PREFACE

WHEN it was resolved to celebrate the fiftieth in 1908, the wish was expressed that a literary memorial of a permanent character should be prepared. The duty was entrusted to a small committee, and the result is this volume, which, it is hoped, will prove of some interest and value to a community wider than that formed by members of the Press. That the original idea was to include purely literary as well as historical material, may be inferred from the contributions of Air. Goldwin Smith and Mr. J. W. Bengough. But this proved too ambitious an undertaking with the resources at command. The volume, therefore, is chiefly historical in its scope, and aims to present not merely a narrative of the proceedings of the Association, but a general survey of the establishment and growth of the Press in all parts of Canada.

In compiling the records of the Canadian Press Association, it was considered advisable to dwell in some detail upon the earlier history of the organization, summarizing briefly the later period, which is already set forth in the elaborate annual reports now in print. For this reason the proceedings of the meeting for 1908 must be sought in the report which was issued after the celebration. The preparation of a history of the Association was much facilitated by Mr. Wm. Buckingham, Mr. Richard White, the late Mr. John Cameron, Mr. David Creighton, Mr. R. Sellar, Miss Gillespy of Hamilton; Mr. H. B. Donly, Mr. W. Al. O’Beirne, Mr. A. T. Wilgress, Mr. Al. A. James, Air. E. J. B. Peuse, Mr. H. F. Gardiner, Mr. T. H. Preston, Air. J. A. Cooper, Mr. C. D. Barr, Air. C. J. Bowell and others, who either by the production of records and documents hitherto inaccessible, or by drawing upon personal recollection, made it possible to reconstruct the story of the past. For this valuable assistance, so cheerfully rendered, the Committee is especially grateful.

The articles dealing with the Press by Provinces furnish a comprehensive survey of the development of journalism in Canada. Of the birth of the first Canadian paper in 1752, and of subsequent journalistic events in the Alaritime Provinces, Mr. J. E. B. AIcCready, Charlottetown, writes; Air. John Reade, F.R.S.C., Alontreal, contributes a scholarly article on the trend of journalism as illustrated in Quebec; Air. Arthur Wallis, Toronto, writes of Ontario; Alessrs. J. P. Robertson, Winnipeg ; J. K. McInnis, Regina, and R. E. Gosnell, Vancouver, of the West, where journalism has more history, particularly in British Columbia, than might be supposed, and to these is added a short reminiscent article by Air. Robert Sellar, Huntingdon, Que. To these gentlemen the Committee wishes to express its indebtedness, an indebtedness which, it is felt, will be shared by every Canadian connected with the Press. Their work supplies a record of journalism which, it is believed, will take rank with the best Canadian history and biography.

The Committee wishes, too, to express its thanks to Mr. H. C. Bell for exceedingly valuable assistance in correcting and revising the proofs.

The promise of the late Hon. J. I. Tarte to contribute an article on the French Press was frustrated by the hand of death, and to this extent the book is incomplete. One other phase of Canadian journalism which is left for a future historian is a sketch of the Parliamentary Press Galleries. The Committee also had prepared a Chronology of the Canadian Press, covering the entire period from 1752 to 1908, but this grew to such voluminous proportions that it was found impossible to include it in the present book.

John R. Bone, Joseph T. Clark. A. H. U. Colquhoun. John F. Mackay.
Toronto, 1908.

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