The confidence of Edward Wyllis Scripps (1854-1926) in free enterprise and democracy enabled him to create the first newspaper chain in the United States and to contribute significantly to the new journalism of his era.

Born in Rushville, Ill., on June 18, 1854, E. W. Scripps came from a publishing family. His grandfather had issued the London Literary Gazette, and relatives in America were associated with newspapers. Scripps was raised on the family farm in Winchester, Ohio. At 18 he became an office boy on the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, managed and owned by his half brother James Scripps. Later he served in business and editorial capacities for James. Borrowing money from relatives, notably his half sister Ellen, who would be his close associate for 40 years, Scripps founded the Cleveland Penny Press in 1877.

Scripps was a philosopher of journalism as well as a businessman. He believed that the psychology of people...