The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-03-24
ONE CENT JOURNALISM
And It's Rssults-h oaisrs 30 Low TASTES
TO Thrive.

20 Thrive.
New York Post: There Is AN inter-
estIng account in cosmopolis OF the orl-
gin OF the one.cent paper. 1t was EN-
| lie GlrardIn who started the downward
movement In 1885 when lie establish
ed the Prcsse at forty francs yea.
Some comment on the enterprise by
Armand carrel In the National led to
the famous duel With Glrardlu, In which
carrel was killed. for GlrardIn had re
| piled sharply and threatened, Hs our
| journalists do occasionally, 10 publish
| the Biographies OF various editors. But
he disclRimed all idea OF doing anything
| more by selling his paper cheap than
making money.And he made II. differing
in this from our one-cent editors. who
sell FOR o cent not TO make money, but
| TO Increase their power. Jules Simon.
one of the Oldest. II not the Oldest, OF
French Journalists. who writes the ar
tlcle In the CoFmopolls, commenting on
the enormous change wrought In jour
| naiism by the one-cent movement,
| points out that no money can be made
at that price by mere circulation; that
| II is the advertisements drawn by the
circulation which supply the profits. To
the advertiser. says he, 1T Ia OF no i'm
| portance that you are listened TO by
ulplOHluNHt aNuultd ny HUAuNlgIbs VIZ
cussed by the newspapers OF every par
| ty. The only thing the advertiser cares
about Is the number OF your readers; II
is your publicity that he buys, You are
therefore Obliged, on pain OF bankruptcy
or en- pain OF death. TO make large sales.
| In order TO make large sales OF penny
| p1per-that Is, q paper which goes 10
.workingmen, furnRce.men. messengers,
and SO forth-What DO you need to be?
A savant? No. Wise. far-seeing. ra-
tionnl? BY no means, Nationality Is
| tiresoms. Il Is passion which domi-
| mates: II Is scandal which attracts and
holds: II Is hatred which Is contagious;
! II ts folly which eXciteB the tmnBina.
ton. 1t Is to whatever is silly and
| dangerous and unwholesome that such
a journal must address itself, because
instead OF receiving from on high the
mama OF life. II Is Obliged 10 go down
| low, very low. and howl with the
wolves and flatter all bad passions In
order simply to live"
This is a pretty black picture. and
yet no one can deny It's substantial ac-
| ctiracy. Still, there are countervaillng
considerations One Is that. consider.
ed as property. the most successful
scandalous papers are not as sure as
the soberer ones at higher price. There
Is no more stable property In the world
| to-day than the London Times, which
Is absolutely free from the faults de-
scribed by NJ. Simon. A share in the
| Times Is to-day as SURE a possession
as consols or Bank OF England stock.
So that, as rule. In deciding what
kind Of paper you Will establish you
have TO choose between staoiiity ahu
very large profits. The compeIu.oh
| between the scnndaious papers ~ every
where Very great. and their success
therefore. 10 apt TO be ephemeral. The
supply OF men Mt to conduct such pa
pers II large. Even II Il does not run
the older competitors out OF the held, II
cuts into their circulation, and may
any day "get a beat on O crime or
scandal which would run up the sales
by tens OF thousands. This makes the
profits very precarious; one Gay tue
owner Is rolling in millions: year later
he is borrowing on mortgage. he never
gets a permanent public OF his own:
The editor is, as Tocqueville pointed
out, a man bawlIng out window TO
a crowd In the street which Is c9nun-
ually moving, and can be stopped only
by something startling.
Another thing which prepares his de-
cav fs the necessity OF inveninS, which
In this market the competition makes
inevitable. II Is impossible TO Keep
ahead OF rivals all the TIME Win tSAA
sensations. The professional liar has
therefore, sooner or later TO be called IN
and ne goes the other fellow "one bet
ter" and although his public likes scan
daI, Il prefers II real. A nasty thlns
actually happened il worth two pro-
ducts OF a nasty Imagination. When
this begins, the competitors shout
cake" and offer rewards for his ex-
posure. and then there Is furious con-
troyersy over the question who OF the
lot is the greatest fraud. In the mid-
die OF the ahindy probably new com
petItor appears. and 50 or Ia cHpo. The
evil Is a great one. mainly because 1t
begets a habit OF mind among large
masses OF the population, a hippant' r.
reyerent. devil-may way Of look
ing at things, which act unwholesome-
| iy on all the business OF life; but, as
mercantile venture. cheap, nasty jour
nallsm can never prove really atract-
| i've, Its profits are uncertain, and even
when II brings wealth II rarely brings
any social consideration. without which
| wealth, TO most men, loses half Its val
ne. IL differs from other shametully
acquired wealth In that II has TO be Ac-
auired openly. by processes which are
seen Of everybody, while other dis
graceful gains may be made. 80 TO
speak, ION the sly"
|