New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-06-20


circulation to-day ia larger than / iind u stateu
by the publisher (and never knew pun.
Usher uDderstate those things) IN lls report at
the annual meeting the year before Decame
connected with the paper. Ana ye', win 1h,s
greater cost and greater circulation, we ieai-
Ze less than twO-thirds the receipts OF those
days for weekly subscriptions, ana nave I'd
pay the postage on them besides. hat ~ "
sample of what comes from putting the prlcc
down, for 1t is on their weekly issues aiouc
that the NewYork journals have chosen 10
reduce their rates not only TO, but below, tDe
prices charged before the war. Inc expedi-
ment, whether satisfactory OF not, seems SUM
cltnt.
But il is time to end this cumulative array
of facts and figures. | judge that they have
left us all substantially of one mind. On the
whole we are not likely to CRAFTY our grower
We shall not return to the prices before the
War, because we dare not return to the mar
low scale Of expenditure and the meagre rare
before the War, while to take the old prlce
and give the present quality is merely 10
plunge into bankruptcy at q galloD. Inc
cheapest thing sold to-day IN America III
proportion to the cost of its manufac-
ture Is the daily newspaper. The aver
age American is shreWd buyer, but ne
does not long insist on buying an arucie
for less than the cost OF making 1t, Tor he
knows that, in the long run, that means one
of two things that he is dealing either with
a fool whom he is running, or with knave
who is cheating him.
NEWS IN THE FUTURE.
We have seen that the next great revOu-
ton in journalism is not likely to be a return
to the cheap prices OF the period before the
war; We have seen that it is not likely TO be
in the direction of increased supplements for
advertising; and that it is not likely to be in the
direction of rejecting all advertising. what is
1t to be Shall the rGriety of news now FUR
nished by the daily newspapers be stlll turther
81. of
between the journal of the next decade ana
that of the present shall be rs great az be-
tween the journal of to-day and that OF twenty
years ago
Yes and no. The variety can scarcely in
crease because newspapers already present as
many different topics of human interest as the
average mind cares to concern Itself win IN
the days leisure of the average reader
But they will, no doubt, be different
topics. 1t is possible to interest large
masses Of people in subjects or more
importance than many OF those when now
iii the closely printed columns OF so many
pages. The range can hardly be much greater,
but 1t may be higher, aud higher without being
less interesting or less vivacious. :,
II we are to have 10 greater variety, snail
we not have greater qudntBY As growing cap
tai and everDroadening resources permit, shall
We not have every morning two volumes tOP
our four cents where we have now only one
where ten years ago we had the half OF one
where twenty years ago we had the half OF
that? Shall we not give important political
debates a verbatim report where we now
print only four or five columns Shall we
nos double or treble the space TO
be accorded the details OF great accident
Can 4 great public meeting be permitted to
pass without IA record OF every syudOie uI
tered in lt Shall we not have, in WORD,
brief summaries of the news for those who
are hurried, supplemented by the most vol
luminous details tor those who nave speclaI
interest and ample leisure; and shall we not
haOltually contemplate the issue OF sixteen
pages to carry all this matter where more
than eight now is the exception rather than
the rule I
/ know very well that it is in this
direction the thoughts OF many OF our
wsest and most progressive journalists
have long turned. But nothing seems
clearer to me than the certainty that the great
journals OF the future will not make their
chief progress In this direction. do not De-
heye that the daily newspaper OF 1890 WI
give many more pages than tnaG OF 1ooO'
BoOkmalHng is not journalism. Even maya
zine making is not journalism. The business
of daily newspaper Is 20 pIlnt the news Oh
the day, IN such compass that the average
reader may fairly expect to master IL curing
the day, without interfering with MS regular
business. When 1t passes beyond these limits
1t ceases to be a newspaper, ana lt ceases 10
command the wide support which Is essential
to It's success. A feeling OF annoyance arises
IN the NINA OF Il lcdutI WHO udS put IltO no
hands, in the morning, more matter than he
en- possibly find time TO read dUing the day.
lie Goes not want to skip any OF IL, because
he feels that il he does so he may be missing
something he ought 10 get. lie cannot posi-
bly read 1t, and, at last, IN q feeling OF lrri-
tatiOn. he abandons the paper, buys smaller
one IN It's stead, SKINS that, and assumes that
If it was properly euted ne has missed n0th-
ing OF real importance He does not wish great
masse5 Oi unuIgcSted news thrust upon MN,
IN N ln TaN
wants. lie insists that his editor snail do
this for hlm ; shall select the salient points
and present them within reasonable compass.
Ii would make no difference, II You offered
him the undIgested mass at the same price
with the compact summary. He viii pay jnstas
much Tor half the matter II put III manage
able shape. The great revolution Oh the lu-
tuIe III newspapers Is. Lot, therefore, 10
be III doubling their SIZE, In doubling the
quantity of maCter they give, or In doubling
the multitude Of subjects they already treat.
The NEXT GhEAT REVOLUTION
But, as we have seen, the history of jour
nalism, for fifty years, has been rapid sue
cession OF revolutions, and no man knows as
well as the hard working editor that perfec-
ton has not yet been evolved. Other Changes,
as Marked, are certainly impending. What
is the next ]
1t was pleasant concet of Henry Waiter
sons that, II Shakespeare were hVihg now,
he would be an editor. The fancy might
have fallen better upon contemporary OF
Shakespeare's-that greatest, wisest, mean
est of mankind, who anticipated the mod
crn newspaper, III taking all knowledge
"a be his province. But newspapers are many
and perpetual. Sbakespeares and Bacons come
only once In the centuries. Yet of this We may
be sure The field for advantages through
enterprise Ill the mere getting OF news Is
about exhausted. The great newspapers can
now all command substantially the same
facilities Generally speaking, the news that
one gets another can get If 1t WISHES. re
curing, them 10 Watterson's concert, 1t seems
safe To sag that in the next great stage Oh Jour-
nallsm The enterprise that now eXhausts itself on
,u,,I, ~. lie nlSr,ntrnrS ~ Ii 90 10 mPn who