iteiS^MSMiijf'^iSvx Ameriean Journalism CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A COLLECTION MADE BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 AND BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library PN 4864.B32 American ipurnalism 'fgTl.'llS.E'iSfiJiRfl!,,,?, ■3 ""l 924 " 027 456 031 m Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027456031 AMERICAN JOURNALISM FROM THE PRACTICAL SIDE What Leading Newspaper Publishers Say Concerning the Relations of Advertisers and Publishers and about THE Way a Great Paper Should be Made ^"^^vi-C^ ^^X%^\V^ Y)oXl^ ^ NEW YORK HOLMES PUBLISHING CO. 15-17 Beekman Street /\(c>iij'^ Copyright, 1897. Table of Contents. PAGE American Journalism, ...... i What is News, ....... 2 New York "Evening Post," . . . . .16 New York " Journal," ..... 25 Brooklyn "Daily Eagle," . . . . -31 Philadelphia "Record," ..... 41 Philadelphia "Evening Telegraph," . . . -Si Philadelphia "Bulletin," ... 57 Pittsburg " Press," . ..... 63 Pittsburg "Commercial Gazette," .... 68 Pittsburg "Post," . . . . . . .72 Pittsburg "Chronicle Telegraph," .... 76 Pittsburg "Leader," . ..... 79 Introduction to Cincinnati, ..... 84 Cincinnati "Commercial Tribune," . . . .86 Cincinnati "Times-Star," ..... 89 Cincinnati " Enquirer," . ..... 92 Cleveland "World," ... . . 93 Detroit "Journal," . . . . . .96 Detroit "Free Press," ..... 99 Indianapolis "Journal,*"' ...... 102 Indianapolis "Sentinel," ..... 105 Indiana's "Leading Paper," . . . . .108 Chicago "Inter-Ocean," . . . . . 112 Chicago "Tribune," . . . . . .118 IV TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Chicago "Daily News," "Record" and Mr. Lawson, . 125 Chicago "Chronicle," ... . 142 Chicago "Dispatch," .... . 154 Chicago "Free Press," . . . . ■ . . 165 Interview with Geo. C. Booth of the Chicago "Journal," 167 Introduction to Milwaukee, . . . 171 One-Cent Journalism, . . • . . 174 Milwaukee "Evening Wisconsin," . . . 178 Milwaukee "Daily News," . . 181 Milwaukee "Abend Post," . . 185 Milwaukee "Germania," . . . 188 Milwaukee " Seebote," . . . 190 Milwaukee "Herold," . . . 195 Minneapolis "Journal," . 199 Minneapolis "Times," . . 204 Minneapolis' Leading "Swedish Weekly," . 210 St. Paul "Dispatch," . .... 212 St. Paul "Pioneer Press," . . . 218 St. Paul "Globe," ....... 222 Introduction to St. Louis, . ... 225 St. Louis "Globe Democrat," ... . 228 St. Louis "Republic," . 235 St. Louis " Post Dispatch," . 239 St. Louis "Star," ... . 245 St. Louis " Westliche Post," . . . 247 Introduction to Kansas City, . 251 Kansas City " Star," . ... 253 Kansas City "Journal," ... . 260 Kansas City "Times," ... . 263 Kansas City "World," . . 265 Omaha "Bee," ....... 269 Omaha "World-Herald," ..... 272 Denver "Republican," . .... 274 TABLE OF CONTENTS. V PAGE Denver "Rocky Mountain News," . . . 276 Denver "Post," . . 279 Denver "Times," . . . . .281 The Empire Beyond the Rockies, .... 285 Salt Lake "Tribune," . . . . . .291 Salt Lake "Herald," .... .293 Salt Lake " Deseret News," .... 295 Personality in Journalism, .... 296 Interview with Mr. Bunker, ..... 300 San Francisco " Examiner," . ... 305 San Francisco "Chronicle," . . • 316 San Francisco "Bulletin," . . • 3^4 San Francisco "Argonaut," . . • 328 San Francisco "Daily Report," . • 33^ "Post-Intelligencer," . • • 33^ Pacific "Town Talk," . • 343 Los Angeles "Times," . ... 344 San Jose "Herald," • • • 35^ Duplex Mergenthaler for Small Offices, . . . 353 Fresno "Republic," ..... 35^ Butte "Miner," ....... 35^ Sacramento "Bee," ..... 361 Seattle "Times," . . . • • ■ -365 Portland "Oregonian," . . . . • 3^7 American Journalism. I HAVE never seen a book on American journalism. I have seen a few essays. I have embodied some essays in this book. The rest of the book is what I could find out about the principal news- papers by visiting the cities in which they are published, and in- terviewing leading citizens and advertisers, and the publishers themselves. The information I have aimed to extract is for advertisers, publish- ers, newspaper men generally and the great public. Newspapers are by the people, for the people, and of the people. No other subject is so widely or deeply interesting. No other sub- ject has been so completely neg- lected. Perhaps it is because newspaper men have been so busy making newspapers that they have had no time to make literature about newspapers. The principles that underlie suc- cessful journalism have never been clearly defined. Delusions are entertained by the public regard- ing newspapers and by newspapers regarding the public. One is that newspapers are fWorse than corpo- rations, because they have more power and less sand. All the pub- lic take this view of some news- papers, some of the public take this view of all newspapers. It is a fallacy. Some newspapers are con- ducted with a conscience and a soul, and they are the newspapers that are growing more powerful — more prosperous — all the time. The greatest newspaper success in America is founded upon charac- ter and principle on the part of its publisher. I am referring to Victor F. Lawson's Chicago Record and Daily News. Mr. Lawson's papers are earn- ing between $500,000 and $600,009 annually. They are so strongly intrenched in the esteem of AMERICAN JOURNALISM. readers and advertisers that they grow stronger and more pros- perous every day. No competi- tition has been successful against them. This is why I believe they are a better property than the New York World or the New York Herald. Mr. Pulitzer's paper grew rapidly in a decade to enormous circulation. Its methods have been criticised. Its success is open to assault. Mr. Hearst, with his mil- lions and the New York Journal, is proving this. Mr. Pulitzer's paper has been obliged within a year to reduce its price to the Journal's price. This proves that another property can be built up in New York to a success like the New York World's success, and in ex- actly the same way and in exactly the same field. Mr. Lawson's papers have thrived on and grown stronger through competition. I say that the New York Herald is not as good a property as Mr. Lawson's papers, because the Herald does not enjoy the same stability in its success that Mr. Lawson's papers have. It has shown that it feels competition. It may be earning more money to-day, and probably is, than Mr. Lawson's papers, but it is not earn- ing as much proportionately to the capital invested in running ex- penses; but while his papers are steadily increasing their success, the success of Mr. Bennett's papers is said to have been impaired by the reduction in price of the New York World to one cent, and by the colossal competition of the Journal. The papers of Chicago, with one present and one past exception, are all papers of eminent respecta- bility. It seems pretty clearly demonstrated that no other kind of a newspaper can meet with very much success in that field. The Chicago Times, in the days of Wilbur F. Storey, was more or less of a monument to success in sen- sationalism, but I hardly think there are many publishers who would care to duplicate either Mr. Storey's career or that of his paper. It is certain that his successors as publishers of a Democratic newspaper, Mr. Seymour and Mr. Russell, who are conducting the Chicago Chronicle, are not making their success by anything like the methods of the Times during the sensational days. On the contrary, they are making a newspaper of AMERICAN JOURNALISM. just as high a standard as the Tribune, or the Record, or the News; and the fact that their paper has attained nearly 100,000 circulation, a very large amount of advertising and a high standing in the community, within a year of the time it started, are other proofs that sensationalism is not a pre- requisite of success. In New York the struggle be- tween the Journal and the World dominates the field, and centers public attention upon sensational- ism. The onward push of these methods probably means the ex- tinction of several New York papers. There are, however, papers in New York city that have secured and held success of the most sub- stantial and respectable character. \j I refer particularly to the New York Evening Post, which is ac- cepted as the representative high- class newspaper of the United States. Its success is certainly established upon something very remote from sensationalism. That success is not at all problematical. With about 25,000 circulation among the best people of New York, its advertising brings a price in proportion its to circulation, that. if multiplied by the circulation of the New York World, or, in other words, if the New York World was able to get a corre- sponding price in proportion to its circulation, would equal about $6.00 a line. The Post gets twenty cents a line for 25,000 circulation, and the World gets only twice as much for twenty-five or thirty times as much circulation. The Post feels no competition from the Jour- nal, the World, or the Herald. It has steadily increased in circulation and in advertising during the past six years under Mr. Seymour's management. There is a field in New York city for a newspaper similar to those they have in Chicago. Some pub- lisher will see it and improve it, and then New York city will be able to point with pride to a newspaper of very large circulation that was not gained through the practice of sen- sationalism. Sensationalism, by the way, is a term much misunder- stood. When I say "sensational," I mean that a newspaper gives the first place and chief place in its columns to murders, thefts, sui- cides, elopements and divorces. As Mr. McAuliff, the managing AMERICAN JOURNALISM. editor of the Times- Herald of Chicago, expressed it to me, "New York papers will give a column to a murder or a hanging that we would give in a stickful." Sensational means appealing to the sensations. There is the sensation of pleasure in eating, in sleeping, and all the functions of life. This sensation is the stimulus that induces us to per- form all the functions of existence. It is the sensation of pleasure or of pain that impels every living being to do that which Divine Providence intended he should do. Man has reduced the sensations to an art. He has found that music is the voice of the emotions. With the fife and drum he marches our boys away to be shot by the hundreds of thousands in the interests of sec- tional strife; with a brass band he carries political conventions; with a mandolin he wooes his mate; and with the grand compositions of Mozart and Beethoven he carries the soul to those higher flights where the physical melts into the metaphysical, and we become an ec- stasy, an ethereal essence vibrating to the harmonies of the universe, Sensations lie dormant in the soul of man, awaiting the magic touch which rouses them to dominant sovereignty. The newspapers sound the keynote of patriotism, and the country springs to arms. The newspapers tell of a famine in some foreign country, or of suffer- ing within our own, and the public purse opens wide in sympathy. The newspapers relate some horri- ble outrage upon an innocent citi- zen, and the public demands justice. Sensationalism is a mighty power by which the newspaper may appeal to the good and the bad in all humanity. Its employment is the test of true journalism. It is right when employed in a great cause. It is wrong when it plays upon the public pulse to no end but to give the public a new sensation. Some newspapers print sensation after sensation, day after day, and year after year, that have no relation to anything of public importance. The sensationalism that revels in the same old crimes that are com- mitted over and over, and which have no element of news in them, which are not news, is the wrong kind of sensationalism. It is tire- some and tedious. It is the dime- museum order of journalism, attract- ive to a certain class. AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Mr. Lawson has illustrated this in Chicago. There is nothing of the dime museum in the Daily News and X\vt Record. They carry the news and they carry much besides that is interesting into the great majority of the families of the Garden City. They are not sensational newspapers in the sense of the word that is obnoxious and which would exclude them from the enjoyment of this circulation, but they are sensational in the right sense of the word. They appeal to the sensations of sympathy and pity when they tell the people that hundreds of babies are sick and dying in the Chicago homes of poverty, and that ten cents will keep a baby a week, per- haps save a baby's life. They are sensational when they say that cor- ruption exists among public offi- cials, and that the city's health is threatened, as the News did when it exposed and defeated the County Commissioner combination. They are sensational when they deal with anything that appeals to the right feeling in the souls of men and women. They are sensational to right ends. They have a strong and loyal following. The people who read the News and the Record respect its publisher, believe in its publisher. Mr. Lawson has made his papers according to his best convictions. He has refused to do anything that is not in accord with his convictions. He does not print a Sunday news- paper, because he does not believe in Sunday newspapers. His ^ re- ward has come in a weekday adver- tising patronage that exceeds in net receipts the net rece^jpts of. all the other papers combined. There is another publisher in Chicago who has built his success by the practice of the right kind of sensationalism — Mr. George G. Booth, the proprietor of the Chicago Journal. Mr. Booth is the owner of the Grand Rapids Press, a paper that has made the most phenomenal success in proportion to its field of any paper in the world. In other words he has made it so indispensable to the people of Grand Rapids that one in every three of them is a subscriber. This means nearly two copies to each family in Grand Rapids. He did this by making his paper the very soul and intellect of Graad AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Rapids — sensient, vibrant with the very vitality of the city. The lines along which he is achieving his success in Chicago are the lines he has employed in Grand Rapids, metropolitanized to meet Chicago requirements. He is one of the publishers who recognize that the final verdict in newspaper com- petition rests with the magnetism that is in the personality of a news- paper. The personality of a news- paper is the personality of the man who is running that paper, and the men he calls in to assist him. Just as one orator is able to carry a political convention by storm, and secure the nomination for the Presidency, and another orator attempting to do the same thing makes a dismal failure, so it is in journalism. Give all newspapers exactly the same opportunities, the same capital, the same mechanical and news facilities, sell them at the same price, give them away if you will, and their success will rest on the difference in the newspapers, which is the difference in the per- sonality behind these newspapers. I have dwelt upon this point because it is touching the princi- ple that underlies successful jour- nalism. It is a law that is in all nature, and nothing that wealth or the manifestations of wealth can do, will offset it. The rock upon which journalistic success is built is the personality of the publisher. Let a man born to success in jour- nalism start without a penny, but let him be true to his highest jour- nalistic convictions, and he shall succeed. Let a man start with the wealth of the Indies, and let him lack character, soul and jour- nalistic genius, and he shall go down in the struggle, and his mil- lions with him. This is an inspiring thought for the young man studying journal- ism as a life work. No profession offers a wider scope for real ability. Nowhere else can real convictions of character find so great an opportunity for placing their stamp upon the affairs of men. Journalism offers un- equaled opportunity for the de- velopment of the mind and the soul, for the study of humanity and eternity. It is an open avenue to wealth and the attainment of fame. A journalist has been nomi- nated for the Presidency. The highest public offices in the gift of AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the country are being filFed honor- ably by journalists. This book abounds in instances of newspapers and newspaper men that have begun with nothing and attained prosperity. The press is greater than the pulpit, for there is no pulpit that commands an audience of the multiplied millions who read the daily newspaper. Truly, would a man preach the Gospel unto every creature, he must make his pulpit the press. Addison Archer. What Is News? This is an interview which I had with Mr. Melville E. Stone, the general manager of the Associated Press. Mr. Stone has been all his life connected with newspapers, and has always stood forth for good, pure, healthful journalism. Mr. Stone has been general manager of the Associated Press for the past four years, and during that period has had ample opportunity and time to watch the trend of American jour- nalism. In his answers during the following interview, he not only gives his views as to the future of newspapers, but as to what a news editor should know and should read. Mr, Stone's interview is not full of theories; it is full of facts. He has given a great deal of practical advice about what a news editor should study and read to gain the topmost rung of Success's ladder. Q. Has the newspaper been be- coming less of a mere essay of edi- torial expression in the last decade? A. Yes, I should say the drift for the last decade had been in the direction of news-gathering and publishing. In the old days when the field was limited, and the editor was forced to gather his informa- tion from a circumscribed territory, his news naturally told /or more than it has in a recent period. The marvelous development of the tele- graph, cable and the railway has enabled him to give his readers, each morning and each evening, the news of the world. Now, the news of farther India or China is gathered with as much care as the news of California was for the New York papers twenty years ago. Editors are becoming more and more careful. They are giving more care to the writing and more care to the editing. I think you will see a distinct departure in the WHAT IS NEWS? next decade. I think you will see better editing. Instead of letting the correspondent or reporter edit the matter he sends in, I think it will be edited by highly paid men in the office. But the first impulse of the editor is to gather every- thing regardless of its real merit, so that his presentation of the world's news has not been a very good one. His care has been for "all the news," and as a conse- quence there has been a good deal of matter published which has not been news. I think that now the tendency of the best men in the profession is to go over the matter carefully and cut out that which is not of consequence. Q. Has the definition of news changed in the last ten years? A. Very distinctly. I remember very well when I had occasion to ask a young man what he was do- ing, he said that he was a telegraph editor on the Chicago Times. I asked, " What do you mean by an editor?" He said, "I take the specials as they come in and edit them." In those days the articles and conjunctions were left out to save money in transmission. I said, " Do you mean that you put in 'a' and ' an ' arid those kind of words, or do you do more than that?" "Very little more than that," he said. Then take a case of this sort : If two murders were committed, one in Columbus, O., and one in Quincy, 111. : A Columbus corre- spondent was busy; he would per- haps, write twenty lines, while, if the Quincy correspondent had lei- sure, he would write a column. These two reports would appear in the Times precisely as they were sent in. That illustrates the will- ingness of the editor for news and the natural impulse for cheap trans- mission, while to-day we have reached a point where any paper can have more news for a reason- able expenditure than it can pos- sibly print. As a consequence, it is no uncommon thing for a newspaper to throw away quite as much as they print. Q. Has this increased the im- portance of the duties performed by the managing editor? A. Yes, very distinctly. I think it has done more than that. I think the policy of some papers in London and some in New York to employ a number of distinct men to "make copy " has been adopted generally. 10 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. In the old days the printer at the case was expected to edit the tele- graph matter. In that day a night message from Washington to Chi- cago cost two cents a word, and it was an evidence of great extrava- gance that an editor should have a large volume of matter. I remem- ber very well, that rather more than ten years ago, when the managing editor looked over his paper and that of his rival, and determined the respective worth by the volume of matter he printed about a given thing. In those days, if a fire should break out in Chicago, and if the Chicago Times printed twenty col- umns of it, it was very much more enterprising than its competitor who published five columns, although the fire itself might not be over. And it was that principle which pro- claimed a cable message costing twenty cents a word very much more valuable than a piece of news costing a penny a line. The mod- ern editor is breaking away from that point. Q. Do you believe that the influ- ence of an editor is in the editorial or news columns? A. Chiefly in the editorial col- umns. I think that the editor is bound to print all of the news that it is proper for the public to have. He must exercise judgment respect- ing the propriety of every publica- tion. Take a scandal: He must ask himself if the publication of this will do a distinct harm to the community, and if so he is bound to refuse to publish it. He is and must be a censor of the news that he publishes in his newspaper. He has no more right to invade my home with a debauch case in his news columns than he has to invade my home and teach my children vice. Q. Has the demand by news- papers for criminal news lessened? A. Yes. Time was when a dog- fight in Georgia was necessary news. I think that this grew out of the fact that the telegraph edi- tor was a printer at the case. He was interested in prize fights, cock- ing mains and various kinds of sensational and criminal news of that description. Very much better paid men, men of more intelligence, wider range of infor- mation, and with a keener sense of responsibilities now do the editing. Q. Has there been an increased demand for news touching moral WHAT IS NEWS ? II questions, such as religious conven- tions? A. Yes, I think editors are com- ing to see the news of the world is not entirely made up of episodes; that there is a great deal of news which never finds expression in a mere episode — for instance, a great religious movement or a drift of thought. Newspapers are now in- quiring more into what is going on in the field of science, of education, and literature and art, and of religion. Q. Do you consider that the real news of the day? A. I should not apply the word "the " to it all. I think it is a part of the real news of the day. Mean- while a murder may be great news, a change in an important man's religion may be great news, and a hanging may be great news, made so by the circumstances surround- ing it. For instance, the hanging of Riel in the Canadian Rebellion was a piece of news of the greatest importance, also the hanging of Guiteau, and the execution of the anarchists. The hanging of Paddy Ryan, or a drunken fight in which the man killed his wife, may or may not be news. The discovery of a new codex on Mount Sinai by Tischendorf was a great piece of news. The assertion made by a fellow named Chapnor, who said he had discovered a new text of Deu- teronomy was a great piece of news, — until it afterward appeared to be a hoax. But, for the time be- ing, it was a great piece of news. Q. Will the purity of the press advance the interests of civiliza- tion? A. Yes. It is working a distinct betterment. We are in a transi- tion state. When in 1835 two great newspapers were founded in New York, one by Mr. James Gor- don Bennett, and one by Mr. Hor- ace Greeley, they began working on two different lines. One be- came the great representative in this country of American enter- prise in the business of news- gathering, with little care for the moral side of the business, with little heed to the question of influ- ence. The other cared less for the news side of the business and placed great importance, great stress, upon the editorial page. Upon his effort to influence the moral tone of the country Horace Greeley became the representative 12 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. in that way of the newspaper influence. Bennett became the representative of the news-gather- ing and purveyor class. The cheapening of news-getting has been so reduced, and it was so easy to follow the footsteps of Mr. Bennett, that the drift was to exhaust all fields for news, and enlarge the papers without limit to print all the tittle-tattle of the world. Now that perhaps we are beginning to see that, first of all we cannot cover all the tittle-tattle, and, second, that, with the widening of the reader's vision, he has no time to read all the tittle-tattle. The