The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-04-11
SENSATIONAL LITERATURE.
WHAT AN OLD PUBrIaiER HAS 70 SAY or
ITS CAUSE AND ErrEors--EsoR- 4
NOUS NUMBER OF PAPERS
CIRCULATED.

"NbS Nohbtn VI fhftHs
CIRCULATED.
The constantly increasing number of
boys of tender years who have been
caught robbipg their parents for the
purpose of securing an outfit to start
for the west to kill Indians or else have
organized themselves in gangs for the
purpose of becoming highwaymen and
burglars has attracted public attention
to the cause of so much youthful crime
the flash papers--,hat reporter of
Philadelphia paper called on gentle
man who has for many years been
well known publisher. After stating
his errand the reporter asked the
gentleman:
"How many of the weekly story pa
pers are sold?"
''Of all kinds not less than 100000
copies a week. This, of course, in
cludes the story papers, illustrated po-
lice papers and the boy papers.
"About one dozen firms publish this
number, with a capital ranging all the
way from 100000 to S250,OO0."
DO NOT COST MUCH.
"What is the comparative cost of
such publications ?"
with the exception of one or two
of the weekly story papers, the prices
paid for matter are very small. 1t is q
long drop from Mrs. Southworth and
Sylvanus Cobb to the poor Bohemians
who write for the boy paper and the
dime and half-dime libraries The av-
erage price the latter scribblers get is
not over $50 story, running anywhere
from 100 to 200 pages of foolscap.
"The illustrations of these low peri
odicals cost about as little as the mat.
ter that goes into them, They are
generally the most atrocious drawings,
made more hideous by being cut in the
wood by machinery. 1t is easily seen
how large the profit must be on this
class of publications, especially when
we take into consideration the cheap.
Ness of white paper. The total aver.
age cost of any one Of these papers is
not over one cent copy, and yet they
wholesale at from three to four cents.
"Their weekly circulation varies from
25,O00 to $4,000 copies each, which
would produce clear profit of from
$500 to $1,50O a week.
'Such being the enormous profits o.
the business, it is no wonder that mer
readily engage in it and use the well
worn excuse that there is a demand fo
this literature and that if they did mo-
supply it somebody else would"
THE BEGINNING OF 1T.
GLOW do you account for the presen
demand for sensational literature ant
cheap story papersW ,ljt.-.I .i~
"The first reason is their cheapness
Thirty years ago poor people could no
read novels unless they bought then
in book form at prices ranging all tn
way from $3.50 to So. so per volume
1t was then that the New York Ledge
began to supply the public with goo
, serial novels at the rate Of 20a yea
for So, paid in weekly installments o
six sents a number. This small sur
quickly opened up the field of sensa
tional romance to poor people of a
classes, and in very short while tn
Ledger ran up to weekly circulatio
, of nearly 100000 copies. Such a pro-
t liable monopoly as this very soon a
e tracted rivals to the field. Story ps
| pers after the style of the Ledge
e sprang up all over the country. Man
, of them failed, but a number of thel
S were successful, and divided with tn
$ Ledger in various, ratios its proftabl
e business. In the meanwhile, the dim
e and half-dilne libraries were starte,
= and soon became as successful busine>
: ventures as the story papers. 1t ws
+ found that those who disliked to wa
+ from week to week for the continu
r tion of story eagerly bought tt
g cheap libraries when they could get
completed story which they could rea
4 in from three to five hours. For tn
o reason these libraries soon had dan
f aging effect on the circulation of IL
+, story papers.
!. HOW THEY MULTIPLIED. ..'.
About this, time Munro's Seasit
n Libraries began pirating foreign stori,
o and giving to story readers the be
g class of English fiction at a nomin
a price, Munro thus drew away fro
the story papers their best class
n readers, and left them to compete wi,
d each other for what were left, and
e sharp competition resulting is due ii
IS sensational-blood- and-thunder-pirat
cowboy-Indian-scalpe -miraculous-e
n cape and to-be-continued stories, illu
n trated in the widest style of the al
e of the captive maiden, shrieking |
d dian, scowling villain, the young d
, tective, prosecuted shop girl, the hauu
IT ed house, mysterious cave, the de,
% shot and the thousand and one peri
N of life as it never exists save in ii
D. beer-muddled brain of a midnig
$, scribbler
m "Nor is this all in the way of pan
't ering to vitiated public taste tn
r, makes sensational story SO marke
G able. 1t has another and worse el
y ment which the more emphasized T.
a more profitable it becomes, namely, i
T. pictures of vice and its prurient su
ir gestions. One need but read the It'll
of some of these stories and glance f
N a moment at their illustrations to full
Sc appreciate what is indicated by this |
e. mark. ...- -.r.rt ..r..tas
d. "The question is now seriously as
n ed how the sale of this literatul
"a which is weekly poisoning the min
of the youth of the land, can be sto
ped Certainly not by any appeal
the publishers themselves, But mu
can be done toward curtailing it
d. parents constantly supervising t
m reading of their children and by t