The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-23

We believe that We have the widest
circulation of any publication in the
United States" Such a statement one
would naturally expect from the man
ager of the advertising section of one
of the monthly magazines or the head
yellow daily; but it did not come from
either class. It was simply the mod
est avowal of Mr.. J. w Babson. Chief
of the Division of Issue and Gazette of
the Patent Office, when he was asked
for facts as to the circulation of the
Official Gazette of the Patent Office.
Figures were what the inquirer de-
manded, however, and Mr.. Babson
coughed alphabetically. as he answered:
seThe widest circulation, I said. We
print only 1000 copies of the Gazette"
One familiar with the claims of the
advertising men connected with the big
magazines, weeklies and dailfes would
laugh at the claim of Mr.. Babson when
supplemented by such a statement as to
yet he was not varying from the truth
in any particular. There is probably
no publication in the world which has
as wide a circulation as the Patent
Office Gazette. There are many papers
that print and sell million copies OF
every issue whose owners would pay as
MANY dollars as they print copies If
their Journals could be distributed as
impartially in every section of the
civilized world as this particular pub
LEGATION of the Patent Office is distri-
buted. The profits that would accrue
from the advertising to be gained in
this manner would be simply enormous
But that is only one of the features
of the Gazette that is unique in the
world of publishers. 1t is larger than
anv weekly or monthly published in
this country. the last issue, that OF
.Julv / containing 269 illustrated pages,
besides editorials and induces. OF this
number of pages every inch of space
is devoted to advertising some par1cu-
lar thing in which the publisher, the
Tinted states, has absolutely no pro-
nrietorv interest of any kind Whatever,
and from the sale of which it can de-
rive absolutely no direct benefit Inat
is NOT all of the strangeness OF TINS
strange periodical. All its advertising
is absolutely free of charge to the ad-
vertiser. 1t would not be prohtaple
sort of a publication for a private hrm
to issue. 1t has an editorial force OF Ia
people, who are paid, in aggregate,
about $4,000 per year; the photohtho-
graphic work in connection with It's
Illustrations cost last year So2,ooo ana
the bill for the printing announced TO
s159 900, making a total cost OF pubEca-
ton of $3.50, 500. The subscription price
&c s5 nar wear so that with its 1000
comics the income from subscriptions,
the only income it could have, could
not be more than $4,000 under any CIR
curnstanees, and as it appears It's paio
subscription list does not contain more
than . 800 names. the bulk of the re-
manning ZOO copies being distributed
free of charge. So it would seem that
tho publishers of this remarkable
magazine lost last year S221.SeO ana
craated a proportionate deficit annually
every wear of the thirty-two it has been
published in its present form
The Patent Office Gazette Is, now
ever. one of the most ValhaoIe Oh the
Government publications and the per-
sons interested in that class OF Iitera-
ttre know that it is worth far more
TO the country than it costs. The value
of the Gazette is not to be estimated
in mere figures, it is said, because II IS
the only means that exists Tor intro
ducing to the public the new children
in the form of inventions, that are
horn of old mother necessity. as repre-
santed by the industrial and economic
conditions. It is through the Gazette,
first of all, that the people are maze
acquainted with the ingenious con-
+r;1,aocas and devices that have eman-
a4ad from the inventive minds OF the
world which tend toward the progress
of civilization and the reduction of the
cost of production. Thomas A. Edlson
and Alexander Graham Ben received
their first taste of publicity through
+ba columns of this periodical, and
+tousands Of Tabor-saving devices have