newspaper men must cover the news of the world appreciatively. Q. Will you give me one or two practical suggestions as to the best methods for news editors or man- aging editors? A. First, he should see that the news of the day be presented in proper perspective. The most important piece of news should be given the first place — should be given in most detail. It is impos- sible for us to think upon any two things at once. It is also our impulse to exhaust any subject brought prominently before us. For the time being all news should be made subordinate to it. Then the news should be graded, aiming of course to take matters of trivial importance and give them trivial place in the paper. Beyond that, the fields of thought should be entered and an editor should see whether the world was doing any- thing that the average reader wanted to know and did not know. For instance, the Pasteur discovery was one of those things which should have found a place in every well-edited newspaper. Q. Then you believe that the news editor should read reference books? A. By all means, and have a library. The only impossible edi- tor that I know of in the range of my acquaintance is one of whom I asked a week ago if he had read a book which was engaging the attention of the whole world. And he replied, " No, I have not read it; I have no time to do any- thing." Q. How much reading do you believe a news editor should do? A. I believe a news editor should be a walking encyclopedia. He cannot do too much reading. I WHAT IS NEWS ? ■3 think he must be able to form a proper judgment of every event. At the time of the Jamieson raid on Johannesburg an intelligent editor should have known all about Johannesburg and the re- cent history which led up to that event. Q. Is it absolutely necessary that he should read the current publications? A. He should read the Spectator and the Saturday Review of London, as the two best papers for current news, and the Revie^v of Reviews. I should say the Spectator and the Saturday Review were the best papers of their kind. One can hardly fail to be intelligent upon the world's happenings if he reads the Spectator and Saturday Review. I think highly of the Review of Reviews. Perhaps it is the best American magazine that a news editor can read. Dr. Shaw is a man of very great ability, with a very keen perception of the news of the day. I think that Stead and Dr. Shaw are the two best newspaper men that I know of. I should say that Stead was at bottom the best newspaper man that I know of. A small, well- selected library is indispensable in every newspaper office. Q. Of what must a news editor's library consist? A. A good encyclopedia. For in- stance, theBritannica, or Johnson's. Q. Why Johnson's? A. Dana edited Johnson's, and for quick work I regard Johnson's as much better than LaSalle's or Appleton's. I find more personal satisfaction in turning to Johnson's or to the Britannica than I do to Chambers', Appleton's, or the others. The Britannica is the most exhaustive. He should have Whittaker's Almanac, and either the New York World or the Chicago Daily News Almanac, or both. He should have the Almanach de Gotha. He should have the Statesman's Year Book by Martin. He should have Vapparo's Dictionary of French. For contemporaneous biography he should have "Men of the Times." It would be well for him to have a complete set of Bae- deker and Cook's guidebooks. He should have Briggs' American Biography and PuUett's American Biography. He should have Uhr's Dictionary of Mines and Mining, 14 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. and Grove's Dictionary of Musical Terms. He should have, of course, a good atlas, and numerous books of travel. He should have the memoirs of the statesmen and soldiers of this country, so as to keep posted on current history. He should have the Congressional Record, and the Consular Reports, which are not as highly valued as they should be by newspaper writers. As each new topic occu- pies public attention he should buy and read the literature on that topic. For instance, to-day, the mining question is engaging public attention. Even though he be a news editor, he should read enough about it to be intelli- gent upon that subject. No man can handle the news of the day unless he is intelligent upon every subject that has to be treated upon. When Nansen returned from the search for the North Pole, a good editor should have read the literature in brief of Arctic exploration, should have known how far Peary had gone, and what the significance of that event of Nansen's was. He should have known what 86.14 means, how near the pole that is. Q. You would have him a col- lege-bred man? A. Not necessarily. It is valu- able. He should have that investi- gating quality of mind. He should have a tenacious memory. Q. You would have him broad- minded? A. Yes, as broad as I could have him. Not addicted to ruts. He must be a conscientious student. No man can ride a hobby horse and be a conscientious student. Q. When he reaches the hobby- horse stage you would have him leave the news desk? A. Yes. Q. What would you do with him? A. Well, perhaps he can find occupation with a paper of the hobby he delights in. Q. Your news editor would work a good many hours a day? How many? A. I don't think it depends upon his physical capacity. I think there is no time for idleness with any newspaper man. I think he should be ceaseless in his work. Q. In addition to his interest in books, should he go out and study men? A. Occasionally, and he should WHAT IS NEWS ? 15 travel when he can. Thus it would have been of great value to him in the case of the Charleston earthquake some years ago, if he had spent two or three days there previous to the earthquake. Q. Why is the average news- paper man in the business? A. I think the average news- paper man is in it as a makeshift. But I don't believe in that. I think there is always room at the top. I know it repays a man to try to get to the top. I never found a man who tried to get to the top who did not succeed. The New York "Evening Post." The Evening Post is nearly one hundred years old, its first issue having been printed November i6, 1801. Alexander Hamilton and some of his political friends founded the paper. Another historically interesting fact is that one of its earlier editors was William Cole- man, at one time a law partner of Aaron Burr. William Cullen Bryant became one of the editors in 1826, and assumed full control of the journal in 1828. From 1849 to 1861 John Bigelow was Mr. Bryant's partner, acting as general manager; when he retired his inter- est reverted to Isaac Henderson, who was the active business man- ager of the paper for many years. When Mr. Bryant died, his son-in- law, Parke Godwin, who had been connected with the paper, in differ- ent capacities, for many years, suc- ceeded to the editorship, which he retained until the present editors, E. L. Godkin and Horace White, came into possession in 188 1. Originally, the Evening Post was established as an organ of the Federalists in New York City. In the early days of Mr. Bryant's editorship the policy of the paper was Democratic, but it became Republican when the anti-slavery question arose. Under the present editorial management it has been an independent organ. Such a high authority among advertisers as Printer's Ink says "that the advertiser who will use but one evening paper in New York City will, nine times out of ten, act wisely in selecting \he. Evening Post. In influence and respectability it easily takes the lead." Although the Evening Post is one of the two oldest journals printed in New York it has, for a publisher, one of the youngest and most enterprising men in that line of work, Mr. J. S. Seymour. It is pretty generally admitted that the 16 THE NEW YORK " EVENING POST." 17 journal he represents has a peculiar field of its own. "I should say," remarked Mr. Seymour, in alluding to this matter, " that the Evening Post is peculiar in that it is one of the few papers that make the dis- tinction which Lowell said the true newspaper should make between news and intelligence." "What kind of news does it pub- lish, Mr. Seymour? " " It simply prints all the news of the day in which people of intelli- gence are liable to be interested. No intelligent person, for instance, is interested in long accounts of criminal occurrences, murders and other crimes, and yet such matters are a part of the news of the day. The policy of the Evening Post is to print the news of the criminal courts, in a condensed form, under a general head. The reader is simply presented with the facts without any sensational trimmings or embellishment. We do not believe that intelligent people care for extended reports of prize fights, with all the disgusting details that accompany such exhibitions, and the same as to other offenses against law and order." " Do you think that this careful method of editing and presenting the news is appreciated by the public? " " Well, it is beyond question that the reports of the Evening Post have won an enviable reputation for the paper because they have been accu- rate, complete, and clean. It has never stinted in the employment of special correspondents and re- porters who could render the kind of intelligent service its readers demand and appreciate. Of course it always uses the full service of the associated press, covering all parts of the world. It has special tele- graphic correspondence from such centers of activity as Washington, Albany, Trenton, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Newark, Hartford, New Haven, Montreal, London, and other places. In re- gard to our local reporters, it may not be improper to state that, by reason of the high character of the journal they represent, they enjoy the confidence of the men of affairs of the city, and^ for that reason, can furnish reliable intelligence." " Does the Evening Post make a specialty of any particular kind of news?" AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "I don't know that you could call it a specialty, but it is a fact that most of the news pertaining to real estate in the Great Metrop- olis is first given out through the Evening Post. Its reviews of the real estate market command the attention of the leading operators. Then, again, the list of real estate transactions is more comprehensive and accurate than that of any other New York daily and is arranged with the idea of being convenient for reference." " Do you ignore, to any extent, the so-called athletic craze — sports of various kinds? " "Not at all. Anyone who be- lieves that the Evening Post is behind the age, and ignores that peculiar and wide-spread manifes- tation of modern life, is behind the age himself. We give careful at- tention to all matters pertaining to outdoor life, and also indoor games. There is a whole column devoted daily to bicycle-riders, giv- ing them information about new devices, convenient routes, besides news of the wheeling clubs and tracks." " How about horse-racing?" " There are full reports of horse- racing at the leading tracks, baseball, football, rowing, general athletics, shooting and fishing, cricket and bowling. In connec- tion with this department we have a calendar, very useful for readers interested in these matters, giving a list of events for a week ahead. The games of whist and chess are also adequately covered." When I spoke to Mr. Seymour about the large number of adver- tisements regarding books and new publications that appear in the Evening Post, Mr. Seymour said : " There is nothing surprising about that. The Evening Post is essentially a literary paper. It reaches the class of people who buy books. Naturally, it is a strong advertising medium with publishers on account of its literary reviews. There is also published, five days in the week, a special column de- voted to the most recent publica- tions and book news. The fact is that the literary department is not only the most authoritative, but the most copious and timely of any furnished to newspaper readers. Special writers cover the depart- ments, respectively, of Music, and Drama, and Art." THE NEW YORK " EVENING POST." 19 I reminded Mr. Seymour that, in the old days, according to my recol- lectipn, the Evening Post contained a great deal of commercial adver- tising. "I believe that is the fact," he said, " though that was before I became connected with the paper. I know this to be a fact, however, that the Evening Post never had so much commercial advertising as it has at the present time. We are especially strong in financial news and financial advertising; perhaps the one condition brings about the other. The Evening Post is the only daily paper in this country which is regularly subscribed to for its financial news by the bankers and financiers of this country, Canada and London. Its financial news department is specially well organized, the local staff compris- ing nine experts in the various branches of New York commercial and financial news, while there are eight special correspondents in domestic and foreign cities who send in reports by telegraph or cable." Mr. Seymour proceeded to enu- merate the special features pertain- ing to this department. "We have," he said, "complete reports of the day's financial, com- mercial, railway, and investment news generally, at New York and the other important domestic and foreign, centers. Special articles on the day's financial, commercial, and industrial developments — articles which have gained a wide reputation for the paper. Com- plete tables of the prices for stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, the day's transactions in bonds. A weekly statement of all important banks or clearing-house associa- tions in American and European cities. The Evening Post is the only daily paper in the country to publish all these reports." " How do you report the money market? " " We have complete daily quota- tions of the call and time money markets at the four principal American cities and at the eight leading European centers. They are published by no other morning or evening paper in the country. Then we have specially prepared paragraphs, written by members of leading firms in the several mar- kets in regard to time money, com- mercial paper, and foreign exchange. 20 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. with the day's complete quotations in each. One of the best-known market authorities in London cables to the Post, daily, full news of the European financial markets, with comments on the same. Special correspondents also furnish daily telegraphic reviews of the Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago stock markets, with the day's prices, and a report of the Chicago grain and produce markets." "The statements you make, Mr. Seymour, certainly demonstrate that the Evening Post is not as slow as some people might suppose it to be in gathering important news of a commercial and financial char- acter? " " That is not all," continued Mr. Seymour. " The Evening Post, of all the papers published in this country, is the only one to present a thorough and complete record of railway and corporation earnings, that is to say, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. These returns are made invaluable by being published with full compari- sons for two years back, and general comparisons for several previous years. This full tabula- tion appears on the day when the statements are issued. Then we have tabulated reports of the weekly movement of bank ex- changes, currency, the export and import trade, gold and silver, foreign trade returns, properly tabulated statements in regard to the condition of the United States Treasury, quotations of unlisted securities, a feature not covered as accurately by any other daily newspaper." While the Evening Post is thus made particularly valuable to the business man, and while, as already stated, it makes a specialty of literary news and book notices, it appeals to the legal fraternity. Lawyers are employed to write paragraphs about cases involving new rules of law; important opinions are given in extenso, or in digest form, particular attention being devoted to the decisions of the appellate term and the appel- late division of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Appeals. Another special news feature, which appears in the Saturday edition, is news from the principal colleges, including such information as will keep graduates informed of their tendencies and help parents who THE NEW YORK " EVENING POST." 21 are considering the education of their children to decide intelli- gently. "Our Saturday edition," said Mr. Seymour, "is always specially interesting and contains from twenty to twenty-eight pages. On that day we carry from fifty to eighty columns of advertising. Besides printing all the regular news there are numerous special features, among which are an ex- haustive special cable dispatch from London covering the European news of the week outside of the ordinary daily topics; articles of general interest, letters from the foreign capitals, full notes on the fashions of household affairs, a department of church news and religious opinions, an unusual quantity of literary news, a weekly record of the National Guard, cor- respondence from leading colleges, and a short story. Here, for instance, are special features that have appeared recently in the Saturday edition. One week: 'The Romance of Tottlebury, Jr.,' a complete story; 'An Italian Philan- thropist'; 'A Lost Silver Mine,' a story of Georgia; 'A Child's World'; 'Money in Wasps'; 'Our Sparrows,' facts about the varieties around New York;' ' Mica Mining in North Carolina ' ; 'Odd Duels'; and 'Bees in Winter.' The week before we had: 'A Spanish Necropolis; where the bones of dead Spanish nobles lie '; 'On the Spur of the Occasion,' a complete story; 'A Gulf Resort,' the attractions of Galveston Island; 'Heartsie's 'Tonement,' a South Carolina character sketch; 'New Madonnas of an Old Master'; 'Field Notes, Winter Ways of Northern birds'; 'Notes of a Flower Lover'; and the 'Hill of Tara,' local peculiarities and legends." I asked Mr. Seymour what rules the Evening Post had in regard to advertising. "We invariably," he said, "give an advertisement the position to which its size entitles it, though we charge double rates for pre- ferred positions, and fifty per cent, extra for double column and cuts." "Do you allow a discount to large advertisers? " " Yes, we allow a discount for space ranging from ten per cent, for 2500 lines to be used within a year to twenty-five per cent, for 22 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. 20,000 lines. Our time discount is twenty-five per cent, on advertise- ments inserted every day for one year (312 times), or every otlier day for one year (156 times)." In regard to the question of cir- culation Mr. Seymour informed me that the Evening Post always fur- nished a statement of the same to both Rowell's and Ayer's newspaper directories. This statement is properly authenticated and given in detail. "What class of patrons does the advertising in the Evening Post attract? " "Our theory is that the well-to- do people are the most profitable customers for all kinds of legiti- mate trade and enterprise. The Evening Post excludes all kinds of disagreeable advertising. While the class of people I refer to do not necessarily care to pay extravagant prices for the things they want, they have the means and are willing to pay a fair price for good goods, or faithful service of any kind.' The large houses who deal exclu- sively in the highest class of goods steadily use the advertising columns of the Evening Post, but the paper also contains, you will find, a full representation of the big depart- ment stores and the middle-class run of merchants and dealers, who are selling goods of standard quality at low prices. The adver- tiser in the Evening Post reaches a class of readers that cannot be duplicated by any other journal in New York. Its readers are well- to-do, but they are intelligent. Because a man has plenty of money is no reason why he should be willing to be imposed upon. Responsible advertisers know this. Hence it is that the Evening Post's advertisements contain none of those deceptive features which are to be noticed in many announce- ments in journals having a differ- ent clientHe, and which are prepared with the view of beguiling the ignorant and unintelligent reader." "It is sometimes argued, Mr. Seymour, that papers, the circula- tion of which is more valuable on account of its quality than its num- bers, surely lose their advertisers in the long run. Have you any opinion to offer on that subject? " " Speaking generally as to news- papers of a high quality, as to whether they lose their advertising patronage gradually, I am sure I do THE NEW YORK "EVENING POST." 23 not know. The Evening Post is admittedly a journal of that char- acter, and there is certainly no sign of its going behind in the matter of advertising. So far from going behind, its advertising patronage has increased seventy per cent, within the last five yeairs. It has often been the case within that time that the Post has carried more col- umns of advertising than any other journal in New York. Take the present time [March, 1897]. The Evening Post, during the months of January, February and March, has printed a larger amount of adver- tising than in those corresponding months in any other year of its his- tory. The shipping advertisements which I believe characterized the columns of the Evening Post many years ago seem no longer to be published, because, I suppose, the occasion for that class of advertis- ing, for some reason or other, grad- ually diminished. But, in place of such announcements, we have advertising relating to ocean steamers, excursions, railroads, auction sales, etc." "I suppose, Mr. Seymour, you agree to the truth of the proposition advanced by the publishers of even- ing papers that they are read in the homes?" "Most assuredly — that is," he added smilingly, "in so far as the Evening Post is concerned. The Post is bought by the down-town man of business, and it is a paper of such a character that he is sure to carry it to his home. You never see an Evening Post reader throw the paper away, or, as is the case with the penny paper, give it to a newsboy to sell over again. Each sold copy of the Evening Post is sure of having several readers." "Have you any means of knowing that th.QPost is read in the homes?" "Yes. We have investigated the sales made by newsdealers in the better neighborhoods of the city. They inform us that the paper has a large circulation among the private houses, aside from the sales at the stands. The business man, instead of purchasing the paper down-town, has it delivered by the newsdealer at his home. The price of the Evening Post, you must remember, is three cents. The class of people who pay three cents for a paper are the class of people who read the paper carefully, because they think it is worth read- 24 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. ing. As there is always plenty of interesting matter in the Post to please the women folks it is sure to be read by them. What follows? a paper that is carefully read by intelligent, well-to-do men and women is a first class advertising medium for first-class adverti- sers." " Speaking of advertising, Mr. Seymour, what method does the Evening Post take to set forth its claims before the public? " "We rely largely upon the paper advertising itself, upon having it carefully and properly distributed, and as promptly as possible. Occa- sionally we send out leaflets where v/e think they will be of benefit. We tell people how they can get the paper: ' Order it through your newsdealer, who will deliver it to you. If you have difficulty in obtaining it, or if there is delay in the delivery, notify the publisher of the Evenmg Post. ' We also circu- larize, to a certain extent, for ad- vertising. We advertise in Printer's Ink, thus calling the attention of large advertisers to our journal, also in other mediums which we think will reach the advertising class. The fact is we really prefer general newspaper advertising to any other form of announcement, but so many journals have restrictive, almost prohibitive rules to prevent an- other newspaper from advertising in their columns that we necessarily do but little advertising of this kind. The idea of most daily news- paper publishers seems to be that, to receive the advertisement of an- other daily publication, and give it a fair position at the regular ad- vertising rates, will unduly increase competition." "Have you any rule excluding or in any way prohibiting advertis- ing of that kind?" "No. The Evening Post is pre- pared to accept the advertisement of any reputable newspaper at the same line rate, and on the same terms, as charged to other adver- tisers. We will give the advertise- ment of a newspaper the same treatment in regard to position as we accord to any other class of advertising." CHARLES M. PALMER, 0/the Xi'K' Yofk "Journal." The New York Journal." The growth of the New York Journal, both in circulation and in importance as a political organ, now known and quoted all over the country, since it has been under the proprietorship of William R. Hearst, the millionaire proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner, has been phenomenal. When I asked Mr. C. M. Palmer, the publisher of the Journal, how this result had been brought about he replied: " There is no great secret about the matter. Mr. Hearst started in with the idea not only of making the Journal a good paper, but the very best paper for all the people that intelligent enterprise, backed by plenty of capital, could make. Of course, the foundation of all newspaper success is to give the news — all the news. Society is made up of many classes, or at least there are many men of many minds, and in making a great metropolitan newspaper you must cover all the subjects of human interest that arise in this enlight- ened and progressive age. If you do not give the people a newspaper you cannot obtain a large circula- tion. When you have secured your circulation then you must take the necessary means, through advertising, to let the business public know that you have got it." "In what way, Mr. Palmer, did you advertise the Journal? " "We have used every known form of advertising. As the other newspapers in New York would not run our announcements except in prices double and in some cases quadruple those charged general advertisers, we did not use their advertising space very largely, although we have had half and full pages in all the papers that ac- cepted them several times. The necessity for reaching the entire 25 26 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. public compelled us to use posters, which we have done constantly — usually putting up a 24, 28 or 44 sheet stand in New York, Brook- lyn and Jersey City and adjoining towns at least once a month. We have also used 28-sheet bills in every town in the United States where there is a professional bill- poster, and three sheets in smaller towns where there is none, the newsdealers attending to putting them up. We have also had some rather elaborate electric signs in Madison Square and other central locations. At the time of National and State conventions we have always been very extensively repre- sented in convention towns and have shown stereopticon bulletins in ten or a dozen places in Greater New York in connection with all events of general importance. During the last campaign we kept ten stere- opticons going nightly for about three months in selected locations, and have on all occasions that would justify it run special trains carrying papers in all directions when there was any great and unusual demand for them on ac- count of the occurrence of impor- tant events. " In the beginning we did a great deal in the way of distributing sample copies, introducing the paper by means of canvassers go- ing from house to house in all parts of New York and Brooklyn and in near-by towns and cities. I think I may say that the result has been that the Journal is now as well known throughout the United States as any paper pub- lished in New York, this result having been accomplished in little more than a year's work, so that I think we have no reason to be dis- satisfied with it." " ^Vhich of the various schemes to which you resorted, do you sup- pose, has been the most successful in accomplishing the object sought after? " "I do not think it would be possible to estimate the relative value of any kind of advertising used to push a great daily news- paper into prominence. I should say, however, that of all the methods adopted, the best results grew out of the work of the paper itself. The enterprise shown by a great newspaper in presenting ALL the news, and presenting it in an interesting manner, is sure THE NEW YORK " JOURNAL." 