Evening star., 1925-07-26

The great panic of 1873 played havoc
with business generally throughout
Neusnaner the cou try, and
~'S oPoPeA m o n the victims
Mortality. nsgers wePe nume5GJs w5fcb ns%s, ssre
compelled to suspend publication, most
Of them never to revive. In The Star
of July 19, 1875, is the following about
the mortality in the ranks of Ameri-
can Journalism during the preceding
year:
THE insane desire of the American
people to start newspapers is pretty
well shown by the statistics of journal
ism in this country for the year 1874.
Notwithstanding the discourageing
facts that more than 1000 papers
went out of existence during the year,
that many others were materially re-
duced in size, that circulations have
generally fallen off considerably and
that the expenses of publishing have
largely increased, while profits have
greatly diminished, it yet appears that
during the same period of time 564
| new papers have been established, or
| started, rather; for there is a great
difference between starting a news
paper and establishing one, as many
an ambitious gentleman has found 10
| his cost.
But the significant feature of this
in the number of papers that have
died during the past year, as in the
vast sum of money sunk in the va
| rious experiments. 1t is ascertained
that in the aggregate about SS,000,000
have been lost to all parties interested
in these defunct publications, one ven
| ture alone carrying down with it
nearly If not quite half a million. Yet,
in face of this melancholy exhibit, per-
sons are still to be found who are will
ing to risk their means in an enter
prise that is always hazardous and, as
a rule, only moderately profitable event
| when successful. For, while IL is true
that q few of the newspapers in some
| OF the larger cities make money, and
some of them a great deal, it is equally
true that a majority of the papers in
the country make little or none. In
deed. the statistics show that the net
profit on the whole capital invested in
| newspapers in the United States does
not equal 11a per cent per annum, TO
say nothing of time and valuable serv
ices frequently given in such a way
that they cannot enter into the ac-
count.
From this showing it is clear that
business men do not as a general
thing go into newspaper ventures on
sound business principles, any more
than they would regularly embark in
the purchase of lottery tickets be-
cause large prizes are occasionally
idrawn. This view Of the case is borne
out by the fact that a majority of the
linen who ran these thousand papers
into the ground either had a hobby
or a grievance of some kind, or a spe-
cial speculative scheme to promote.
1.-The rest were mostly amateur journal
lists, who left other pursuits under the
lhallucination that they had peculiar
gifts for newspaper management, or
who were led away in the beginning
of their career by the ignis fatuus of
literary ambition. An analysis Of
their antecedents shows that of the
number 275 were merchants, mostly
with speculative tendencies, 345 school
teachers, 80 lawyers, 10 farmers and
about 100 young men of no previous
Occupation, who were set up in the
business by indulgent parents or on
their own inherited means.
'It Is not surprising that they failed.
Indeed, 1t could hardly be otherwise
with most of them. Successful news
papers can only be established nova
days by the expenditure of large
amount of money, and in one of two
ways: First, by actually paying up
and putting in bank an almost ex-
haustiess capital to be drawn upon,
and printing an expensive, first-class
paper from the start. regardless Of
profit or loss, and. second. by begin
ming in a small way and changing the
character and enlarging the scope of
the enterprise as success may war
xanSs