Evening journal., 1898-05-19
NEWSPAPERS OAbsPA1N.
They Are Few I'm Numher ana Even
the Hest of Them Contain
Very Little News.

Spain is a country Of 100000 popu-
lation, but there are fewer newspapers
published in il, daily weekly and BIZ
monthly, official, semi-ofllcial, secular
and scientific, than are p :bnshed in the
single American state of Illinois, which,
by the last federal census, had popula-
ton OF 3,s0O,OOO. And many, il not
most, Of the newspapers published In
Spain are newspapers in name only, for
their most distinguished characteristic
is that they do not contain any news,
being devoted TO what are called "mat-
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.
Bare elona Is now the most populous
Of the Spanish cities, exceeding by tho
recent census the population Of Madrid
by several thousands. But the two Bar
celona papers which have the largest
circulation are El Loro (the ParroO. a
Catalan journal devoted TO jokes. and
FL Modo Espanol (the Spanish FASH
ions). AS the Spanish fashions have
been precisely the same for several CEN
turtles without the slightest deviation
IN cut or color, fabric or article, the
urgent necessity Of publishing a news
| paper devoted to them is NOT entirely
clear.
Other Barcelona papers are tho Voice
Of the Neighborhood the Bludgeon ca
satirical journal with a grewsome and
CORY name), Publicity, the organ of the
republicans, with 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 Epocn, a con.
servatiye Journal. which makes claim 10
a circulation Of 5000. It Is "a four-poge
paper of blanket style and makes n fea-
ture of foreign spatches-vhen Il
gets them El Globo, journal of lib
eral tendencies, has a much larger cir.
culation, though smaller IN size than lsl
Liberal or the lmparcial, two other
papers well known to European render
generally who are familiar with Span
ish journalism.
The propensity Of spuniards to in
dulge In bombastic titles Is reflected
somewhat in the press of that country
Cadiz, "a town having about the sam,
population as Hartford, Conn, has tw,
daily papers, one known ns the DE
fender Of Codiz and the other as Clamor
One of the Madrid papers, a paper al
most wholly devoted to illusions to tn
) past and the greatness of Spain,
} called the Future Century, and two o
the papers of Malaga are known re
spectively as the News and the FuturC
a favorite title among tho provincial
papers OF Spain is Publicitad (public
lty), which can hardly be regarded a
q wise selection OF tide for q countr
, which receives fewer foreign telC
r ] graphic dispatches IN Il week than th
city of New York gets In day, and q
r. | which press censorship exists OF s
a stern a quality as TO divest Spanish p,
e 1 pers generally Of all claim 10 ind'
. i pendenca in matters relating 20 the go'
ernment.
~ There are, approximately, 1900 pi
: pers in Spain, of which 500 are dc
ncribed rs newspapers, 800 as sclentif
b journals (mostly monthly journals
Al 100 are religious papers, and 800 dea
Z / with fashions Spanish faslons), satire
( poetry, music and art subjects. Nearl
e one-half the papers of Spain are pull
| lished in Barcelona or Madrid. In th
latter city there Is one paper publishe
in French, and In Gibraltar, under Eng
lish control, there is one published i
English. The average circulation of
s Spanish newspaper is 1900 copies.-l
e | y. Sun.