The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-10-14
Reaction Rgainst
Yellow Journalism



G7HE New York Times, one of the
most admirable nl wspapers pub
lished, has startled its Contcmpora-
riCs in that city by reducing It's
price from three cents to one cent
within the limits of Greater New York.
The old price will obtain for out of town
buyers. The reason given for the change
in l,riCc is a desire to increase its circuid-
tion ana broaden its influence, The New
York Times has long had the standing Of
a model newspaper and an eXemplar in
journalism. Edited with conspicuous
ability, and conducted with enterprise
and intelligence, ii is d wholesome. clean
journal, eschcwinG all manner of filth and
indeCenCy, and constituting one of the
strongest benelicCnt influences that are
striving to make treason prevail "All
the news that's fit to print is its motto,
and II has lived up to it, The entrance
of such a paper into the one cent field
could not fail to evoke criticism and re-
ncwed discussion of the old question
whether it is possible to publish on sound
business principles a paper of the highest
quality and character for one cent. The
Times is confident of success, though an
nounCing its intention to return to high
er price if advisable, and declares that the
change is one of price and not Of char
aCter.
ID
The criticism advanced by the oppo-
nents of the one cent idea is that there is
"A certain price, below which 1t is impUs-
sihlc. on sound business principles. to
publish a newspaper and one cent Is be-
low that price. The cost of publishing
newspaper is enormous. The great
plant to be maintained, the corps OF men
trained in the craft, the large body of
skilled workmen, the army of newsgath-
crs the various fixed charges. the interest
on the capital. and especially the white
paper consumed daily, make total wnich
is so huge that, if high quality in all be
maintained, the completed paper if sold
at one cent, is sold without plolll. ur at
an actual loss. This is the shrewd critl-
CiSm based on many experiments, made
against the lower price. II is wholly i'm
material how many copies are sold, be-
cause the cost of white paper Oc a good
| quality is so great that with tho other
EXPENSES added, the COST of each finished
paper leaves no margin az one cent.
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1t is evident, then, that any prospect
of profit for the publisher rests wholly
in the incrt ased advertising patronage,
which he hopes will follow This is not
business. 1T is the abandonment of the
only safe sound business ground, that
OF fair profit, to embark IN the realm
of the fortuituus. 1t is a change from a
sound, safe business basis to a pre-
Carous and doubtful one, and there
| fore. we should say that in placing a
paper in a hazardous position, jeopar-
| dizing its independence, there is ten
| dency to weaken its independence and
| impair its tone.
The editor of the Times assumes that
| there is "A vast number of educated. re-
| fined and intelligent people in New York
| who would prefer to read clean news
paper, mot given over to Vulgarty and
madhCuse methods" and that these peo-
| pie, who are now deferred from reading
| a decent newspaper because of its higher
| and read Wholesome ones If the price be
| lowered. Here are two false assump-
| tons. We do not believe that refined
| people read the "madhouse" sheets, and
| we do not assent to the proposition that
| Intelligent, healthy minded people arc de
| TERED from habitually reading decent pa
| pers because of the difference of one OF
| estimate to put upon the quality of the
| Country'S refinement and Intelligence. Ii
| Is, We are sure, a mistake to assume that
| only the well to do buy the high class
| newspapers. We do not think it is sc
| much matter of means as of taste anC
character, and the intelligent ana refined
! whether rich or pcpr Will be found, W.
newspapers.
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| The Times, we believe, has made {
mistake. The people who now read Iht
| "madhOuse" sheets read them because
they are loud and vulgar. They ar,
the morbid, who, as the French say, con
| stantly crave new shver" They arr
| seeking a new sensation, and the pape
| that peppers the highest is surest I,
| please 1t is clientage as unstable al
| water, and when once got Is of uncertain
| duration. The temptation 10 hold II by ca
tering To il will be well nigh Irresistible
| No orator is unintuCnCed by his audience
and every newspaper is bound 10 be infu
| cnced, IL may be II scnSihly, but none tn,
less appreciably by the character of III
readers, TO make sacrifice of quality TO
mere popularity is TO throw away success
and to get what is of questionable value
People who believe that the day of tn,
one cent newspaper is inevitable are, W,
think wide of the mark. The very oppo
site we deem to be the exact truth. Th
cheap yellow journalism has been over
done. The people are tired of il, an,
the reaction is coming. To suppose tha
the vogue OF the hideous mass of rdi
culous, inane, vulgar, mendacious stu'
that masqueTades under the name of new
In the famboYant cheap Journals Is any
thing but passing craze is To who'll,
misiudge the sanity and basic common
sense of the people, They are disguise,
with II, and we have the best reasons
based on the most irrcfragable TESTIMONY
that there never Was time when tn
people were mere willing TO pay fai