Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-02-19
PUBLIC LEDGER.
FAILING By THE wAYs1DE.

Another Southern journal has dropped
out from the ranks forever-the Atlanta
Herald. 1t was a sprightly, well-con-
Quoted paper, but there we're too many
for the size Of the place, and now the
Constitution is the only morning daily
left in that city. This makes seven dsilies
that have died natural deaths in Atlanta
since the close Of the war: The Daily
Opinion, %Intelligencer, Few Era, True
Georgian, Sun, News, and, lastly, the
Herald. They we're all conducted With
fair ability, but the market was over
stocked and they died for lack Of sup
port. In each case the expenses ex.
ceeded the income and suspension was
only q matter of time. The Constitu
ton, which remains, is q little
jubilant over its longevity aHd vitality,
which dates back about to 1866. Jour
nalism has been overdone in the South,
as we'll as in other sections. Notable
cancellations have taken plscein Louis
vile, Cincinnati, St. Louis, St. Paul,
Nashville ard various other cities where
there seemed to be an abundance Of bust
ness and capital to back the papers, The
people want fewer papers but better
ones-not blanket sheets, but live, Dewsy
papers, wherein ia displayed daily prsof
of the highest journalistic training and
discipline. Memphis has emily had
one consolidation since the war. The
Commercial and Argus. both excellent
papers in their day, employing the
talent Of such men as ] M. Heating,
Leon Trousdale, Colonel Heart, D. A
Brewer, ]. P. Pryor and others
well known. we're united as one paper.
aud then had to 60 by the board. and
from no business mismansgement
Since then the Bulletin, an old and
established paper; the Sun founded on
its ruins; the Register and other papers
have given up the ghost for want Of
financial breath, and we are not sure
that in q city Of forty or forty FIVE thou
sand population there is room for any
new papers. Still, a man Of nerve, with
fifty or one hundred thousand dollars
could start another paper and make
things GO lively for a few months. But
in a year or so he would have experience
in proportion to the loss Of capital. The
cities of Macon, Atlanta, Savannah.
Charleston, Mobile, Houston and Gal
weston only have one daily paper each
Evening papers flourish in the North
but not in the Sosth, as a rule. The
LEDGER is the only notable exception
to the latter part Of this statement. Most
Of them exc ont a sickly existence a few
months and disappear. The situation
in Memphis is more favorable, and after
nearly eleven years Of hard labor aud
great outlay Of capital, we End this ps
per established upon as finn q basis as
any morning paper in the South. We
speak Of this merely as a fact in the his
tory Of the newspaper business, not as a
boast Of success over others less fortu-
nate. Whatever we have achieved in
this respect has been earned by years Of
toll and rigid economy. These are pc
culiarly hard times on newspapers, as
well as all other kinds Of business. There
are better days ahead, we hope, when
labor will be better paid. capital un-
locked and put in circulation, and every
branch Of industry aud enterprise sbun-
dainty rewarded. There are let too
many papers in the country, aud some Of
them, in time, must be absorbed or aus.
pended, Those, however, that weather
through a few years can count on & most
remunerative and safe business.