Y'rs rec'd—Thank you for kind help to me word & deed.1 I am totally paralyzed, f'm the old Secession wartime overstrain—only my brain volition & right arm power left. This great bulk of seventy varied millions of people, call'd America, is now having a good season of intestinal agitation. Of course sometimes the bad elements (so call'd) get momentary rule. But it is all right I am sure—and the long run will prove it (namely Democracy) right.
Walt WhitmanCorrespondent:
William Thomas Stead
(1849–1912) was a well-known English journalist and editor of The Pall Mall Gazette in the 1880s. He was a proponent of
what he called "government by journalism" and advocated for a strong press that
would influence public opinion and affect government decision-making. His
investigative reports were much discussed and often had significant social
impact. He has sometimes been credited with inventing what came to be called
"tabloid journalism," since he worked to make newspapers more attractive to
readers, incorporating maps, illustrations, interviews, and eye-catching
headlines. He died on the Titanic when it sank in
1912.