Newspapers have played an important part in America's history. Some of them, of course, have been much more important than others. How much power a newspaper has depends chiefly on how good an editor it has. Horace Greeley (1811-1872) is one of the most famous of all American newspaper editors.
Greeley did not have much education. He went to work in a printing office when he was only 14. He was the kind of helper called a "printer's devil." It was not long before Greeley decided that he wanted to run a newspaper of his own. He and a friend went to New York and started one. It lasted only three weeks. Soon afterward Greeley started another newspaper. It did not last either. But then he started the Daily Tribune. This paper was such a success that it lasted for 83 years until it merged with the Herald in 1924.
In his newspaper Greeley fought against slavery. He fought against saloons. He also fought against letting women vote. Not all of Greeley's ideas were good, but he thought that they were and worked hard to bring others to his way of thinking.
People would not have taken the trouble to read Greeley's ideas if they had had to read them in his handwriting. His writing was so poor that it could truthfully be said that it looked like chicken tracks.
Greeley's advice "Go West, young man, go West," became famous all over the United States. Greeley made a trip to the western part of the country and was so pleased with what he saw that he decided the West held the greatest promise for the future.
