The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-06-10
NEWSPAPERS OF SPAIN.
they Are Few in Number and Even
the Best of Them Contain
Very Little News.

Spain is country of 100000 popu-
lation, but there are fewer newspapers
published in it, daily, weekly and BIZ
monthly, official, semi-ofIicial, secular
and scientific, than are published in the
single American state of Illinois, which,
by the last federal census, had popula-
ton of 3,S00,000. And many, if not
most, of the newspapers published in
Spain are newspapers in name only, for
!heir most distinguished characteristic
is that they do not contain any news,
being devoted to what are called 'smat-
ters in general" or such matters in
particular as permit of the publication
Of the paper any day of the week or any
hour of the day-it doesn't make much
difference which.
Barcelona is now the most populous
of the Spanish cities, exceeding by the
recent census the population of Madrid
by several thousands. But the two Bar
celona papers which have the largest
circulation are El Loro (the Parrot, a
Catalan journal devoted to jokes, and
El Modo Espanof (the Spanish Fash
ions). AS the Spanish fashions have
been precisely the same for several CEN
turies, without the slightest deviation
in cut or color, fabric or article, the
urgent necessity of publishing news
paper devoted to them is not entirely
clear.
Other Barcelona papers are the Voice
Gf the Neighborhood, the Bludgeon "a
satirical journal with grewsome and
CORY name), Publicity, the organ of the
republicans, with a circulation smaller
than that of the New York City Record,
and the Family Pictorial. In Madrid.
the capital, a newspaper which has been
frequently referred to in the cable dis
Patches from Spain is La Epoca, a con-
servative journal, which makes claim to
circulation of 5000. 1t is four-page
paper of blanket style and makes a fea-
ture of foreign dispatches-when it
gets them. Ell Globo, journal of lib
eral tendencies, has much larger cir
culation, though smaller in size than El
Liberal or the impartial, two other
papers we'll known to European readers
generally who are familiar with Span
ish journalism.
The propensity of Spaniards to in
dulge in bombastic titles is reflected
somewhat in the press of that country.
Cadiz, town having about the same
population as Hartford, Conn.,, has two
daily papers, one known as the De-
fender of Cadiz and the other as Clamor.
One of the Madrid papers, paper all
most wholly devoted to illusions to the
past and the greatness of Spain, is
called the Future Century, and two of
the papers of Malaga are known re-
spectively as the News and the Future.
a favorite title among the provincial
papers of Spain is Publicitad public
ity), which can hardly be regarded as
wise selection of title for a country
which receives fewer foreign tele-
graphic dispatches in a week than the
city of New York gets in a day, and in
which a press censorship exists of so
stern q quality as to divest Spanish pa
pers generally of all claim to indie
pendence in matters relating to the gov
ernment.
There are, pproximately, 1900 pa
pers in Spain, of which 500 are de-
scribed as newspapers, 300 as scientific
journals (mostly monthly journals),
100 are religious papers, and 300 deal
with fashions Spanish fasions), satire,
poetry, music and art subjects. Nearly
one-half the papers of Spain are pub
lished in Barcelona or Madrid. In the
latter city there is one paper published
in French, and in Gibraltar, under Eng
lish control, there is one published in
English. The average circulation of
Spanish newspaper is 1900 copies.-N.
Y. Sun.