Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-13
STAR OF THE CAPITAL.
whereby the Average washingtonian
Steers His Boat.

THE ALPHA vAsHISsToSLK OF TIE JOURNAL
LrsrTo HEAvESs-THE sUPERKxcELLEScE AND
POWER OF THE WASHINGTON STAR.
Warrington Correspondents Philadelphia Record.
WAsHISeroS, ID. c., Aug. 9-Everybody in
Washington reads The EVENING STAR That is
to say, everybody who can read at all. sup
pose there are now about 225, 900 people in
Washington and the rest Of the District of
Columbis, Of whom $4,000 are colored. Some
thing Ike 10000 Of them are supposed to be
able 10 read. IL not to write. Now the present
circulation Of The STAR is little over so, 900,
30 that, estimating as usual Eve readers to each
buyer, or the fve-in-a-family theory. ii il as
plain as plain can be that everybody in Wash
ingson who reads anything reads TEE STAR
on THE AVENUE AT 4P.M.
We had the statistics we should have the
same facts by the most cursory observation.
Walk down the Avenue at o'clock with the
long procession of liberated clerks any fair
aiternoon. You won't get far away from the
Treasury department before you will meet
the nrst OF the long procession of ''STAR boys"
VINO have been restlessly waiting by the mar
bic building at 18th and the avenue for THE
erAR papers" which the fast presses have been
throwing of for the past hour.
See bow TIE STARS are snapped mp. Poll
ticians, business men, tourists, even some of
tne clerks-yes, even some OF the Iad1es-puy
them, the more prudent clerks walking ON
Gown TO flth street and going to The STAR
office to buy a copy for two cents rather than
give the newsboy three. II you see any
one who does not buy you may be sure that he
or she gets its delivered a little later by the
carrier. Finish your stroll, than which there
can be none more interesting, at the foot of the
Capitol
BREAD AND THE STAR As NroEssARrEs.
Take q long herdic coach and ride up to q
residence quarter, buying TIE STAR, like your
fellow travellers. from one Of the newsboys who
board your herdic at every corner. In the
summer weather you will see the residents Sit
ing at their windows or on their porches and
front steps. Wherever they are they are read
Ing lee SrAR-yes, even as they walk along the
street. Bread and the newspapers" SAYS Dr.
Holmes, ''vere necessaries of life during the
war" Bread and TEE STAB are necessaries of
life every evening in Washington.
TIE wAsHISaToSIAS's APPETITE FOR POLITICS.
Washington has no politics and vet it has all
politics. There is no city in the United States
% vitality interested in politics. Everybody is
directly or indirectly, personally, profession
m ally or socially affected by political changes.
The rise and fall Of party leader in far-off
Calfornia may not interest hundred people
IN Philadelphia. but it may interest ten thou
sand In Washington. So everybody in Wash
ington wants to know as soon as possible what
be nominated for Presidentl' what will the
majority be in the next House?' and who will
be Speaker" are questions which stir our hearts
as the guesses at the crops and the markets stir
the hearts OF Chicago and New York. Nowhere
else am convinced are newspapers read so
eagerly and earnestly as in Washington. The
EVENING STAR is simply devoured.
SPLENDID FIELD FOR NEWSPAPERS
There are very many people, of course, who
read other newspapers, local and foreign.
More newspapers are read here in proportion
TO population than in any other city. not only
because We are all SO nearly interested in
politics, but because We are, many of US, SO
much interested in all the other affairs of this
world This is really splendid field for
newspapers, but they must be good news
papers. Yet, with all the large circulation of
all the other local papers, and with all the
eircuiatl3n OF out-of-town papers, it is still
true that many people never see any other
newspaper from the LIST of January to the
Slst Of December.
THEIR ALL IN ALL
And it is all their current literature. too
save light novel now and then. Meeting
them in the evening they entertain you with
news, opinions, advice, scientific theories
literary gems, jests and jokes, all gathered
from the evening encyclopedia have again
and again listened to conversations where no
Idea advanced had come from any other
source than that evenings STAR except those
which came from The STAR of the evening be-
fore. While / was listening / replaced each
idea in its own column, for /, too read my
STAR with thorough care.
THE POWER OF THE PAPER.
Now, inasmueh as THE STAR, though very gem
eral, having the news of both press associa-
lions, to say nothing of its specials" is also
very local, its peculiar position In this commun-
lily IS easily accounted for. Peculiar and re-
ms al Ia ia fOrr har
size In the United States which is so Influenced
by one newspaper as Washington is by The STAR
Its power is simply inealculable, going as it does
into every home, read as ii is by every reader
and taken as guide, philosopher and friend by
SO many. 1t will not say that nothing can sue
coed IN Washington without THE STAR's help.
but 1 hazard little In saying that nothing can
succeed against its will for il is one of the few
modern newspapers which really mold public
opinion directly and persistently It's brief
editorials, never all together exceeding a COL
umn and often not stretching much over half a
column, make up the minds of many Washing
tonlans, and its statements of fact affect the
minds Of us all. IL would be foolish to saw that
IL ALWAYS uses its extraordinary power Alright
IL Is fallible like the rest of US. But its aims
are right, and itmakes aeenter shot oftener than
most Of us.
THE ORGAN OF WASHINGTON.
Its great aim is to represent Washington, and
this it does, on the whole, very faithfully and
accurately. 1noepenoent In politics, 1t is the
organ of Washington and of Washington
alone, having perceived at its beginning
the vanity Of trusting in poiiticians'
and having intrusted its future to the
people. 1t has the fruits of wisdom. / need
hardly say that The STAR is the best piece of
property IN the District Of Columbia No one
knows bow much it is worth, but everybody
knows that it cannot be bought. It is gener
ally supposed to De netting more than 10 per
cent ON sl,0oo.ooo every year. When You re-
neet that everybody takes it and everybody
eovertises In 1t, 1t seems probable that its net
income may be much more than this. IL ia
very modest though, in this as in other mat
tiers. Il has very little to say about itself.
considering how much it might say with truth.
CIRCULATION OF THE STAR
It does announce that whereas the average
circulation in 1855 was q, sol copies, it is now
81, 2il. and whereas its new advertisements
were l9, S2s in the first half of 1885. they were
Big IN the first half of 15S9-all upon oath.
likewise that its books are open to inspection.
But II Is only lately that il has added an ad-
vernseLlent OF itself to its numerous adyertis-
ing columns. The fact 10 TIE STAR speaks for
itself to any one who keeps his eyes open in
Warrington.
The STAFF OF ''rHE STAR"
The STAR, like every other successful news
pspsr, Is growth. When it was bought by