1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This week's episode on Joseph Medill made me 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: think about another figure from the history of journalism, although 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: with a very very different claim to fame. That was 4 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: Paul Julius Reuter, who used telegraphs and trains and boats 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: and pigeons to deliver the news. This episode originally came 6 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: out February thirteenth, twenty nineteen. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You 7 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 8 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm 9 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: Holly Frying. We have kind of an accidental theme in 10 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: the episode that I've researched lately inspired by things I 11 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: read on Twitter, which makes it sound like I'm reading 12 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: Twitter a lot, which is the opposite of true. It's 13 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: whenever I open Twitter, I just kind of zoom up 14 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: to the top and look at the three most recent 15 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: things and then go away from that. So I just 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: coincidentally have caught various interesting tweets lately. This time it 17 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: was author and science communicator Rosemary Moscow, who had a 18 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: Twitter thread about pigeons and how cool they are and 19 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: how they are all over cities because humans put them there, 20 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: so don't be mad at them for it. The pigeons 21 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: didn't do it themselves. And in this thread, one of 22 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: the things she said was Paul Julius Reuter of Reuters 23 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: used them to carry stock prices. And I replied and said, well, 24 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: now I have to do a podcast on Paul Julius Reuter, 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: which is where we are. The man who would later 26 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: become known as Julius Reuter was born Israel Beier Yosaphat 27 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: on July twenty first, eighteen sixteen. He was born near Kassel, 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: in the Electorate of Hesse Cassel, which would later become 29 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: Prussia and is now Germany. His father was Rabbi Samuel 30 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: Levi Josaphat, and he was the third of four children. 31 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: When the young Israel was about sixteen, his father died 32 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: and he was sent to live with an uncle in Gertengen, Germany. 33 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: His uncle ran a bank, and the plan was for 34 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,920 Speaker 1: Israel to train there and then to enter the finance industry. 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: At about the same time, physicist and mathematician Carl Friedrich 36 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: Gauss was also in Gertengen, experimenting with electrical signals and 37 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: telegraph technology. It is not entirely clear how these two 38 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: met Israel would have been running errands and making deliveries 39 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: for his uncle, so it's possible that he delivered something 40 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: to Gaus and they struck up an acquaintance. Regardless, though 41 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: Israel was fascinated by these experiments, which started in eighteen 42 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: thirty In eighteen thirty three, Gaus successfully sent a message 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: over a wire from his lab to an observatory a 44 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,840 Speaker 1: mile away. In eighteen forty one, when he was about 45 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,679 Speaker 1: twenty five, Israel started going by a new name, which 46 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: was Julius. It was probably after his birth month of July, 47 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: and in the early eighteen forties he also left the 48 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: world of banking and started working at a publishing house 49 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: in Berlin called Reuter's Publishing Company. In those same years, 50 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: he also met a woman named Ida Maria Elizabeth Clementina Magnus. 51 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,359 Speaker 1: Some sources call her Ida, while others call her Clementina. 52 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: It took me a long time to find her entire 53 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: name written out and figure out what in the world 54 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,639 Speaker 1: was going on with that. Clementina was the daughter of 55 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: a Lutheran pastor. 56 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 2: There are some sources that describe the Magnus family as Jewish, 57 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 2: but that seems to be an incorrect assumption based on 58 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 2: the fact that their home was in Berlin's Jewish Quarter. 59 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 2: That would have been a logical place for Julius to 60 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 2: stay after arriving in Berlin, though so he and Clementina 61 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 2: probably meant simply because they were living in the same 62 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 2: neighborhood at the timeline on in all of this is 63 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 2: a little bit fuzzy. It's not clear precisely when Julius 64 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 2: started going by that name or when he met Clementina. 65 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 2: But in eighteen forty five, Reuter's publishing house sent Julius 66 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 2: to London to try to establish a branch there. London 67 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 2: had a large enough German speaking population that it seemed 68 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 2: like there might be a demand for German language books. 