2^ to attract public attention. When people began to talk among them- selves, which they did at the out- set, about the wonderful enterprise shown by the Journal in employ- ing the foremost newspaper and literary men as its correspondents and newsgatherers, the lavish use of the telegraph and cables, the circulation began to jump up at once. We were simply giving the people what they wanted and what they had never had before in jour- nalism, at least to the extent we were giving it to them, and the conse- quence was they forthwith began to buy the Journal regularly." "How far, Mr. Palmer, do you think it proper to use philan- thropic, humanitarian or so-called sensational enterprises of that nature, for business purposes in 'booming' a daily newspaper?" "I think all methods are proper in the publication of legitimate news of whatever character." " But how about the use of philanthropic schemes which have a business end in view? " "They are certainly as legiti- mate for a newspaper as for an individual, or society generally. After all, the readers of a great daily newspaper, in the aggregate, form a great society." "Did you find that the amount of advertising increased immedi- ately on the attainment of circula- tion? " "Of course the advertising in- creased, but it came slower than circulation. To convince a man that he should spend one or two cents in the purchase of a news- paper is very different from proving to him that he ought to spend a thousand or ten thousand dollars for advertising in the same journal. But the advertising returns fol- lowed pretty quickly, quite as quickly as we had anticipated. Within the first few months the advertising columns began to show the influence of increased circu- lation. It must be understood, however, that we did not push our demands for advertising very much at the outset, because we wanted to be able to guarantee a large circulation and show the adver- tiser that he could be sure of good results before he spent his money." " With regard to this question of circulation, Mr. Palmer, it is some- times said that the character of the 28 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. circulation is more important to the advertiser than mere numbers. This is an argument frequently made by journals the number of whose readers may be limited, but highly respectable. What is your opinion in regard to that ques- tion? " "I should say that such a state- ment was untrue. The falsehood of such a proposition is easily demonstrated for the reason that while the class of papers of which you speak lose their advertising patronage slowly, they are almost certain to lose all of it in the end. Their business dwindles down to what you might call an irreducible minimum. The high rate per line, per thousand, that has to be charged for advertising in a paper of this character, having a small circulation (the publisher, of course, having to demand these rates in order to make his enter- prise pay), will eventually crowd such a journal out of existence; at least it will not be used largely by general advertisers. Some adver- tisers may use such journals to a certain extent because they imagine that their announcements in the columns of such papers gives a certain tone of respectability to their firm, but when it comes to actual results (and that is what every business man is looking for), he is sure to rely on the paper of great circulation that is seen and read by all the people, and not merely by the members of one section or class of society." "Mr. Palmer, how would you describe the difference between the new journalism and the old?" "As far as I can see, it is a difference of degree and not of kind. In former times people were content to work slowly, to live slowly and to wait for the news to come by the ordinary channels of communication, by mail, or by the slow-going sailing vessels, or later on by the comparatively speedy clipper ships and steamers. Then the newspaper publisher be- lieved in getting the news, or rather such morsels as he chose to serve up to his readers, by some certain method of delivery, whatever it might be, and at the least expense. The new journalism — perhaps I should say the newest journalism, as represented by the New York Journal — if it has any particular THE NEW YORK " JOURNAL." 29 characteristic, is an utter disregard of expense when the question of news is to be considered. I do not think there is any other differ- ence than that." When I asked Mr. Palmer some- thing about the Journal's method of dealing with advertisers, he said: "In regard to that matter, I will say that we simply have what we consider to be a very reasonable rate for advertising; in fact, I think it is the lowest known rate, con- sidering our circulation, which is now about 300,000 copies daily, and 400,000 Sunday; considering also the results which the advertiser obtains from such a circulation. The rate is absolute and fixed, the same to everyone who occupies the same amount of space, though we allow a small discount to the large purchaser of space." "Do you have any special rules in regard to advertising? " "We have no special rules except that we will not surround an advertisement with reading matter, or otherwise disfigure the page of the paper. Another cus- tom we have is to make up the page from the bottom instead of the top, thus giving the largest advertisement the most prominent position." "What is your opinion of the use of pictures, etc., to be given away with the Sunday edition?" " I do not think it pays. It may have paid a few years ago when there was a demand for colored prints made by some of the new processes; but, since then, pictures have been given away to such an extent by large business houses that they become too common to be cared for." The Journal has the reputation of paying exceptionally high sal- aries to its principal editors and managers. I asked Mr. Palmer if he thought that this was a factor that entered into the suc- cess of the paper. "There is nothing in that ex- cept the necessity that existed at the outset that we should employ the very best men that could be had. In order to do that, we had to pay high salaries and to engage such men under a contract." "Is there any special class of advertising that the Journal has been able to secure ? " "We have aimed particularly to 3° AMERICAN JOURNALISM. secure the general advertising of the country and, in that effort, we have been particularly successful, having more of that kind of adver- tising than any other New YoVk paper. I refer to the class of ad- vertisements that run all the year round — proprietory medicines, special brands of food, etc." " Do you allow a special rate to this class of advertisers? " " No, the rate is the same." HERBERT F. GUNNISON, Of the B7'ooklyn ^''Eagley The Brooklyn Daily "Eagle." The Brooklyn daily Eagle may be said to be a part and parcel of the city of Brooklyn itself! The one could scarcely get along without the other. One reason for this is that the paper has grown with the city. As Brooklyn in- creased in population the paper, with characteristic enterprise, adopted itself to the newer needs of readers and advertisers. It is now, beyond question, one of the prominent and permanent institu- tions of the city. "It has," said Mr. Herbert F. Gunnison, its business manager, "helped to develop and to foster nearly every large enterprise in the city. Everybody in Brooklyn knows the Eagle and is familiar with its up-to-date methods. The Eagle has kept its eye — you might say its Eagle eye — upon every institution and enterprise in the city. Its success has been due very largely to the fact that it has been a great local paper in what has grown to be a large city." "What has been the policy of the Eagle from the purely news- paper point of view? " "We have always given adequate space to the general news, using freely the reports of the Associated Press and special correspondents; in other words we have aimed to make a news paper, but we have made special efforts to carry all the news pertaining to the city and its residents. In fact the Eagle follows the Brooklynite all over the world. In summer, or winter, wherever he goes the doings of the Brooklynite are recorded in the col- umns of the Eagle. "Another great feature in the news columns of the Eagle has been the specialty of publishing letters from its readers. Citizens of Brooklyn whenever they want to complain about anything of public interest, or to make a suggestion 31 32 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. about any matter pertaining to the city, have been encouraged, from the first, to forward their com- munications to the Eagle." " Do you publish all such letters? " "Yes, you can say practically all of them. Certainly no letter, written in good faith and signed by its author, is ever excluded. Such letters are never omitted because they happen to harshly criticise the policy of the Eagle upon any question." " Don't you find this privilege of ' growling,' so dear to the heart of John Bull, provides you with a large surplus of copy? " "Yes, that is true, but we find room for all of it, some time during the week." People do not associate death with success in any undertaking, (unless it be undertaking itself), but Mr. Gunnison curiously shows that it has a great deal to do with the public's appreciation of this well-known Brooklyn journal. " I consider," he said, " that one of the strongest indications of the esteem in which our paper is held is its column of death notices. We publish the longest list of that kind of any paper. That shows that when a death occurs in any family connected in any way with the city of Brooklyn that event is at once announced in the Eagle; the in- ference of course being that all Brooklynites read, or see, that journal." "Another peculiar fact," con- tinued Mr. Gunnison: "while the Eagle has been a Democratic paper in national politics, it is probably true that it has more Republican readers than Democratic. This is due to the fact that, for years, the paper has been absolutely inde- pendent in regard to local politics. It has supported Republican can- didates for office, as well as Demo- cratic. It has never declined to criticise Democratic officials as well as Republicans when they have been in power. In fact, it has always stood, in its editorial columns, for the best local govern- ment. It has never been identified with political factions, parties, or policies in municipal matters." "What are the relations of the Eagle to its advertisers? " "The Eagle is one of the very few newspapers in the country which has fixed rules in regard to THE BROOKLYN DAILY " EAGLE. 33 advertising from which it never deviates. While, undoubtedly, it loses a great deal of business every year on account of the strictness of these rules, on the other hand it commands the respect and admiration of all legitimate adver- tisers. First of all, it has a fixed rate for advertising. It makes no discounts. The advertiser who comes into the paper for one day gets the same rate as the man who advertises every day in the year. This policy was adopted in order to encourage the small advertiser. It says to the small merchant, our columns are open to you on the same terms as they are to the mammoth department store. It has, also, a fixed rule in regard to position: the largest advertisement must take precedence. We have the pages filled by a large number of small advertisements at fifteen cents a iine. We have special positions, like the editorial and news pages, at a higher rate. The large store advertisements go on the general dry-goods pages." " Do you allow a commission to the advertising managers of the large stores?" " No, not in Brooklyn. If we get an advertisement from a regular advertising agent in New York City, or anywhere outside of Brooklyn, we give him the regular commission." "Did you not once have some peculiar rule about setting up small advertisements?" " Yes, in the case of small adver- tisements, particularly under the head 'situations wanted,' and in some other cases, we insisted that the first line of all such advertise- ments should read the same way, but we are getting away from that custom, and even allow our patrons to display in certain kinds of classified advertisements. We did have the ordinary, old-fashioned letter, but finding, now, that the public like a display type, we give them that. We have regular rates and stick to them. We have a few special positions on certain pages that we will sell outright, in advance; but an advertisement coming in at regular rates must be under the office rules." I talked with Mr. Gunnison about "booming" a newspaper, to use the current vernacular. " We have methods of our own," he observed, starting in on this branch of the subject with enthusi- 34 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. asm. "We believe in advertising. We aim to let the public know that we are alive. Among some of the features that we have adopted are the following: first, the 'Brooklyn Eagle Almanac,' which is probably the most comprehensive manual of the kind published. It is a com- plete record of every society, every fact, every event of any importance relating to the entire Greater New York district. As a consequence, this book has a place in nearly every home in the city. It is ab- solutely invaluable as a book of reference. That, of itself, has been a big advertisement for the Eagle. Then, in order to carry out our idea of how a great news- paper should look after all the local interests, the Eagle has established news bureaus. One is located in New York, at 72 and 74 Broadway. This is for the convenience and accommodation of its readers who are in the metropolis, and of the many New York advertisers who find the columns of Brooklyn's great paper an indispensable medium for obtaining publicity. Advertisements are received and forwarded to the main office by a regular system of messengers. The office is utilized as the head- quarters of the staff of reporters who cover the news across the city for the paper. Several years ago the Eagle established a bureau at Washington. It is located in the heart of the business center of the city, in a quaint old building where once resided Stephen A. Douglas and Roscoe Conkling. That the enterprise of the paper is appreciated is shown by the fact that upon its register in that office have been enrolled the names of hundreds of Brooklyn people repre- senting every walk in life, from the alert and pushing politician who has traveled to the city on the Potomac in quest of patronage, or in the interest of some especial legislation, to the tired business man who has gone there seeking health, rest and recreation. When a Brooklynite arrives in AVashing- ton he receives at his hotel a card like the following: Upon your arrival in Washington, D. C, you are cordially invited to visit the Eagle Bureau at 608 14th St., N. W., and register. Your name will immediately be telegraphed to the home office and will be published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Vou will be welcomed at the Bureau at all times. You are at liberty to make the place your head- quarters while in the city and to have your THE BROOKLYN DAILY " EAGLE." 35 letters and telegrams sent in care of the office. Copies of the Eagle and other Brooklyn and New York papers are on file there. Respectfully, Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "In Paris," continued Mr. Gun- nison, "the Eagle has a bureau at 26 Rue Cambon, one of the most desirable locations in the French metropolis. A register is kept there and the names of the visitors are cabled daily to the Eagle. There is a part of the office for Brooklyn people, where mail can be addressed and redirected, if neces- sary. There are files of Brooklyn and New York papers, and attentive clerks to answer all questions put by the visitor. Naturally Brooklyn people find such headquarters of very great service to them. In this country what is called the Northern Bureau, the first to be established, is located at Saratoga Springs. A correspondent of the paper is located there during the summer. In 1893 the Eagle established at Chicago a bureau for the conveni- ence of people going to the World's Fair. This enterprise was remark- ably successful. Over 30,000 per- sons visited the office and registered. Accommodations were secured for Brooklyn visitors. Eleven persons were employed by the Bureau, a banking department was formed and over $30,000 in letters of credit was sent to that office. A special enterprise, in this connection, was the publication of a special edition of the Eagle on the Fair grounds on Brooklyn Day, the only daily paper published on the grounds by a newspaper outside of Chicago. "The Bureau of Information located in our home office building is one of the most unique enter- prises. It grew out of the Chicago idea. It was established for the purpose of giving accurate infor- mation in regard to all matters per- taining to travel, and about hotels in this country and abroad. We also supply information in regard to schools and educational institu- tions, and, in a general way, upon almost any subject in which the people of Brooklyn are interested. Last year over 10,000 persons from Brooklyn and New York called at this Bureau and made use of its facilities. The Eagle for many years has carried more announce- ments of summer resorts than any other daily newspaper in the coun- try, and people from distant points " 36 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. send for copies of the paper during tiie season merely to consult the advertisements. The special sum- mer-resort edition of the Eagle for 1896, dated June 14, contained no less than fifty six columns of hotel and summer boarding-house an- nouncements." " How do you obtain your infor- mation about these summer resorts, and what kind of information do you furnish? " "A printed blank like the follow- ing is sent out to each boarding house and hotel in every direction around Brooklyn and New York: Date Name of house Whether hotel, boarduig house, private resi- dence or farm house Name of village Post-office address Nearest railroad or steamboat station Distance from station How reached from station Lines of travel from New York Distance from New York miles. Elevation feet Fare from New York — one way, $ Round trip, $ Number of persons that can be accommo- dated Price, per day, each, $ Per week, each, $ Special price to families or large parties Special price to persons for the season Brooklyn or New York references (with ad- dress) Nearest body of water .Dis- tance Some of the special attractions of the locality and your house Season from to Signed Proprietor. "The Bureau files away this circular of information, when an- sv/ered, together with a circular and photograph of each home, when such can be obtained. When one of our patrons makes a selec- tion of the boardinghouse or hotel, he or she is given a card like this, properly filled out: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N. Y., 189 To This will introduce to you M who has been recommended by us to your house. Any special attentions or courtesies which you may show will be greatly appreci- by this Bureau. Respectfully, Eagle Information Bureau, Per "But this is not all, in connec- tion with this branch of the sub- ject," continued Mr. Gunnison. "We have several small pamphlets, in dimensions about the size of a number six envelope, and each containing from 16 to 40 pages. Visitors to Washington find our ' How to see Washington ' very THE BROOKLYN DAILY " EAGLE. 37 useful. This contains a brief his- tory of the city, a reference to its colleges and universities, clubs, newspapers, theaters, government buildings, parks, hotels, churches, cab rates, street-car directory, and a table showing the nearest street car line to each particular point of interest. Another valuable little pamphlet is ' Healthy Summer Homes.' This gives valuable hints to those catering to summer guests. It was written originally for the daily Eagle by W. S. Searle, M. D. It shows why country life is pref- erable in hot weather, the quali- ties that are essential to a healthful summer residence, characteristics of the soil that should be considered, how the supply of drinking water should be carefully examined, the necessity of guarding against diur- nal changes in temperature, and what one should eat in the country. The wonderful interest taken in bicycling has not been overlooked, and led to the publication of a twenty-four paged pamphlet called ' Twenty Round Runs from the Eagle Office,' giving carefully pre- pared routes to twenty pleasant resorts in the vicinity of the city. From time to time the Eagle has stimulated the interest taken in athletic and other sports. It has given a silver cup for amateur row- ing ; a sterling silver loving cup, on another occasion, for rowing; prizes, respectively, for a local fireman's association, football, for homing pigeons, and bowling, riile practice, bicycling, etc." "What has been the result of these enterprises, Mr. Gunnison, from the business point of view? " "As all this service is free the result has been to increase the number of the Eagle's friends and naturally increase the amount of its advertising, especially in the matter of summer hotels and boarding houses. Thousands of Brooklynites go to the country every summer. And it has come to be pretty gen- erally understood that Brooklyn people look upon the Eagle Bureau for their information concerning hotels just as much as a person would consult his Webster's Dic- tionary to arrive at the correct pro- nunciation or spelling of a word. We make friends with our readers and this we believe to be legitimate newspaper enterprise. "In connection with the news- paper proper we have several 38 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. branch offices in Brooklyn and on Long Island. These are well- equipped offices in which any busi- ness can be transacted the same as at the main office. They have been the means of making news- paper centers in important locali- ties, and have led not only to an increase in the advertising but in facilitating the delivery of the paper to suburban readers." " Have you mentioned all your schemes of advertising?" I in- quired. "No," Mr. Gunnison smilingly answered. "In connection with the Information Bureau the Eagle, for several years, has run excur- sions which have proved a unique and satisfactory method of adver- tising. One was to Chicago (dur- ing the World's Fair), one to Atlanta, one to Montreal and one to Duluth. These have been managed in a first-class manner and have been patronized by some of the best people in the city. They have certainly helped to bring the paper into greater prominence. Still another unique method of advertising has been the visits to the Eagle Building made by the public-school children of Brooklyn. Every week several classes of the public schools visit the Eagle Build- ing accompanied by their teachers, and are shown through the estab- lishment. In each department of the paper handsome souvenirs are given to the children. In the restaurant they are invited to par- take of a. plate of ice-cream. In the composing room their names are written on the linotype machine and they are given small slugs. In fact, they are treated in as hospitable a manner as possible. Their names appear in the issue of the paper of that day, a copy of which they receive as it comes from the press. They go home, laden with pictures, souvenirs, etc., delighted with the way in which they have been treated. Their parents are naturally grateful to the Eagle for its kindness, and in that way a great many persons, of this generation and the next, are made friends of the Eagle." When I asked Mr. Gunnison what he thought of a newspaper giving pictures, coupon schemes, etc., as a means of increasing its circulation he said: "The Eagle has never gone into the coupon or picture scheme to any extent. We THE BROOKLYN DAILY " EAGLE. 