The newspapers of America have had their greatest growth within the past quarter-century.  Their progress in commercial prosperity during this period has been remarkable.  Before the Civil War the journals in this country which returned large profits on the capital invested could almost be numbered upon the fingers of one hand.  Now they can be counted up into the hundreds, and a well-established and successful newspaper is rated as one of the most profitable of business ventures.  This advance in financial value has accompanied, and for the most part is due to, the improvement in the character of the publications, which has been going on steadily year by year.  There has been a constant increase of enterprise in all directions, especially in that of gathering news, and with this has come the exercise of greater care and better taste in presenting the intelligence collected to the reading public.  The quality of the work of reporters and correspondents has been vastly bettered, and the number of special writers engaged has been gradually enlarged; subjects which were once relegated to the monthlies and quarterlies for discussion are now treated by the daily press in a style which, if less ponderous, is nevertheless lucid and not unbefitting their importance.  In short, the tone of the American newspaper has been elevated without the loss of its popular characteristics, and the tastes of its readers have thereby—­unconsciously, perhaps, but none the less surely—­been refined.  For at least the length of time mentioned at the beginning of this article, journalism has been regarded as worthy to rank beside, if not exactly to be classed with, the “learned professions.”  The newspaper writer has emerged from the confines of Bohemia, never to return, and has taken a recognized position in the literary world.  His connection with a reputable journal gives him an unquestioned standing, of which his credentials are the diploma.

In view of these great changes in journalism, the record of the progress of a successful newspaper during the last four decades contains much matter of general interest, and if excuse were needed, this would warrant the publication here of a brief history of The Boston Herald.

Like most, if not all, of the leading journals of the country, The Boston Herald had a very humble origin.  Forty years ago some journeymen printers on The Boston Daily Times began publishing a penny paper, called The American Eagle, in advocacy of the Native American or “Know-nothing” party.

Its publishers were “Baker, French, Harmon & Co.”  The full list of proprietors was Albert Baker, John A. French, George W. Harmon, George H. Campbell, Amos C. Clapp, J.W.  Monroe, Justin Andrews, Augustus A. Wallace, and James D. Stowers, and W.H.  Waldron was subsequently associated with them.  The Eagle was successful at the outset, but its fortunes declined with those of the party of which it was the exponent, and in the summer of 1846 it was found to