69 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 2: So Julius and Clementina left Germany for England by ship. 70 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 2: Then they departed from Hamburg, but before they left they 71 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 2: got married in a civil ceremony. They arrived in London 72 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 2: on October twenty ninth, eighteen forty five, and they were 73 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 2: listed in the passenger manifest as mister and Mistress josephat 74 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 2: and they got a room at a boarding house and 75 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 2: started planning another wedding, this one at a Lutheran church 76 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 2: officiated by a pastor, and their reasons for doing this 77 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 2: are not documented anywhere, but most historians conclude that Clementina 78 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 2: had gone through the civil wedding back in Hamburg so 79 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 2: she could travel with Julius without it being scandalous or 80 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 2: for the sake of her own conscience, but that she 81 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 2: didn't consider herself really married without that. 82 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: Big church wedding. On November sixth, eighteen forty five, shortly 83 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: before this second wedding, Julius was baptized as a Lutheran 84 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: and at his baptism he took another name, which was Paul, 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: and he also changed his surname from Josaphat to Reuter. 86 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: Once again, there's no documentation of what led him to 87 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: this name change, but it did mean that he was 88 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: harr Reuter of Reuter's publishing company as he was trying 89 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: to set up this London based branch of that company. 90 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: Don't really know what his employer thought about the fact 91 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: that he decided to do that. I imagine that opened some 92 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: doors for him that he might not have had access to. Otherwise, 93 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: one would think maybe he was just being really, really 94 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: wily in that move. We don't know, but the Sunday 95 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: after the baptism, Julius and Clementina got married in the 96 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 1: church ceremony. It still actually wasn't a very big affair. 97 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: I referred to it as a big church wedding before, 98 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: but it really wasn't. It was just the two of 99 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: them with witnesses that were provided by the church, and 100 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: then they started trying to build up their business and 101 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: trying to start a family. In eighteen forty six they 102 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: had a daughter named Julie, although unfortunately she died while 103 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: she was still a baby. By all accounts, Julius and 104 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: Clementina were a really striking couple. He was short and 105 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: had had very dark hair, and she was very tall 106 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 1: and blonde, and their marriage wasn't entirely conventional by the 107 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: standards of the day. Clementina was intelligent and educated and 108 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: really dedicated to her husband's success, so rather than being 109 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 1: mostly a homemaker and a helpmate, she took a really 110 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,480 Speaker 1: active part in all of his various business ventures. Essentially, 111 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: she worked as anything from an unpaid assistant to an 112 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: unpaid partner, depended on exactly what was needed. But in 113 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 1: spite of Clementina's help, Julius wasn't able to get the 114 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: London branch of Ruter's publishing company off the ground. It 115 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: seems like there just was not as much demand for 116 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: German books as they had anticipated, so soon the couple 117 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: was back in Germany, living in Berlin, where Julius partnered 118 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,160 Speaker 1: with Joseph Stargart to form another publishing house called Stargart 119 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: and Reuter. This was once again not one of Julius's 120 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: more successful ventures. Years later, Stargart accused Reuter of disappearing 121 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: from the eighteen forty eight Leipzig book Fair, taking all 122 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: of the money from their sales with him. Reuter didn't 123 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: admit any guilt in all this, but he did offer 124 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: to repay the money, which some people interpreted as basically 125 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: admitting he had done it, while others interpreted it as 126 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: just him wanting the issue to be over with and 127 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: having the money to do it that way. 128 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I call a buy your freedom situation. Yeah, 129 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 2: I want you to leave me alone about this. 130 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: Here is some dollars. 131 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 2: Additionally, Reuter was publishing pamphlets that were for the time 132 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 2: quite radical. They advocated democracy and progressive policies. This might 133 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 2: not seem at all radical by today's standards, but A 134 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 2: revolution swept through Germany in eighteen forty eight and eighteen 135 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 2: forty nine. It was driven by an economic depression that 136 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 2: included high unemployment and food shortages. Peaceful protests failed to 137 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 2: bring about any kind of change, and after King Louis 138 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 2: Philippe was deposed in France, the situation in Germany progressed 139 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 2: to food riots and other violence. Reuter's pamphlets and the 140 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 2: demonstrators were on the same side. 141 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: At first, it seemed as though this revolution was going 142 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: to be successful, especially after a number of progressives were 143 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,360 Speaker 1: installed in the German government, but these changes did not 144 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,239 Speaker 1: last and soon the progressives were once again out of favor. 