The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-08-03
playing on humanlty's love of the marvellous and I'M

playing on humanlty's love of the marvellous and I'M
usual.
IN addition, many minor items are developed in
which the animal creation figures as INDUCING in the
most Amazing summertime feats.
The latest ingenious contribution to this hot
weather collection Of wonder-tales has for its hero, so
to speak, a certain Long Island crab, and for its
heroine n New York society woman. The woman nc
cidentally dropped n diamond ring overheard. The
crab found it. put it on one Of its claws and went
s%trutting about the bottom Of the sea as proud as a
peacock. The water was shallow; the woman saw
the crab wearing her ring. She got a long string and
tied a piece of raw meat on the end and dropped the
bait overheard into the water. The crab gripped it
with his pincer, the woman pulled him up, scoopcd
him in and recovered her ring.
This refreshing narrative seems, somehow, to take
the cake for simplicity and audacity. 1t is so far the
browning product of the summer of 1902.
NEWSPAPERS DURING THE HALF CENTURY.
Census Bulletin No. 216 tells a story of American
development which marks not only the mental ad-
vance of the nation, but the material growth of a pro-
fessfon which in Its first days Travelled a rough road.
The bulletin deals with the statistics OF the newspa-
pers IN this country, presenting figures which in them
selves speak eloquently Of the changed conditions
during the past fifty years.
Weed. Bennett, Greeley, Prentice and Raymond
the grand we of the old school-were in a small
company when they virtually ruled public opinion.
There were only 24 daily papers in existence in 1850.
To-day there are 1925.
In 1850 the combined circulation Of the papers was
75s,454, while in 1900 the circulation of the 2,226 was
15,102, 158. The aggregate number Of copies issued
during the year 1850 was 42e,AO9, e7s. while in 1900 it
was S,16S,14S, 749.
1t must be admitted that this growth in circulation
has followed a change in the so-called mission Of the
A half century ago no statesman felt Sc
cure unless he had the editorial support OF the pa
pers. The press did not then, as now, express and
lead public opinion, but formed it. To-day the high
est calling Of the newspaper Is to %truthfully furnish
the news. No daily can make editorial expression
the leading feature and survive. Railroad, telegraph
and cable have made communication so easy that
the desire of the people for the latest news has made
the circulation Of the better papers increase by leaps
and bounds.
With the betterment Of transportation facilities
the weekly press has failed to keep pace with the
daily. From 1880 to 1890 the increase In the daily
was 25.9 per cent; from 1890 to 1900 it was 800 per
cent: while the increase in the weekly circulation
dropped from 26.7 per cent between 1880 and 1890 to
14.7 per cent in the last decade.
There was S192, 43, 70s invested in newspapers and
periodicals in 1900. They had 1859 salaried en-
ployes who received S27, obs, 791, and 94,604 wage ear
ers who received $50, ,051. Material cost $50.214,-
9O4. and the money value of the products was S222,-
9S3 1863. There is no way Of computing the actual
value of the product in promoting advancement and
saving the cost Of the mistakes which ignorance
makes at every turn.