Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-05
AFTEE N Joni NEWSPAPERS
They Are Now in the Lead in Every
Locality.
Have Made Marvellous Progress Dur
ing the Last frerter century-
Points In Which They Excel.

The San Francisco Bulletin of recent
date published the following interview with
Mr.. George P. Roweff. the veteran adver-
Using agent and publisher of Printers Ink:
The three chief events of the last quar-
ter century in the newspaper business
said Mr.. Rowell, "are the rise Of the daily
paper the success of the 1-cent paper in
the east, though not in the far west, and
the coming forward of the afternoon paper.
These movements have elbowed the weekly
paper out Of It's former place There was
time when the daily papers were read only
in the cities: now they are read even in the
backwoods. The farmer wants his news as
fresh as the Wall street broker gets 1t
and will not be denied.
THE 1-cent paper is; paramount in the
east. The journal came down in price and
forced the World, which was making per-
haps $SOO,OOO per annum. to be content
with 100000 But it will be twenty or
thirty years before good 1-cent paper will
succeed financially on the Pacific coast. A
1-cent paper can succeed only among q
large population. The New York newspa-
per presses feed the news to ten or fifteen
million people or more. They circulate
from Boston to Washington and 500 miles
westward. Of that multitude of readers
100000 are within thirty minutes travel
of the press rooms. But in California and
the west distances are great and popuIa-
tons sparse. The time will come when
the boys of today will then be gray or bald
Yes, the afternoon papers are making
marvellous progress. Everywhere they are
in the lead. And let me say in preface that
l am an old-fashioned man and was reared
in the old idea, which 1 still hold for that
matter, that the morning papers are, as q
rule, the best. What say in favor of af-
ternoon papers has been pounded into me
by cold facts against all my prejudices
1.-THE strongest argument in favor Of the
afternoon paper Is that 1t prints today's
news today. while the morning paper holds
1t over until tomorrow. News. like milk
must be had fresh, else 1t is sour and stale
morning paper which reprints what the
evening press made common knowledge
the day before will naturally fall behind.
Therein lies the strength Of the evening pa
pers and the weakness of The morning
journals.
Another point is that the afternoon pa
pers are read more closely by the women
than their morning rivals. There Is no
doubt of that statement, and the fact is. of
course, important to advertisers who want
to lay their announcements before women.
me evening papers are acquiring a Won
derful prestige and their value as adver-
Using media is increasing, as wise adver-
Using men are becoming aware. The Chi
cago News, an afternoon paper in 1899
published more advertising than any other
newspaper in the world which tells the
truth about its circulation or gives adver-
Users opportunities of verifying statements
of circulation.
TN New York the Evening Journal has
a larger circulation than the Morning Jour-
nal. and the Evening World has a larger
circulation than the Morning World. This
Is proud showing for the afternoon pa
pers. In most large cities the situation is
the same. For instance. on the Pacific
coast. in Spokane the best known paper is
published in the morning, but an evening
paper there has as large a circulation; in
Seattle an evening paper prints as many
copies as any morning paper in the city,
and in Portland. where the Oregonian has
controlled the field for years, there is an
evening paper which has as large a num-
Der of readers as its older contemporary.
AS 1 said before. however, I was bred
up to respect and revere the morning pa
pers, and these praises of the evening pa
pers express convictions which 1 very re-
.iuctantly admitted to my mind. And say
again that the mightiest argument in ad-
vocacy of the afternoon journals Is that
they publish the news on the day when
events OCCUR, not the day after" -,,.-