145 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: By eighteen forty nine, conservatives would be back in control, 146 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:20,880 Speaker 1: and all of this together led the Reuter's family to 147 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: leave Germany again. They settled, this time in Paris. In Paris, 148 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: Reuter got a job at Avas News Agency, working as 149 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: a translator. Avas News Agency was founded by char Luis Avas, 150 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: who was from a Sephardic Jewish family, and the agency 151 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: translated and distributed news articles. They mainly used pigeons to 152 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: distribute their work, although the agency was also starting to 153 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:48,239 Speaker 1: experiment with the telegraph This combination of news and pigeons 154 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: and the telegraph would set the stage for Reuter becoming 155 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: a household name in the world of international news, and 156 00:08:54,040 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: we will get to that. After a sponsor break. In 157 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: eighteen forty nine, Julius and Clementina Reuter combined all their 158 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: experience so far to try producing and distributing their own publication. 159 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: It was essentially a newsletter. It combined stock prices and 160 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: news and political goings on, sometimes a little bit gossip. 161 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,319 Speaker 1: But they were once again not really able to get 162 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: this off the ground. They just couldn't get enough subscribers 163 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: to turn a profit. So when collectors came to seize 164 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: their assets in eighteen forty nine, they decided it was 165 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: time to leave Paris. The next stop was Achen, which 166 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: is near the current border between Germany and Belgium. Achen 167 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: had come to prominence in the eighth and ninth centuries 168 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: as the home of the Emperor Charlemagne. Later, it had 169 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,360 Speaker 1: become a thriving center of manuscript creation and publishing, and 170 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: it was well situated to be an information hub in 171 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: the geography of the day. It was adjacent to Prussia, Holland, France, 172 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,439 Speaker 1: and Belgium. And that made it an easy connecting point 173 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: for travel, trade, and information. This trend in being sort 174 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: of a connecting point for all these things continued into 175 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century as an international railway line made its 176 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: way through Auchen. But then on October first, eighteen forty nine, 177 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:16,199 Speaker 1: a new telegraph line opened which connected Achen to Berlin. 178 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,959 Speaker 1: There was a separate line across the border in Belgium, 179 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: and that line was a French Belgian line that ran 180 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:26,559 Speaker 1: from Paris to Brussels, so Achen was on one side 181 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:28,959 Speaker 1: of this gap in the line. The gap stretched about 182 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: ninety miles or one hundred and forty four kilometers between 183 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: Brussels and Achen. So if somebody bridged that gap, they 184 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: could connect Paris to Berlin along the telegraph line. And 185 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: that's someone or really those someone's were Julius and Clementina 186 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 1: Reuter who bridged the gap in the line with pigeons. 187 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: To be clear, they definitely were not the first people 188 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: ever to send messages using pigeons. Pigeons are the oldest 189 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: domesticated birds, and people have been using them for food, companionship, entertainment, 190 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: and carrying messages all over the world for thousands of years. 191 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,319 Speaker 1: Pigeons and doves are in the same family, so some 192 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: people note the first documented message sent by pigeon has 193 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: that moment in the biblical Book of Genesis, when the 194 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 1: dove returns to Noah carrying an olive branch after the 195 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: Great Flood. Pigeons were used in ancient Rome to carry 196 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 1: the results of chariot races, and Genghis Khan had a 197 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: whole network of messenger pigeons. People have been doing this 198 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: for an extremely long time. 199 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 2: Yes, pigeons were well established as a way to send 200 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 2: messages by this point. Reuter was just at an ideal 201 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:33,199 Speaker 2: spot to make particularly good use of them. He established 202 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 2: the Institute for the Transmission of Telegraph Messages in Achen, 203 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 2: and on April twenty fourth, eighteen fifty he signed an 204 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,640 Speaker 2: agreement with pigeon breeder Heinrich Geller for twenty five pigeons. 205 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:46,679 Speaker 2: Geller is also who they rented rooms from when they 206 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:49,440 Speaker 2: first arrived in Achen, and he may have also invested 207 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 2: in their business. So homing pigeons only fly one route, 208 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 2: they fly back home, and in this case home was Achen. 209 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 2: So this whole setup required there to be some in 210 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 2: Brussels to get the news from Paris by telegraph and 211 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 2: then transcribe it, load it up on the pigeon, and 212 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,319 Speaker 2: let the pigeon go to fly back to Achen. Then 213 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 2: in Achen somebody had to collect the pigeon, retrieve the message, 214 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 2: transmit it by telegraph, and then load the pigeon up 215 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,559 Speaker 2: into a special crate and take it to the train 216 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 2: station to send it back to Brussels. So running this 217 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 2: operation in Achen required both Clementina and Julius, one to 218 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 2: run the office while the other ran all of the errands, 219 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 2: including running those pigeons to the train station. It also 220 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 2: required an office in Brussels with pigeons whose home was 221 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 2: there to receive messages from Achen. That side of things 222 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 2: was run by Prussian Army officer Lieutenant Wilhelm Stephen. The 223 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 2: train trip between Achen and Brussels took about ten hours. 