39 have published some pictures and we have had a few cardboard cut- outs, but only when the occasion seemed to justify the use of such things. In other words we have used them as supplementary to the news. Upon the occasion of the launching of the cruiser Brooklyn we gave a cut-out of the vessel. When the Grant statue was dedi- cated we gave a picture of Grant. On the tenth anniversary of the death of Henry Ward Beecher we gave a picture of the famous divine. In all cases, you will ob- serve, there has been some occa- sion, growing out of the news of the day, for our doing these things. "What is your opinion of the value of such schemes for advertis- ing purposes? " "I do not believe in them. I think that a newspaper should stick to its legitimate work of publishing the news, with an occasional special number, or the present of a picture or something of the kind when, as I say, there is some very good reason for. doing such a thing." " What do you think will be the effect on Brooklyn journalism of consolidation — the Greater New York?" "I believe it will be of great benefit to the Brooklyn Eagle. The people of Brooklyn then, as heretofore, will need newspapers to advocate their interests; in fact the need will be greater than ever. Every time they will want an appropriation, or desire to secure some local improvement, they will have to go to New York City to fight for them. The papers of Brooklyn can be of great service in arousing public opinion and in securing the necessary appropria- tions. There will be as great political contests in the future as there have been in the past. The papers of Brooklyn will take just as active a part in those contents as they have heretofore." "Why were your Library issues started?" "With the introduction of the linotype machines, the cost of sav- ing type being reduced to a mini- mum, the Eagle established its Eagle Library, which is published about once a month and includes, usually, a collection of articles which have appeared in the paper and which are of sufficient value to warrant their preservation in per- manent form. Among the Libraries 40 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. already published have been the new Constitution of the State of New York, the Raines Excise Law, and recently the charter of the greater New York, which has been the only pamphlet of the kind pub- lished and which has had a tremen- dous sale. These books are usually sold at five cents a copy and have all been a great success." In conclusion, referring to the question of circulation, Mr. Gunni- son informed me that the Eagle did not send its circulation figures to the newspaper directories. " The idea in regard to circulation," he said, "is this: the people who ad- vertise in newspapers generally know something about the journals in which they advertise. Anyone who goes into the columns of the Eagle does so, not so much out of love for the paper as because of the results he will obtain. The general public know that the Eagle is the leading paper in the fourth city in the United States; that it is a three-cent paper; every copy issued is read, and they know that it goes into the homes of the best people in the city of Brooklyn." "But why," I inquired, "do you decline to give your circulation to the newspaper directories?" " From the fact that many people are misled by circulation. A penny paper which might have two or three times the circulation of the Eagle might be the means of mis- leading some people in regard to the importance and value of the latter journal. We do not believe that quantity of circulation is by any means the only thing that counts; it is the character of the circulation that must be looked to. This, certainly, the Eagle has. People who have a right to know anything about the matter know this to be the fact, and are satisfied." COL. WM. M. SINGERLY, Of the Philadelphia ^^ Record.'*'' The Philadelphia "Record." If I were writing about the three greatest newspapers in America, the Philadelphia Record, the pio- neer of penny papers, would be one of them. I base this state- ment upon what I have learned from investigating the Record's circulation, and a conservative estimate of its character and standing. 'Y'hs. Record \s one of the papers that does not leave the investi- gator to grope in the dark. It offers its books for X ray scru- tiny. For instance, I told Mr. James S. McCartney, Treasurer of the Record Publishing Company, I wished to know the Record's actual average from day to day ; not alone the number of copies printed, but how and where they were distrib- uted, and how many of them were returned. Without a word he took me into the Bookkeeping Depart- ment and said, "Show Mr. Archer anything he wants to see! " I asked for the statement of the number of copies printed that day, which they gave me from the press register, 174,500. I then asked for the figures showing where these papers were sent. The bookkeeper handed me a printed slip, one of those sent in duplicate to the heads of the vari- ous departments. I reproduce it here: The circulation of tlie Record on Saturday, March 21, 1896, was 174,011 copies, distrib- uted as follows : By Carriers, .... 61,036 By Agents, . 99,885 By Mail, . . 10,265 By Boys, 398 Office Sales, .... 2,427 Total, 174,011 It is noticed that the sum total is 174,011, making a difference of four hundred and some odd copies between those accounted for and those printed. "Is that the average waste?" I asked. 41 42 AMERICAN " That is more than the average waste," replied Mr. McCartney. "What is the percentage of re- turned papers?" I asked the book- keeper. "Between five and six per cent." "Does it ever run more than six per cent ? " "No." " How do you estimate your re- turns ? That is, do you credit the whole number returned?" " Always." "Are these figures open to everyone interested?" " Entirely, and are printed at the head of our editorial page every day." "What is the variation in your circulation from month to month?" " It does not run over a very small percentage, except that a tendency to increase is always mani- fest. For instance, our circulation for December 21, '95, was 170,- 864, making an increase in the past two or three months of 3147. Our increase in the last ten years has been 64,000." "How much of your circulation is in the city of Philadephia ?" "About 90,000." "How much of this is street sales ? " JOURNALISM. "Not over two or three thou- sand." "How is the rest of your local circulation distributed ? " "By our carrier system and by the carrier system of the news- dealers." " Where do the remaining 75,000 copies go to ? " "Throughout Pennsylvania largely. Also to Washington, where we have a delivery system and a cir- culation of several thousand daily. The rest is divided among all the States in the Union. Here is a pyramid that shows the number of copies that go to each State." In connection with the circula- tion Mr. McCartney mentioned that, in spite of its increase in cir- culation, the Record does not de- mand higher prices for its space now than it did several years ago. However, its advertising has increased until everybody in Philadelphia that has anything legitimate to sell, in a legitimate way, advertises in the Record, and every general advertiser of any consequence has permanent space in its columns. It has no special agents, and uses no special schemes to get advertising. THE PHILADELPHIA " RECORD." 43 Mr. M. F. Hanson, who has been the successful Advertising Manager of the Record for the past seven years, said, "In its treatment of advertisers the Record is absolutely impartial, so far as it is possible for any news- paper to be. It does not charge greater prices for cuts or broken columns. In the latter case how- ever — in breaking the column rules — we are governed by the size of an advertisement. We never place a double-column advertisement less than fifty lines in depth at top of page; one less than seventy-five lines in depth, if across three columns ; one less than one hundred lines in depth across either four or five columns; or one less than one hundred and twenty-five lines in depth across six, seven, or eight columns. We pursue the policy of assigning the prominent positions to our reg- ular advertisers and will not sell this space to transient patrons. Where two or more advertisers request similar position, we are governed solely in giving preference by the length of time the advertiser has used the columns of the Record, the time the advertisement is to run, and the amount of total space ; our charge being entirely fair and impartial to all concerned. "We have an invariable rule re- garding our advertising rates, which is enforced alike upon the local and foreign advertiser. Commis- sion is allowed regularly organized advertising agencies, but never given the advertiser in any form. We reason that the advertising agent is entitled to his commission and that he should be protected." " I believe you have a system of preparing advertising for your patrons that has met with con- siderable favor and is building suc- cess for many new advertisers ? " "Yes. We select our solicitors not only on account of their ability to successfully solicit advertising, but their qualifications to educate a new adv-ertiser into its many mys- teries, and their ability to prepare advertisements so that they bring the best possible results from the least possible expenditure. " "I have heard that you do not encourage your solicitors to ask for business in stormy weather when local advertisers would not be apt to get good results from their ad- vertising?" .44 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "Mr. Singerly has instructed us not to influence any advertiser to use the Record unless we feel posi- tive that it would pay him to do so. He always reasons that a retail store that depends on the army of shoppers cannot profit- ably advertise their goods on a rainy day." "I believe you are the only daily paper in the country that absolutely guarantees results, or money refunded?" "We have on several occasions, by direction of Mr. Singerly, made propositions to diffident adver- tisers to advertise either a special article, or a special department of their 'business for a given period of time regularly in the Philadel- phia Record, and if, at the end of that time, results were not satis- factory, Mr. Singerly agreed to give them a receipted bill for the service rendered. In all cases that have come under this offer of Mr. Singerly's, the result has been that not only was the bill paid, but those concerned thereafter increased their advertising in the Philadel- phia Record." At this thrilling crisis Mr. Han- son introduced Mr. Leland M. Williamson, the bright particular advertising expert of the Record staff, and also the advertising manager of several leading local houses. It hardly needed a ques- tion on my part to get Mr. Williamson to talk, and he went ahead as follows : " The one reason why the Phila- delphia Record is so popular with advertisers lies in the fact that not one of these advertisers has tried it without having the satis- faction of immediate results. The circulation of the Record is so large that an advertisement in its columns pays from the start. I am not saying this because I am con- nected with the Philadelphia Record. I say it because, previous to my connection with the paper, I was in charge of extensive advertising given out by several corporations and houses, and as an advertiser I got better, surer, and quicker results from my ads in the Record than from any other paper. Now as to the rate: Taking the circu- lation and results into considera- tion — this paper, although reckoned high-class medium, is really the cheapest medium to be found in this country. There is not a page THE, PHILADELPHIA "RECORD. 4S in the entire paper that does not contain some news of interest, a well-edited department, or a specialty. This makes an adver- tisement on any pag^e almost equally valuable, and position a matter of slight consideration. In fact I have heard advertisers say that an ad, no matter how small, could not be overlooked in the columns of the Philadelphia ^^^^r(f. " "If you scan our columns for the last four or five years, and then scan the columns of our other Philadelphia journals, you will find that the regular ad- vertisers of the city are in our columns as two to one against any other medium. That is, if an advertiser is in the habit of advertising five times a week, we will get at least three of his cards — the other two going to the other papers he may use. A most satisfactory condition of the Record's advertising popularity comes from the fact that we can look ahead for business more confidently than any other- daily paper in this city. I mean by that that we have advertisers who use this paper every day, rain or shine, hot or cold, foggy or snow, blustery or slushy. They are in it every day. In making up our paper of a night, we can always face the certainty of having an estimated number of adver- tisements. "The strong hold that the Record has on the public lies in the fact that those who buy and read it look upon the paper as a sort of 'little home god.' They not only place faith in its editorials and in its locals, but they carry this faith to a belief in the truth of any advertisement con- tained in it. A well-known Phila- delphia house has now in its posses- sion a letter written by a lady to them, inclosing twenty-five dollars for a certain article. The letter concludes as follows: ' I would not believe that you could sell this article so cheaply, and in fact I really thought that it was a bit of commercial deception until I saw that you advertised in the Record. Then I believed that what you said must be true ! ' " From the Business and Adver- tising Offices of the Record, which occupy the Spacious second floor o-i 'Cne,. Record' s"h-a.ViA^oxa.z Chestnut Street building, I went down 46 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. to the sumptuous apartments of Colonel William M. Singerly, who is the proprietor of the Record, the editor of the Record, the manager of the Record — -in fact, is the Record. For the Record, perhaps more than any other paper in this country, con- forms in every characteristic, in every detail of policy, to the ideas of one man. That one man is he who purchased and took personal charge of the Record nineteen years ago this ist of May, 1896, and has made the Record y^\\^.\. it is — "Philadelphia's greatest newspaper." That's the way one of America's greatest advertising agents once expressed it to me. Colonel Singerly, his personal- ity, his ideas, and his paper, are intensely interesting. In less than twenty years he has builded the Record from a circulation of five thousand to a circulation of one hundred and sixty-eight thou- sand. He has made it the largest circulation of any paper in Philadelphia or in any city in America outside of New York. This in face of the fact that the Record has been, from the be- ginning of Colonel Singerly's management, uncompromisingly Democratic and for revenue reform in a city which is uncompromis- ingly and overwhelmingly Re- publican and for protection. No; Republican paper has either the circulation or the standing among the Republicans of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania that the Record has. I asked Colonel Singerly to what he attributed this great success. " Above all else to the Record's truthfulness," he replied. "We have always adhered to the right as that right honestly appeared to us. I do not mean to say that we have always been right, but the Record has been found every time upon the side that the people have indorsed in the moments of calm reflection. And I believe the people are always right after the excitement of a crisis has subsided and the public mind has an oppor- tunity to think calmly. In the recent street railway troubles in this city the Record stood for law and order, and it was for law and order that the public stood when the public excitement had subsided." When Colonel Singerly came in to take charge of the Record, he THE PHILADELPHIA " RECORD.' 47 found John W. Bailey foreman of the composing room. In those days the man that edited the paper and the foreman of the composing room, between them, ran the whole establishment. Mr. Bailey came to him the first day and said: "Here is a matter that our reporters have brought in; what shall I do with it ?" "Do you know the right and the wrong of this ? " asked the colonel. "I think I do." " Print the right ! And let that be the rule from this day on." Mr. Bailey, then the foreman, is now the managing editor of the Record, and I think nothing pleases Colonel Singerly more than to tell how Mr. Bailey has edited the Record in the way that he knew Colonel Singerly wanted it edited. It is hard to get on the Record. It is hard to stay there without conspicuous merit and undeviating loyalty. But the man who once secures a foothold on Colonel Sin- gerly's paper has secured a life posi- tion, and a pension after his days of toil are over. The Record's pen- sion list is probably the longest of any newspaper in the United States. Colonel Singerly says of his rule in selecting men, "I demand first that a man shall be fundamentally a gentleman. Birth, environment and education all count in this. I am interested in horses, as you know, and I cannot help feeling that young colts and young men are a great deal alike. From a good pedigree you expect a good colt. Yet in the training is the test. The colt that stands the training on my farm, the man that stands the training on my paper, is the one that survives. We weed out the rest." "Do you believe in college-bred men ?" "Yes. They have much in their favor. Education will give any man an advantage, and, if that man has fundamental ability it will give him still greater advantage. But I do not demand that a man shall be a college graduate. We take our high-school graduates here and find good men among them. We have taken men from the ranks and made successes of them. But all things considered, it is the young man of right parentage, right breeding and right education that wins nine times in ten." AMERICAN JOURNALISM. " Once a man secures a position with you, colonel, he does not often leave it willingly ? " I re- marked. "No. It is hard to drive them away." I endeavored to draw the colonel out on personal reminiscences. It was not an easy task, as he is not addicted to egotism. "What was your journalistic training prior to your purchase of the Record 'I " "Very little, from a journalistic point of view. When I took the Record, I established its success upon a material basis. For in- stance, I immediately demanded that its market reports should be absolutely correct and comprehen- sive. " I know the value of a good financial page, and a good financial page was the first thing the Record secured. I suppose it is safe to say that there is not a man of financial consequence in Philadelphia who does not read the Record." I noticed that the Record had no ads on its first page and printed no paid readers there. I asked the colonel about it. "You cannot buy a line of adver- tising on the first page of the Record, no matter what price you are willing to pay," he replied. "But I have taken a whole column on our first page and given a send- off to theatrical attractions or other things that seemed to be languish- ing unjustly. I remember when McCall opened here with an attrac- tion that it had cost him seven thousand dollars to stage. I went down to see it. It was an excellent thing, but the house was only half filled. I had our reporters and our artists go down and write up and illustrate an article worthy of the attraction. I printed it where it would do the most good. The result was that McCall had to put out the ' Standing Room Only ' sign." "This prompts me to ask you about your offering space to Loril- lard on a no profit no pay basis." "It came about in this way. I used to go to dinner every day with Lorillard's Pennsylvania agent, Mr. Benjamin A. Van-Schaick. We were close friends. I asked him one day how much money he was spend- ing in advertising. He told me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, in posters, etc. I told him THE PHILADELPHIA " RECORD." 49 it was wasted. I told him to take one kind of tobacco and advertise it in the Record exclusively at the rate of one thousand dollars per month for four months. If we did not increase his sales 15 per cent, we would send him a re- ceipted bill for the advertising. This on condition that he would change his ads every day. He accepted the proposition. At the end of the time he sent us his check, stating that we had increased his sales 375^ per cent. Lorillard's tobacco has remained with us ever since. There are many similar instances. "The fact is we do not want people in our columns unless it pays them. We do not want people to put advertising in our columns and let it stagnate there. We want them to change their ads every day. We would rather pay the cost of resetting the ad every day than not to have the ad pay. If there is anything we can do to make an advertisement pay, we do it. If it don't pay, we do not want it in our paper." Colonel Singerly says he is an old man. He does not look it. He does not act it. He is person- ally in charge of the Record five days in the week. The other week- day he goes out to his Pulp and Paper Mills at Elkton, Md. He has, I believe, many years of activity before him, though, as he says, the Record now runs itself. He has a staff of men who know how to run the paper along the lines of success, truthfulness and accuracy that he has laid down. He is paying those men salaries that offer no temptation to desert their posts. He can look back upon many an achievement, any one of which proves his right to be ranked among the great journalists of America. One of the most recent and the most conspicuous was an editorial he wrote when the country was in the midst of the financial troubles of a year and a half ago. It was published in the Record of November 22, 1894. After clearly setting forth the financial position of the Govern- ment, Colonel Singerly said : The resources of the Treasury for the past two years have been insufficient to meet current expenditures ; and with nine dollars of floating debt against every dollar of gold available for payment, not even the excel- lent credit of the United States has availed to prevent alarm both at home and abroad. Before confidence can be firmly established this situation must be changed. There is so AMERICAN JOURNALISM. but one way to do this. The gradual extinc- tion of the floating debt must be provided for : First. Stop the issue or reissue of all demand obligations of the United States. Second. Retire all notes and certificates by issuing a long-term low-interest bond in place of the outstanding notes. Third. Make all customs duties payable in gold. This will be necessary in order to get the gold to pay interest on the public debt and to provide for the payment of the bonds as they fall due. Fourth. Make the bonds issued in place of United Slates notes the basis of circula- tion of State or national banks, giving the banks the right to issue currency to the full amount of par of the bonds redeemable in gold Fifth The Government, through the Comptroller of the Currency, to maintain a supervision of the banks as at present. Sixth. The banks to maintain with the Treasurer of the United States a gold fund equal to five per cent, of their circulation for purposes of redemption. There may be some objection to the scheme rapidly outlined in the above proposi- tion ; but its advantages are so obvious as to outweigh the cost of it. It would get the Government out of the banking business and put our paper currency on a sound and flexible basis. It would do much to settle the silver question. This was revolutionary and radi- cal, but Colonel Singerly has been proven a prophet. In the Presi- dent's message of January 28, 1896, identically the same recom- mendations are made by Mr. Cleveland. In the statements and speeches of Secretary Carlisle and Comptroller Eckels is found ample evidence that they too have come to adopt the same views of the country's financial affairs. But Colonel Singerly makes no claim to being the sole solver of the great questions of his age and day. He has simply said what he believed to be the truth. The Record is a newspaper dealing with live issues for live people. Great executive ability is one of the colonel's most conspicuous traits. He is a born leader and commander of men. Monuments stand everywhere in Philadelphia to his progressive spirit — improved streets, parks, public buildings, purified politics and commercial advancement, for Philadelphia is a city of conspicuous commercial suc- cess. 