
“Newspapers have firmly established their standards and code of honor and no more effective testimony of the fallacy, and feebleness of the government in business can be found than the difference in value between a postal affidavit and an A. B. C. certificate, a badge of honor which every newspaper is proud to wear.”
Mr. Bridgman declared that in advertising the future was bright, speaking not of quantity but of quality. “The newspapers of their own accord and by common consent, long before laggard legislators awoke to the situation. cleaned house and cleaned it thoroughly, and if the business office can secure response and co-operation from the editorial rooms the job is finally and effectively completed, he confirmed.
“As to the advertising rates, those of the newspapers of tomorrow will be higher than those of today and they ought to be. Not only will the service be more, valuable in respect to quantity but its quality and prestige will be sensibly advanced.”
In this connection Mr Bridgman suggested that the newspaper establish a unit of value.
“Rates,” Mr. Bridgman affirmed, “will be maintained. Here there is no middle ground. Integrity of all rates, all things to all men, is to a newspaper as credit to the banker, virtue to a woman and the newspaper which trifles with it is doomed.”
Disowning prophetic powers, he said that he foresaw in the newspaper of tomorrow “readjustment of capital and labor by which mutuality and understanding will take the place of indifference, disgust, thinly veiled antagonism, in which, freed from the taxes, handicaps and straightjackets of organization, competent wage earners may do the work which they are able and willing to and receive pay profitable to them and their employers, when ambition to earn and save shall be recognized and rewarded and production and prosperity increased.
“That the newspaper of tomorrow will be the great educator of the people of the whole world seems inevitable and yet we may go too far in organization and impersonalism.
“The newspaper of the future will thrive and prosper just as it serves the people, is faithful to them and its own convictions of duty. The absolute continuous certainty that this is so, that not only prosperity but life depends on it is the hostage which the newspaper of the present hands on to that of the future.”
- Herbert L. Bridgman (1844-1924), business manager of the Brooklyn Standard Union; associate of Robert Peary
something of his at 541a wikipedia : link - wikipedia links to Who’s Who in America (1900) : link :
BRIDGMAN, Herbert Lawrence, journalist; b. Amherst, Mass., May 30, 1844; s. Richard Baxter B. ; grad. Amherst Coll., 1866; A. M. (in course), 1869; journalist since 1864; m. New York, Sept. 7, 1887, Helen Bartlett. Mem. Am., Royal, Nat. and Phila. Geog. socs. ; sec. Peary Arctic Club; v.-p. Arctic Club of America; elected mem. exec, council, Psi Upsilon Fraternity, 1887, reelected each yr. since; historian Peary Auxiliary Exp’d’n, 1894; asst. Prof. Libbey in scaling Mesa Encantada, N. M., 1897; in command Peary auxiliary exp’d’n, S. S. Diana, 1899. Residence : 604 Carlton Av. Office : 311-313 Washington St., Brooklyn.
- two memorials in the Amherst Graduates’ Quarterly —
regarding passings of the class of 1866, Vol. 14 No. 1 (November 1924) : 53-55 : link, and
“The Amherst Illustrious : Herbert Lawrence Bridgman,” by Herbert F. Gunnison, Vol. 14 No. 3 (May 1925) : 191-196 : link (Stanford copy/scan, via google books)
- lived at 604 Carleton Ave, Brooklyn. The building still exists : link
- Guide to the Local Newspapers on Microfilm Collection BCMS.0028
Brooklyn Standard Union (The Standard Union), 1863-1932, inclusive
353 Reels
linklinks to Brooklyn Newsstand, where the Times Union and other Brooklyn papers are searchable.
- Brooklyn Times Union
wikipedia : link
25 June 2025