Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-01-01

stamp duty is not 9thrse pence half
penny per sheet discount deducted"
though penny half.penny isnot added
for paper in any instance, and though,
in consequence, in this calculation Of
the sum returned to the newspaper
proprietor on each sheet, after the de-
duetion Of the tax and paper, he makes
a triAing mistake Of 80 per cent, the
real facts are remarkable enough. The
stamp duty on each sheet is nominally
four pence, hnt a discount Of 90 per
cent. or one fifth (granted in part by
parliament as a set-off against the hea-
wy excise duty on the manufacture OF
paper reduces the real stamp duty on
each sheet to l-5d. The price OF the
paper used for the large daily papers,
is, at the lowest, 70 shillings thou
sand, or somewhat more than 4-5ths Of
penny per sheet; the stamp and pa
per therefore cost rather more than 4d.
each. The London newspapers which
bear the price of seven pence, are sold
to the news-agents (who transmit them
to their, readers, in what are technical
ly called q'ires, at the rate OF Is shll-
lings for 27ipapers--that is, sgd each
sheet. So that Esd. or not quite a
penny farthing sheet, is the sum in
which the proprietor has to find his re-
enumeration for the expense bestowed in
collecting the materials for his journal
and in printing it, for the interess on
his capital, advances in the purchase OF
stamps, and for the risk to which the
state of the law exposes him. The
large allowance made to. the news
agents, is not a remuneration for the
trouble of transmitting and circulating
the papers, but as compensation for
expenditure of their capital, and the
risk of bad debts; and when we con-
slider that the magnitude Of the outlay
and risk and consequently Of the COM
pensation is increased by the amount OF
stamp duty; when we consider also
the weight Of the excise on paper, and
the increased expenditure of capital
rendered necessary on the part OF the
proprietors Of newspapers, on account
of those taxes, we are safe in saying
that 5-7ths of the retail price of a
newspaper is tax, or the effect of tax.
While the return which the proprie-
tors of newspapers can derive from
their sale is small, the extent OF that
sale is limited by the large gross price
which the tax produces. With all the
enmity of our continental neighbors to
the power of the periodical press, and
among all the means that have been re-
sorted to, to cramp its energies, this
expedient Of taxation has never been
applied in any thing like the degree it
has in England. In France, the tax
upon each sheet Of paper is only CEN
times, to which is added we believe, a
tax of one centime, levied under some
pretence OF other by the police, without
the direct authority Of law, in all FIVE
centimes or one half-penny. The daily
papers in Paris are sold to subscribers
at two pence each sheet. The French
government in fact, has never preached
the opinion which was avowed here at
the time the laws were passed for the
suppression Of the "two-penny trash, :"
that these publications, by being brof
within the reach Of the mass of the
people, were 60 ipse dangerous. They
have tried to direct or misdirect read
ing, but not to extinguish it. The con-
sequence of the moderate taxation in
France is, that the circulation OF the
Partisan papers is much greater abso-
lutely, than that of the London jour
nails; and still greater in proportion to
the comparative activity OF the two
nations, and the comparative utility
and variety of the respective journals.
The Times, which has long had the lar
gest circulation of all the London dali
-ly newspapers, has never in periods de-
void. of any particular causes of ex-
citement, sold on the average, much
more than 5000 papers day, The
Constitutionelis said to have about three
times that number of regular subscri-
bers; and the Journal des debats, $4,000.
Though we cannot say with the author
Of the Inquiry, that the Partisan press
lis not by many degrees equal to the
provincial press in Ireland IAN asser-
ton which shows that he knows as
much of the French papers as he does
of the English ones,) though the con-
tributors to the most celebrated French
Journals deserve to rank high among
the literary men of their own country
and of Europe; and though when We
consider them as mere literary produc-
tons, the care, correctness and power
of writing displayed in some Of them,
are at least equal to any English pa
pers; vet in the mass Of information
they convey, and in the pains and ex-
pense bestowed to bringbefore the pub
4ic eye all matters to which it should be
directed, they are very inferior to the
lowest of our journals.
Burthened by taxation, and conse-i
uuently narrowed in sale as they are,