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National Philanthropist, ‘devoted to the suppression of intemperance and its kindred vices, and to the promotion of industry, education, and morality,’ was issued by Mr. Collier.
Its motto was a new and startling one, —‘Moderate Drinking is the Downhill Road to Intemperance and Drunkenness,’—and it had, at the outset, the indorsement of the ‘Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance,’ the first State temperance society formed in America.
The temperance movement, however, was then in its infancy, and the paper, like all reformatory journals, had a meagre support.
Its printer, Nathaniel H. White, also boarded at Mr. Collier's, and shared Mr. Garrison's room, and after a time the latter went into the office of the Philanthropist to set type.
The paper (a four-page sheet, with four columns to the page) was then published at No. 11, Merchants' Hall, on the northeast corner of Congress and Water Streets. The post-office occupied the lower story of the building.
On the 4th of January, 1828, the editorship of the paper was intrusted to Mr. Garrison, but his name did not appear in connection with it until three months later, when Mr. Collier sold the paper to White, who formally announced the change and placed the names of himself and Garrison at the head of the paper, as proprietor and editor respectively.
The number of columns was increased from sixteen to twenty in January, and the size of the page was still further enlarged in April, while an immediate improvement in the make — up and appearance of the sheet was perceptible from the day when the new editor assumed control.
Still more marked were the new vigor infused into the paper, the bold and aggressive tone of its editorials, and the practical methods suggested and urged for the furtherance of the temperance cause.
Its friends were reminded that they ought to acquaint the public, through the Philanthropist, with the meetings held and the work done in their localities, and an earnest appeal was made for their cooperation in
The Century Company. , 1885-1889.
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