'The Evening Telegraph," Philadelphia. Barclay H. Warburton is mak- ing a success of the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph that is a perpetua- tion of the success his father made. He is bringing the Telegraph up to date in the modernizations that are now a necessity to every publica- tion that would hold its prosperity. The Evening Telegraph has spent $175,000 within the last two years in improvements, new presses, new type-setting machines, etc. It has increased its running expenses thirty-three per cent. The adver- tising has increased sixty per cent, and circulation three hundred per cent. I learned these things for my- self by investigating the facts and figures, the books and records. It is the first time in the history of The Evening Telegraph that these things were laid open to inspection to anyone outside of the office. The only time previously that I had seen Mr. Warburton was when he was driving away from the Bellevue on the box of his coach, accompanied by those distin- guished, English-looking gentlemen who add such a picturesqueness to Philadelphia's famous coaching parties. Mr. Warburton bears the reputation of being Philadelphia's best whip or "crack," as Mr. Geo. W. Childs-Drexel expressed it to me in speaking of Mr. Warburton. But the day I called on him, the young business man in the office of The Evening Telegraph was think- ing of business, and only business. We made a business session of it for four or five hours. During that time I saw everything I asked to see. I asked to see everything. When I asked him about The Evening Telegraph' s circulation, he drew from a pigeon-hole a dozen 51 53 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. or fifteen blue slips, and asked me to draw one. I did so. It gave the press room figures of that day, the number of copies printed, and the number of copies sent out through various channels. It footed up over thirty-two thousand. " Is this your average circula- tion ? " "Yes, after deducting the aver- age number of returned copies, about ten per cent. Never over that." "What is your Saturday circula- tion?" " Last Saturday it was thirty- eight thousand." So much for the quantity of The Evening Telegraph' s circulation. Probably everybody knows its qual- ity. It goes to the millionaires, solid business people, and the so- ciety people — to the most intelli- gent reading public in the Quaker City. This is the standing it has always had. The Evening Telegraph has per- petuated all that was dear to its old constituency, and has added features that make it popular to its new readers. I went through The Evening Telegraph with Mr. Warbur- ton and examined everything in its columns. In news service it has something better than you will ordinarily find outside of the New York Herald, World, or Journal. They have special representatives in all important centers both in this country and abroad. Their departments are in charge of the most expert writers which can be secured. The editorial staff remains unchanged, as in fact does the business and advertising staff. The same men who served under his father, some of them for a quarter of a century, remain at their post to participate in the success The Evening Telegraph has attained. The new features it has intro- duced consist of a woman's page, an art page, a page devoted to the secret and colonial societies whose doings interest everybody in Philadelphia — from those who came over with William Penn, to those who go up and down Chestnut Street with one hand on the electric motor and the other on the brake. Among features which have been perpetuated in brightened and strengthened form is the liter- ary page, which it has made so attractive that it teems with pub- " THE EVENING TELEGRAPH." S3 lishers' advertisements. The same is true of their amateur sporting page and theatrical page, and also their Saturday ministerial page. The Evening Telegraph seems to appeal very strongly to both the classes and the masses. Yet it makes no concessions to sensation- alism. Its news is kept clean, fresh and condensed. It is well illus- trated, and will be still better illustrated now that Mr. Warburton has moved it into a new building, where with new presses, and new facilities, he will be able to keep pace with the growth of his publi- cation and its prosperity. If I were to dismiss The Even- ing Telegraph without mentioning the page it devotes to the "Spirit of the Press," I would be leaving out what is considered by the people of Philadelphia, to be The Evening Telegraph' s best feature. This "Spirit of the Press" consists of five or six columns of the best matter taken from the editorials of the best papers, both in Europe and the United States. It is a symposium of the world's thinking that is indispensable to the busy reader. I know lots of men who wouldn't think of letting a day go by without reading this department of The Evening Telegraph, and who would take The Evening Telegraph if it didn't contain anything else. When I first began reading The Evening Telegraph three years ago, it did not seem to be selling as it is now. I have learned from careful inquiry that, at the Broad Street Station and the Reading Terminal, more copies of the The Evening Telegraph are sold than of prob- ably all other papers put together. It doesn't aim for a popular street sale, but it is obtaining.it neverthe- less, in spite of the fact that its price remains at three cents in com- petition with the one-cent papers. The effect of all this success and merit, as I have already said, is shown in an increase of circulation of three hundred per cent, and an increase in advertising of sixty per cent. ; figures I verified by going through books of the concern very carefully. " Are there any local advertisers who are not in your columns?" I asked Mr. Warburton. " No," he replied. " How about general advertis- ing?" He showed me the books wherein 54 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. this kind of advertising was entered, and certainly the showing proves that the general advertiser is alive to The Evening TelegrapJi s rapidly increasing value. Mr. Warburton's attitude regard- ing rates is not any too encourag- ing. He is very rigid, both in charging one price and sticking to that price, and in allowing commis- sions only where commissions are justly due. Rather than allow commission on local business to a large agency in Philadelphia, he lost all the business that agency could legitimately divert from The Evening Telegraph' s columns, includ- ing the contract for the Welsbach Lamp advertising. This was, in spite of some very adroit maneuver- ing, intended to secure the coveted concession from Mr. Warburton, without having it appear on his books, the book of the agency, or being known publicly. Mr. War- burton has the Welsbach light adver- tising direct. Mr. Warburton is a very pleasant and quiet-mannered young man, but nevertheless he knows how to say "no " to propo- sitions that conflict with the policy that he has laid down for The Even- ing Telegraph ; a policy that the best managers and publishers and editors everywhere indorse in their own journalism. Perhaps it may be interesting to state right here that The Evening Telegraph secures a large amount of Philadelphia business that the other papers do not get in so large a ratio. For instance, it has the advertising of forty-four banks, twenty-eight trust companies, all the legal business there is, and plenty of real estate, horse and carriage and publishers' advertis- ing. This alone would indicate the solid standing of The Evening Telegraph. Of course I don't know what limit Mr. AVarburton places upon his ambitions, but I feel sure, judg- ing from what he has done in two years, he will multiply his circula- tion many times in the years that are to come. If there is anything he ought to know, in order to make a successful newspaper that he does not know already, he learns it very quickly. He secures every aid he can to make his paper greater in every sense of the word. This is the spirit that wins, and I record his success with pleasure, for he is a young man, just thirty. He " THE EVENING TELEGRAPH." 55 came into charge of The Evening Telegraph unexpectedly two years ago, and the success he has won is all his own — won by hard working, hard thinking, and inherited journ- alistic ability. I went through The Evening Tele- graph's new building at 704 Chest- nut Street and found it in every respect a model newspaper home. It contains every modern inven- tion, and every convenience for the collection and dissemination of news. It has a height of 5 stories, a width of 24 feet, and a depth of 140 feet, and is wholly occu- pied, from the basement to the photographer's skylights on the uppermost floor, by the various de- partments of The Evening Telegraph. In the basement I found the engine room containing one 80- H. P. automatic "Buckeye," one 50-H. P. "American," two 40- H. P. automatic " Watertown " engines; one fire pump, and one duplex Worthington fire pump, with hose attached, with reels on all the floors, and everything in readiness for instant use. Also general electric multiple dyna- mos, and motor for ventilating purposes. There is also a marble switch- board, which controls the one thousand electric lights in the building, and the necessary machinery for running the elec- tric elevator, which is located near the Chestnut Street front, and is to be used for passenger service. It has a speed of two hundred feet a minute. In the press room, adjoining the engine room, I found the latest improved double-supple- ment presses, built by R. Hoe & Co. of New York. They have a capacity of from four to twenty- eight pages, and united, when driven at their full force, will turn out ninety thousand papers an hour. Close to the presses is built the paper elevator, which receives the papers as fast as they are printed and automatically carries them to the distributing room, which is at the rear of the first, or street, door. On the main floor are the hand- some main business office, the cashier's ofiSce, the bookkeeper's oflices, and the distribution de- partment. The private offices of Mr. Barclay H. Warburton, the publisher, are located on the Chest- 56 AMERICAN JOURNALISM.. nut Street front of the second floor; also the offices of his secre- tary, the business manager, the advertising manager and his assist- ants and the advertising solicitors. The rear of the second floor is occupied by the stereotyping de- partment, which has all the latest inventions. The editorial and reportorial departments have spacious rooms and every con- venience on the third floor, and the art department occupies the fifth. The building is admirably arranged for the newspaper busi- ness and makes an ideal newspaper home. Since writing this article I learn that the advertising agency with which The Evening Telegraph had a slight conflict has sent in a con- tract for the Welsbach Light, at the Telegraph' s terms, thus settling the disagreement amicably. The Philadelphia "Bulletin." "Keep your eye on the Philadel- phia Bulletin," said Mr. Barr, pub- lisher of the Pittsburg Post when I was in that city. It is unneces- sary to go to Pittsburg to be re- minded of the success the Bulletin is making. It is evidenced every- where in Philadelphia. The newsboys seem to be sing- ing one afternoon paper above all the others. People are seen read- ing it in the street cars, ferries and hotels, and taking it home to their families. Delivery wagons and tri- cycles go flying through the streets in every direction, labelled the Evening Bulletin, and out in front of the Bulletin office a crowd pretty nearly blocks the sidewalk, reading its bulletins. These are the outside aspects of the Bulletin boom. I went to the Bulletin office to secure from Mr. Wm. L. McLean the inside facts. Mr. McLean is known to news- paper men everywhere from his long connection with the Philadel- phia Press. He had a sixteen- years' opportunity there to study Philadelphia's journalistic condi- tions. He had a great deal to do with making the Press a success. Its marvelous amount of want advertising is due to him, as well as much of its progress in other departments. Before he came to the Press he had a good chance to study newspaper-making on the Pittsburg Leader, while he was associated with the organizing and distribution department, a training shown in his Bulletin success. "Why did you buy the Bulletin in preference to any other Phila- delphia paper ? " I asked. WHY HE BOUGHT THE "BULLETIN." " Because the Bulletin was an old established property with a good record, and the only afternoon 57 58 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. paper in Philadelphia with an Asso- ciated Press franchise. It was not equipped mechanically as it should have been, and was not strong in its editorial and news organization, be- cause it belonged largely to an estate, and was on a very small per- centage of expense. However, it was carrying a fair amount of adver- tising, and its 12,000 circulation was among good substantial people. There was a tremendous oppor- tunity. First to equip it thoroughly in every way and then build on its good solid foundation a paper that would fill the need that existed in Philadelphia for a high-grade afternoon daily at a popular price. Carefully secured statistics of the afternoon and morning circulation of papers in Philadelphia, compared with the statistics of the circulation of papers in Boston, New York and Chicago, indicated a shortage in the afternoon circulation of Phila- delphia of 100,000 copies, and the field was sufficiently fallow to war- rant the expenditure of any amount of time and money to develop it. For the right kind of a newspaper there is no better field in the world than Phila- delphia. 200,000 HOMES. "At the lowest estimate there are over 200,000 homes within the city limits. These home people earn and spend in Philadelphia at least $100,000,000 annually, figuring that each family has an average income of $10 per week. There are very few cities in the world where such a large percentage of the popula- tion belongs to the newspaper reading class, and where people spend so large a percentage of their earnings in purchasing ad- vertised goods. We haven't a slum district of any consequence in Philadelphia, and our foreign popu- lation is very small. Now, the 200,000 home-owners of Philadel- phia want an afternoon paper that will contain all the news in a clean, condensed form, and that will have plenty of special matter besides. They want this paper for a penny. That is why I decided to make the Bulletin a penny paper, and de- cided to make it in a news and edi- torial way just as clean and just as comprehensive as a two or three cent paper. Therefore, upon its purchase, a year ago, its local force was immediately doubled and since THE PHILADELPHIA " BULLETIN." 59 then it has probably been tripled. This force gathers and presents the things that are being most talked about in the community." "Do you make local news first?" I asked. "Yes, for while we print more or less foreign news, we consider local news first in importance. Short editorials. A department of 'Men and Things,' devoted to local sketches. Another of ' For- eign Views and Reviews.' A de- partment devoted to women's inter- ests in their local associations, and a page of sports. We run a care- fully selected story, and the best financial and market page in the city. Every line that goes into the paper is carefully scrutinized. Nothing is more important than having the paper absolutely clean — absolutely free frorti objectionable features. For that reason we do not give extended space to crimes and scandals. We assume that home people will naturally exclude from their homes the kind of a newspaper that caters to the crimi- nal classes, and will not tolerate a paper that presents corrupting literature." MECHANICAL IMPROVEMENTS. "We equipped the paper mechanically by putting in nine linotype machines and a quad- ruple Hoe Press, with a capacity of forty-eight thousand eight-page papers per hour. We doubled the capacity of our stereotyping plant, and yet with all this we have not been able to keep pace with the growth in our circulation." "How many editions do you print ? " "Three. We make two deliver- ies to all parts of the city — on the one o'clock edition, and on the four o'clock edition." Here Mr. McLean permitted me to see his press-room figures. I went through them very carefully. They demonstrate that the circula- tion of the Bulletin has been multi- plied by more than three within the last eleven months. The ques- tion naturally arose in my mind, "Do you allow the return privi- lege?" "Yes, it would be hardly fair to ask the newsboys and the news- dealers to bear the loss of sales on rainy days, and days when people <6o AMERICAN JOURNALISM. are interested in ottier things than newspaper reading. We are too ■fully conscious how necessary it is to offer a paper for sale, before one can sell it, to. place any stumbling- blocks in the path of our selling." "How many returns do you get ? " " They sometimes run as high as fifteen per cent." : "Do you find you can count upon a steady demand where once your paper has secured a footing ?" -. " Yes, it never drops back. Our circulation fluctuates very much •less than we had expected. Of course, on special news occasions, "we have a 'very large increase of circulation. Within, the past week ■on one day we printed as high as sixty-five thousand." "Is your circulation largely local ?" " Entirely so at present, though there is no reason why it shouldn't reach out into the scores of sur- rounding towns in the near future." "Have you been able to hold your old subscribers ? " HELD THE OLD SUBSCRIBERS. "Yes, we have held our old cir- culation, because we are pursuing a very conservative policy, and are keeping the paper up to a very high grade. My theory was that we could not aiford to go to a cent unless we kept up the grade of the paper, and made it still stronger, as a newspaper. Thus our old readers are better satisfied with the Bulletin than ever. In fact they are delighted with it. We are really able to give in eight pages all the news of importance. Of course this takes careful con- densation, but the majority of people to-day want the news as concisely as it can be furnished to them. It is our object above all things to print that which is most interesting, whether the average newspaper man would consider it news or something else." NO SCHEMES USED. " Do you use any schemes to increase your circulation ? " "No, we have only worked on the straight basis. We haven't adopted a single scheme; haven't had occasion to yet. " "What proportion of your cir- culation goes into the homes ?" "Why, the afternoon paper goes entirely into the homes. The THE PHILADELPHIA "BULLETIN." 6i distribution system that we have puts the paper into the hands of every newsboy and every news- dealer. They supply every reader, at his shop or office, or on his way home. The man who buys a paper like the Bulletin takes it home, because he knows his wife wants to read it." " How much encouragement have you received from local advertisers ?" " The greatest. The day the paper came to a cent, the amount of advertising that was sent in was a complete surprise to us. By ten o'clock in the morning more advertising was offered than we could take that day. All our local advertisers recognize that we are getting there without cheap or sensational methods. We are using no special method, and offer- ing no special inducement to get advertising, yet we are securing a generous share of both local and foreign business. I am not worry- ing about either the advertising or circulation of the Bulletin. We figured out our opportunity before we started, and in working out our scheme our success is far ahead of our anticipation." Mr. McLean and myself fell to chatting informally on such things as, the typographical appearance, of newspapers, new faces of type, the Setting, of advertisemeijts, etc. I have a theory that the pub- lisher makes the paper, provided he be foot-free. As Mr. McLean owns the Bulletin, he is certainly free to make just the sort of a paper he wants to. He wants to make the kind of a paper Phila- delphia's great reading public wants, and no one knows better than he what kind of a paper that is. He is in closest touch with Philadelphia people, socially, jour- nalistically and in a business way. He is a member of the Union League and other prominent clubs, and has a most extensive acquain- tance. He divides his time between the Bulletin office — where he dictates every detail, maps out every line of policy — and associa- tions outside of the office where he learns most of what is in the public mind. He has an able staff. He has plenty of capital. He has a splendidly equipped plant. 62 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. He has elegant offices on Chest- nut Street in the commercial aristocracy of the Quaker city. His paper has fifty years of prestige and popularity behind it and a phenomenal growth of cir- culation before it. The Pittsburg publisher who said, " Keep your eye on the Bulletin," knew what he was talking about. The Pittsburg "Press." The Pittsburg Fress is the pioneer one-cent paper of western Pennsylvania. It is probably due to the Fress primarily that the other papers in Pittsburg, with the exception of the Leader and Dis^ patch, have dropped down to a penny. According to the sworn statement on file at the Controller's office, the net circulation of the Fress at present is about fifty-one thousand copies. I called on Mr. Chas. W. Houston, the manager of the Press, and questioned him as to the standing and circulation of his paper. " Do any of the other papers fur- nish you with a filled-out slip like this ? " he asked, handing me the following : Report of Circulation of the Pitts- burg " Press," for Wednesday, May 6, 1896. Agents, . Carriers, Newsboys, Allegheny Office, 12,163 10,774 11,728 6,500 East End Office, ■ 1,700 South Side Office, 1 Alleiitown Office, ) 1.750 Manchester Office, . 1,350 Lawrenceville, 800 Office Sales, 890 Mail, . 924 With Packages, 931 Exchanges, 214 Employees, 175 Spoiled, 392 Special Orders, 20 Left Over, ist, 70 2d, Last, 100 Extra, 851 " Extra, Total . . 51,332 Total Number Shown on Register of Presses No. 2 25,296 4 26,056 Total, . . 51,352 Number unaccounted for, . . 20 I certify that the above is true and correct, W. E. Pattison, Mailing Clerk. " We keep record of our circula- tion each day in this way. We have done so every day since we started twelve years ago. We keep these slips and paste them into a book that is open to the inspection of any 63 64 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. one interested. We give the fluc- tuations of our circulation just as they occur. At present we are printing more copies than usual owing to special efforts we are put- ting forth to increase our subscrip- tion list." He gave me the details of a bi- cycle scheme, by which the services of two thousand boys and girls are enlisted in western Pennsylvania in securing subscriptions for the Press J each subscription running from eight weeks to a year. Mr. Houston said he gave this plan a trial last year in a more limited way and judged from re- sults that a large percentage of subscribers secured in this way might be counted upon as perma- nent. PAID IN ADVANCE SUBSCRIPTIONS. " The best point about this scheme is that the subscriptions are paid in advance and the deliv- ery of the papers is secured by the carriers and agents, who do not receive their pay until they have accomplished their work. The Fress is making a substantial ad- vance all the time. We were run- ning an eight-page paper with a ten or twelve-page edition when forced to it by our advertising. Now we are printing a ten-page paper regularly; increasing from twelve to sixteen pages when necessary. We shall run a sixteen- page paper to-morrow to accom- modate the sixty-eight columns of advertising we have received up to this time. We do not allow our advertising to encroach upon the news features or departments. We are making a home newspaper and are sparing no expense to make it as clean and acceptable as possible. We have an interesting woman's page and we devote a page or more each Sunday to our Young Folks' League. This is an association formed by our juvenile contributors, whose matter is printed in their page. They are boys and girls in thousands of our well-to-do families. They have a baseball club, brass band, drum corps, two girls' clubs, baseball league and an athletic league; not to speak of their cadet corps, which was uniformed and equipped by the Press, and which Governor Hastings of Pennsylvania honored by taking to Atlanta as his per- sonal guard. Every member is a THE PITTSBURG " PRESS. 