The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1892-04-29
American Newspaper Evolution.

Twenty-Five years ago the large city
newspaper had circulation extending
over u much greater area than it has to-
lay, The carrier delivered the morning
newspaper from the cityo the first class
by the hundred copies to the city of the
second class hundred miles away, The
Did method has changed almost without
our knowing it, The daily from the
great city has indeed as large a circula'
lion as formerly, but it is drawn inward
and localized, The daily of the small
city, on the other hand, crushed and over
,hadowed quarter of a century ago by
its great city rival, has doomed up in as
lonishing proportions and taken ON new
life, Newspaper evolution has been in the
direction of localizing all journals and
combining them to their own neighbor-
hoods, at the same time that the daily
Of the smaller cities has increased in in
luence, wealth and circulation a hun
dredfold, 1t has practically driven ont
of its neighborhood the daily of the great
Guy. Az nome III Is hluS.
The newspaper of the small city now
compares favorably in appearance and
contents with the great daily as we'll
There are no handsomer or more neway
and able papers in this country than
some of those published in the small
cities.
Th,e al IL, ,l,o ic lra 10
eral reasons. First we have the general
increase in wealth and population.
Neighborhood papers get more liberal
patronage by tenfold than formerly.
Advertising and daily newspaper read
ing have increased enormously. The
country merchant now has a rich and
f. shionable stock of goods, the farmer
must have his daily paper. We are be-
coming a cititied nation throughout.
The public schools of America have SO
diffused desire for knowledge among us
that we are a nation of newspaper
readers.
Another reason for the enormously in
creased circulation of the country news
paper is the localization of its news You
can now pick up your familiar paper
and find out what all the people you
know are doing or are going to do. The
character of the journal has changed
completely The first newspapers pub
lished i'll this country were filled with
sermons, essays and sentimental poetry.
News as a feature of the newspaper was
scarcely thought of. Now nearly all is
news-that is, all except advertisements.
If that master of fine English, Joseph
Addison, were on earth today, his essays
would be thrown into the waste basket
of any live newspaper in America.
Readers want current events dished up
for them daily, particularly the events
of their own locality.
The leveling tendency between the
newspaper of the large city and that of
the small one is altogether in favor Of
the smaller. 1t has leveled up, so to
speak, alongside the great daily How
greatly the syndicate system has con-
tributed to this happy result it is impos-
sible to calculate. a number of news
papers in different parts Of the country
combining to buy the same correspond
ence, the same news or the same orig
inal novel, thus lowering the share of
the price paid by each to comparative
trihe, has brought the best journalistic
achievement within reach Of the small
daily equally with the large one. There
are not as good newspapers anywhere
else in the world us in America, and the
small ones are in many instances better
than the large ones. While the large
ones have remained stationary the small
ones have improved UNNECESSARILY.