224 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 2: By comparison, the average flying speed for a homing pigeons 225 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 2: roughly sixty miles an hour or nine to six kilometers 226 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 2: an hour, so a pigeon could fly between Brussels and 227 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 2: Achen in about an hour and a half. 228 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: That meant news carried by pigeon was much much faster 229 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: than news that was put on the train and sent 230 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: that way. The train, though, was still necessary to get 231 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: the birds back to their starting point. Julius Reuter was 232 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 1: thirty four when he started this venture, which focused on 233 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:17,680 Speaker 1: sending stock prices and other financial information. It was known 234 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: as mister Reuter's Prices, and the birds were called the 235 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: Pigeon Post. It was his first overall successful business, although 236 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: it was really built on knowledge he'd been gathering since 237 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: his teens. He had learned about banking from his uncle, 238 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: about the telegraph from Karl Gauss, about pigeons from his 239 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: work with the Avis News Agency, and about writing and 240 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: publishing from various other jobs along the way. Reuter's new 241 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: business grew pretty quickly. On July twenty sixth, eighteen fifty, 242 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: a little more than three months after they signed their 243 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: first agreement, another agreement transferred all of Hergeller's two hundred 244 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: pigeons over to Reuter. 245 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 2: Reuter's success with the Pigeon Post wasn't just because of 246 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:00,840 Speaker 2: the ingenuity and hard work that he and Clementina put 247 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 2: into all of this. Reuter was also starting to show 248 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 2: some business savvy. In April of eighteen fifty, he got 249 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,679 Speaker 2: in touch with Rothschilds in London to sign an exclusive 250 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 2: business deal in which Reuter agreed to get London financial 251 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 2: information only from Rothschilds, while Rothschilds got the Berlin and 252 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 2: Vienna prices only from Reuter, with Reuter otherwise staying off 253 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 2: of the London market. Today this sort of collusion would 254 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 2: be somewhere between frowned upon and outright illegal, depending on 255 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 2: the industry and the location. But at the time it 256 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 2: was actually pretty normal. 257 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, it wouldn't necessarily be illegal to have the exclusive 258 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: agreement about who was providing stock prices and stuff. But 259 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: when it came to the and I also will not 260 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: do business in London, I will protect your monopoly there. 261 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: Like that's the part that today not so much of 262 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: a good business strategy in terms of ethics or the law. 263 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:58,000 Speaker 1: Depending Reuter only ran this pigeon post for about a year. 264 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: A new branch of the telegraph line opened on October second, 265 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, connecting Achen to the Belgian city of Vervier. 266 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,520 Speaker 1: The following March, another branch of the line connected Vervier 267 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: to Ostend, and then Ostend connected to a Prussian telegraph 268 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: network that ultimately got back to Berlin. So as of 269 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: March fifteenth, eighteen fifty one, there was no longer a 270 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: gap that needed to be closed in the telegraph network. 271 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: Later that same month, the Reuters closed up shop in 272 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: Achen and they left. And this move was another major 273 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: change for the Reuters. So we're going to take another 274 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: pause here for a quick sponsor break. After leaving Achen, 275 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: Julius and Clementina Reuter went to London, and they had 276 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: been advised to do so by Werner von Siemens, founder 277 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: of the telecommunication company Siemens, who had worked on that 278 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,680 Speaker 1: new telegraph line that ran from Achen to Vervier. 279 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 2: Siemens later wrote of meeting them in Achen. Quote, in 280 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 2: the course of the construction of that line, I made 281 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 2: the acquaintance of the owner of the Pigeon post between 282 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 2: Cologne and Brussels, a mister Reuter, whose useful and lucrative 283 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 2: business was relentlessly ruined by the new electric telegraph. When 284 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 2: Missus Reuter, who accompanied her husband on the trip, complained 285 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 2: to me about this destruction of their business, I advised 286 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 2: the payer to go to London and to open a 287 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 2: telegram agency there, similar to that just formed in Berlin 288 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 2: by a mister Volfe, and we're going to get back 289 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 2: to this mister Volfe a little bit later. The Reuters 290 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 2: arrived in London in October of eighteen fifty one. They 291 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 2: got rooms near the London Stock Exchange and they lodged 292 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 2: there with a doctor named Herbert Davies. Reuter's Telegraphic Dispatch Office. 