New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-04-29
TAKING A NEWSPAPER.

There are now published In the Unleu states apou'
Four Thousand Periodicals, OF which we estimate tnat
Three Thousand are mainly devoted to Politics. INSECT
Ionv and General News the rest more especially to
Literature, Education Religion &c frooaDiy rive
Hundred of the Newspapers are now published Daly as
o,vmore oftener than once week, and the remainder
Vocklv Probably the Weekly issue of Newspapers is
NOT less than Ten Millions of copies and OF other Pc
riodicas at least Two Millions more, making total OF
Twelve Millions of periodicals weekly, or about two
copies for every family in the Union
Rut these issues are very unequay distributed New
rrc-.nds proportion Of the is largest that of New
Work and Ohio next after these rank the Free Western
sttes then PENNSYLVANIA and New-Jersey; lastly the
Slave States which have nearly One Million families
precuded by law from learning to read and of course
neither enabled inclined to take any periodical what
over The almost inevitable lack Of Common Schools
in those States caused by the ncompatbity of Slave
Culture with that density of free population which is
essential TO an efficient Common School system, leaves
danoroby large portion of the Free Population to life
lorc Ignorance of letters There natives of
VIRGINIA who cannot read to-day than Of NewYork and
New. England together and hardly a Southern post
office at which the number of periodicals received bears
as large proportion to the population of its district
at almost every Northern Office Slavery is perpeualy,
inevitably at war with the intellectual development of
the great mass of the Free well the Slave popua
ton over whom its baeful shadow is thrown.
throughout the Free States there is more than one
nerodcal TAKEN in the average, to each family; but
some families take Dozen and great many at all
Ii would probably be the truth to estimate that one
half the families in the Free States take sort of
nerodical The remainder, including majority of our
Immigrants from the Old World, take none at ALL and
what meager confused imperfect notion they gather of
tbe history of the times is obtained by occasionally bOr
rowing n neighbours journal running one through in
some convenient bar-ro0m.
Do not the heads of these destitute families make
grave mistake in neglecting TO take paper
Some few of them, We know, contain no member who
can read. and of course could make little of paper
Some are absolutely too poorto afford even three four
cents per week for paper These are destitute help
less invalids poor widows with young children and
nothing but the meager product the needle
work to depend upon Yet these last must be very few
for the widow who cannot spare dress her children for
school may do much to the heavness of their lot and
inform their minds by paying two or three cents Occa
sionay for good newspaper and have 1t read to her by
one of her little ones she pursues her work The
poorest household may thus be nsensiby transformed
into humble but not inefficient school And the poor
IMMIGRANT who never learned to read and must delve
through every hour of daylight to subsist.
once NAV wisely take good periodical he has
one child who can read it, while the rest of the family
listens and improves Simply as anmpuse to study and
y helper TO Education good Newspaper in family is
worth far more than its cost.
Rnt the farmer. mechanic artisan who undertakes
70 do without newspaper a matter of economy can
hardly fail to lose ten dollars for every one he saves If
he makes or grows thing to SELL he needs to be
promptly advised of every incident influence likely
70 affect for good evil the cost Of the materials he
must buy and the products he has will have to SELL
MANY q mar has saved five dollars by doing without
newspaper and lost hundreds in the sale of his wares
his crop or bis farm which the newspaper would have
saved him Thus in 1867 when Breadsuffs in
consequence of the Potato Rot in Europe there
many farmers who took no paper because they couldn't
afford IT, and sold their grain for fifty to hundred dol
lars less than it was really worth when and where they
sold IT, for want of the information which any good paper
would have given them And this case illustrates geu-
eral principle
We believe the day rapidly approaches when the
pooyest head of family who can earn day wages will
understand that he cannot afford to do without news
uoner-tbat he cannot without serious loss dispense
with the information it mparts and the impulse it gives
to the mental Development ofhis children We believe,
moreover that the active thrifty farmer artisan will
realise that he cannot afford to be content with slow
a coach as Weekly must relatively be, but really
needs Daily to bring him all that transpires or i'm
pends with regard to Markets. War-couds, Inventions
/ &c. &c. at the earliest moment There are thou
sands who are now losing many dollars by not taking
daily paper while the education of their children pro-
ceeds far more slowly and imperecty than it woald if
fresh fair sheet full of all that the day has done
medtated is laid on the comfortable every evening, to
be read aud commented on By the family circle. It
takes time to adapt human habits TO the new conditions
evolved in the progress of Society, but their ultimate
adjustment is certain.