Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1867-08-30
From the springfield Republican, sal 3f,Ff
Newspapers" i'm America
t' "" and i'm IClarol,c. a

I-G,Among tho collections mt the great
Paris exhibition, probably few attract
SO little attention as those of the news
papers and periodicals of the various
countries represented. Who would
wish to spend his time over files of
London or Paris dailies, to say nothing
of such Journals as the Memphis Ava
lanche, Brownlow's Rebel Ventilator,
the Arkansas Toothpick, and the rest
eff our remote newspapersp And yet,
to a rejecting person, what is so extra
ordinary as this whole matter of news
paper publishing, its rapid growth and
its prodigious resultse Humorists like
Thorenu and grammsrians like Lowell
may jeer ut the newspaper but what
did Burke saye Its WRITER'S said he,
"are indeed, for the greater part, either
unknown or In con tempt, but they are
like a battery i'm which the stroke os
any one ball produces no effect, but the
amount of continued repetition Ia de-
cisive. Let us only suffer any person
to tell us his story, morning and even
ing, but for a twelve month, and lie
will become our master.n T#n5a Va
! Since the time Of Burk, this battery,
of which he spoke. has been wonder
Ously enlarged. Probably all the news-
papers and periodicals In the world
then were less numerous than those
now published in massachusetts alone,
which in 1860 amounted to more than
l02 ,OO0, 900 copies during the year. The
whole number of copies annually cir
culated in the United States at that
time was g2T, ,95l ,54S, and il now about
double, nearly ,500. .000, 900. In Europe
the figures are less. a "A recent writer In
the London Star estimates the number
at 5OO, 900 900 in Great Britain and Ire
land, IAN increase since 1854 of more
than four times the number circulated
a dozen years before. In France the
number ran up from less than hun
dred millions i'm 1S47 TO nearly five hum
dred millions in 1865, and this i'm spite
of the censorship of the press. Nearly
half 0f this vast number of copies
issues from the daily press, 1.-The esti-
mated annual number of daily papers
In England being 250,0O0, 900, and I'm
this country 400, 600, 900. h,'. ad "Ho j
Ii worthy Ofanote, also, that the
proportion Of political newspapers to
the whole number seems to be rapidly
diminishing, although IL ID still very
large, and previous to 1860, increased
every year. Especially is the number
of newspapers steadily devoted to the
doctrines of particular parties greatly
diminishing, as any one may see for
himself who cares to observe. There is
large increase, too, I'm papers purely
or mainly literary, while the sc. .catied
religious press is becoming more and
more general In its character. 1d
The number Of writer's annually cm-
ployed in furnishing the matter con.
tained in the newspapers, and the
amount paid for their contributions, i'm
one form and another, would astonish
most persons IL 1t were generally
known. There ID probably no author
or writer of distinction I'm America who
does not occasi0nally, and few who do
Fnotfregularly, write for newspapers or
magazines. Many write for half dox-
Ell different ones, sometimes of differ
ent and even conflicting opinions, and
are paid literally for IT. Others write
tn carry apoint or for love Of writing,
or to see themselves in print. In this
way the average of newspaper style is
kept far above hat IL would otherwise
Ibe,--yet, perhaps, the styie OF these
Ppracticed writer's themselves suffers q
little I'm consequences. kAd 'ti 1i
! On the whole, nobody can, or In fnct
does, now look upon journalism with
contempt, as In Burke's day. But still
there are few who appreciate Its true
value, and are willing 10 c0neede It's
just claims among the civilized agencies