Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-03-15
THE NEWSPAPERS OF EUROPE.
London Has Fewer Proportionately
Than Any Other City.

nan ANY oluSl WY.
1t will surprise many people to lsars
that in proportion to it's enormous
population London possesses far fewer
newspapers than any other European
capital.
Taking our daily morning and even
ing papers together, we have a total
of 25 we'll established and widely read
journals, which minister to The Lon
doners' thirst for news. OF these Is
treat of general political and social
news, while five are purely financial
and two are confined to sporting. This
works out an average of one newspa-
per to every 100000 inhabitants of
greater London.
Next to London the largest Europe
an city is, of course, Paris, and its
100000 inhabitants share between
them the literary food of Sc daily
newspapers cover 40 of which are
strictly general news sheets). This is
an average of one newspaper to under
| IS, 900 inhabitants. On the same basis
Berlin, with 26 journals, has one to an
average of $1,000 inhabitants, Vienna
one to 5000, Rome one to $4,000,
while Madrid and Lisbon have one
newspaper to an average of only 25,-
900 and $4,000 inhabitants respec-
! lively.
Next to the last named cities, in re-
gard to the number of daily news
papers published, comes Brussels with
| IS; then follow st. Petersburg with Is,
Constantinople with Is, Vienna and
Budapest with IA each, Copenhagen
and Amsterdam with IL each, and
Rome with II. The remaining CAPT
tails are more modest, though all OF
them can boast of at least one news
paper to every 10000 inhabitants.
One Of the most remarkable papers
in Europe-indeed, in the worlds
the Paris Petit Journal, about which
some striking figures were recently
published. 1t is half-penny, four
page paper, undoubtedly the most pop
ular in France, and has a circulation
of over 100000 copies daily. It's net
profits are over S750000 yearly. 1t Is
somewhat difficult to see to what this
truly colossal sale is due, but probably
it is the light and popular" style OF
the paper, and it's abstention from the
dry political polemics which distin-
gush most of its rivals. It is a rab-
idly anti-English journal, and has
caused some amusement lately by the
airing of pet schemes for the annihila-
ton of "Perfide Albion" It's staid
and sober contemporary, the Temps,
makes an annual net profit of about
$4,000 which would seem to show
that steadiness and sobriety in Pa
risian newspaper are not so profitable
as Jew-baiting, anti-Dreyfusism and
Angiophobia.
Perhaps the most cosmopolitan city
in the matter of newspapers is Con
stantinople. Of it's Is journals only
three are published in the Turkish
language, while three are printed in
French, three in Greek, two in Ar
menian, one in Persian one in Italian
and two in French and English.
In the strongly Roman Catholic
countries Qtaly, Spain and PortugaD
the newspapers present one striking
popularity, which gives them a most
curious appearance-thati is the notices
inserted by the relatives Of deceased
persons, which are printed with a deep
black border and usually headed by
a black cross. One may often see a
whole page covered with these de-
pressing advertisements. The notices
themselves are very curious, for, after,
announcing the decease of the depart
ed one, they go on to that "the wife,
father, mother, brothers, sisters,
brothers = in = law, sisters in law,
nephews, nieces and other relatives,
beg his friends TO attend the funeral
| ceremony" etc. Similar notices are
often inserted on the anniversary Of
the death, and the same long list OF
relatives request the prayers OF the
deceased's friends for the repose Of
his soul.-LondOn Mail.