The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-25
REPORT OF HISTORIAN OF
 ALABAMA PRESS ASSOCIATION

times with stamps and sometimes with
 "rhese acts we e plainly modeled upon rhe English parliamentary law. which then bore so heavily upon the press of ns nsrs @ so sna thss .Ssy t.d short a time. may be accepted as the evidence that the American co. les early recognized the press as an Instrument of popular education and instruction the burdens of taxation. It is worthy of remark that since the revolution, only two American States have attempted q direct tax upon the products of the press. passed an act imposing duties upon H. cansed vellu n, parcnments and paper and laid duty of two-thirds of a penny upon newspapers and penny upon almanacs came at once so odious that # was re- pealed before it went into effect. but in July following, another act was passed which imposed a duty on all advertise ments inserted in the newspapers of the commonwealth. This latter act was de nounced by Isaiah Thomas, then publish CT of The Worcester Spy. and by many of his contemporaries. as placing an i'm proper restraint upon. the press. and in publication of The Spy during the two years in which it was in operation. One of the sources of revenue in the State of Virginia, as recently as lSlS, was q tax on newspapers"
 The great circulating medium, 90 fa1 as reading matter was concerned during the colonial period of this country, was the pamphlet The second edition 0. Thomas History of Printing in Americs contains in an appendix a catalogue ol publications prior to the revolution oi l776. There are in the list 7.6S3 entries of titles. of which number nine-tenths at least. are pamphlets or tract pubh cations; At s, the ,besinning of the pamph the favorite medium. The second issue from the Cambridge press was an al- manac, and 5000 copies of Ames's fa- nous almanac, printed by John Draper. colonies. Az the political excitement of the revolutionary period increased. Ntracts and pamphlets came more in de- mand. They were usually made up of letters and were. signed by fictitious names. and there Is no question that they made a profound impression on the public mind.
 As early as the year 1890. there was a venture in the Journalistic field in this Ses name was m both Foreign and Domesttck. It never reached its second issue. for no sooner did the first appear than the autho itics of Massachusetts suppressed tlis paper. There are no extracts from it's columns to show why the American newspaper. on It's first appearance. should have been so violently treated. A few days after its appearance. however, 1t was spoke n of in the general courts as "A publica- tion which came out contrary to law. and contained reflections of very high na- ture and the court thereupon strictly for bade anything in print without license first obtained from those appointed by the Government to grant the same" It was the intention of the promoters of the enterprise U publish 1t monthly. How much of a record of events 1t could con- tain can be judged by the fact that it was three pages of a folded sheet, one page being blank. two columns to a page, and each page seven by eleven. It proposed to be comprehensive pulp lication for the prospectus declared that it is designed that the country be fur occurrences happen oftener) with an ac- count of such considerable things as have occurred unto our notice. In order here unto the publisher will take what pains he can to obtain faithful relation of all such things and will particularly make himself beholden to such persons in Bos- ton whom he knows to have been for their own use the diligent observers in such matters. That which is herein pro- posed is. first, that memorable occur rences of Divine Providence may not be neglected or forgotten as they too Gften are. Secondly. that people everywhere may better understand the circumstances of Pubhque affairs both abroad and at home: which may not only direct their thoughts at all times. but at some times also assist their business and negotia- tions. Thirdly. that something may be