293 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: Opened its doors on October fourteenth at the Royal Exchange Buildings, 294 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,160 Speaker 1: and they advertised their service this way quote Messages to 295 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: any part of the continent may be sent to this 296 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: office and will be immediately forwarded. Communications from the continent 297 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: to England may be addressed to mister Julius Reuter at 298 00:16:58,840 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: Kelly or ost. 299 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 2: At first, this business in London was really about sending 300 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,480 Speaker 2: telegrams for business and personal use, as well as stock 301 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:11,640 Speaker 2: prices and financial news. It wasn't a traditional news service yet, 302 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 2: and they weren't at all the only telegram service in 303 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 2: the area. A lot of telegram and message services were 304 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 2: all springing up, hoping to make money off the ever 305 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:25,119 Speaker 2: increasing telegraph lines connecting various parts of Europe. One of 306 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 2: the articles that I read describing this whole thing talked 307 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 2: about how before the telegraph made the use of pigeons 308 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:34,679 Speaker 2: totally unnecessary, and there was still a lot of like 309 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,120 Speaker 2: pigeon use connecting various people, like connecting London to the smaller. 310 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,920 Speaker 1: Towns and stuff. This part of town that they were in. 311 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: You needed an umbrella because there were so many pigeons 312 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 1: dropping so many droppings. Reuter didn't own any of telegraph lines. 313 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: He knew a lot about them, though, and he was 314 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,359 Speaker 1: very good at prioritizing telegraph traffic and building relationships and 315 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: negotiating terms for the transmissions that he needed to send 316 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,200 Speaker 1: and receive. Clementina continued to work really closely with him 317 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: in this business. She transcribed, She translated messages coming into 318 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: and leaving the office. Eventually they were making enough money 319 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: to hire a messenger boy, which was eleven year old 320 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: Fred Griffiths, who would eventually work his way up to 321 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,360 Speaker 1: becoming a director in the company. Not long after their 322 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: move to London, Clementina got pregnant for the first time 323 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:25,879 Speaker 1: that we know about since the death of their first child, 324 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 1: their daughter, Julie. A son, Herbert Reuter, was born on 325 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: March tenth, eighteen fifty two, and the Reuters went on 326 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: to have five more children, three daughters and two sons 327 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: at the rate of about one baby every other year. 328 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,639 Speaker 1: So there's been some speculation that Clementina had trouble getting 329 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: pregnant or carrying her pregnancies to term, and that doctor 330 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,680 Speaker 1: Davies had helped resolve that problem, and that may be true. 331 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 2: He did for sure deliver at least some of the children, 332 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 2: but he didn't specialize in obstetrics, which was still a 333 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,399 Speaker 2: relatively new field at the time. As the telegraph system 334 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 2: became in racingly prolific, there were more ways for people 335 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,919 Speaker 2: and businesses to send their own telegrams. You didn't have 336 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 2: to write your letter and mail it to the care 337 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 2: of a particular person in another city in order for 338 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 2: it than to be transmitted from a loan telegraph office 339 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 2: that was out there. So over time Reuter's service forwarding 340 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,680 Speaker 2: messages to and from the continent was not really as 341 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 2: necessary anymore. People did, however, want the news, and in 342 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 2: places that weren't yet connected by telegraph, whoever got a 343 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 2: story out first was at a huge advantage. As more 344 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 2: and more of Europe was connected by wire, it leveled 345 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 2: the playing field. But before the first transatlantic telegraph cable 346 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 2: was completed in August of eighteen fifty eight. Speed was 347 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 2: still key to making money from news coming into Europe 348 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 2: from North America. 349 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,959 Speaker 1: The only way for news to make its way between 350 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: North America and Europe before that line was complete, which 351 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: we have a whole episode on in the archive, the 352 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: only way to do that was by ship. Most of 353 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: these ships arriving in Europe doted Cork, but the first 354 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: place that they spotted land was in Crookhaven, about seventy 355 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,159 Speaker 1: five miles or one hundred and twenty kilometers southwest. So 356 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,879 Speaker 1: it took about eight hours for ships to make this 357 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: last leg of the journey from Crookhaven to Cork and 358 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: then dock and then deliver the news that they had 359 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,919 Speaker 1: on board. So Reuter employed small fast boats at crook Haven. 360 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: Once the incoming vessel carrying the news caught sight of shore, 361 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,439 Speaker 1: somewhat aboard, would chuck a dispatch off the side in 362 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:31,360 Speaker 1: a sealed container. Reuter's smaller ship would retrieve it, take 363 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,480 Speaker 1: it back to shore, and telegraph the dispatch back to London. 