The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-09-04
THE cosr oE PRODUCTION.

The statement recently made in
these columns that for years all the
profits of the paper and more too had
been expanded in improvements seems
to find an amen from other papers al
so. The declaration in a general way
is also emphasized by a recent census
bulletin on Printing and Publishing.
Mr.. w. s. Rossiter, expert agent OF
the census bureau, thus sums up the
situation in few words:
"At the close Of the decade the
daily newspaper was more of a public
institution than ever before because
1t sacrifices an increased share of its
revenues fer the public benefit, obtain
ing no compensating financial return
from either purchaser or advertiser"
The Kansas City Star justly OBJ
serves that this is a phase of the news
paper business that the public find it
difficult to understand. Because the
size of the city newspaper has increas-
ed, because it carries more advertising
than decade ago and because its cir
culation has steadily risen, people
Jump at the conclusion that it must
pc making excessive profits. They
fail to take in o account the enormous
increase of expense involved in this
development. The elaborate news SER
vice of today is possible only through
lavish expenditure for telegraph
tolls and correspondents salaries.
American newspapers gave six lines
to the battle of Majubah Hill two de-
cades ago, while they gave columns OF
accounts of the recent battles in South
Africa. Thousands of words were tele-
graphed to the press in Ma about the
Mount Pelee eruption at the cost of
from 50 to $4 word.
The bill for the white paper is an
other increasing expense for news
papers, The printing of every extra
page entails very heavy expense,
and the larger the circulation the
larger the paper bill becomes. I'm
der these circumstances the printing
of the full news reports and the ad-
yertising becomes a serious question.
The advertising in New York paper
with articulation much exceeding
100000" Mr. Rossiter asserts, entails
cost of Fl cents line for white pa
per alone. "The publisher who se-
cures the circulation of huge proper
tions," he says, "confronts the necess-
ity of securing from his advertising
patrons a return of the cost of the pa
|per space they occupy, with margin
of profit" For several American
newspapers, he asserts,the cost of
white paper occupied threatens to ex-
ceed the returns from advertisers.
The impression that the returns
from advertising have kept pace with
the newspapers increased expenses
Mr.. Rossiter finds incorrect Advertis-
ing the decade, he says, Shows no
| marked increase" And he adds:
'"The department store, though lib
eral advertiser, did not compensate
for the multitude of smaller retailers
whom it supplanted."
AS an illustration of the financial
condition of newspapers in the decade
the census bulletin cites the case OF
the Philadelphia Record. Its proper
tion of expenditure for news gathering
rose from 46.4 per cent in 1894 to
53.2 per cent in 1900; its expend
itures for white paper in the same
period rose so per cent, while its in
come per column from advertising
fell from $62 to s55, difference of 81
or more than 10 per cent.
Thus, in the opinion of the census
bureau experts, newspaper managers
have sacrificed dividends to the neces
sity of perfecting their service ant
extending it to the largest possible
public.