The Portland daily press., 1883-11-01

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fer also in the fact that hardly anybody
wants more of them as he grows richer
This is not true of any other article of daily
use. AS a mans wealth increases he gen
orally buys more tea, coffee, sugar, cotton,
and linen, and horses and carriages, carpets,
wine, clothing, &c. But nobody spends
more on newspapers when his circumstances
improve. The rich man does not take five
dailies where The poor man takes only one.
Almost everybody reads one or two news
papers day; very few read more than two,
or can be got to read them by any induce
ment whatever. A man is often induced to
subscribe for them by the especial induce
ments," such as chromos and other "pre-
miums." But it is rare for man to read
paper which comes to him in this way, or
to remain subscriber to it longer than the
s'premium" made necessary. 1t may, in
deed, be laid down as a rule that the circu-
lation of the daily press increases with the
population and not the wealth of the coun-
try, which cannot be said of any other OBJ
ject OF daily consumption.
Nor is there any other article so widely
used the price of which is so near the mini
mum. One of the great difficulties of the
two-cent press is, or rather will be when
competition becomes sharper and begins to
press more closely ON the limits of expan-
sion, that the price is literally ssbottom
price, All other dealers have room to
come down, If they are willing to make sac.
rlilces to ruin a rival, but to the tWo-cent
press only one-cent reduction is possible.
For less than one cent it would not be pos
sible to sell paper III any country in the
world, because nobody will take newspapers,
like apples, two for cent, or three for two
cents. There are only two resources left.
therefore, when competition becomes very
keen-one is to increase the size of the pa
per, by way of giving the buyer more for his
money. But the publisher who attempts
this every day by way of outdoing his COM
petitors really repudiates the two cent idea.
The two-cent idea is that the newspaper
reader wants something very light and short
for his daily reading; that he is repealed by
many pages, or many articles, or long arti-
cles. lie desires something neat, compact
and condensed. In SO far as the paper is
| enlarged, however, this idea is departed
| from. The ordinary newspaper buyer does
| not want as much matter as there is in
monthly or quarterly magazine furnished
| to him every day. An attempt to furnish
| him with it on week days would probably
| disgust, repel or weary him. In other words
1t VIII never do to publish Sunday paper
on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The other resource is to change the char
acter OF the contents; and it is in this d.
rection, as far as we can see, that the COM
petition between the cheap papers is likely
to run after the bottom price has been
reached. Each will try 10 furnish for the
cent more of the kind of matter which he
thinks one-cent readers like; and, as far as
we can Judge from observation, what he
thinks they like is less attention to the quail
ity OF the news and more to the quantity of
IL; plenty OF scandalous and criminal intel
hgence; lighter and more fippant discussion
OF Inc news, and much fer0cious personaliuv
The two-cent papers have not, by anv means
all begun to furnish this, but anybody who
observes cheap press closely will find that
the tendency in this direction is strong and
steady, and makes perceptible progress. In
other words, he will find in it MANY signs
of contempt for the two-cent public, a low
view OF its tastes and standards, both moral
and intellectual, and political, and a cynical
readiness to meet them. One of the most
marked features in this tendency is dis
| position to drop all expensive matter from
the paper, such as accurate news, and sub
| stitute bogus dispatches and small Jokes.
Small jokes probably cost less than any kind
| OF reading; they are consequently much in
demand in the cheap press. In Paris, the
| press OF which is worth studying as an ex-
| ample of the form which cheap journalism
is not unlikely to take, should the competi-
ton continue to grow, daily papers are fire.
| quently started which only appear for two
or three days, the capital of the proprietors
being exhausted within that period. The
| contents consist almost wholly of small
scurrilous jokes and scandalous anecdotes.
and the office is probably in cafe.
The truth is, that the apostles of the cheap
| press enormously exaggerate the newspaper
reading capacity of mankind and their ex-
pectations about its future are probably
wildly extravagant. In fact, we are likely,
during the next twenty-five years, to see the
production of newspapers greatly overdone,
like production in some other articles which
have no foreign outlet. Newspapers cannot
be forced on the community any more than
blankets without heavy reduction in price;
and the press now, as we have said, has
hardly any room for reduction without be.
coming waste paper. Few need more than
one newspaper, and one cannot, do his best,
| spend more than certain time in reading it.
| 1t is not at all improbable, too, that the sup
| ply OF newspaper humor and scurrility may
De found during the same period greater
| than the market will bear. There are signs
already that 1t has begun to pail on the pub
| lie, and that reaction against it is among
the possibilities of the near future. Men
tire OF everything of which they get plenty,
sooner or later. Even drunkards are said to
be made to loathe whiskey by having their
food saturated with it. The two-cent and
one-cent people are in fact not at all unlikely
| to turn on their purveyors and rend them
for taking too low view of their taste and
capacity.