Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-05-27
Some Newspaper Figures.

We referred the other day to the Census
Bureaus preliminary exhibit Of the daily
press Of the United States during the census
year. The subject, however, is of such in
terest and importance that II more complete
abstract Of the exhibit will he welcome. The
total number of daily papers in the country
during the census year was 962, nf which
436 were morning and 5l6 ever ns-thc dis
crepancy in the aggregates being due tc the
fact that twenty papers publish both morn
ing and evening editions. New York State
takes the lead in publishing the largest
number of dailies; Pennsylvania next, with
9S; Illinois, 73 Ohio and California, each
"a; Missouri, A.; Indiana, 40 Massachu-
setts,35; Michigan, 3d. Iowa and Texas, -
each; New Jersey, % Virginia and Wis
consin, 81 each Colorado, 20; Kansas, ~
Connecticut, Is; Georgia, 16; Maryland,
Nevada and Nebraska, II each; North Caro-
lima, Is; Tennessee, IL; Kentucky, Louisi-
ana and Maine, IL each; Minnesota, 10;
Arkansas and Oregon, each Alabama and
Rhode Island, each; Delaware, Mississippi,
South Carolina and Vermont, ) each, the
number in this Stale AT present being three,
two dailies having gone 10 wreck in the cen
sus year,; Florida and West Virginia, 3
each. and Al in the Territories and the Dis
tricl of Columbia.
The 962 daiiieS had an average circulation
of $500 copies and an aggregate of 3,5Sl ,loi,
or an average of about nnc 10 every fourteen
persons in the country, men, women and
chil,lren-a record absolutely impossible for
any other country in the world anil amply
sufficient to prove by itself the ofl-qIoted
statement that we are n nation of newspaper
readers. The annual aggregate of circulation
was the the vast number of |, 12i, 33. ,a;}j. OF
the different States the New York papers take
the lead, with an aggregate daily circulation
of 991 $50 &; Pennsylvania comes next with
597,4l7; Massachusetts, 2S1, 80; Illinois,
2GS, 1873 Ohio, 207, 223i Ca 'ornia l5S.5,9;
Missouri, 141, 700; Maryland, l@3 924
Indiana, II, 143; and the remaining States
range from 63, 949 in Michigan down IL 1900
in Florida. OF the daily papers II are print
ed in German, : in French, in Spanish and
in Bohemian.
In average daily circulation the papers Of
MARYLAND come first with 10000; New
York takes the second place with ssh;
Massachusetts third with S2l1; Pennsyl-
vania fourth with 4. 49,; and so IN down to
800 in Florida.
But even these great figures do not cx-
haust the statistics Connected with the
,iaies are 6Sa wecklies, A semi-wreklirs
30 tri-weekles and l3S Sunday papers. The
first have an aggregate circulation of ., l2l,-
$50 copies the second 156.;ii4 the third
80, $50 and the fourth ~, Gal. The aIgre-
gate annual circulation is 2l6. .i:I, $50. New
York again takes the lead on circulation, her
81 wceklies of this class having n circulation
of &C.,, ,6;,3 Ohio comes next with 50 week
lies having n circulation of ;i;j3, o6i Illinois
next, with 81 and circulation "i 3i3,;'I
Missouri, 30, and a69. sos Michigan, %, and
1895 Massachusetts, -, and l23,S39.
The average yearly subscription price IS
Sl.Sa.
lie highest average OF yearly subscription
for the ,lailics was naturally in the territories,
| where il is set at Sll the lowest i'll Della
ware-S3 80. The average subscription price
vas S7.33. Taking the average and the az
gregate daily circulation and il appesrs that
| the people of the United States pay out
annually the enormous sum of SEQ, 30, 100
for their daily newspapers The report,
however, states that these totals are subject
To certain obvious qualifications
Every newspaper has Il free list, more or
| less large Tn. chief item uf which Is iii It's
| exchanges, Allowance must also bc made
for small percentage of papers printed
regularly, hui moi sold nor circulated. and
including tear and waste. on the other
hand, and especially in the lars' cities, II
| considerable per cent of the total circulation
! is disposed Of by the single copy at the retail
price While the average cost Ia the annual
subscriber is 2t cents per copy, the average
retail price per copy for the country Is nearly
Al cents, the largest average for n stale being
| in Nevada, where it is II cents, an! the low
est in Delaware, where il Is cents per
copy. 1t is probable that the added cost "i
the papers sold at clail is quite sufficient I"
offset the deduction. which are tn ir made
in the total cost given on account OF the
| causes enumerated.
Looking more particularly at the figures
for Vermont. We find that the average cir-
cualion of the d,illcS WAS l2Ol AMI the agSre-
gate 1900 and the annual aggregate H.
900 There were four wcrkll- connected
with the da,li,s, which hal an average cir
| culation of 25O0, an aggregate al 10000 ami
an annual aggregate of jll 600 The average
subscription piicc ni the dnlllrs was = and
| nf tie wtcklcs - tomrarcd with other
| States none Of the ii.urrs are illiIct'n, I"
! Vermont, We are SuriN la sly.