6S contributor to their department of the paper. The Press is recognized as the amateur sporting organ of this vicinity. We make a spe- cialty of our bicycle department. We also issue a baseball extra which, with our facilities, we are able to get on the street inside of two minutes after the game is done, with a complete score and story of the game. To do this requires quick work, and we are equipped for quick work. We have two triple-deck Walter Scott presses with a joint capacity of forty-eight thousand papers per hour, and we have a double stereo- typing plant. Given an equal start, we can beat any paper in Pittsburg getting out an extra. "The Fi-ess is the first paper in the United States to issue a base- ball extra. There is a possibility I may be wrong in this statement, but I believe that we issued our first baseball extra several weeks before the New York World or the Chicago News. "Our baseball extra, takes the place of a six o'clock edition. Its circulation is very largely per- manent, and therefore should not be deducted from our total in esti- mating the circulation of the Press. Turning to our daily statement you will notice ' papers delivered to agents, 12,163.' All these are out- side of the city and they all go into the homes, with the exception of 1,000 papers that go to the Union News Co. and newsdealers. Out of the 6,500 papers that are handled in Allegheny, 4,000 are delivered to subscribers. Of the papers delivered from our South Side offices 1,200 go to subscribers. Out of those that are handled at our Manchester office 800 are delivered to subscribers. In fact about four-fifths of our total circu- lation goes into the homes." The Press is Independent Re- publican. It is controlled by no clique and by no ring. It says what it believes in all matters, and that gives it the sort of stand- ing that makes a paper valuable to advertisers. Mr. Houston called my attention to the fact that each day the regis- ters of his presses, start at cipher and record the exact number printed, which is put down on a slip and handed to Mr. Houston. The mailing clerk makes out another slip covering the- total edi- 66 AMERICAN JOURNALISM, tion. He does not see the press- room report when he makes up his figures. In this way there is an infallibility about the accuracy of the printed circulation, for the two reports must correspond or some- one must explain the discrepancy. "Do you give the return copy privilege ? " "We have just begun to." "How many copies are ordi- narily returned ? " "Between six and seven per cent." " Is this deducted from the statement of your circulation ?" "Yes, as well as all copies spoiled in the printing or given away in the ofifice, or otherwise disposed of except by direct sale." I asked Mr. Houston about his foreign advertising, which is in the hands of the enterprising Mr. S. C. Beckwith in the Tribune Building, New York. "We treat the out of town advertiser as we treat the home advertiser," replied Mr. Houston. "We don't give the foreign adver- tiser any advantage over the home advertiser and don't expect the home advertiser to pay more for his space than the foreign adver- tiser. We don't allow commissions to agents outside of Mr. Beckwith. The commission we pay him is not added to the rate given advertisers. They get the same rate as the home advertiser. This cuts us off from some advertising." I looked through the columns of the Press to see what general busi- ness it was carrying and found Hood's, Paine's Celery Compound, Dr. Pierce, Royal Baking Powder, Warner, Castoria, The American Tobacco Co., Sterling Remedy Co., Hobbs, Foster, Milburn & Co., S. S. S., Pozzoni, Ayer, Sapolio, Scott's Emulsion, Mail Pouch, Cot- tolene, Eisner & Mendelssohn, Williams' Pink Pills, Wilbur's Cocoa, Hobbs Med. Co., Winslow's Sooth- ing Syrup, Miles Med. Co., Wels- bach Light, Fig Syrup, Pope Manu- facturing Co., and Sunlight Soap. " Do you charge extra for cuts or breaking column rules ? " "No." "Position?" "Yes." THE FUTURE OF THE "PRESS.'' He talked about the future of the Press. " It is as bright as any paper in the country. We have THE PITTSBURG " PRESS." 67 every reason to believe our busi- ness will keep on increasing. We already have all the leading adver- tisers in Pittsburg. "We exclude all objectionable advertising from our columns. We have the cleanest record of any paper in Allegheny County. We have the call on the want business. We never print less than a page of classified matter, four columns of which are wants. For part of this we charge one cent a word. About forty per cent, of it is free." " How many columns of paid advertising do you run daily ? " "Forty -three to fifty -five columns." " What is your lowest rate ? " "Five cents per agate line." " Do you stick to it ? " STICKING TO RATES. "Yes, sir; that is why we have not more foreign business. We will not accept either foreign or local advertising under that figure, and that is the figure for large con- tracts without position." Mr. Houston mentioned among the achievements of the Press that it had started the popular subscrip- tion by which forty thousand dollars was raised for the News- boys' Home. It is now raising a fund for the monument to the mem- ory of Stephen C. Foster, the au- thor of " Old Folks at Home," who was a native of Pittsburg. It also inaugurated the long-distance bi- cycle racing through which the Press has received so much newspaper notice. The Press is set-up by eleven linotypes. It has an art plant by which it produces excel- lent illustrations, with astonishing rapidity, by the chalk-plate process. Artist Rigby of the New York World, Fred Holme of the Chicago Evening Post, and Mr. Charles Reese, who is also doing excellent art work in New York, are graduates of the Press art department. The editor of the Press is Mr. T. J. Keenan, Jr., the organizer and first President of the Interna- tional League of Press Clubs, of which association he is still one of the governing board. He is a bright writer, and the success of the Press is due to him and to Mr. Houston. They have been with the paper since the beginning. They own a controlling interest and are thus unhampered in the enterprising onward work that is making the Press well worthy of the attention of advertisers everywhere. The Pittsburgh ''Commercial Gazette." The first paper established west of the Allegheny Mountains was the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette. It has a long and interesting his- tory, identified with this progress- ive section of the country. It has recently advanced wonderfully in circulation, having scored a steady increase of a thousand a month during the last half year. In fact, it has gained a circulation impetus that has carried it from twenty-nine thousand to thirty-six thousand, with the very strong probability that this increase will continue. Mr. Alfred Reed, the business manager, told me its exact standing, its exact circulation and how it has been able to make such wonderful progress. The princi- ples of the Commercial Gazette are clean cut and of the same order of truthfulness and elevation that have made the journalistic successes everywhere. " How do you explain that your paper is deserving the place it appears to hold in the esteem of its advertisers and readers ? " "Our readers represent the greater part of the community here that has money to pay for adver- tised articles and intelligence enough to appreciate advertising. We se- cured that position by treating our readers and advertisers fairly. We don't desire under any circum- stances that anyone should doubt the truthfulness of anything in the columns of the Gazette. We don't tolerate sensationalism. The spirit of accuracy and fairness which per- meates the editorial and news de- partments of the Gazette is reflected in our advertising columns. We keep out of the columns all fake sales and things that look shady." "Then your standing is some- thing like that of the New York Evening: Post ? " 68 THE PITTSBURGH " COMMERCIAL GAZETTE.' 69 "That was true years ago. Since then we have increased our field and spread out into larger territory; and while we are print- ing the highest quality of news, we have fought our way among the better class of workmen and the great middle class, who are the best buyers, it seems to us, of news- papers and advertised articles. But we have not lost our old con- stituency. I believe almost every minister of Pittsburgh and vicinity reads the Gazette ; also almost every deacon, every elder. We try to make a paper that will suit any reputable citizen, no matter what his circumstances are ; and, judging from results, we are succeeding." "What has been the percentage of gain the Gazette has obtained in the past year ?" In reply Mr. Reed showed me the slips that contain the exact statement of his circulation from day to day and the average from month to month for a year back. I looked over the figures for myself. I saw that six months ago the paper was gaining in circula- tion from three to five hundred copies a month and that this increase has been accumulating until it has run up to over a thou- sand a month. He showed me the last slip he has printed for circula- tion among Pittsburgh advertisers, and I produce it herewith: Commercial ffiasette. Established in 1786. PITTSBURGH, PA. Gentlemen : In placing your spring advertising, we ask that yoa consider the claims of the Commercial Gazette. Its bona fide daily circulation for the month of March (free copies not counted, and no schemes used- to inflate) was 36,663. Its circulation is of the hest quality — going regularly into homes, offices and stores. Its circulation is steadily increasing, and in this. Presidential year it promises to surpass its fine record of growth in 1895. Trusting that you will not forget its claims, we remain. Yours truly, NELSON P. REED & CO. Publishers Commercial Gazette. " This is the sworn statement on file in the City Controller's office," said Mr. Reed. " Are the returns deducted ? " " No, but they do not amount tc^ more than 10,000 copies for the whole month, counting everything, or about 350 copies a day. We have the least returns of any paper in this city." He showed me their returns for the last week, three small bundles. "How much of your circulation goes permanently into the homes?" ;o AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "All except about 3,000 copies which represent our street sales, car sales, etc. Our street sales and our home circulation each increase steadily without fluctuation. The fluctuation in our street copies in Pittsburgh and Allegheny is not 50 copies a day." " Then more than 33,000 of your circulation goes into the homes regularly ? " " Yes, into the homes, offices and workshops." "What system do you follow to stimulate your circulation ? " "The only stimulant we have is our canvassing system. We never resort to any schemes. We do not give away bicycles, print coupons or deliver free papers. First of all we give the people the reading- matter they want. We are a news- paper; we have very little room for miscellany." " Do you have any specialties ? " "Yes, to some extent. We make a home, office and workshop paper. We are making a paper which the women read in their homes and men in their offices, homes and workshops. We make a specialty of a sporting page for young people. We make a specialty of society news. Our ' Quiet Observer' col- umn, discussing everything of inter- est to the domestic circle, and never touching politics or public ques^ tions, is read with intense interest. It is ably edited by a man who has been able to find quite a sale for this matter when printed in book form, and who is in demand for lec- tures and addresses." I looked over the Gazette's make- up. It sensibly prints no ads on the first page, very few on its second page and none on its edi- torial. It has a very large amount of local advertising— everybody of any advertising consequence in Pittsburgh and nearly every general advertiser outside. The latter is sent in through its enterprising New York agent, Mr. J. E. VanDoren. The fact that it was able to advance its rates and keep its business is another proof of its value. I asked Mr. Reed its net minimum rate. Whether it was ever under five cents. " No," he replied. The Gazette is printed on a Scott triple-deck press and a single Potter press, with a joint capacity of thirty-five thousand papers per hour. It is set on ten linotypes. It is well printed, and easy to read. THE PITTSBURGH "COMMERCIAL GAZETTE." 71 It does not show typographically, or in the paper and ink it uses, any evidence of being cheap in quality because it is cheap in price. "Are you willing that advertisers should verify your circulation by watching your presses?" I asked Mr. Reed, as I was taking my departure. "Yes." "Are you willing that they should see your circulation books ? " "Yes. They are open to any general advertiser who wishes to examine them for the purpose of verifying our statement." "Are you willing to swear your daily circulation exceeds thirty-five thousand ?" " Yes, sir." The Pittsburg "Post." Only one of the seven papers in Pittsburg is Democratic. All the others are Republican or Independ- ent Republican, and yet four hun- dred and twenty-five thousand people in the region contributory to Pittsburg voted for Cleveland in the last election. This is the clien- tele the Post appeals to. This is what gives the Post a unique place among Pittsburg papers and entitles it to special recognition by adver- tisers. I called on Mr. Albert J. Barr, the Manager of the Post, President of the Post Publishing Co., and a director of the Associated Press. Mr. Barr is one of the publishers who believe in treating the adver- tiser openly. There is nothing about the Post he cares to conceal. In fact, the more advertisers know of the Post the more they patronize it. This is probably one of the reasons why he answered my ques- tions so freely. "Your paper being the only Democratic newspaper in Pittsburg commands, I suppose, an exclusive clientele ? " " It is the only daily Democratic newspaper in Western Pennsyl- vania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia, except in Wheeling. Our circulation goes to the best people in this field. We are printing 36,515 copies daily. That is our actual average the past year." "What percentage of this cir- culation is within fifteen miles of Pittsburg ? " " Sixty -five per cent." "What number go into the homes ?" "Twenty-six or twenty-seven thousand." " What percentage of your total circulation are your returns ? " " Less than four per cent." "How do you secure your circu- lation? " " We have a large corps of can- 72 THE PITTSBURG " POST." 73 vassers. We also distribute speci- men copies." NO SCHEMES. "Do you use any schemes?" "No, thank God!" replied Mr. Barr with fervor. " Our circulation is builded on reputation and merit. We use no gifts, no pi^ize guessing schemes, no bicycle schemes." "What do you do in your col- umns specially for your readers. That is, what makes up the read- ability of your paper? " "We are making a paper that not only has all the news, but plenty of miscellany of interest to the members of the household.' We have a special woman's space, both daily and Sunday." "What is your Sunday circula- tion?" "The Sunday issue is new— only three years and a half old, but we had a circulation of 25,672 last Sunday. It is growing all the time. Its growth is the marvel of modern journalism in these parts." Speaking of the politics of his paper, Mr. Barr said that in city and county affairs it was absolutely independent. '. ' "A ring smasher? " I suggested. LIKE THE "evening POST" OF NEW YORK. "We have done the best we could in that line for years," he replied. I notice that Mr. Barr uses the methods employed by Mr. Sey- mour, of the New York Evening Post, whom he admires as a mana- ger. For instance, when I asked him about his circulation he im- mediately produced his circulation books and his circulation manager,' and when I made the remark, "You give your circulation every day," he replied, "Every day, in exact figures, we give the exact nufnber of copies printed by the press count, which must agree wifh the weight of paper, which must tally with the circulation depart- ment report. These figures have been particularly interesting since we reduced our price from three to one cent. The first day we in- creased from 18,500 copies to 30,- 016, and soon after that scored 43,900, which was a boom. Then we dropped back to something less than our present figures. We have been experiencing a healthy ■growth ever since, gaining steadily and keeping all we gain." 74 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. The Post is really a two-cent paper in everything except price. It's printed on good paper with good ink. Its type is set by ten linotypes, and it is printed on two triple-deck Scott presses with a joint capacity of 36,000 papers per hour. It is 8, 10 or 12 pages daily, 24 or 28 pages Sunday. I was shown the newsdealer and carrier books. The Post is de- livered to the houses in the city by carriers, and in the country by agents who are carriers as well as distributing agents. ABOUT THE ADVERTISING. When we took up the question of the advertising Mr. Barr called in Mr. A. L. Richardson and Mr. F. M. Purdyof the advertising depart- ment. Mr. Richardson used to be with the advertising department of St. Jacob's Oil Mr. Purdy has been with the Post for thirty years. "How about your foreign busi- ness ? " I asked. "Through our New York agent, Mr. T. B. Eiker, we get every- thing going, except three general advertisers who are standing out on rates. We get all the local busi- ness that amounts to anything." "What is your miminum net rate?" "Six cents per agate line." "Nothing under?" "No, sir." A MARVELOUS INCREASE. Mr. Richardson told me about the increase in advertising the Post has been experiencing. "It is something surprising, even to us. The increase in our daily adver- tising has been over fifty per cent during the last year. The increase in our Sunday advertising has been over eighty-two per cent." "How much advertising do you print daily?" " We are now printing an average of forty-one columns daily and Sunday from sixty to eighty-four columns." "To what do you attribute this increase in your advertising ? " "To the increase in our circular tion, which is due to the great bet- terment of the paper itself. The amount and character of matter it prints are recognized pretty thor- oughly among the five million people of whom Pittsburg is- the population center." "In dealing with advertisers do THE PITTSBURG " POST." 7S you charge extra for anything ex- cept position ?" "No." "Tell me about your editorial staff," I asked Mr. Barr. "We think we have the most ably edited paper out here. Mr. James Mills has been our editor for twenty years. The Post from its beginning has held the confi- dence of the community. It is conservative and truthful." A LITTLE HISTORY. The Fast is a very old paper. Its weekly passed the century mark four years ago. Its daily is fifty- four years old. It went under the management of the Fost Print- ing & Publishing Co. in 1886, with Albert J. Barr as president and manager, F. M. Purdy as treasurer, F. X. Barr as secretary, Mr. Mills continuing as editor in chief and Mr. J. S. Myers as managing editor. It is well equipped to maintain and increase its standing and circula- tion. Mr. Barr is an aggressive and progressive manager, right in journahstic touch with the men, who, like Mr. Hearst of the New York Journal, are setting the pace. It means a good deal to the Fost to have the use of the matter gathered by Mr. Hearst's staff of stars — the brightest, brainest, largest paid newspaper men in America. It means a good deal to advertisers to have a paper submit itself to the closest scrutiny in every particular, and to be able to sustain that scrutiny with busi- ness-bringing credibility. Adver- tisers will do well to keep their eye upon the Post. It has the special cable service of the New York Journal, as well as its best general features. The Pittsburgh "Chronicle Telegraph." The Pittsburgh Chronicle Tele- graph is one of the papers that has succeeded in retaining a high-class standard after dropping to a penny in price. For a great many years it has been known to advertisers all over the United States as Pitts- burgh's great family newspaper. It was sold for two cents a copy then. There came a great demand on the part of advertisers for large circulations. In deference to the desires of the advertising public, the management of the Chronicle Telegraph, four or five years ago, reduced its price and increased its circulation. It has kept on increasing it ever since. Last year the circulation was more than fifty thousand — about fifty-one thousand by actual average of the sworn figures on file in the Con- troller's office, where the Chronicle Telegraph, being one of the papers that carry the city printing, is obliged to file its figures every month. Because of its large advertising patronage, it has been able to maintain its high standard as a newspaper, and, with the gain it has made in circulation among the masses, has not lost its prestige with the classes. Mr. O. S. Hersh- man, the Manager, told me this and a great deal more of equal interest. I called upon him to ask him what facts he could present to support the statement that appears in gilt letters upon the Chronicle Tele- graph's new plate-glass windows — 'Pittsburgh's greatest paper.' " "Just what place do you hold among Pittsburgh papers ? " I asked him first. WHY IT LEADS. " The Chronicle Telegraph is Pitts- burgh's leading paper, if you leave 76 THE PITTSBURGH " CHRONICLE TELEGRAPH." n out of account the circulation of one of the Sunday papers. We have no Sunday issue." "How do you make that out?" "Well, to begin with, we carry ■double as much foreign advertising as any other paper in Pittsburgh. Again, we print from 96 to 112 columns daily. We have to in order to publish all the news and accommodate our large advertis- ing patronage. This advertising comes to the Chronicle Telegraph for two reasons. First: because for so many years the Chronicle Telegraph has held a high place in the esteem of Pittsburgh peo- ple. Second: because we not only retained the circulation gained by our reduction in price, but are adding to it all the time. This is because we give the people the very best newspaper that we can with a good staff and ample facilities. We have a legitimate plan for securing new subscribers that we have operated for five or six years. We give the children of the community a bicycle for se- curing a certain number of new subscribers, all of which are paid for two months in advance. Our experience has been that we hold about 33^ per cent of these new subscribers." LOW PRICES FOR SPACE. "I suppose you charge the ridiculously low prices for adver- tising that prevail in Pittsburgh," I remarked. Mr. Hershman smiled as he replied: "Of course we do not charge as much as our space is worth, but we get a rate that is considered pretty stiff by some of the other Pittsburgh papers." Then we went to look at the new building that the Chronicle Tele- graph has just purchased and moved into at 347 and 349 Fifth Avenue. It is a handsome struc- ture. The entrance is impressive in plate glass and marble tile, with quartered oak counters. The first floor runs back 240 feet, and is adequately broad, so that it is large enough to accommodate commodiously the counting room, private offices, editorial rooms and mailing room. The composing room is on the basement floor, fronting on Fifth Avenue. Adjoin- ing it is the stereotyping room, followed by the press room. Back 78 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. of that is the engine and dynamo room, and, in the rear of the room, the boilers, malcing a continuous mechanical department on one floor, each working into the hands of the other, as the work of getting out a great newspaper proceeds. The composing room is fully equipped with Mergenthaler linotype ma- chines and all of the latest improve- ments required in this department. In the stereotype and press rooms, the latest and most improved machinery is in operation. Two of Hoe's largest and latest improved perfecting presses are necessary to print the large edition of the paper. The electric light and motive power for the entire build- ing are furnished by the com- pany's own electric plant. The Chronicle Telegraph people are justly proud of their new quar- ters, especially as they own the building and have remodeled and arranged it according to fin-de-sihle ideas. After sizing up the material and mechanical aspects of the Chronicle Telegraph, I asked Mr. Hershman to tell me its history. THE PAPER S HISTORY. "The Chronicle was started in 1841; the Telegraph in 1873, and they were consolidated in 1884," he replied. "We reduced the price of our paper to one cent in 