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RELIGIOUS BIRTH OF "THE NEW YORK WORLD"

Alexander Cummings was one of those who had purchased The North American in Philadelphia after its failure as a reli- gious newspaper. Evidently he had faith in such an enterprise, for he made a second attempt to establish a newspaper of that kind, but in another city. Getting together a number of men, chiefly from Philadelphia, who held a similar view, he started in New York on June 1, 1860, The World as a two-cent religious daily newspaper not a one-cent sheet as has been so commonly asserted. It was advertised extensively in the religious press and in the back part of church hymnals. Backed by sufficient capital and possessed of experience dearly bought in Philadelphia, Cum- mings made a heroic struggle to give the people of New York an ideal newspaper. Church notices appeared on the first page of the first issue. Supplies for Sabbath school and sermon paper at wholesale and at retail, etc., were advertised in its columns. A special rate of four dollars a year was quoted to clergymen. It refused to print the theatrical news and rigidly excluded all theatrical advertising from its columns. Whatever might be true of its editorial policy, it was not consistent in its advertising, for early issues of The World saw any number of quack patent medicines, such as soothing syrup, etc., extensively advertised. After being published at a heavy loss and failing to secure suf- ficient popular support in its religious intelligence, it merged with The Courier and Enquirer on July 1, 1861, and its religious aspect was dropped. Though The Courier and Enquirer was the more important of the two journals, The World by some mere co- incidence was placed first in the title. For this reason the paper after the years went by came to be known as The World, and after a while The Courier and Enquirer was dropped completely from the heading. Two hundred thousand dollars were spent in this second attempt to give New York a religious daily news- paper. The paper then became a worldly World.

RAYMOND AND HIS PAPER

The founding of The New York Times really grew out of the financial success of The New York Tribune. A remark by Henry Jarvis Raymond that the latter paper was clearing over seventy-