The Washington critic., 1889-04-25
THE EVENING PAPER,
Comparison of Its Growth with That
of Morning Journals.

The average man to-day buys news
paper as he buys sugar or calioo-because
he wants II. This applies no less 70 com.
munity than an individual. The practical
public with hard business judgment, dis
eliminates between good papers and poor
buyingthe former, rejecting the latter--to II
discriminates, according TO its convenience
or need, and now more than ever before,
between the evening and the morning
paper. Which is the better paper2 Which
better accommodates the lcizurc belonging
10 myself and family wherein 10 read the
newspaper According as he answers these
two questions the average man decides
which Of the rival issues he will have.
II we are agreed that American news
paper readers buy the paper they want
because they want II, and because no other
and rival paper meets til cir want as well
We are prepared to study briefly some com
paratlye facts relating TO morning aud
evening papers. The objects OF the study
shall be to discover which issue has been
the more popular in the past; whether the
one Issue more than the other is in present
request; and In which direGtion--whethcr
toward the morning or the evening paper
sets the tendency Of the average demand.
II is matter Of comparative ease for any
one cropping back to the primitive time when
the newspaper was born to come upon
historians Of eminent respectiblity who
testify that the first dailes were all pub
llshed In the afternoon. Also To discover
others Of respectabllity quite as eminent
who unblushingly affirm that the first
dallits were all published In the morning.
] am willing to admit that the first wit
nesses are right, but am unable TO prove
that the last witnesses are wrong. AS the
happy mean of truth, think we may with
good warrant conclude that since daily
papers were printed there have been both
evening and morning issues. London had
daily morning paper in 1863; its first even
ing paper in 171S. Philadelphia's first daily,
born to an exceedingly precsrious patron
age in 1854, was issued In the morning.
New York's first daily was an evening
paper, and under the name The Commercial
ddreRiser, still lives, perhaps the oldest
daily of continuous publication in America.
In 1910 one-third of all the dailies. In
the United States were published
n,Ia,io,, ~ ,'., at,,, es,i,, 10
IT, Iooo ,,,Io ar.r.,,,,. ~ ri t.aa, ~. IN
coo. a.s, ase ,ooo ',,' .,,., W w.
80 NV -, ~ -. W. 90 nno
| Two years prior to this time, or in 1880 the
power press was invented, and not long
thereafter. the penny paper came into
,osue' .', NV auueu n ia.,''oo % a,'u en.pp'u'u
pS'I - 80. - 49, ~ a ~ ~. w s,N 80" oao'y , ,,a
s,n, 49,, ' ,,aa.s ''u poopS' "n" m"o
s.''..".,' g., -, w ~,
ss,. Sssa. .oa,,,,n n,,,,,a ;, PA'"''' -
90
Al low 'no ,o'a popui'a''on Vi 'no
oniteu States anu ierri'ories was 1'ooV'-
| wv ou. 'no aAef"so 'o'ai e'rcuia'ion per
uAy Vi u"iiy he"spapors was ohiy 'oo'1o''
III aooo, 90 VIII WIZ an eS''iiia'eu .o'a. popuiauoh
oioo,Vo,ooV, Tue average totai oi uaiiy news
papers cncuia'eu each uay was f,'f''ooo'
No'e the contrast "ithih thirty-eight years
the Popuiauoh vi 'ne country was iess thah
three umes huiupned' while the regular
circulation OF the daily papers was more
than SIX uines muitipNed' but oy lar the
greater part Oh inns tremendous gam mas
peeh achieVed ~itlnn tne iast twenty years
,oso' ~ ~. o aay ,ocn ~. ~ 'a,9 uo"u1.y
"a ' ,s3o. on.' 90, a. 800. 900 sn' ~ ,ose
=, s ~, a,iaa ~ 49, ~ .,,a. d,
,arrh, h,no,soan. ,ho,. oanohn,.ta.
y.
-. - ""s .A'
49, w., ". sl. s9. S9s' go s''.9e d,
n' so' y 'o s',, ,io" Slo
I'm, "n.n 'osa" 'no ui'eipIne uuuei
"noo .... W. ~ ''' '"''0N VI
o"'pupe,,ioauois' islo .,' A. ,-
a. ro'V .n'io "e.o ~ 'n0 .n''eu S'a'e'
anu ieii''of'e' o's uaihes' Aceoruihs 'o
ne estimate OIL veteran advertising ex.
pert .Iine more 'ha,i one haii' OF S'o' Oh
,nese were uiornie' anu lriie less 'i,an one
nan, orS'o, "ereesenihB issues III iooV the
to.Ai nuhoer Oh saimes hau Increased sc
o'i-'oo norniiie, 900 evening III 1859
the nunhoel oi ua'iies hau lurther increaseu
10 i'4So' VI this 'o'ai' oo' were morning
anu COS were evening
e'u'eu py Percentages, .ne recoru appears
'hus' III io,o' % per cent morning. 70 pei
cent evening" IN iooo, only 20 per cent
morning anu 90 per cent evening" IN io9o
'r'ne more 'hah 90 per cent "orh'ng' ano
a'hos' VI per cch'' evening
Going back to 1850 candid search leave'
no ground for doubling that the aggregate
morning circulation was then much 1r
excess OF the aggregate evening circulation
am even persuaded that the morning cir
euiation OF the country nj the present
time, measured as whole, Is somewhat
larger than the evening circulation Bu'
the excess is relatively much smaller than
was eight years ago. IL is diminishing
ana VIII disappear Inc morning papers
are no longer exclusively the papers OF