Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-19
A NOVELTY IN JOURNALISM.
The Smallest Circulation in the World.

From Current Literature.
Instead of "the largest circulation" the
newspaper Of the greatest earthly dignity has
"the smallest circulation in the world" 1t il
the Austrian Kaiser's chronicie-the most curl.
Gus publication in Europe. It's proprietor ID
| the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, who
publishes it for his sole benefit, and not for
that of the public. State duties occupy most
of his time and ne has little leisure to read the
Vienna dailies. He wants to know not only
what goes on every day in the civilized world,
but also what is said in Europe and America about
the Austrian government. To satisfy this de-
sire it would be necessary for him to skim
through hundreds of papers daily, but even
then many pungent notice of himself or his
government would certainly escape him. And
even il he were to employ a staff Of clerks to
examine the papers, and clip out the proper
articles, he would be little better off, for he
would have no time to read the mass of material
which they would hand to him every morning.
News, however, the kaiser must have, and
through this paper, the Imperial Rerieec. he
gets it in richer and fuller measure than any
other man in the world.
The construction of the paper is az unique as
its object. The Imperial News Bureau, which
Is almost department of state, publishes it al
cost OF 20O,00 gulden yearly. The chief OF
is assisted by several sub-editors, each Of whom
is In turn assisted by corps of trained clerks.
The work begins before dawn, when the chiefs
mail-wagon proceeds to the depot for the for
elgn papers. Once in the bureau they are
sorted according to the different countries or
states, and taken to the various sub-editors.
Ihere Is copy of every leading paper in Eu-
rope, no matter in what language it may be
printed; and there are also copies of several
minor Austrian papers in the different dialects
OF the empire. The huge pile of papers being
arranged, the clerks go to work. On any ref
erence to the Austrian government or the i'm
perlal family being found, a blue pencil is
drawn through the article. In this manner the
readers get through their work, after which the
marked papers are sent to the sub-editors. who
read the articles carefully, and condense them.
lengthy criticism may thus be reduced to a
few lines, though, If very important, little prun-
ing may take place. In all cases the original
language and style are closely preserved 1t
Is, of course, necessary to translate all foreign
articles into German, as the Repie,c is in that
language. This work of translation takes a
long time, but cannot be shirked as the for
eign criticisms form an essential part of the
Reuie,r.
In due time, however, every paper has been
read, and every article condensed, and now
comes the last process in the construction of
this strange paper. 1t is late at night for the
work is very heavy, and the paper must be
ready for the emperor in the morning Men
famous for their penmanship do the finishing
work. The selected articles are given to them
and they make three copies-one for the
emperor, one for the foreign minister, and one
for the secretary of state. A fourth copy is
never made, and glimpse at one of the three
Is never vouchsafed to any one unconnected
with the bureau. The copy of the emperor is
written on beautiful linen paper. and at the
head of the first page stands the finely deco
rated title, Journai-Revue fur Sic Majestat den
Kaiser. The copies for the minister and secre-
tary are also written on exceptionally hand
some paper, but of an inferior quality to that
used for the emperor's. The writing itself is
like copper-plate, and no matter what the
hurry may be. excellence in this respect is i'm
perative. There are usually from sixteen to
twenty pages in the paper, but in dull times.
when criticism is scanty, it falls az low as four
or five. 1t is the emperor's regular custom to
read the Rerietc as soon as he rises in the
morning, and if there is any specially i'm
portant article in it he summons his minister
and has talk with him about it. At any rate
he reads the journal from beginning to end,
and thus knows each day how he and his gov
eminent are regarded by the civilized nations
OF the earth. The articles may be old-as a
matter of fact, each journal is a day late-but
thew arc nav IN him,