Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/161

 the Ship.

paper all the laws and other legal advertisements without pay. Toward the close of Washington's inauguration, he was asked for a bill and promptly sent a receipted account of the indebted- ness of the Government to him. When Washington learned of the fact, he remarked: "This must not be. When Mr. Russell offered to publish the laws without pay, we were poor. It was a generous offer. We are now able to'pay our debts. This is a debt of honor, and must be discharged." Russell was later sent a check for seven thousand dollars, the amount of his receipted bill.

WOKDLESS JOURNALISM

Russell, more than any other editor of the period, recognized the value of wordless journalism. He made the pictures in The Centinel serve the same purpose that the cartoon does to-day. His device of "The Federal Pillars" attracted much attention. Whenever a new State adopted the Constitution he added an- other pillar to the "Federal Edifice." In the early part of Au- gust, 1788, when eleven States had approved the Constitution, he ran in his paper a device showing conditions then obtaining. The eleven States were represented by the corresponding num- ber of perpendicular pillars. North Carolina's pillar was raised to an angle of forty-five degrees, while the one for Rhode Island appeared broken above its base. Hope for the latter was held out in the inscription at the right of the capital: "fl^" The foundation good it may yet be saved." Evidently Russell had no doubt about the final action of North Carolina, for over the pillar which represented that State was the encouraging news: "Rise it will." Written testimony shows how eagerly readers of The Massachusetts Centinel watched the rise of col- umns in the "National Dome."

THE GERRYMANDER CARTOON

It was this same Russell who printed the Gerrymander car- toon, though it was drawn by Gilbert Stuart. The struggle be- tween the Republicans and the Federalists for the control of the State of Massachusetts was extremely bitter. In 1811 the for- mer had not only elected Elbridge Gerry Governor, but also carried both houses of the Legislature. To retain this supremacy