1892. Since then its history has been stirring, with plenty of competition to make it lively for us. We reduced our price for the pur- pose of gaining a leading circula- tion, and we have succeeded. I think this is because we have made the Chronicle Telegraph all that it used to be and a great deal more. Old subscribers like the paper bet- ter than they ever did, and our new subscribers are equally pleased." "Tell me something of the ancient history of the paper. How did the Chronicle Telegraph happen to become Pittsburgh's great family newspaper ? " " I don't know that there is much of its ancient history that is interesting. But I can tell you just why we occupy the place of Pitts- burgh's great family newspaper. It is because, in addition to giving all the news, we keep and have kept our columns absolutely clean." The Pittsburg "Leader." Pittsburg's best evening paper is the Leader. Both in quality and quantity of circulation. I base this assertion upon what Pitts- burg's leading citizens and adver- tisers have told me and from what I found out by a crucial examination of the facts and figures at the Leader office. The Leader is to Pittsburg -what the New York Evening Post is to New York City. It is a two- cent paper. It is the only two-cent ■evening paper in Pittsburg. All other evening papers are penny papers. It goes to a correspond- ingly high constituency. I may say that it reaches all of Pittsburg's best people. It reaches those who have money to spend — and a great many people in Pittsburg do have money to spend. I base this state- ment on the fact that there are more men possessing over two hundred thousand dollars each in Pittsburg than in any other city in the world. These people read the Leader every day. They read all that there is in it, advertisements included. They believe all there is in it, because they have learned from long experience that the Leader prints nothing that is not true — or unacceptable to the family circle. ITS CIRCULATION. The number of copies it prints is an average exceeding twenty- seven thousand daily and exceed- ing thirty-eight thousand Sunday. It gives its actual figures from day to day. They are open to verifi- cation by anyone who cares to examine them. No one in Pitts- burg does. Pittsburg advertisers know all there is to know about the Leader, its circulation and advertising rates. They have been paying the Leader a higher adver- tising rate than any other even- ing paper, getting better results 79 8o AMERICAN JOURNALISM. from it than any other evening paper, and renewing their con- tracts, year after year, without a question as to price. They know its rates are as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians. All contracts are open to the in- spection of advertisers, and any reputable advertiser can duplicate the contract any other advertiser has with the Leader. Its rate is low. On large con- tracts it averages less than a fifth of a cent per thousand of circula- tion. It does not have arbitrary rules regarding cuts and the break- ing of column rules, but it charges extra for arbitrary position ads and is very particular about ac- cepting position ads at all. " I won't run ads like the New York papers do — surrounded by reading. The New York papers are in that respect the weakest in the country," said Mr. Joseph T. Nevin to me when I called to talk over the Leader with him. Mr. Nevin is the managing owner. His brother, Mr. T. W. Nevin, is the managing editor. Together they have run the Leader since the death of Colonel John I. Nevin, who was the Leader's first editor, and whose brilliant, fear- less, aggressive policy gave it the success and standing that it has maintained for a quarter of a cen- tury. THE STORY OF SUCCESS. The story of this quarter of a century is told in an anniversary edition of the Leader of October i8, 1895. In it I found many interesting facts, including a trib- ute from Andrew Carnegie. Also one from Mr. Eugene M. O'Neill, the principal owner of the Pittsburg Dispatch, who was city editor of the Leader when it started. The Leader politically is Inde- pendent Republican. It always supports the best man and has frequently carried elections against heavy odds. I interviewed Mr. Nevin on all the points I consider of paramount interest to the advertiser. "We give our exact circulation and the figures are net. We print no papers for the ash barrel. We allow no returns except from the Union News Co. We have no credit accounts except with rail- road news agents. Our circula- tion was a little less last year than THE PITTSBURG " LEADER. this. That was because of the business depression. It was a little greater year before last than it was last year. Our circulation is not affected by our politics. It is not affected by the fact that the other papers have dropped to one cent. We believe that if we came down to a penny our circu- lation would double, but what is the use of it ? If we were losing circulation it would be a matter to take up. Every other paper in Pittsburg keeps from five to ten canvassers in the field. The Leader has not had a canvasser out in five years and still our cir- culation is going up. This shows the stability of our circulation. The canvassers of other papers admit they can't touch the Leader's circulation. Our readers stick to us because we are making a news- paper that prints all the news fearlessly. We stand alone as Pittsburg's family newspaper and have a larger circulation locally than any other paper in this city either morning or evening." "We have certain rigid rules also regarding our advertisers," said Mr. Nevin, resuming the thread of our discourse. " For instance, we will not allow com- mission on local business. When the Pope Manufacturing Co. opened a store in Pittsburg and sent in their ads through the Pettingill agency, we refused to accept the order with the com- mission deducted. The other Pitts- burg papers did. We regard the Pope store here as a local store in competition with local stores. Its advertising therefore is subject to our rules for local advertisers. NO DOUBLE DEALING. " Another thing, we do not allow commission on any business coming in direct, whether it is Dr. Pierce, Carter's Little Liver Pills, Hood's Sarsaparilla or Royal Baking Powder. We get full rates or we don't accept the order. We have had a fight over this, and we have won. Mr. Henry Bright, Tribune Building, New York City, has charge of our outside advertis- ing business, and his able campaign during the last year, in our behalf, has served very largely in correct- ing any erroneous impressions that may have arisen concerning the Leader, and general advertisers are beginning to look on us with the 82 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. same confidence local dealers have; a confidence which enables us to do the largest amount of local advertising in Pittsburg. This in spite of the fact that our price is the highest and we have the small- est advertising force. We have only two solicitors; while no other Pittsburg paper has less than six." "A great many people think we set up our ads better than any other paper in Pittsburg. They send us their copy for the first set- ting, and then send the proofs to the other papers. We believe in setting up ads as artistically as possible. We spare no expense to please the advertiser; we like to have ads changed every day. I don't like to see stereotyped ads in the paper, and I don't object to the expense of changing them." THE BEST FACILITIES. "We believe we have the very best facilities there are to produce a good newspaper. Our linotype machines, our presses and our competent staff of ad compositors enable us to turn out a paper thoroughly acceptable to the reader as well as the advertiser. To stimu- late circulation we use no artificial method. We do not believe in cou- pon schemes, book schemes or vot- ing contests. We put our money into the paper, rather than in can- vassing or circulation schemes." LIKE THE EVENING POST. I have said that the Leader is very much like the New York Even- ing Post. My statement is borne out in more than the question of policy. It prints a large amount of well edited and well written matter. The news, and more than the news, for it gives a fine selec- tion of the McClure syndicate matter. It contains much original matter from its own staff, particu- larly from the pen of the versatile Mr. Arthur Burgoyne, who is the Leader's principal editorial writer, but whose genius overflows from prose into poetry, from political paragraphs into pithy, sketchy items and articles of "All Sorts." The Leader s business management has been in the safe hands of Joseph T. Nevin since 1877. He is a man of the broad grasp of affairs, the courage of convictions and a per- sonal popularity which combine to render the inexorable rigidity of his executive functions inoffensive at THE PITTSBURG "LEADER." 83 the same time that it is unyielding and effective. His brother, who has been the managing editor since 1884, has the same candid, sincere, straightforward and yet good- natured way of conducting things upstairs. He is personally and journalistically kind and consider- ate to politicians and other public offenders, even while impaling them upon the pen that is mightier than the sword, Cincinnati. There are 350,000 people in Cin- cinnati — 500,000 in Cincinnati and suburbs. There are three millions of people in the region of which Cincinnati is the center, and in which the Cincinnati newspapers circulate. Cincinnati is a conservative but enterprising city. It might be considered sporty, if you judge it by its amusements or the appear- ance of its newspapers, especially the Enquirer. The Evening Post and the Times- Star are sensational looking papers, though the last named is in reality a home news- paper of the utmost respectability. These papers run headlines in black type an inch long. Their headlines begin with one word, such as " MURDER " or " CORPSES." They are followed by something explaining them in the following lines. For instance, corpses is fol- lowed by " Heaped in the Streets." The Enquirer and the Post are just as sensational as they look. The Enquirer has a personal col- umn that is worse than that of the New York Herald. The Enquirer sets the pace in sensationalism, and in consequence there are thousands of families in its territory that will not admit it to their homes. The same is true of the Post. The Tribune started a few years ago with methods which were a protest against ultra sensationalism. At that time the Commercial Gazette, with all its generations of respect- ability behind it, was drifting into the Enquirer style of journalism. The Tribune people had plenty of money and spent it, making it a good newspaper along clean lines, which gave it standing and the entree to Cincinnati homes. In June, 1896, the Tribune and the Commercial Gazette were merged into one. The Commercial Tribune is the one paper in Cincinnati which does not indulge in sensa- 84 CINCINNATI. 85 tional-looking headlines. The Times-Star looks as sensational as a paper can, but is as particular as to what it prints as any other home newspaper in the country. The head of Cincinnati's largest department store, a man eminently qualified to express an opinion, from the amount of money he spends in Cincinnati newspapers and the long, careful study he is giving them both, as an advertiser and a prominent citizen, says: " Our .best evening paper is the Times-Star, which has largely in- creased its circulation and popu- larity since it has reduced its price, and without sacrificing its respect- ability. The best evening paper for advertisers used to be the Post, but this is not so now. The Times- Star goes to a better class, and I should say 10,000 of its circulation would be worth to the average advertiser 20,000 of the Post's cir- culation. The Times-Star is rap- idly reaching the 100,000 mark. The Post's circulation is probably 125,000. The Times- Star has a high standing with the old families and a large circulation among the near-by prosperous manufacturing towns. It is as popular as the Post in its street sales. This was not so a year ago. A man is not afraid to buy a Times-Star and take it home with him. " The German population of Cin- cinnati is about thirty per cent, of the total. They read the Ameri- can papers more and the German papers less all the time. The younger generation of Germans invariably read the English papers. We are using the German papers less this year than the year be- fore because we find they pay us less." The newspaper situation in Cin- cinnati may be summed up in a statement that the field has none too many newspapers, that local advertisers do not appreciate their opportunities and that the ad writer is more needed in the Queen City than most anywhere I know of. The ''Commercial-Tribune." Newspapers in Cincinnati are of two liinds — enterprising and sensa- tional ; enterprising and respectable. To the latter class belongs the Commercial- Tribune. The Commercial-Tribune is a con- solidation of the Commercial Gazette and its younger contemporary the Tribune. It has the Republican morning field all to itself. Cincin- nati and Ohio are overwhelmingly Republican. The Commercial Gazette is over a hundred years old as a weekly, and half as old as a daily. It always had a high standing with the best people. About four years ago some of the best citizens of Cincinnati started the Tribune. Cincinnati is at heart very conservative, and though sen- sationalism may give a large circu- lation among certain classes in Cincinnati, it is absolutely prohibi- tive of circulation among the thou- sands of families that constitute the wealth and influence of the community. WHAT THE " TRIBUNE " DID. The Tribune represented the views of these people and was backed by ample capital. Its ener- getic crusade in the cause of re- spectable journalism resulted in influencing even the Enquirer to modify its methods, and so demon- strated to the Commercial Gazette the desirability of uniting the two properties that the Commercial Ga- zette and the Tribune management found it mutually the best thing to consolidate, which they did ; plac- ing Mr. Wilder in the general management as vice president, with Mr. AVilmot R. Kidd, of the Commercial Gazette, as secretary and business manager. The manag- ing editor of the Tribune became the managing editor of the Com- mercial-Tribune, the J. E. Van D. special agency continuing as its 86 THE " COMMERCIAL-TRIBUNE. 87 representative in New York and Chicago. The circulation of the two papers was to some extent duplicatory, but the sum total was a good deal larger than either had — was somewhat in the ratio of 50,000 to 25,000. These two figures added together, minus an allowance of 10,000 for duplicate subscribers, approximate the Commercial- Tribune' s present circulation. This circulation is among the better classes. It embraces many thousand Democrats, who read the Enquirer aX their office and have the Commercial- Tribune in their families. The Commercial- Tribune is probably read by all the substantial citizens in Cincinnati. I happened to want to see a copy of the Enquirer one day when I was making a business call on the fourth floor of the Neave Building. This building is occu- pied by offices, prominent cor- porations and business houses. Every office had a copy of the Com- mercial-Tribune, and only one of them had a copy of the Enquirer. This probably holds good in many residential sections of the city. For instance, Mount Auburn, which is a particularly high-class sub- urb, was found, by actual canvass from house to house, to read 500 Commercial- Tribunes to 150 En- quirers. " This proportion would not hold good in all parts of the city," said Mr. Wilder, when I called upon him. "It is representative, how- ever, of our most intelligent and well-to-do citizens. One of the determining factors in our circula- tion is the fact that the Commercial- Tribune is a two-cent newspaper, while the Enquirer is a five-cent newspaper. I believe the Enquirer will eventually reduce its price." THE LARGEST MORNING CIRCULA- TION. " I understand you claim to have a larger morning circulation than the Enquirer," "That is true, five days in the week. I mean that we actually sell more copies of the Commercial- Tribune than are sold of the En- quirer. Our circulation is about equally divided between the city and suburbs, and the smaller cities and towns that lie within a radius of 150 miles. Ours is the only Republican morning paper in this 88 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. part of the world. We believe in the gold standard. We try to make a progressive family paper." The Commercial- Tribune carries a fair amount of local and general advertising. Its advertising and its circulation are both increasing. The Commercial- Tf-ibune occupies the larger part of a substantial five- story building, and is equipped with two Hoe presses, one of them a quadruple, and nineteen linotypes. It is metropolitan and up-to-date, as becomes a progressive publica- tion possessed of ample capital (a capital stock of one million dollars) and the confidence of the com- munity in which it is published. The "Times-Star." The evening field in Cincinnati is divided between the Times-Star and the Post. The Post is a Scripps-McRea League paper, and is admitted to have the largest cir- culation in the Cincinnati field, owing to the fact that it is a pop- ular one-cent newspaper. It does not pretend to cater to the home <;ircle in the way that the Times- Star does. It is simply and purely a business proposition, printing the news in the most sensational form and getting all the advertising and circulation along these lines. The Times-Star, on the other hand, has always maintained a high reputa- tion for careful editing. It has always excluded from -its columns anything that will tend to exclude the Times-Star from the home circle. This has given it a strong place with the best families of Cincinnati. This is the opinion held by everyone I asked in Cincinnati, and the interesting thing about it is that, though the Times-Star reduced its price to a penny, about a year ago, and thereby increased its circulation by more than one hundred per cent., it did not lose its standing with the old families, nor its choice list of city and subur- ban subscribers. A BIG advertiser's OPINION. "The Times-Star \s just as strong with our best families as it used to be," said Mr. Carew, of the Mabley & Carew Company, one of the two largest and best local department stores and advertisers. "How- ever, you will now find that the Times-Star is on the same level as the Post as a popular paper. That is, if a man on the street is ap- proached by a newsboy and says 'Give me an evening paper,' and the boy replies, 'Which one?' the man will reply, ' Oh, I don't care; either,' whereas, a year or so ago, he would have replied, ' The Post.' I happen to know that the 90 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Times-Star has not only increased its city sales but has very largely increased its circulation in the small towns, of which there are nearly a thousand in Cincinnati's contributory territory." I called on Mr. C. H. Rembold, who has been with the Times-Star ever since the consolidation, was with the Star before it combined with the Times, and is now the manager of the combined papers. "What is your circulation, Mr. Rembold? " " Eighty-five thousand." A BIG GAIN. "How much of that did you gain by reducing your price ?" "Fifty thousand." " Where is your principal gain ? " "We now have eight hundred agents handling our paper in the small towns and cities that lie within a radius of fifty miles of Cincinnati, where we formerly had only two hundred agents. We have eight canvassers making a house-to-house canvass in these towns and arranging and stimu- lating our agency system. We haven't noticed any diminution in our circulation anywhere during this dull summer or the demoraliz- ing period of free-coinage frenzy. In fact it has been going up right along." " How about your advertising?" ADVERTISING INCREASING. "It is increasing now. People who used to say they could not get returns through our columns are now either paying our advanced rates without question, or are pre- paring to make contracts with us before the ist of January, 1897. In the amount of advertising we carry we stand second, if you leave out the Sunday papers : while we stand third in rates. Some advertisers have largely increased their appro- priation with us. For instance, the John Shillito Company con- tracted to use four thousand squares more with us this year than last year, and they have already used up their additional space, paying us $1000 or more a month right along, and nearly $2000 in April and May." "What is your policy about stat- ing circulation ? " "We give a sworn detailed state- ment, covering the preceding six THE "TIMES-STAR." 91 months, to any advertiser that asks for it." STATING CIRCULATION. And he showed me a letter from C. H. Fuller's Agency acknowledg- ing receipt of sworn statement for the six months ending July i, by which Fuller conceded the Times- Star to have an actual average of 80,708, adding that this statement had placed at rest all doubt regard- ing the Times-Star's circulation, and that henceforth it would re- ceive all the advertising the Fuller Agency could send its way. "How many editions have you ?" I asked Mr. Rembold when he showed me one that had been issued that morning at 10.15, con- taining a scoop over other Cincin- nati papers. " One at 11, others at 11.30, 1.30, 2.15, Z-7fi ''"d 5.45, which is dated the next morning and goes out to country points that the trains do not reach until far into the night, and where it is delivered the first thing in the morning." "What are your press facilities?" "We have three new Goss three- deck, straight-line presses, each with a capacity of 24,000 papers per hour, and we run them at the aver- age rate of 21,000 papers per hour." ITS MAKE-UP AND STAFF. I looked the Times- Star over critically. It is made up in the way Cincinnati people like — big head-lines, plenty of thrilling news, and well edited special departments devoted to sports and amusements. Of its first two editions it sells many copies on account of the race- track tips, form and programme compiled by "Domino." People cut them out to guide them at the daily meets over the river. There is nothing fake and nothing morally objectionable about its columns. It has for a city editor Mr. George A. Gohen, who used to be the managing editor of the Post, and it has the acknowledged best local staff in the city, well paid, among whom the sporting editor " Dom- ino," the baseball expert and the musical and dramatic critic are considered the best in the city. The Cincinnati ''Enquirer." The Cincinnati Enquh-er is one of the six great newspapers of America. It has been that for over a quarter of a century. When it was first a great newspaper, great newspapers were scarce in this country. Since they have be- come more plentiful and big cir- culations are to be found in most big cities, the Enquirer has more than held its place, without reducing its price. It is a five-cent newspaper. There are several ways of es- timating its circulation. I hap- pen to have the figures of each of its issues. I have them au- thentically. I believe the state- ment of the Enquirer's circulation made to me is the first statement that it has ever made in its history. AN UNDERESTIMATED CIRCULATION. Everybody underestimates the Enquirer's circulation, though no- body underestimates its value, for it is conceded to be worth more than any other circulation in the three States of which Cincinnati is the principal city. But even those local advertisers who spend the most money with the Enquirer and get the best results from the En- quirer, in speaking to me enthu- siastically about it, hit nowhere near its circulation. I am not at liberty to give the figures of the Enquirer s circulation. The Enquirer has never been placed in the position where giving the exact figures of its circulation would be of any particular benefit either to the Enquirer or its patrons. I may say, however, that a con- servative statement of the En- quirer's circulation would place it among the great circulations of the country. Its average daily circu- lation, including its Sunday issue, is close to 100,000. Another way of stating the circulation, and a perfectly honest way, would place it second in the list — second only to the New York World. They do not figure it out that way at the Enquirer office, but I do, for it is a self-evident proposition. 