_Birmingham Daily Gazette_, started in 1862, the _Daily Mail_ in 1870, the _Globe_ in 1879, the _Echo_ in 1883, the _Times_ in 1885, and the _Argus_ in 1891. I must, however, just note that the most important new journalistic venture in recent years was the production of the _Birmingham Morning News_, which was started in 1871. This daily morning paper was established on lines which should have led to a permanent success. There was plenty of capital at its back. Mr. George Dawson--whose name it was thought would be a tower of strength--took an active part in its editorial work. It had an excellent staff, and, in a journalistic sense and as a newspaper production, it was a credit to itself and to the town. The _Birmingham Morning News_ was carried on for some four years at a very considerable loss, and just when it seemed to be about to turn the corner and get into a more profitable groove, its capitalist proprietor gave it up in disappointment and disgust. For one thing, he found it difficult to get all the influential help he wanted in the news department, and he was probably getting a little weary of putting money into a basket that seemed to have no bottom to it. Yet it was believed by those well experienced in newspaper management that another year would have seen a favourable turn in the fortunes of the paper. The costly ground baiting which is necessary in a newspaper establishment had been done, and the expensive seed which has to be sown was about to come up when the proprietor resolved to plough the paper up and so add another to the formidable list of local newspaper failures. In the grave of the _Birmingham Morning News_ were buried many hopes. The proprietor hoped to make a fortune. Mr. Dawson hoped to make an income and secure a still wider influence through its medium. Its rivals hoped it would not succeed, and by its death and burial their hopes were realised. One little incident in connection with local journalism I must record here as being something almost unique. I refer to the astounding sketch Mr. H.J. Jennings--for many years editor of the _Birmingham Daily Mail_--wrote of himself in 1889, and the circumstances that led to its publication. After many years' connection with the _Daily. Mail_, Mr. Jennings went over to another local evening paper, the _Daily Times_, and by way of giving it a fillip he published in its columns a series of papers on "Our Public Men." That these sketches were not entirely flattering to the subjects of them will be readily understood. Mr. Jennings always was a smart, spicy, and sometimes even brilliant writer, but he could not help being more or less cynical. He rather liked to stick the toasting fork into his subjects, and then hold them pretty close to the bars of a decidedly hot fire. The result was that many of them burned and smarted under the ordeal. One of the victims went so far as to propose that this self-appointed censor of public characters should be fought with his own weapons, and have a taste of his own nasty physic. In a word it was