The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970 Page: 344
605 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
interests to more profitable channels. He established his financial
solvency and his journalistic talent to such a degree that in October,
1856, he purchased an interest in the Houston Telegraph from Harvey
H. Allen and became its editor.'
Though a newcomer to Houston, Cushing had been establishing
his reputation in the state of Texas over the past six years. Noting the
Telegraph's change of management, Willard Richardson, editor of
the Galveston News, wrote,
E. H. Cushing has now taken charge of it, than whom we know no man
who could give a better guarantee to its patrons that it will now receive
a decided improvement and be well entitled to their support and con-
fidence. Mr. Cushing is decidedly a businessman, besides an able editor
and truly Southern in his sentiments.'
During his sojourn in the South, Gushing had assumed a form of
southern nationalism. Yet his was not the static, agrarian brand com-
monly associated with the Old South. The young editor did not lose
himself in the reactionary platitudes of the planter civilization. Gush-
ing's columns in the turbulent years preceding secession evidenced
more aggressive ideas. For Gushing the Democratic slaveholding South
was a fact. It needed no moral justification or constitutional safeguards.
Grounded in the reality of southern life, he urged the South to build
upon its established sectional base, expand its civilization, and become
self-sufficient.
Under Cushing's editorship the Telegraph became a strong pro-
ponent of economic nationalism. Although he recognized cotton as
the basis of the southern economy, Gushing decried the South's colonial
status brought on by the one-crop emphasis. He called for diversified
economic growth. Of agriculture he wrote, "Cotton may be king in
Texas as well as elsewhere, but we much mistake if wheat will not
some day be his Prime Minister."' Very soon after he took over the
History of Early Texas Newspapers," in A History of the Texas Press Association, edited
by F. B. Baillo (Dallas, 1916), 332.
'Cushing, "Edward Hopkins Gushing," 263. Title to the Telegraph is confusing. On
October 5, 1854, Harvey H. Allen bought the printing establishment and executed two
notes for benefit of Mrs. E. M. Moore, wife of Francis Moore, Jr. On June 3, 1857, Allen
mortgaged an undivided half of the property to A. N. Jordan for the use of James W.
Scott, F. R. Lubbock, and E. A. Palmer. Gushing was publisher of the Telegraph as early
as March 30, 1858, when he apprenticed a minor. On January 24, 186o, Allen sold an
undivided half interest to Gushing. Deed Records of Harris County, Texas (County
Clerk's Office, Houston), R, 434; T, 115-116; V, 72-73; W, 246-247.
'Galveston News, October 3o, 1856.
5Houston Telegraph, December g, 1859. The name for the Houston Telegraph varied344
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970, periodical, 1970; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117147/m1/380/?rotate=270: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.