364 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: And there were ships doing this same thing on the 365 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: other end of the journey at Nova Scotia. It cracks 366 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: me up that this is how people were trying to 367 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: get the story out first was just by hucking containers 368 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: off the sides of boats. 369 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,959 Speaker 2: I mean they were sending pigeons with trust. 370 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: So yeah, so Reuter did know that eventually there would 371 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: be an underwater cable connecting Europe to North America. So 372 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: it's just like the telegraph had closed the gap and 373 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: made his pigeon post obsolete. At some point, this same 374 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 1: exact thing was going to happen to his whole Krickhaven 375 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: message chucking operation. The same was true anywhere else that 376 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: he was able to get an edge by being faster 377 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: than his competition, So he increasingly turned his eye to 378 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: actually reporting the news instead of just collecting and distributing it. 379 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: He started hiring journalists and editors and started what we'd 380 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 1: recognize today as a wire service, a service that gathered 381 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,440 Speaker 1: and reported news and sold it to multiple newspapers. His 382 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: first subscriber was The Morning Advertiser in October eighteen fifty eight. 383 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: By that point, Reuter had been in London for seven 384 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: years and had been naturalized as a British citizen the 385 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: year before. Reuter's big break came in eighteen fifty nine 386 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,960 Speaker 1: with a speech made by Napoleon the third, Napoleon had 387 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,439 Speaker 1: been overheard talking to the Austrian ambassador at a New 388 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,480 Speaker 1: Year's reception, saying something along the lines of saying he 389 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,639 Speaker 1: was sorry. The two nations didn't have quite the friendly 390 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: relationship they used to. This made international news because it 391 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,120 Speaker 1: implied that France might be headed toward a war with Austria. 392 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,680 Speaker 1: The following February seventh, Napoleon the Third was scheduled to 393 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 1: make a speech before the French Parliament, one that world 394 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: leaders suspected would confirm France's intent to go to war. 395 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: Reuter took full advantage of this. He had some of 396 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: his best staff on hand in Paris, and he reserved 397 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: time on a telegraph line to coincide with the scheduled speech, 398 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 1: and his agent even managed to get a copy of 399 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: the speech ahead of time, under the condition that it 400 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: not be opened until the speech began. Very curious about 401 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: how he did that, but I do not know the answer. 402 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: It's basically like embargoes that still happened today. Yes, of 403 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: you can have this information, but you can't publish your 404 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: article until a certain time. However, though regardless of by 405 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: what means, they had a copy of the speech when 406 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: Napoleon did start giving it. The French agent started transmitting 407 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: the speech word for word to London, where it appeared 408 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: in a special edition of The Times just a couple 409 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,760 Speaker 1: of hours after it had been delivered. The speech did 410 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: indeed confirm that Napoleon would be going to war. This 411 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: was part of what would come to be known as 412 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 1: the Second Italian War of Independence. Plenty of other papers 413 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: would report on this speech later, but the Times reported 414 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,479 Speaker 1: it first. This also meant that the newspapers that had 415 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: been like, ah, I don't really know why I should 416 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 1: sign up for this whole Reuter news service, a bunch 417 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 1: of them now got on board. And then once the 418 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: war actually started, Reuter also had reporters embedded with the 419 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: troops in Austria, France, and Italy. In eighteen sixty five, 420 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: Reuter was also the first in Europe to report the 421 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:43,919 Speaker 1: assassination of Abraham Lincoln. That same year, he established a 422 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: news office in Alexandria. In eighteen sixty eight, Britain started 423 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: nationalizing the telegraph service, which really affected Reuter's business and 424 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: the news industry as a whole. Reuter's, the London newspapers 425 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: and the regional newspapers known as the provincial press were 426 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: out kind of a complicated pricing scheme among themselves to 427 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: make up for these changes in the telegraph system. In 428 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: the process, the provincial papers formed the Press Association to 429 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: give themselves collective bargaining power with Reuter. They also negotiated 430 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: a whole deal in which Reuter had control of the 431 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,919 Speaker 1: London news market, but the Press Association had exclusive rights 432 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: to Reuter's news outside of London. The Press Association also 433 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: agreed not to do international reporting, leaving that to Reuter's agency, 434 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: and this also contributed to Reuter tried to really diversify 435 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,439 Speaker 1: the businesses that he was in in the eighteen eighties 436 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: and eighteen nineties because the nationalization of the telegraph and 437 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: all the changes that then trickled down with all of 438 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: this were eating into his profit margin. 