Going forward into the 1880's Keating had earned the respect of the community, Robert R. Church had stayed at home during the epidemics and bought land whole sale and the city was hopelessly shrinking in size. In 1879 Memphis had surrendered it's charter and become a taxing district of the state. In reality this meant that the metropolitan area was to be run by certain portions of the state government, especially those with an eye toward public health. D. P. “Pappy“ Hadden was named president of the district, a title he was to hold until the charter was finally restored.
During the late 1870s and 80s the paper, now called “The Daily Appeal” took a moderate stand on rights afforded to the African American. While the paper supported the black right to vote, ride on trains and earn a decent wage it also held fast to the general segregationist “separate but equal” ideas that were to remain in place for many decades. The general demarcation point for this philosophy is the place where one shares food, lodging and education. The Daily Appeal argued that segregation was a de facto bi-partisan agreement that left everyone happy.
Along these lines came a series of laws (some referred to as Jim Crow legislation) that heavily restricted the rights of poorer people to vote. African-Americans at this time were the vast majority of the poor in Memphis. Through poll taxes and literacy tests the vote was left to the elite. The issues of disenfranchisement and the ever-growing district government of Hadden caused sharp divides among the paper's owners. By 1885 the divide between Keating and co-owner Matthew C. Gallaway was sharp enough for Gallaway to sell his half-interest to a group of five men led by William Armistead Collier.
The honeymoon between Collier and still editor-in chief Keating was a short one. The boiling point was reached on the subject of Hadden and his iron grip on local politics. Although Keating try to buy Collier out in the end it was the Collier group who bought out Keating. Collier soon purchased another local paper called “The Avalanche” and the Appeal - Avalanche was born. This was quite a coup as the Avalanche had an existing agreement with the Associated Press which at that time only allowed new subscriptions in a given area with the permission of their existing subscribers in the area.
At the time this seemed like quite a coup, but it left the Appeal - Avalanche heavily in debt and created a vacuum for Hadden supporters. That vacuum was soon filled when Hadden launched The Memphis Commercial. On the first day of publication the name of editor appeared as J.M. Keating. Now with a fresh $50,000 in his pocket from the sale of the Appeal Keating continued his pro-Hadden, strong Democratic partisan campaign anew.
Admittedly it was hard to find stories without an Associated Press subscription and Collier blocked any attempt on the part of the Commercial to purchase one. The Commercial continued to expand its readership even after the departure of Keating who did not always see eye to eye with the new ownership. Financial downturns in the early 1890s were particularly hard on those who were deeply in debt. Such was the case with Collier and the Appeal Avalanche. Although he fought hard to prevent it the Appeal - Avalanche went into receivership and was ordered to be sold. In 1895 the Commercial purchased the Appeal - Avalanche and became the Commercial Appeal.
Throughout its long history the Commercial Appeal had changed its face and philosophy often. There were periods of “yellow journalism” when the most sensational stories were published with the most graphic of details. The paper's advertisers were given free rein to purchase “patent medicines” and any other fraudulent wares as long as they paid for the space. The partisan aspect of the paper was also becoming less fashionable as other papers began to present stories with a balance of ideas from either side of the issue.
At this point in our story in steps C.P.J. Mooney. Working as managing editor from 1896 to 1902 Mooney had left the paper to work for the New York Daily News. Within three months he had caught the eye of William Randolph Hears who made him managing editor of the Examiner in Chicago. In 1908 the owners of the Commercial Appeal made Mooney a very large and attractive offer to come back to the Commercial Appeal with full editorial control. By all accounts Mooney was delighted by the offer and went to work right away.
The eighteen years Mooney served as Editor of the Commercial Appeal were spent in large part changing the focus of the paper. Mooney introduced non-partisan story-writing and spent many words on agriculture. Mooney believed and evangelized that the South would never be free economically if farmers only raised cotton. Paying to import foodstuffs was keeping the region poor. Mooney also had the distinction of being in charge during the first few years of the E.H. Crump era.
Although he wanted to paper to not take sides in elections problems arose as he had to confront large scale political corruption and graft. During Crump's 1911 campaign for re-election against long-time politico J.J. Williams the Appeal used the term “swapping the devil for a witch”. Mooney editorialized often about Crump's inattention to graft and vice. Indeed Crump was using his police department to register voters and the taverns of the town were critical to his political machine. Mooney had little impact on Crump's abject disregard for new prohibition laws. The Crump support had grown so far so fast that there was little use in criticizing him in the local paper.
One of the best things C.P. Mooney did during his rein was to hire political cartoonist J.P. Alley. Alley's cartoons were incredibly effective in making the paper's points briefly and forcefully. Mr. Alley's cartoons appeared on page one each day.
Meanwhile the State Legislature was looking for ways to oust E.H. Crump from office. He openly defied the prohibition laws and some said owned a number of judges in the area. Mooney's editorials attacked this judicial malfeasance resulting in the resignation of one judge and the impeachment of several others. At this point the Commercial Appeal optimistically proclaimed that the era of the political boss was over. The truth however was that Crump simply resigned his office as mayor and ran his political machine from elsewhere until the mid 1950s.
Mooney continued to preside over the paper during World War 1 and was still at the helm in 1923 when the Commercial Appeal was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "meritorious public service" because of its coverage of and editorial opposition to a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mooney died in 1926 while trying to establish an evening edition of the paper. He died at work of a heart attack.
In recent decades the Commercial Appeal has changed ownership. It has been owned by the Scripps-Howard company since 1936. The paper has championed such causes as bringing TVA power to Memphis and worked for civil rights changes during the 1960's. The Commercial Appeal won another Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for editorial cartooning by Michael Ramirez.