that fell properly within the domain of secular
journalism during that period that he did not deal
with, and in a way to deserve, and usually to com-
mand, the respectful attention even of those who
were not prepared to accept all his conclusions.

Journalism when Bryant entered the profes-
sion was as little like the journalism of 1889 as
Jason's fifty-oared craft "Argo" was like a mod-
ern steam packet. The commercial value of news
merely as news to the daily press was as much
undervalued as anthracite coal for fuel, or elec-
tricity for light. The newspaper was usually estab-
lished in the interest of some prominent party
leader, who fought his battles in its columns. The
editor was more or less his party's mouthpiece,
and the readers consulted its columns mainly for
its political indications. The modern reporter was
yet in the chrysalis stage of existence, while the
"interviewer" was as one of those remote stars,
the light of which had not yet reached our planet.
A weekly packet with the news in a file of London
papers, condensed into a few paragraphs, supplied
all the information from the outside world for
which there seemed to be any demand, while local
news was limited pretty much to such items as
friends of the editor or interested parties might
take the trouble to communicate. The evolution
or transformation of our journalism from its stage
of organism to the newspaper proper was of a later
date, and was due to the absence rather than to the
presence of qualities from which success could then

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