Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-18
Increased Cost Of Publishing One
Cent Newspaper.


Several wears ago. there was some
what remarkable change of business
polio, on tho part Of newspaper publishers
ri this country IN respect OF the selling
price Of their papers. The one-crnt
napcrs were not IN tho majority at that
time. although there was considerable
number oi them, especially among the
afternoon newspapers Naturally the
contest for circulation among III" news
p,prrs of the large cities Was spirited,
aud thcn suddenly came the change
i reduction Of price from three cents. or
tvo cents. 10 one cent the copy In
>hort time the movement became general
and manv Of the leading newspapers OF
the largest cities, morning as we'll as
afternoon, entered the onc-ccnt field
Every Evening was not among the
number Of converts at that time, aS y
had reduced its pricc from two cents to
ono cent copy several years before
Originally one-ccnt paper, its price "as
increased to two cents N 1871 when II
absorbed the Daily commercial ~
tins price il continued for more than
dozen wears. when the price was brought
down 10 ono cent, in accord with the
prevailing tendency Of tho times. The
general flop to the onc-ccnt price. as We
have said. came several wears later.
But the newspaper conditions Of those
davs were vastly different from those
that have arisen in recent years For
instance. Every Evening, even a two
cents a copy, was only a four-page
paper. with occasional issues OF eight
pages. Mono Of the papers had assumed
the huge proportions Of the present times
Also, news print paper was more than
hundred per cent cheaper than i IS to-
dav
Now. with the large increase in the cost
of paper, and the enlarged bulk ot ISSUES,
no regular reader Of newspapers can tail
TO realize the vast difference IN publish
ing conditions Under tho former regime,
with print paper at low cost and much
smaller papers. there was proht IN
circulation at one cent a copy Now
with the cost OF print paper away above
what i, was formerly, and the Size Of
daily ISSUES vastly increased. X viii
readily be seen that the circulation OF the
average newspaper Of the present day at
ono cent the copy Is a burden OF expense
instead Of source OF profit as was for
merly the case
During he strenuous times that row
prevail. all lines Of business have had 10
submit to heavy increases in cost OF
necessary materials, ~ we'll as decided
increases m wages In the newspaper
business. the increase IN tho cost Of
materials has been very heavy Print
paper a few wears ago could be bought
A. sl.65 to Sl.75 per hundred pounds
now il IS s. To s. -. O b.. at the mills
and tins IS q tremendous increase. Ink,
las advanced from 3 2a3s4 cents per
pound to 614a6i2 cents. Stereotype
metal has leaped from 6 TO l2@4 cents per
pound Wrapping paper from 90 cents
to s.. 50 per ream How labor cost has
increased all the people know In fact,
there Is hardly an item ID the publication
of newspapers hat has not AT least
doubled in recent years. and some OF
them have increased TO a greater extent.
In face Of these conditions. with the
largely Increased size Of the daily ISSUES
of newspapers Every Evening, formerly
four-page paper with occasional eight
page issues Is now never les than ten
pages, and frequently more than double
that number the public can readily
understand what q tax circulation nov
is TO the publishers Of daily papers al q
selling price of one cent q copy Former
lv good profit, even al one cent, II Is
now financial charge, an excess that
had to be covered by advertising rates
II was this feature OF the situation, ~
respect Of advertising rates, that i'm
pelled SO many publishers to the action
recently taken Of increasing the selling
price Of their papers from one to two
cents per copy. They felt they had nc
right to impose circulation deficit ON then
advertisers Advertising rates are basec
on certain recognized principles IN respect
of circulation, value as well as volume
and SO they decided that the circulation
must be made to bear its own liabilities
And the only way to do this was by al
increase in the charge for the paper.
To illustrate the extent Of the increas
in the selling price Of newspapers, !
may be cited that a recently prepares
summary shows that Of 725 daily news
papers Of this country, GA are on ;
two-cent basis and i0l on one-oen
basis This comparison does not EN-
brace all the English papers Of th'
country. but il includes majority 0
those selling at one cent a copy Tha
the two-cent newspapers include man.