Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/468

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HISTORY OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM

taken. It has been a patriotic service to ferret out this plotting and treason and the work is by no means completed. There is not the slightest doubt that The Journal has a good many more sharp arrows in its quiver. It has taught the metropolitan press, and that of Boston, a lesson in enterprise; it has advertised itself quite legitimately through- out the world, for The Journal is now known in Downing Street and Wilhelmstrasse, as well as on Westminster Street; and it has performed a work that will be remembered in the history of the war.


FIRST ARMY EDITION

The first American newspaper which had an army edition was The Tribune, of Chicago. On July 4, 1917, in spite of the paper scarcity, it started publishing a daily paper in Paris for the American soldiers "somewhere in France." As no young printers were available, most of the work was done by French women who did not understand English. In spite of this handi- cap, editions were fairly free from typographical errors. As there are few "y's" and "w's" in the French language, the supply was soon exhausted and editorial writers and reporters were forced to use English words which did not have these letters in their spelling. While the paper had many features of its namesake in Chicago, it gave most of its space to news of America. It sold for ten centimes or two cents per copy and its yearly rate was fixed at thirty francs or six dollars. Though designed primarily for cir- culation among the American soldiers quartered in France, the army edition of The Tribune built up a substantial circulation among the English and American residents in Paris. Joseph B. Pierson was its first editor.


ARMY AND CAMP ORGANS

In September, 1917, arrangements were made for the publica- tion of a soldiers' weekly newspaper in most National Army and National Guard camps. The paper to a certain extent was co- operative in that four of its pages were compiled and supplied by the central New York office. These four pages were then sent to the cooperating publisher in the local field. He added the news of the local camp and finished printing the sheet. Distribu- tion was secured through Y.M.C.A. headquarters.

Cooperation was secured from local newspapers because the