Jumping Ship." The "Jumping Ship" is to a newspaper man what the ballyhoo is to the stock gambler. His fortune rests on it. His bread and butter depends on it. The "Jumping Ship" is not the mere cry of a new thing, or a new man; it is the demand for fresh meat, the cry of a hungry mob. Newspaper men, like sheep, are always following each other. They follow each other through ballyhoo and excitement to a graveyard and a grave. They go to a new thing like a hungry pack of wolves on the trail of a lion or bear, and when they have killed and eaten up the lion or the bear, they leave it in the wilderness and follow each other till they come to the grave of the last lion or the last bear, and eat them there and die. The "Jumping Ship," like everything else about the newspaper business, is founded on human credulity. A newspaper man believes a tale of new and wonderful stuff as soon as anybody does; and he finds a crowd of newspaper men who believe it, and is encouraged and grows bold, and cries it, and gets it before the town. A newspaper man has got to go to that "Jumping Ship" to make his fortunes. The "Jumping Ship" is the great graveyard, and the graveyard of all new and wonderful things. The most wonderful thing of all kinds that can happen to a newspaper man is the death of the paper. The whole business depends on it. If a newspaper fails, it must be because of the failure of the other newspapers to "Jump" it; if the "Jumping Ship" stands up to its load, then is it a sure thing that the other newspapers will fill their "Ships." It is like everything else in the newspaper business. He who runs the best "Jumping Ship," whether it be the "Morning" or the "Evening Sun," or the "World," or the "Sun," or the "Banner," or the "Free Press," or the "Dispatch," or the "Daily News,"--in fact, he who runs the most popular "Jumping Ship" keeps up the most "Jumpers" and does most "Jumping." The "Morning Call" ran nearly all the week before I joined it. When I left the "Call," and joined the "Sun," it had grown to four mornings a week. At that time it was a daily. It had gone from one paper to two papers and from two papers back again to one. The "Call" and the "Morning Herald" had been started by young men and with young men's capital. They had grown too slow for their time, and fallen back. The "Daily News" was started on the same plan. It had been growing very well for a few years, until other papers of equal standing had been started, and it had grown only a matter of time before it would fall off. The "Herald," the "Banner," the "Dispatch," and the "Sun," these were all started by men old in the business, who were able to buy newspaper plants, but who, on account of the death of the papers, were compelled to start again, with new names, new faces, and new fortunes. With the growth of the "Morning Sun," on that "Jumping Ship," we succeeded in taking away the "Daily Herald" from its death bed. This brought about the death of the "Sun" in three weeks after I had joined it. The "Daily News" got a new lease of life. It went back, and the "Herald" went out. The "Daily News" got a new lease of life from the death of the "Herald," and the "Sun" began to "jump" again. The "Daily News" was a daily then, and the "Sun" jumped the "Herald." The "Dispatch" jumped the "Sun," and was dead in a week. The "Sun" went to the "Banner," and became a daily, but jumped back to a weekly. The "Herald" got a new lease of life, and jumped back to a weekly. The "Dispatch" jumped the "Herald," and followed it down to the graveyard, where it died. The "Daily News" began to "jump" everything in sight, and began to build for itself a fortune, but before it got through jumping other papers and jumping out of them, it jumped the "Herald," the "Dispatch," and the "Sun." It "jumped" the "Courier" and the "Record." It "jumped" the "World," and then the "Sun" jumped it again, and the "World" died. The "Daily News" succeeded in getting a new lease of life, and jumped the "Sun." The "Sun" died in a week, and then was given a new lease. The "Free Press" got a new lease, and jumped the "Sun." The "Free Press" died and the "Sun" got a new lease of life. The "Daily News" jumped the "Free Press," and "jumped" its death. The "Daily News" got another lease of life, but jumped the "Sun" and the "Free Press," but died a little while after. Then it got a lease of life again, and jumped the "Sun." The "Free Press" "jumped" the "Sunday Record," and was lost. The "Sun" then "jumped" the "Record," and went to the "Herald," and for awhile kept it alive, but not for long. The "Herald" "jumped" the "Sun," and got itself a new lease. Then the "Sun" jumped the "Herald," and the "Herald" "jumped" the "Dispatch," and jumped that paper out of existence. The "Daily News" jumped the "Herald," and got a new lease. The "Sun" jumped the "Herald," and got itself a new lease. The "Herald" then "jumped" the "Dispatch," and jumped out of existence. The "Daily News" then jumped the "Herald," and took a new lease, but it was not long before it jumped out of existence. The "Dispatch" was then "jumped" by the "Post," and was soon to die. The "Post" then jumped the "Dispatch" and the "Sun." The "Dispatch" died, and the "Sun" jumped the "Post." Then the "Post" jumped the "Sun." The "Sun" then jumped the "Post." The "Post" finally jumped the "Sun," and died. It was a pretty lively time, but it had to end in the end. The same kind of a lease of life was held by the "Call," the "Dispatch," the "Sun," and the "Herald," with the "World," the "Free Press," the "Herald," and the "Herald," in turn. The "Dispatch" was the biggest, was the best kept up and was by far the most successful of all the papers of that class, but finally it got a weak heart, and took an untimely leave of the newspapers. There were fourteen papers in those days--New York, New Orleans, Louisville, Pittsburg, St. Louis, St. Paul, Buffalo, Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Des Moines. Of these fourteen papers, three were dead--the "Free Press," the "Post" and the "Courier." The "Courier" died last; after that the "Dispatch," the "World," and the "Sun" died, after nearly killing the "Daily News." The "Dispatch," which had been killing everybody, got the "death grip," and in the end was jumped by the "Sun," which had been killing everybody but itself. The "Call," the "Banner," and the "Herald" all had a "lease of life," and were jumping everything in sight, but the "Herald" finally tripped up on itself and was buried on the jumpers "Jumping Ship." That, in substance, was the work of the Buncombe papers in the days I have been describing. These were the men who were called Buncombe Democrats. All these men took out patents for their papers. They all bought up mines and other real estate. They all took out and patented their names. They all took out and applied for all kinds of patents, or claims to own a part of the earth, or of heaven or of what is between, in all the States of this union. They all began to build for themselves pensions, in the shape of claims, for Congress to give them, in case Congress should go under--all except the "Daily News" and the "Sun," who had built up claims of their own, and had, long before, been pensioned off. When I joined