439 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 2: These kinds of negotiations were also happening internationally. By eighteen seventy, 440 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 2: three primary wire services were reporting the news from three 441 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 2: different parts of Europe. Reuter was in England, Avas was 442 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 2: in France, and Vote, who we mentioned earlier was in Germany, 443 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 2: and rather than compete with each other, these three businesses 444 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 2: got together to protect each other's monopolies. In different parts 445 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:13,119 Speaker 2: of the world. On January seventeenth, eighteen seventy, they agreed 446 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,119 Speaker 2: that vof would be in Germany, AVUS would be in France, 447 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 2: and Reuter would have the entire British Empire, and this 448 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 2: agreement was in place until nineteen thirty four. 449 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: Once again, this arrangement today would probably run a foul 450 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: of anti trust laws and a lot of places, but 451 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: at the time this was not an uncommon way of 452 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: doing business, and it also had parallels to things happening 453 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,199 Speaker 1: at the same time in the more political arena, like 454 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: the Scramble for Africa, where countries were basically dividing Africa 455 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: up amongst themselves. Also, these three services were intrinsically connected 456 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: to each other. Julius Reuter and Bernhard Wolf had both 457 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,679 Speaker 1: worked as translators for the of US agency, which was 458 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: known in French as Agents of Us. 459 00:25:56,920 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 2: In eighteen seventy one, the Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotta 460 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,480 Speaker 2: made Reuter a baron, and Queen Victoria later recognized his 461 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 2: rank in Britain. In eighteen seventy two, Reuters expanded into 462 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 2: East Asia. 463 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: That same year, Julius Reuter was also temporarily given huge 464 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: control over multiple industries in Iran, which at the time 465 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: was often also known as Persia. Reuter had become friends 466 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: with the Persian minister in London, and at the same 467 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: time the Shah Naser Aldin Shah Kajar was making a 468 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,199 Speaker 1: series of concessions to British interests. He signed what was 469 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: known as the Reuter Concession, which gave Reuter the rights 470 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: to railways, factories, mining, irrigation and telegraphs in Iran. 471 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 2: This went really badly. Reuter got into this without really 472 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 2: going through any British diplomatic channels, and British politicians all 473 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 2: over the political spectrum tried to distance themselves from it. 474 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 2: An editorial in The Times of London said, in part quote, 475 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 2: there has been nothing like it before. The King of 476 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 2: King's Amba decated the functions, if not the splendor of royalty, 477 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 2: and though still gorgeous and glittering, is unable to make 478 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,359 Speaker 2: a road, explore a mine, or irrigate the lands under 479 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 2: his dominion. So he calls in an enterprising financier of 480 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 2: the West and offers him many and precious advantages if 481 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 2: he will relieve the shaw in Shaw of the real 482 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 2: duties of royalty. 483 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Russia, which had been expanding into neighboring parts of 484 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: the world, saw this whole thing as a huge threat 485 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: and suspected that all those British officials who were distancing 486 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,359 Speaker 1: themselves from what Reuter had done were really just trying 487 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: to cover up their own involvement in a British power grab. 488 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,159 Speaker 1: And the people of Iran were outraged the Shaw was 489 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: making such huge concessions to British interests. The Shaw reversed 490 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: the concession after about a year, but Reuter still had 491 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: interests in Iran. This revised agreement with the Shaw established 492 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: an Imperial Bank, and his son George became its president. 493 00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: The whole thing also set the stage for another concession 494 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: of tobacco interests from Iran to Britain twenty years later, 495 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 1: and that led to a huge uprising in Iran. 496 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 2: The Reuters News organization kept expanding over the next decade, 497 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 2: becoming known as the largest international news service in the world, 498 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 2: although it was also criticized for unnecessarily graphic coverage, especially 499 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 2: during wartime. Here's an example from an eighteen eighty three 500 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:28,679 Speaker 2: memo to correspondence written after Julius Reuter's retirement. Quote in 501 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 2: consequence of the increased attention paid by press to disaster 502 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 2: et cetera of all kinds. Agents and correspondents are requested 503 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 2: to be good enough in future to notice all occurrences 504 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 2: of the sort. The following are events that should