, 1875-01-31

Ihe opfln9Ac4u ta4as9'J 1'eP"8''~ ~
cent issue has very sensible artlcle on Joor-
uaIism as d Business, which contains many
home truths, however unpalatnble they may
he. The material facts Of the article are that
newspaper expenses are increasing 1aster
than income, and will continue to increase
until radical changes are forced, and IN proof
of the truth of this assertion the New York
Tribune and Times are cited, two Journals
which were never SO good journals rs now,
and whose gross incomes were never
greater, and yet, owing to their ambitious
rivalry, everything is exhausted IN ex-
penditure. Mr. RAYMoSD's theory was,
not that newspapers should cease to
better themselves and employ more facilities
for getting news, but that their number
should be decreased, and TINT they must be
divided into two classes first, those OF q
limited circulation and higher cost, reaching
the more intellectual and influential classes
of society and, second, those OF larger cir
culations, small and cheap in cost, covering
the more practical and material departments
of life This WIS theory Of Mr.. RATAoND's
over ten years ago. We're he living now he
would urge his theory still more forcibly, for
the enterprise of the American newspaper IN
collecting news has developed more in the
last ten years than in the half century pre-
ceding.
There is probably no other business IN this
country which Is so sharply and Increasingly
competitive, and which SO thoroughly e1-
hausts the resources at its command, as the
journalistic The daily metropolitan news
paper utilizcs the telegraph to the amount OF
thousands Of dollars per week It has its
general and special correspondents wherever
there is news to be found. It employs special
lists for special occasions 1t gathers the daily
news not only from its city md State, but
from the United States, and from every part
of the world reached by telegraph and mail.
Ithas alreadyrun the monthly magazines down
| to o very small circulation and killed many OF
them, and it has more or less influenced
the sale of general literature by invading its
| domain. The scientist, the lecturer, the
clergyman, find ito be their mouthpiece, even
without their knowledge. There is little usefo1
scientific journals or for religious newspapers
now. Every province Of thought, knowledge,
md news is ransacked by this omnivoroua
collector, md subsidized by it. The results
Of this gigantic work are furnished to thepub
lie for the pittance Of few cents, and, a
(! there is bother business which develops sucl
exciting rivalry and eager, constant compotl
ton. in like manner there is no other bust
ness which furnishes the resultsof competition
at SO small q price. The result OF all this
that only fow Of the larger papers, whic]
have m extensive circulation and advertising
patronage, can make any money. Their IN
come is exhausted in the ontgo, and they ar
in state of chronic poverty all their days
living in some mysterious manner like lndl
viduals similarly afflicted In the case Q
the great daily newspapers, undoubtedly thi
fact is attributable partly to waste OF labo
growing out of the won't Of skilled and trasne
men, and partly to the expenditure Of mono
for unimportont matter, growing out OF tn
necessities Of competition. Just at presen
hard times and dull business affect the bus
ness of all papers; but the general fact r.
mains that the competition for news betwee
the great daily newspapers is e1hausting th
receipts of most Of them. How this proble1
will be solved 1emnins to be SEEN It ma
solve itself by the collapse Of some Of the 81
| perauous sheets.