In presenting this, the initial number of The Daily Cardinal to the public, it seems imperative that we briefly state some of the considerations that have prompted us to add another to the list of college publications.
In June, 1870, the University Press, the first University of Wisconsin paper, was issued. It was a very striking monthly publication and filled admirably the place prepared for it by the growth of the University.
A college paper is recognized the best means of advertising an institution of learning. People look to the college paper for information concerning the institution from which it emanates.
In 1870 there were 383 students in the University, and as the first publication a monthly seemed sufficient and did fill the want very nicely. Soon the needs became such that the monthly was changed to a semi-monthly, and in 1882 became a weekly. For four years, from 1881 to 1885, a rival weekly paper, the Campus, afterwards the Badger, was also supported by the student.
The growth of our University can be traced in the files of our college journals. The ??gis, established in 1886, has been a worthy successor of the University Press.
How much of the University's growth is due to advertisement received through the college paper is hard to say; suffice it to say that our University has grown beyond all expectation and it is but natural that college journalism should keep pace with its growth.
Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Ann Arbor and Cornell have dailies, and we, in point of numbers and excellence in certain departments, have no reason to be behind in this respect.
The daily paper is already the greatest force in the country, replacing all other types of journalism, and the West is fast becoming the center of journalistic work. Our University is a great western influence and it is imperative that we give young men and women every possible chance to fit themselves for journalism if the are so inclined.
We believe the University is in need of a daily paper, and to do without it longer would be an irreparable injury. ...
Journalism as a profession is in its infancy; but has the brightest future of all the professions. For efficient men to fill important offices, to be heads of departments, to start reforms, the country is looking to the ranks of journalism; and a pure press is the most respected and honored institution on earth.
A number of our students are studying especially for a journalistic life, and many of that class of students who have no idea what they are going to do when they leave college might be benefitted by having their attention called to the merits of practical journalism. It is for the immediate benefit of these two classes of students that the Cardinal is established. ...
Our University is growing at a pace equal to any institution in America; departments are increasing and becoming more thorough; we command the best talent in the country; our location is beautiful and healthy; Madison is an ideal University city; our Governor, Legislature, Board of Regents, President, Faculty, and friends are all working hard to make the University an institution of which the state and the country will feel most proud. To hasten this result is the aim of the Daily Cardinal. Through its columns we will endeavor to let our friends know, as they have a right to know, what we are doing, and at the same time publish our institution more thoroughly throughout the country.
For these and other reasons too well known to need mention, we have felt it our duty as students, as well as our pleasure, to establish the Daily Cardinal and to it we will devote our time and talents during the remainder of our college course, and if we should succeed in establishing permanently a daily paper which will be worthy of the University of Wisconsin, aid the cause of learning, and be a source of good to the generation of journalistically inclined students who may come after us, we shall leave the University with the feeling of having done our duty to the best of our ability towards the institution which has done us so much good.
