Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1894-10-21
1000 SQUARE MILES
OF PAPER.
THESE FIGURES REPRESENT The ANNUAL
ISSUES OF AMERICAN PERIODICALS.
Antiquity Of Nswsp,psH-Sahstics Of The Worlds
PlblicatiOns-Journslism IN Europe, Asia and
Afiea-SEndaY Papsrs-Big GirculatOns-A
Babel Of Languages Used HTs-Class Publea-
lions.


Copgrish', 1891. by ne Author, NarIhGh. No.
Most modern of all things 10 appear
ance and spirit is the daily newspaper,
and vet this characteristic Institution
Of our fin de steele age reaches back
into highly respectable antiquity.
For, leaving out Of account all vague
traditions OF ancient news letters
amongst the Romans. it is indisputable
that our esteemed contemporary, the
Gazette, OF Pekin, China, has appeared
In its present form for thousand years
al least.
This venerable pioneer OF daily jour
nalism has probably made more out and
out scoops" Of the latest news than all
Of the rest OF the newspaper world put
together. Hale and hearty after mil
lennium o! life, IL still sends out daily
its edition OF IS pages printed on OBJ
long sheets OF soft ragged-edged paper
enclosed in yellow cover, stitched At the
back. Its circulation reaches ten thou
sand, and its contents are mainly OIL
cial information and imperial edicts,
interesting to many readers at the pres
ent time, whilst the Son OF Heaven is
making such havoc OF the yellow riding
jackets, peacock feathers and other
personal adornments OF his numerous
but scarcely valiant subjects.
Journalism was somewhat later In
taking its rise in Europe. News pam
phletS which were occasional p"Dlica-
tions containing Information I, and
comment on, the more striking ews OF
the time. appeared before the din covery
Of America. A specimen bearing the
date 1495is still in existence. Written
news letters which also helped 10 pre-
pare the way for the true newspaper OF
later times, were widely circulated In
Europe, and to limited extent In the
American colonies also.
The FrdnkfOrtCr Journal appeared In
that we'll known German city in 1918,
and was the first regular European
newspaper. IL was followed in 1919 by
NetCs ont of Holland, EngIand's earli-
est paper. This latter appeared irregu-
larly for short time, and was then
succeeded by the more permanent
Weekly Ne,rs in 1922. The CoumnL
established in 1909 was the fir@ London
daily.
In our own country. the present home
OF the most unlimited freedom that
journalism anywhere enjoys, IL had,
strangely enough, 10 contend at its
birth with q vigorous censorship OF the
press. A paper which attempted TO
"a, NM nj l..
ly suppressed by the government OF
Massachusetts, on the plea that III con-
tanned renexions Of a very high nature, "
which however, consisted OF nothing
but the ordinary political news OF the
day. A successor called PUblick occur
TcncCS. launched the following year, met
a like fate. So effectively were these
pioneer American sheets stamped out,
that only one copy Of the first, and two
copies Of the second are known TO be In
existence.
The Boston Nel0s- Letter was started
in 1904. and the Gazette Of the same
city in 1919. From this time on the
gag seems TO have been removed from
the mouth OF the press, and newspapers
multiplied until at the time OF the
breaking out OF the Revolutionary war,
there were 81 OF them In the various
colonies
II Is interesting 30 note the location
OF these. Massachusetts had seven;
Connecticut three; Rhode Island two,
and New Hampshire one. Pennsylvania
had eight papers and New York three.
In the South, South Carolina lad with
three; Maryland, Virginia and North
Carolina had two each and Georgia one.
This was the beginning little more
than a century ago, OF that mighty host
OF publications which has sprung up In
the United States, until to-day II Is
credited with no less than 10, Sj5 news
papers and periodicals. Since the most
reliable statistics estimate about $1,000
as the product OF the whole world, our
own country issues nearly ona-half OF
them.
or the other leading nations Germany
issues the most. 5000 periodicals;
France has 4, 100; England 1000; Austro-
Hungary $500, aud Italy l,400. No
other country has thousand publlca.
lions. Canada possesses 9l0; all Aus
trAllia 700; South America G35; Asia
46I, and Africa about $50. The State
OF New York publishes more news
papers than the whole world south Of
the equator.
China with six times the population
OF our Own country has only about one
tnousandth as mauy papers, or TO be
exact "a including the venerable father
OF journalism already mentioned. OF
these, eleven are issued 10 the native
tongue; one In French, and the rest in