Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-06-05
that while there has been a decrease

that wnile there has been decrease
in the number of papers there IS an
increase in the total number of copies.
circulated.
1t is not hard for one familiar with:
the newspaper business to understand,
why there are fewer dailies published
in Virginia now than ten years ago.
For years the smaller newspapers;
of the country have been making a,
losing fight against the steady en-!
croachments Of the big metropolitan
papers and the little publishers have:
! been slowly pushed to the wall. The:
newspaper readers of the country
demand that they receive the latest
news, published in the most attractive
manner, with comic section, sport
| ing section and magazine thrown IN
to boot, and all at a price winch IS
certainly beyond the facilities OF the
publisher of paper in small COM
munity. Improved mechanical tacll-
| tiles which enable newspapers to issue
their editions more rapidly and fast
express trains which leave as soon as
the first edition of the morning pa
pers are off the press bring the big
journals to almost every breakfast
table in the land.
Here in Alexandria, for instance,
the two morning and two afternoon
papers of Washington are delivered
before they reach their subscribers
in their own city. The Baltimore
Sun, the Philadelphia and New York
papers and the Richmond Tlmes-Dls-
patch, reach here by nine o'clock, thus
making competition for the local
newspaper that is hard to overcome.
The same conditions exist in near
ly every city Of the State.
The small newspaper, however, with
its chronicle of local happenings, Its
direct personal touch with its readers,
| its editorial column commenting on
the news as seen from the viewpoint
of the locality, its advertising COL
umns open to the needs OF merchants
who must have a place to advertise
their wares, fills a want In the COM
munity that the metropolitan Jour-
nal can never supply and for that rea-
son there will always be room for
limited number of such papers scat
tered over the State. But the field IS
very limited, as shown by the fact
that year by year sees smaller num-
Der of newspapers in existence.
Virginia is no exception to the gen.
eral rule. In Norfolk, recently, the
Landsmark went out of existence al
ter being published for number OF
years. In Harrisonburg, one OF the
dailies went into the hands of
receiver, and in other cities OF the
state papers are struggling along
with but little hope of the publishers
securing an adequate return on the
money they have invested.
The field in Alexandria, on account
of the strong competition Of the out
side papers, has always been dit
6cult one, and the Gazette has only
been able to weather the storm that
has engulfed so many similar enter
prises by the strictest economy. For
over 10 years the Snowdens did
practically all the work themselves
and were thus enabled to keep their
expenses at a minimum. The present
owners of the Gazette have recog-
nized the trend of the times and have
ACCOMPLISHED the same result as that
obtained by the Snowdens but IN
different way. BY the investment OF
over $4,000 they have installed the
very latest printing machinery which
enables them to publish a larger and
more modern paper without an IN
crease in their operating expenses.
The census figures give some adj
ditional information that Will be
found interesting. During the ten
wears to 1909, the Sunday papers IN
the state decreased from y to g.
The weeklies showed All increase. In
1899 there were 126 papers printed
with circulation of POI, 500, while IN
1909 there were 161 with circula-
ton of 392,106. The monthlles IN
creased from % to % in the ten
years.