The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-24
NEW YORK JOURNALS
History of the Two Cent Newspaper
Panic in the Metropolis
Its Efert on Leading Papers---HOw
the Different Daily Publfca-
tiens Have Lost or Gained
by the Change.

by the Change.
PHILADELPHIA, Oct 24-The. Times has |
the following special from New York: The |
9 cent newspaper panic has had about thu |
effect ON the lea,ling New York journals thai !
a heavy lot of auction goods suddenly thrown |
ON the market has in mercantile channels. Ii
has paralyzad the boosted New York jour |
naiisin, AMI ,lready stripped it largely OF its |
most distiii, and valuable features
HOW THE PANIC AFFECTS ''THE HERALD"
Tne Heiall has already sacrificed its great |
individuality in its exclusive cable dis |
patches, and when the first of American |
journals viii yield its brightest plume
to enforced economy, what may not
lesser Journals dol For years the special
cable Dispatches of The Herald have been
its chief distinctive feature, but when the
cent panic struck it, its special
cable dispatches were put on the
market and are now sold to ten or dozen
journals throughout the country, where they
are paraded as special cables to each of the
newspapers receiving them. They are furn
ished to I he Press of your city and read in
both The Herald and The Press at the same
breakfast table, appearing as specials to
both, and they appear also in Cincinnati,
Louisville, Chicago, st. Louis, and half a
dozen other cities. That one feature of The
Herald made it lead all other American
journals. Now it ranks only with a
dozen other journals which share its specials
and another dozen which get associated cable
news outside the Associated Press. The
Herald is the least injured in profit by the
> cent panic, as it could be published prof
itably without any returns for circulation,
but even Bennett, with his acquired millions
! and his large income, theapens the quality
! of his great newspaper in the first surge of
the 2 cent panic His circulation has not ma
| terially increased.
THE EFFECT ON THE TINES"
| 1t was DIR. Jones' of The Times, who
| knocked down the brick that tumbled The
! whole row i'll the ? cent pa lie, and he did it
I for TWO Teasons-hTst, he could afford to
| sacrifice more on even all of his profits, and
! second, lac wanted 10 forge The Times clear out
| of sight Of I lie Tribune Jones OWES large
majority Of the stock Of his paper, and his last
| purchase was ten shares at SIG 59G each
| There are 100 s'areS, so that he paid at the
rate OF 81 $50 900 for ms last purchase and it
was a purchase hat was not necessary to give
him c0nff5.. Ills real estate is the most val
uabie OF any Of the New York journals, and
his paper las been paying well for twenty
/ years. He i iuiepen lent in fortune and pol
| tics, and lis recent visit to England
1 decided him to make the startling reduc-
| ton from to 2 cents He studied The
| Telegraph and The News, of London, the
| English penny G. cents papers abroad,
| which are as large as his own paper, and al
! though paper and mechanical labor are %
per cent. cheaper abroad, he resolved to mop
up the Journalistic loor with The Tribune
/ and jOstIe The sun in the race for circulation.
! The effect oi the reduction on The Times has
not heen gratifying 1t has increased its
circulation, but its gains DO not promise to
be at ali commensurate with its loss in both
profits and character.
THE DIGNIFIED TRIBUNE"
The Tribune stood alone among the old
four centres in resisting the full sweep of the
panic. 1t has, Of course, taken the opposite
track from The Times, and as The Times de-
serted its own boosted dignity in a scramble
for the ragtag and bobtail The Tribune
elevated its standard of dignity, declared
itself the organ of the more intelligent
and genteel readers who would gladly pay
3 cents, and then countered on The
| Times and Herald by an appeal to
the newsiealers by paying them
double the rates of its rivals for handling the
paper. 1t has been stunned by the panic,
| but it decided to stand the shock for a time
and keep on paying basis for the future.
1t will lose something in circulation, but
what it keeps viii pay, and it has the future
on its side. Every reader it adds to its num-
ta- will 6rino a 1,7nfit will air 70 ba The
London Times of America, and it has much
TO encourage it inits stand against the panic.
THE sPRIGHTLY Sun"
The Sun, with its little folio sheet of seven
columns to the page, was stunned by finding
the old blanket 3 centers down alongside
of it for ? cents, but it did not lose its head
or feet 1t lost few thousand of its superb
circulation OF 5000, and it was frightened
into occasional double sheets, but it has
Gained down again and will coin dollars
when the old panic stricken blanket sheets
are coming dimes.
THE WORLD" THAT TUMBLED THE FIRST
BRICK.
The World was the first of the old 4
cent Journals to tumble down to 2 cents,
but its reduction affected nobody, as it was a
struggling paper for many years. and it had
to scratch as best it could. Mr. Pulitzer
found it a : cent quarto, but without many
readers or not much paying business and he
brushed it up, threw western vigor into it,
made newspaper, and its cheapness attracted
attention, but it did not encroaoh
upon The Times or Herald or Tribune, AM
their tumble was not necessitated or even
precipitated by The World Jones would
have made his drop if The World had not
been in existence, but The World gained
prestige by the imitation of the old estab-
lished journals, and it is now as saucy in the
front pews as any of them.
REDUCED VALUE OF NEWSPAPER PROP
ERTT.
The Herald is not worth to day by several
millions what it was one month ago. and it
never will regain its old commercial value.
A reduction of nearly 81 900 a day in profits,
with no prospect OF material increase, repre-
sents the interest on a very large capital, and
that is the condition of The Herald The
Times is the next greatest sufferer in the
value of its property. 1t is certainly from
half to a million less valuable to-day than it
was before it took the plunge, and
The Tribune, though less the sufferer because
of it smaller reduction, is half million less
valuable by the tumble. The World is likely
b. grow more valuable, but that is because it
had no value at all before based on actual
profits, and The Sun is likely to lose very lit
tie on the market rate of its shares. The &C
tual loss, and apparently loss that cannot
be retrieved, in New York newspaper prop
erty by the 2 cent panic is not less than
81 ,O0O, 600, quite threefifths of which devolves
upon Bennett, but he can stand it, as he has
} millions to spare.
S1as4;a,, r,,on,,s Rxaaua,a IT,.