The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-09-16

From the New oYrk Mail and Express. u,ugm IGURES that are of interest be- sza cause they throw some light upon the intellectual activities of the people and are an indication of the calculable force of a most important agent, both formative and expressive, of the public opinion that directs the desti- nies of the United States, have been com piled by the census bureau. These are the statistics as to the newspapers and periodicals published in this country. They involve some surprises, while they confirm some assumptions as to the rel ative social growth and influence of some localities.
 An increase in the total number of these publications was one of these as- sumptions. It's confirmation by the re- port that the total number in 1900 was IS, ,zz6, an increase of 22.3 per cent, will be surprise It would be interesting to know, what the figures do not disclose, how much of this very large increase is due to the flake" publications, which Uncle Sam has been carrying in the mails at so large an expense but which the postoffice department is to cut from it's list In contrast to this general in- crease Is the decrease in class or techni- cal publications. Religious papers have decreased II per cent, medical and sur gical 9.s per cent, scientific and mechan- ical 20 per cent and social and art AZ per cent. There is instruction in this contrast It is an evidence that the daily newspaper treats more and more of va- ried fields of knowledge and life, and that the special journals have found their usefulness gone. Typesetting by machinery, the use of Illustrations, im- proyements in rapid presswork and the enlistment of many writers trained in special lines of news or comment have both broadened and intensified the infor- nation conveyed by the daily newspaper. The decrease in the last decade of the number of periodicals classified as de- voted to society and art is most note worthy
 The four most populous states, New York Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio, naturally outrank the others in newspa- 1 per circulation. As to cities, the figures | are in some cases misleading Cambridge, Mass, for example. stands very low. One might infer that the home of liar yard university never reads the current news were 1t for the explanation that l Cambridge gets its journalistic pabulum from Boston, to which city the circula- tion is credited A similar explanation is due to Allegheny, Pa, which is an inde- pendent municipality adjacent to Pitts burg, and also to Brooklyn. now within Greater New York. but treated as a separate city in the last census.
 Most interesting Is the ratio of daily circulation of newspapers to population in cities. Oddly enough, Cincinnati leads the country in this ratio, it's number of inhabitants per copy being only 0.6S, while Kansas City comes next with one paper for every O.72 of an inhabitant The ex- planation of this statistical phenomenon is not clear. New York is eighth in the l list, its ratio being one copy to every 1.2t | person. Philadelphia is tenth and Chicago 1 seventeenth. This is to be explained in l part by foreign population. But, on the | other hand there is to be considered the l fact that newspapers published in large cities have large circulations within a radius outside their limits, all of which is credited to the cities themselves.
 The evening newspaper shows steady growth in popularity. Out or the twenty l six largest cities in the United States. fifteen show more evening than morning publications. eight more morning than evening, and three are equally divided. In 1890 there were 559 morning and 1o51 | evening papers. In 1900 there were 595 | morning papers, an increase of GA per cent, and 16s1 evening papers, an increase