The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-03-04
NEWSPAPER KNOWLEDGE.

Some striking and suggestive statistics
relating TO the growth, volume, claSsti-
cation and local diffusion of our newspa-
per press have been compiled for the new
census by Mr.. 5. y. ID. North. and "A sum-
mary of them has been published in the
February number of Tie international
Rtcitlc. From these data it is manifest
that in number, circulation and resources.
newspapersan and periodicals have increased
during the last ten years in a ratio never
attained before in the United States, never
witnessed in any other country and not
paralleled here by the expansion of any
other industry. These facts are the more
remarkable because during the last decade
occurred a financial crisis whose effects
were acutely felt for at least two years.
and which was productive of depression
in almost every kind of business for a
much longer period.
1t appears that the number of daily
newspapers, which between 1860 and
| 1870 had only risen from 3S1 to 514 had
reached $50 in 1880. In the latter wear
| the circulation, which had not exceeded
! 2.602, 900 ten years before, amounted to
| 3,G31 900 In this aggregate the daily
! press of New York is credited with more
| than one-fifth. or 165. 600 and we may
than one-siXth was contributed by The
Sun. The preponderance, however, of
New York journals in this country is not
commensurate with that of London news
papers in the United Kingdom. Mr..
North points out that while the aggre-
gate volumes of the daily newspaper cir
| culation in the United States and Great
Britain are nearly equal. yet the number
of daily journals published in the latter
country is only 166. When We bear in
mind, however. that the area of the
island of Great Britain is nearly the same
as that Of New York and Pennsylvania
which collectively have 3l6 dalies.-
and that the means of railway commune
cation are much superior. we can see that
the local needs of the British population
may he tolerablv well met by the exist
ing number of daily publications.
The statement made by DR.. Greeley in
1851, that "when an American town has
as many inhabitants as $1,000 it has
daily paper" is far from representing the
present craving of our people for diurnal
information. There are now but few
towns in the Northern States containing
population of 10000 which do not sus-
tain one or two dailies. and there are
some with less than 1000. where two
and even three daileS are published.
The smallest town in the United States
and doubtless the smallest in the world
which in 1880 supported a daily, was
not Northern or Western town. but
Weldon. \. c.. whose population was
932. In the scarcely larger town of Tomb
stone. Arizona, which had 913 inhabit-
ants. .wo dailies managed to exist. Two
dailies also were maintained in Galena,
Kansas, although here. too. the popula-
ti'll wa Wei oSiilS GUM pulCu ny
the census at 1 .463. But the climax of a
newspaper enterprise must be held to
have been reached in Eureka, Cal, where
three rival dailieS miniStered to a popu-
lation of 1853 The struggle for local
news III such restricted field must needs
be incomparably arduous.
Another interesting point on which
much light is thrown by Mr.. North sta
tisticS Is the ratio Of daily newspaper cir
culation to the number of inhabitants in
the several States. New York. as might
be expected. heads the list, nearly mill
ion copies of daily newspapers, or one for
every group of five Inhabitants. being
printed every day. Next come Califor-
MIA, Pennsylvania. Massachusetts,. and
Illinois.
1t is noteworthy that the aggregate
daily circulation of the smallest State in
the Union-Rhohe Islands fl 35l. or
more, by about 10000. than that of the
great State of Texas. \ table showing
y it uulilbtl vi illHdplldlllS w tdCll udllN
paper printed in twenty-six of our prin-
cipal cities reveals some surprising facts.
The number of inhabitants to each copy
issued is smaller in Pittsburg than in any
other city. AS regards the thirst for
news, New York. San Francisco and Bos-
t,u figure next in the order named. Then
comes Springfield, Mass, while St. Paul,
indianapolis. Cincinnati and Chicago are
all greater buyers of newspapers than
Philadelphia. At the bottom of the TWEEN
ty-siX cities is Charleston, S. c., where
about eight inhabitants take daily news
paper between them. and lowest of all.
Brooklyn, which prints but one copy to
nearly twelve inhabitants. OF course,
the seeming anomaly presented in the
case of Brooklyn is exphcable by the
fact that the great ma jority of the daily
Journals read there are published in New
York city.
One prediction made by DR.. Greeley
thirty years ago in relation to American
journalism has not vet been literally full
filled. lie thought that every county in
free State would have a newspaper
while if it had population of 10000 it
would have two or more. According 10
the new census. newspapers are published
in but 2.O72 out of the 2 604 counties in
the United States. There is not State.
however, east of Missouri and north of
the Mason and Dixon line but supports
a newspaper in every county within its
borders. The tendency to diffusion is, of
course, most strikingly exhibited in the
growth of the weekly press. The num-
Der of weeklies more than doubled in the
last decade, having risen from t. 95 to
sis. while their aggregate circulation
expanded from 10. 594 600 to 49, 4J9 600.
The maiorities of weeklies, 3.342, are
found in group distinguished by a cir
culation of at least 500 and less than
900. Having in view the average ex-
penses of a country newspaper, such
circulation may probably be regarded as
adording fair return on the brains and
capital invested.
Looking at the whole newspaper and
periodical press of the United States, we
| are led to conclude that there is no kind
Of manufacture which exhibits such large
gross receipts for such :. small outlay on
raw materials. The gross value of the
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