Texas Almanac, 1941-1942 Page: 27
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STORY OF THE NEWS. 27
taken by Texas. The paper served as the
leading voice for annexation. During the
Mexican war it stimulated Texas' efforts
and published firsthand accounts of the
fighting on and below its borders. As the
"irrepressible conflict" approached, The
News urged Texas to withdraw from the
Union and join the Confederacy. Forced
to take refuge in Houston on account of
the Federal blockade of Galveston, the
newspaper proved to be a powerful fac-
tor in sustaining morale throughout the
whole Trans-Mississippi Department of
the Confederacy.
During Reconstruction The News ren-
dered one of its greatest public services.
The paper wisely counseled the subju-
gated majority of citizens during these
stressful times. It also took a leading
part in the final rescue of the state from
political bondage.
Sponsors Progress of Texas.
From the start The News has spon-
sored and encouraged measures for the
economic and social betterment of Texas
and the nation. Under Richardson the
paper worked particularly for the build-
ing of railroads, the improvement of
highways, the laying of telegraph lines,
the encouragement of education ant all
other means of advancing the rapid and
sound transformation of Texas from a
wilderness into a modern commonwealth.
The fortunes of war brought the sec-
ond outstanding personality into the
story of The News. In 1865 Col. A. H.
Belo came to Texas from his native
North Carolina and joined the staff of
the paper just before it was returned
from Houston to Galveston. After
Richardson's death in 1875 Colonel Belo
became the principal owner of the enter-
prise. His regime extended until his
death in 1901.
In the thirty-six years of Colonel
Belo's connection with The News, the
institution, like Texas, entered into an
era of greater expanded opportunities,
most of which were turned into achieve-
ment. A much larger staff was needed
to operate the enlarged business and
consequently a number of memorable
figures were added, including John J.
Hand, Donaldson C. Jenkins, Thomas W.
Dealey and R. G. Lowe. Special signifi-
cance, though, attaches to the year 1874,
when on Oct. 12 The News gained a new
employee who was to become the third
dominant personality throughout the or-
ganization's first hundred years of life.
This was the British-born lad of fifteen,
G. B. Dealey who began as an office boy.
Hired by Colonel Belo with the approval
of Richardson, the chairman of the board
of The News today, after more than
sixty-six years of continuous service, is a
living link with the earliest days of the
institution. Approximately two thirds of
the entire history of The News has oc-
curred during his active participation
in it.
Beginning with Colonel Belo's advent
in 1865, The News expanded its facilities
greatly. That same year The Galveston
Daily News was launched. It was theoutgrowth of daily war extras started in
the fall of 1864. But the historic Weekly
News, which was made up in part of type
set for more local triweekly editions,
was continued and expanded. The Texas
Almanac, started on Jan. 1, 1857, but dis-
continued during the war, was revived in
1867.
The rapid settlement of the rich inte-
rior of Texas after the war, made possi-
ble by the extension of railroads all the
way to the Red River, led to perhaps the
most important step in the history of the
institution. This was the establishment
on Oct. 1, 1885, of The Dallas Morning
News.
As early as the extension of telegraph
lines to Dallas in 1872, however, The
News had enjoyed a direct part in the
promotion of Dallas and North Texas.
The first wire correspondent at Dallas,
appointed that year, was John Henry
Brown, noted Texas historian and Jour-
nalist, later Mayor of the city of Dallas.
Largely a duplicate, at first, of its
counterpart in the daily at Galveston,
The Dallas Morning News of 1885 was
connected by special leased wire for the
315 miles between publishing offices in
Galveston and Dallas. This was the first
instance of "chain Journalism" in Amer-
ica. A young executive stationed in
Dallas from the start of the new paper
was G. B. Dealey, who had risen through
the ranks to be named business manager
of the North Texas venture.
Vital in Life of Dallas.
For the past fifty-six years and more
The News has had an integral and often
decisive part in the evolution of its home
city of Dallas. The paper at Dallas
quickly outdistanced its twin publication
at Galveston in business and size and its
own separate personality soon emerged.
In 1894 G. B. Dealey was named man-
ager of all its departments. In that same
year the management took cognizance of
changing conditions in Texas journalism
and converted the Weekly News into
The Semi-Weekly Farm News.
Typical of the flexibility and resource-
fulness of its direction was the decision
of The News to establish The Dallas
(Evening) Journal in 1914. This new
paper was designed to fill a special need
in Dallas and surrounding territory. It
remained a member of The News' family
of publications until 1938, when it was
sold to other owners.
In addition to its primacy as a collec-
tor and disseminator of impartial news,
The Dallas Morning News has always
been conscious of its responsibility in
endeavoring to further the cultural and
material welfare of Dallas and of Texas.
Better living conditions on farms and
ranches, sounder and more profitable
agriculture, better schools, more attrac-
tive homes, improved farm-to-market
roads and cardinal highways, better
transportation in railroads and water-
ways-these are some of the objectives
campaigned for over the years. The
paper has striven to protect its readers
by refusing dubious advertising. For ex-
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Texas Almanac, 1941-1942, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117164/m1/29/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.