The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-21
The Cost and Use of Newspapers.

MOST of those who read newspapers-and
in this country almost everybody thinks he
must glance through the columns of daily
journal, in order to keep up with the current
Of Aiairs-rarely take any thought of the
labor and expense required to furnish the
people with this very useful kind of ltera-
ture. 1t is quite natural that what every one
buys OF boy in the stfeet for q few pennies
should be valued accordingly, and yet the
small price of the sheet to each reader is not,
by any means, a fair index to its actual cost
or Of its actual worth. There is not now
single daily paper printed in this country
of which the cost to the publisher of each
edition is not greatly In excess of the
price for which he sells it to its
readers. 1t is only few days ago that
morning contemporary announced that the
less On its circulation alone amounted to one
hundred thousand dollars in twelve months.
Those not engaged in the business, and there
tore net acquainted with its mysteries, are
apt to be very much startled by such a state
ment, and to receive it with more or less in
credHlity. Their idea OF making a single
copy OF The TRLEGRAPH, for example,
amounts prettymuch to this that few square
inches of blank paper are put in at one end
OF a machine and that they Immediately come
out at the other resplendent with typography.
and filed with all the current news of the
day. Natural, however, as this may be. we
need hardly say that it is a grand mistake.
The steam press has, indeed, an important
duty to perform in the matter; but its agency
in the entire result bears a very slight pro
portion to the antecedent labor and expense
which prepare the final work for it. No one
net behind the scenes san begin to estimate
accurately the nental and manual toll con-
sumed in getting Storm" ready for the press;
and yet, outside of all that, is the daily outlay
of money for rent, for gas, for water, for fuel,
for paper, and in short for all the purely
material and mechanical means which are
essentially included in the publication of
single copy Of any daily newspaper.
How then, it may be asked, can anybody
afford to print newspaper And the answer
most likely to be given to that question by
these who are ignorant or the subject is, that
what is lost on the cost OF single paper, or
a single whole edition, is more than made up,
in the long run, on the whole circulation for
six months or year. But that is not 80.
At the present cost Of publishing a daily
paper in this city, inclusive Of all actual eX-
penses, there is a positive, and very conside
rabe loss, too, on the circulation alone, no
matter how large thai circulation may be-.
Zach reader Of the diurnal press gets his COM
pendious record of the worlds lite, from sun
to sun, for much less than it costs the Jour
nalist to supply it to him and the poor printer
who affords him so much interesting informa-
ten and so much pleasant diversion, is only
saved from utter pecurary ruin by those who
employ his columns as an advertising
medium. In combining these two sources
of income, the Journalist manages to make it
worth his while to furnish the public, regu-
larly with that without which, if stopped but
for week or less, the community would be
thrown into state of uncertainty, apprehen-
sion, and confusion, thicker than Egyptian
darkness, and more distressing in its effects
than the division of tongues at The tower Of
Babel. Neither the person who buys the
paper only to read it, nor the advertiser who
| uses it as a means Of communication with its
readers, separately sustains it, Both con-
! joined are necessary to that end; and while
one complains that the price Of the paper is
too high, and the other that he is charged too
much for his advertisement, the publisher is
continually struggling to make the price of
the paper SO low that all may take it for the
benefit Of the advertiser, and trying Simulta-
neously to conform his rates Of adVer-