be 505 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 2: comprised on the service. Fires, explosions, floods, inundations, railway accidents, 506 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:56,600 Speaker 2: destructive storms, earthquakes, shipwrecks attended with loss of life, accidents 507 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 2: to war vessels and to mail steamers, street ryoce of 508 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 2: a grave character, disturbances arising from strikes, duels between and 509 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 2: suicides of persons of note, social or political, and murders 510 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 2: of a sensational or atrocious character. It is requested that 511 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 2: the bare facts be first telegraphed with the utmost promptitude, 512 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 2: and as soon as possible afterwards, a descriptive account proportionate 513 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 2: to the gravity of the incident. So very long way 514 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,680 Speaker 2: of saying, if it bleeds, it leads, yes, one hundred percent. 515 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 2: Reuter retired in eighteen seventy eight, and his son took 516 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 2: over the agency, although Julius continued to be involved in 517 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 2: the business for some time afterward, and by this point 518 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,160 Speaker 2: the Reuter family had become really wealthy. The business also 519 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 2: continued to try to stay ahead of new technologies that 520 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 2: became sort of part of its pattern of business. It 521 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 2: kept adopting faster and better ways of distributing the news 522 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 2: as these ways were invented, including using column printers, teletypes, radio, 523 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 2: and satellites. Julius Reuter died at his mansion of Villa 524 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 2: Reuter in Nice, France, on February twenty fifth, eighteen ninety nine. 525 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 2: It came across the Reuter's wire quote. Baron de Ruter, 526 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 2: the founder of Reuter's agency, died at Nice this morning 527 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 2: in his eighty third year. His wife, Clementina, died on 528 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 2: August fifth, nineteen eleven, in London, and not much is 529 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 2: known about her life between her husband's death and hers, 530 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 2: except that she had an active social life and was 531 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 2: very good at poker. These are things we know from 532 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,680 Speaker 2: her obituary at this point. They also have no living descendants. 533 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 2: The fourth Baron de Ruter died in nineteen fifty eight 534 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 2: and his widow died in two thousand and nine. But 535 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 2: it's clear that Reuter's could not have become the company 536 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 2: that it did without her, and without her mostly unpaid work, 537 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,200 Speaker 2: there aren't even any pictures of Clementina in the Reuter's archive. 538 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 2: We do know that she sat for a formal portrait 539 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 2: at one point, but that portrait now cannot be found. 540 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 2: I kind of wanted to name this episode after both 541 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 2: of them, but there just wasn't enough information about her, 542 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,800 Speaker 2: and then that seemed disingenuous. It would be impossible to 543 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,800 Speaker 2: tell the entire history of Reuters as a business between 544 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 2: then and now, but Reuters still exists as an international 545 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 2: news organization and is a division of Thompson Reuters after 546 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,959 Speaker 2: being acquired by Thompson in two thousand and eight. Ajen 547 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 2: Avas also became a Gen's France Press or AFP. 548 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, so two of the three places that had that 549 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: sort of divvying up monopoly still exist in some form 550 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,959 Speaker 1: today as far as I know. Wolf did not, it 551 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: was taken over by Nazis, and Is I think was 552 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: later has its own decides. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. 553 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 2: It's one of those things where you think about, uh Reuter, 554 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,480 Speaker 2: the man touched so many things that continued to have 555 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 2: echoing after effects. I mean, he basically like destabilized huge 556 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 2: parts of Iran. In addition to his savvy in the 557 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:56,560 Speaker 2: business world, creating news agencies. Yeah, and we really didn't 558 00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 2: get into it here, but I read an interesting article 559 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 2: preparing for the that was about how not just international 560 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,880 Speaker 2: news agencies, but domestic news agencies have a huge effect 561 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 2: on culture and on language because, like I mean, you 562 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 2: and I for years have used the Associated Press style 563 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 2: guide as like that was has been like the go 564 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,479 Speaker 2: to style guide at how stuff works, even though how 565 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 2: stuff Works has never been strictly a news reporting thing, 566 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 2: And like how these style guides affect what is considered 567 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 2: to be correct usage and all kinds of contexts even 568 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,880 Speaker 2: when they're not strictly journalism contexts. It was super interesting, 569 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 2: but also not totally related to Reuter himself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 570 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 2: He's at the center of a lot of developments that 571 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 2: continue to reverberate. 572 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. If 573 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:55,520 Speaker 1: you'd like to send us a note, our email addresses 574 00:32:55,680 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can ribe 575 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 576 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.