The Somerset reporter., 1893-09-21
4 NEWSI APER T3I ST.
A PROJECTED c1"slStTlOs FoF
NM ENGL..0 JOURNALS.

4 l'ropo.ea 'on,bi.ie With "A Capital Of
~Io.eoo.ua0 ib"utto BE FORMED to Com
tr"I thr l.n-ine.- interests Of the Lead
Ing Paper, 81 Nc, England.
He Progilcnee News is informed BY
III authority that hae always been con-
siacred reliable 'l.f another big fnan
cial project i under serious consi1era-
tion by Il number Of capitalists f New
York, Philadelphia and Chicago 10 So
cure control ard 10 niauagea number Of
properties IN IL New England states
that arr very valuable and profitable
but which under such a consideration a.
the one proposed will prove even more
remuneratiye and influential by the re-
duction Of the expense in operating, and
by the purchase Of supplies III quantities
20 large as 10 demand great reductions
in the price Of material used
For years it has been recognized that
good paving newspaper is one Of the
most solid and stable investments that
money can b. put into and the majority
VI tiA' Nv II nv ''AhAA ~
large to be the personal property Of sin
gle owners, have been managed by stock
companies.
This consolidation Of newspapers un-
der one management l. not a particular
ly new idea. II has been very successful
ON smaller scale in the west, where the
Scripps league is widely known as big
cH-,,,l,,.t. ,,.,,asri,,tr 1,za,, vain, lilo
newspaper plants.
Ii was one If the dreams Of the elder
Bennett which number Of years ago
came near 10 realization. The New York
Herald and The Times. the Chicago Times,
st. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Boston
Herald at one time came very near being
controlled by a syndicate, with the elder
Bennett at its head, but disagreements
arose, and the negotiations came to
naught.
The enormous earnings of big papers
like the New York Herald. sun and
World, the Boston Herald and Globe are
the natural results of seriods and inde-
fatigable efforts extending over series
of years, 1t is popularity reported that
the New York Herald from his paper is
$750, goo per annum. The World closely
follows this with over 100000, while
The Sun probably makes half that
amount. The Boston Herald is supposed
to divide $500, 600 year between the
owners. while The Globe pays at least 10
per cent net un s.. 000. 600
I'll. ,,r.,,.,s,1 I,tp,,.r .1.a1s
with New England newspapers. and even
this is deal of immense magnitude.
The capitalists alluded to propose to
purchase the leading daily papers in
New England, managing them of course
as individual papers and preserving their
separate autouoinies, yet controlling
them by a directorate, to whom the
agent or manager III charge of each
paper shall report directly. 1t is esti-
mated that Sl000O, 900 in capital will be
| required.
The plan is 10 purchase these proper
ties by issuing bonds for $5.oo000O, pre-
| ferred stock Of $5.O00, 900 and common
stock of $1,000 900. the bonds and the
common stock to be sold for the pur
chase money. the bonds to carry an S
per cent guarantee, the preferred stock
to he a per cent stock, and the common
to declare whatever dividend might be
left over after an allowance for sink
ing fund. At the present cost of operat-
ing the common stock could declare 10
per cent dividend and carry per cent
to the sinking fund,
The cost Of operating would be great
ly reduced. Take for example the Bos
ton dailies or the two big Sunday issues
The Herald and Globe each run trains
| ont over the roads leading from Boston
Sunday morning. seven trains each. One
| of them could be cut off and joint train
run, saving at least $50, 600 per year. By
purchasing paper in such immensequan-
titles the very lowest possible price could
be obtained, and very small fraction of
per cent saved would in the aggregate
| amount TO an enormous figure, and as
with paper so with type, presses, ink and
all other materials. In the matter of
distribution Of papers in Boston alone an
enormous saving would be made
BY the control of all the newspaper
properties in New England by one con-
Germ IA new era in the collection of news
would at once follow. A system of
leased lines, with operators in the en-
ploy of the combine, would be inevitable.
The New England Associated Press
would either be merged in it or go to the
wall, but this system Of leased wires
would bring saving of such proper
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