92 The Cleveland "World." When the Hon. Robert P. Porter bought the Cleveland World a. little over a year ago, it had not half the circulation it has now. It did not have the special news features, the special letters of George W. Smalley, John B. Lane, M. Quad's page of humor on Sunday, nor did it have the special letters which Mr. Porter has been writing from Japan, nor the excellent illustrat- ing plant, nor any of those things ■which have placed the World where Cleveland advertisers give it as much advertising as they give any paper, and where its manager, Mr. Leonard Darbyshire, is able to sub- stantiate a claim of forty-five thou- sand eight- and ten-page papers by a daily average for the past twelve months, and forty-three thousand twenty-eight-page Sunday papers, by the same token. The history of the World heiore Mr. Porter took it does not interest anybody in particular. Its present standing and value I learned from leading advertisers and citizens of Cleveland. They accord it a place among Cleveland's first three papers. Cleanly presenting all the news and much interesting matter besides, they regard it as a paper eminently fitted to go into the homes. I asked Mr. Darbyshire, when I called upon him, into how many homes it does go, and he said that about half of his circulation was subscriptionary and the other half through day to day sales by special agents of the paper in Cleveland and Cleveland's suburbs. The World is quoted throughout the State more than any other Ohio paper. The manager of the World took me through the building, which is a commodious structure of five stories, occupied on every floor but one by the World — editorial depart- ment. United Press office, illustrat- ing plant, and the exceptionally well lighted and well arranged compos- ing room, with ten Mergenthalers, 93 94 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. a press room on the main floor, where the two Potter presses, with their joint capacity of fifty-six thousand eight-page papers per hour, are open to the inspection of anyone who cares to come in and see them run. People in Cleveland have been reading Mr. Porter's letters from Japan with a great deal of interest. Mr. Porter returned to Cleveland the first week in June and took personal charge of the paper that he has been pushing, through his personality and enterprise and his excellent organization, into a place that makes it particularly interest- ing to shrewd advertisers. His staff has been well selected. Mr. Darbyshire, who has had con- siderable newspaper and business experience, is business manager. The World's managing editor, and one of the directors, Mr. John J. Spurgeon, formerly of the edi- torial department of the New York Mail and Express, is a man of con- spicuous ability. That important department — the circulation — is in charge of Mr. Burton A. Baker, who had charge of the circulation of the Cleveland Plain Dealer for some five years, and plenty of other experience to equip him for the pushing problems that confront him in his present place. Speak- ing of circulation reminds me that Mr. Darbyshire is following the up-to-date metropolitan method in dealing with the great advertising public. The day I called he was just completing a statement of his circulation for the past twelve months, by actual average from day to day, to be published in the American Newspaper Directory. In other words he is not only making a metropolitan newspaper in Cleveland with surprising suc- cess, but knows how to place his figures beyond question. The World's woman's and society page gives it a good stand- ing with the best people and makes it additionally welcome in that haven of the advertiser and pub- lisher's hope — the home. Mr. Porter's reputation, here and abroad, as a statistician, gained through his connection with the Tariff Commission, and as Superin- tendent of the Eleventh Census, and his long newspaper experience, together with a wide knowledge of public affairs and men in official life, is giving the Cleveland World THE CLEVELAND " WORLD. 95 more than a local standing — in fact, is making it one of America's lead- ing newspapers. As the vehicle of expression for his valued views and figures, on matters of deepest and widest import, especially in campaign and Presidential years, it is used by molders of public opinion all over the country. The Detroit "Journal." There seems to be no difference of opinion as to the circulation of the Detroit Journal. It claims and its competitors concede twenty- seven thousand to twenty-eight thousand. This means a great deal in Detroit. It means reaching about all the homes in the city — and Detroit is essentially a home city — and considerable outside circulation throughout Michigan. It means standing and character. The Journal could hardly be other- wise, considering that its owners are Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, who was President of the World's Fair, Minister to Spain under President Harrison and formerly United States Senator of Michigan, and Hon. William Livingstone, formerly collector of customs at the Port of Detroit, for a number of years chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and now vice president of the Dime Savings Bank in addition to his duties as publisher of the Journal. Both these gentle- men have strong convictions on the right side of public questions and are public-spirited to an unu- sual degree. Mr. Palmer, who, by the way, is a millionaire, recently presented a beautiful tract of land to Detroit to be used as a park — to have acquired which by purchase would have cost the city a round million of dollars. Messrs. Palmer and Livingstone impart their own character and standing to their paper. It bears upon its face the evi- dence that it caters to the intel- ligent and right-minded. Its news columns are entirely free from sen- sational matter, and its editorials have a dignified, sincere tone that demonstrates thought and sincerity in their preparation. The Journal reflects the best sentiment of Detroit. It is to be found arrayed upon the right side in all matters affecting the inter- ests of its constituency. In addition to presenting the 96 THE DETROIT "JOURNAL. 97 news gathered by a large staff of reporters and sent in by the United Press, of which it owns the evening and morning franchises, the Journal has a number of special features. It is the only paper in Detroit that has a woman's page, and that prints a short story daily. It is also strong as a business man's paper, being the Detroit authority upon matters marine and commercial. It has the pioral courage to exclude advertising from its first page, and I can't see that it has lost any advertising thereby, judging from its well-filled columns. It's hard to see how an advertiser could come into Detroit and hope for the best results without using the Journal. This is the way both local and general advertisers look at it. ITS NEW BUILDING. The Journal has had success in generous measure since Mr. Liv- ingstone resumed its active manage- ment four or five years ago. Its career might have received a check from an accident that occurred last fall, if it had been in less enter- prising hands. An explosion about nine o'clock one morning wrecked the building in which it was pub- lished and nothing remained to get out a paper with, except the staff, and eight or ten of these had been killed or seriously injured. Never- theless its regular editions appeared that day, thanks to its undaunted management and the courtesy of the Free Press in placing a compos- ing room and presses at its service. Now the Journal has a building of its own, one of the most com- pletely equipped newspaper offices in the country. It is a unique habitation, formerly a church. It is on a corner in the very heart of the business district, a block or two from the new post office, city hall and other public bnildings and the large retail stores. Around it, however, are some of the hand- some homes for which Detroit is famous, and in front of it is a green lawn that gives an air of refinement quite in keeping with the attractive manner in which the building is fitted and furnished. Over thirty thousand dollars have been ex- pended in improvements. They consist of everything that is modern and desirable. Each department is accommodated commodiously. Desk telephones connect the differ- ent offices. The business office on AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the first floor looks more like a bank than a newspaper office. On the basement floor is the press room, open to the public. Three Potter presses, with a joint capacity of thirty thousand papers per hour, are run by the engine that furnishes the plant with electricity. Up- stairs the editorial departments are on the same floor with the compos- ing room. The latter is equipped with type-setting machines. The staff has several brilliant members, notable among whom is the assistant manager, Mr. A. H. Finn, who is one of those for- tunate men who rise to positions of responsibility endowed with the incomparable training that comes from running a country newspaper. He published a newspaper of his own when but seventeen years of age, and from that rose by success- ive stages to his present position, from which metropolitan offers have not sufficed to tempt him. The Journal cartoonist, Mr. Thomas May, produces work that papers all over the country copy. He has the frequent pleasure of refusing positions in New York and Chicago. The managing editor is Mr. W. J. Hunsaker, of the well-known Pennsylvania family of that name, a man of cultured tastes and rare news judgment, whose appointment was one of Mr. Livingstone's first acts on resuming the Journal's management, and with the rest proves Mr. Livingstone possessed of the executive ability and dis- cerning that make newspapers successful; and the Journal is a success, unless all signs fail. I mean a success out of its own earnings and entirely independent of the vast means behind it. The Detroit "Free Press." Ask anyone of intelligence to name the best-known papers in America, and he will include the Detroit Free Press in the list. This is because it's the most frequently quoted paper in the world. Those little stories — a stickful or two, brimful of human interest — paragraphed with conver- sation, catch the eye anywhere — and will be read first in a pageful of al- most any kind of newspaper matter. This is the style that grew out of the matter "M. Quad" used to write for the Free Press, and by which he made it famous all over the world — made it on sale on every news-stand in the English-speaking nations — and copied into foreign tongues. " M. Quad," otherwise C. B. Lewis, came to the Free Press soon after the War and con- tinued with it until tempted away by the New York World. But his work left its impress on the Free Press, and whole platoons of brilliant young writers have been learning to write those items that are so widely copied, and after making their success on the Free Press, have gone to do bright work for Puck and Judge and the other humorous papers that place a premium on the best of this kind. But they still send in their stuff to the Free Press. But there is another side to the Free Press in which the keen- minded advertiser, who buys space for the good it will do his pocket book, is particularly interested, and I therefore went in and asked the Free Press' manager — Mr. H. W. Quinby — about circulation, me- chanical facilities, etc. It was a story that amply sustains the reputation of his paper. Mr. Quinby has been manager of the Free Press two years. He was in the editorial department before that. He has up-to-date ideas, and pursues methods the 99 lOO AMERICAN JOURNALISM. best publishers agree are the best. He has increased the circulation of the daily six thousand and the Sunday nine thousand, so that the daily now has now thirty-four thousand and the Sunday forty- nine thousand. Mr. Quinby's brother Theodore is the managing editor of the Free Press, and his father, the Hon. W. E. Quinby, is the managing owner and Editor in Chief. Mr. Quinby, Senior, is United States Minister to The Hague, Holland, where he was appointed by Presi- dent Cleveland in recognition of stanch work for the Democratic party through his paper, and also because of his eminent personal fitness for the position. He has not been devoting either himself or his paper to politics, however, during the thirty years he has been at the Free Press helm. He has been making a newspaper worthy the prestige and the popularity it enjoys. He now has the satisfac- tion of seeing a subscriptionary circulation that embraces about every home in and about Detroit. Many of the Free Press subscribers have been taking the paper for a quarter of a century. Another thing interesting to advertisers is the fact that the Free Press is very particular about the kind of advertising it runs. It excludes from its columns not only the unclean and objectionable, but refuses to run the advertise- ments of the fly-by-night auction stores that are infesting the land. I was astonished at the reply Mr. Quinby made when I asked him how many type-setting machines he had. "Twenty-six." "That is enough for about two large metropolitan dailies," I sug- gested. "We print several other publica- tions at our ofifice. We also have a large job-printing plant for theatri- cal work — a separate five-story building." "Presses? " "All kinds. A three-deck Goss, a Bullock and a Scott. The Goss runs twenty-two thousand per hour and the other two fifteen thousand." The Messrs. Quinby are evi- dently pushing their paper along the most legitimate lines. The younger are college young men who have worked up to their pres- ent places through practical ex- THE DETROIT " FREE PRESS." lor perience about the office, and it's every way probable the property will be perpetuated in the family for at least two generations — though that's looking ahead further than one naturally would, after seeing the senior Quinby enjoying the prime of life and the fullness of prosperity won by the kind of journalism the substantial people of enlightened communities indorse with their permanent patronage. Some homes in De- troit subscribe for two copies of the Free Press — one copy for the man of the house to take down town with him in the morning and the other to leave at home for the, women to read. The leading advertisers of De- troit say the Free Press is the best advertising medium among their morning papers, and I guess you will have to go a long way to find anyone to take issue with them. The Indianapolis ''Journal." The paper that first brought General Harrison before the pub- lic as a Presidential possibility was the Indianapolis Journal. It ran its special train, carrying copies of the Journal to the delegates of the Convention at Chicago in 1888, every day in the week. Not a Chicago paper helped the Har- rison boom in the least. When Mr. Harrison was elected President, the Hon. John C. New, editor of the Indianapolis Journal, went to London as Consul General of the United States. His son, Harry S. New, now edits the paper in his stead. General New not returning to his editorial duties upon retirement from public service. Mr. George C. Hitt, the third owner in the Journal, con- ducts the business department upon the lines of conservative sin- cerity characteristic of papers like the New York Evening Post and the Washington Star. CONSERVATISM THAT SUCCEEDS. Just how conservative the Jour- nal is may be judged from the fact that it has contented itself for half a century or more in holding the place in the esteem of the people of Indianapolis, and the State of Indiana, that it gained in its early career by its adherence to the principles of high-class, dignified journalism. It is practically the Evening Post of Indiana. By this I mean its general news features are complete and carefully edited, its miscellany is attractive and abun- dant, its business policy is rigid in respect to the acceptance of ad- vertisements and making sworn statements of circulation, while its value to advertisers having articles of merit to offer to people of means, is far beyond question. COVERING INDIANAPOLIS. "I tell advertisers that in most instances they have entirely covered THE INDIANAPOLIS " JOURNAL.' 103 Indianapolis and central Indiana when they have inserted their advertisements in the Indianap- olis Journal and News," said Mr. Hitt, when I called upon him. "Our circulation of 12,000, equally divided between the city and the State, reaches practically all the well-to-do, better-class people of this community. We do not solicit advertising eagerly because our position is so well recognized that we easily get all the advertising that it is profitable to insert in our columns. The Journal is a good paper for advertising luxuries, pianos, jewelry, carriages, the high- class dress goods and wearing ap- parel, books, government bonds, real estate and gilt-edged invest- ment securities. It is not so good a medium for cheap goods or install- ment houses. Our people have the money to buy what they wish, and they cannot be appealed to by the argument of cheapness or easy payments. We appear very indif- ferent to advertising that comes into our columns, because we have no reason to be otherwise; we are the oldest paper in this State, hav- ing been issued as a weekly since 1823, and as a daily since 1850, and there is no necessity of telling people what the Journal is or what its advertising value is. Our cir- culation ranges in the vicinity of 12,000, as proven by our semi-annual statements of actual daily average. Our Sunday circulation averaged last year 11,403 ; our weekly aver- aged 6228 ; our daily, 12,263." The Sunday Journal's success is as pronounced as its daily. Like the Chicago Sunday papers it carries more advertising than the week-day editions. It is a large source of income to the Journal Company. The Sunday Journal brings the advertising average of the Journal for seven days up to the advertising average of the News for six days. It is a sixteen to twenty-four page paper filled with carefully selected matter and special features. Its cir- culation is more largely in the city than the week-day editions, owing to the scarcity of Sunday trains in Indiana. A SETTLED POLICY. The Journal is a paper that is not addicted to changes. Its settled policy of high-class conservatism seems to be appreciated by its staff, I04 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. many of the members of which have been in the employ of the Jownal for a score of years or more. Mr. Hitt himself has been with the Journal since his college days, and Thos. J. Steele, the managing ed- itor, has served it for over twenty years. It has a metropolitan plant, con- sisting of ten linotypes and two Hoe Presto presses. Its circulation is almost entirely subscriptionary, and is gained and held solely by merit. It has never indulged in a premium, a coupon, or prize scheme; it is a three-cent paper, selling for five cents on news- stands and railroads. The Cleve- land Leader, Mr. Hitt states, is the only other paper in the country that has as clean a record as the Journal in the matter of prizes and premiums. Although it is, and always has been, a Republican newspaper, it is taken regularly by many Democrats. A UNIQUE FEATURE. One of its unique features is the fact that it prints no illustrations. They were abolished from its columns two years ago. Adver- tising cuts are, of course, received. James Whitcomb Riley made his first success on the Indianapolis Journal, and the humorous par- agraphs published daily from the pen of R. D. Stevenson are, like its literary columns, widely copied. It has one other unique feature; the fact that it has no woman's page. The Indianapolis Journal may be summed up in the statement that it is practicing high-class journalism so consistently that its prosperity is unassailable and will last as long as its present management, or any similar management, dictates its destiny. The Indianapolis "Sentinel." The oldest newspaper in Indiana is the Indianapolis Sentinel, the organ of the Indiana democracy. Its proprietor, the Hon. S. E. Morss, is consul general to France. The Sentinel has always been active in political matters and just now is leading the silver campaign in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Illinois, where its agents are getting thousands of new subscribers — so many, in fact, that Mr. McCarthy, the manager of the Sentinel, informs me the circulation of the Sentinel has been increased thirty-three per cent, thereby in two months, with the probability of still greater increase during the heat of the campaign. "What is your present circula- tion, Mr. McCarthy? " "Twenty-one thousand daily, 22,000 Sunday and 32,000 weekly." "How much of your daily circu- lation is in the city? " "About 8,700." "Subscribers? " "Yes." "Do you offer special induce- ments to secure circulation?" A NOTABLE INCREASE. "Yes. Our pictures increased our city circulation very largely — several thousand, in fact — and the best of it is, after we dropped our pictures we held our circulation. We have clubbing arrangements with several out-of-town papers by which their subscribers become our subscribers. In that way we have gained largely in many localities. In a number of places we have in- creased from 75 or 100 to 500 or 800 copies daily." " Campaign readers? " "No — three- and six-month and yearly subscribers." ITS ADVERTISING. When I asked about the Sen- tinel's advertising, Mr. McCarthy introduced me to Mr. W. H. Deacon, the Sentinel advertising 105 io6 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. manager; an expert ad-writer, who has an expert ad-setting corps, and produces advertisements the mer- chants of Indianapolis find it diffi- cult to resist. Mr. Deacon is a hustler and Mr. McCarthy's right- hand man. "From the ist of January, 1895, to the ist of January, 1896, we published 1240 columns more paid advertising than any morning paper in this city," he said. "At what rates?" " They are as high, if not higher, than any other paper in Indian- apolis with one exception. In some instances we would not ac- cept advertising offered us at the rates accepted by our contempo- raries." " How about your foreign adver- tising? " FOREIGN ADVERTISING. "We carry more foreign adver- tising than any other two papers published in the State of Indiana," and he showed me ads of R. R. R., Greene's Nervura, Pink Pills, Royal, Dr. Price's and Cleveland baking powder. The Gorham Manufac- turing Company, the Hotels Em- pire, Plaza, Waldorf and Madison Avenue, theW. B. Conkey Company of Chicago, Lydia Pinkham, Dr. Miles, Syrup of Figs, Hood's Sarsaparilla, etc. "The patent-medicine men con- sider Indiana the best patent med- icine field in the country," he remarked. I could not help remarking that the Sentinel has the newest faces of type, such as Jensen old style, and Bradley — faces that not all of the metropolitan papers have attained yet. It is used with an evident knowledge of the rules of artistic and effective typography. "We pay our foreman, assistant foreman and machinists more than any of our contemporaries," said Mr. McCarthy. " We want the best work we can get. We use good paper and good ink, and give par- ticular attention to our press- work." The Sentinel's mechanical plant has nine linotypes and a perfecting Hoe press. " We really print a circulation of fifty thousand, considering our daily and our weekly, which is read by every storekeeper and every drug- gist in the State, besides thousands of farmers, who have appreciated THE INDIANAPOLIS " SENTINEL." 107 its merit for three-quarters of a century. It has the news of the week condensed, and the Associ- ated Press dispatches up to the moment of going to press, besides a great quantity of good miscellany, stories and department matter of interest to every member of the home circle. You know our weekly was established in 1822, and our daily in 1841, making them the oldest papers in their respective fields in the Hoosier State." THE people's paper. "The Sentinel is the people's paper of Indianapolis. It is pledged to warfare on monopoly and oppression wherever they manifest themselves. Its editorial writers wield virile pens and the Sentinel's editorial columns have a wide influence. The Sentinel was largely instrumental in effecting some of the great reforms in which Indianapolis rejoices, such as the adoption of the Australian ballot, the school-book law, the city char- ter, the fee and salary bill and the tax-reform law. In advocating the majority of these measures the Sentinel stood alone for the people. The Sentinel has never been sub- sidized. We have never in our history been so prosperous as now, and before the ist of October next we expect to double our present circulation." Indiana's Leading Paper. The paper that has the largest circulation in the United States, in proportion to the population of its own city, is the Indianapolis News, an afternoon two-cent daily, with no Sunday and no weekly edition, ■and the leading newspaper of the State of Indiana. It was the first two-cent daily -founded west of Pittsburgh. The -Detroit Evening News following upon its naodel four years after, and the Chicago News eight years later. The claim of the Indianapolis News seems undisputed that there is no other important center in which the entire reading public can be so completely reached by a single medium, and there is certainly no other city of equal population in which a single medium so com- pletely monopolizes the class known as " want " advertising or " liners." Such is the network of railroads converging upon Indiana's capital that it is possible for one to visit io8 all save two of the ninety-two counties for the transaction of busi- ness and return the same day. The facilities thus furnished for rapid distribution, joined to the known enterprise of the management, and its attractive news features, account for the phenomenal demand by both readers and advertisers. About forty per cent, of its total of 36,000 copies goes to outside readers and is almost entirely subscriptional. It carries as much advertising as the other three papers in Indian- apolis combined, and commands a rate that bears a ratio of three to one to the rates of any other Indiana paper. When the Indianapolis News was founded, twenty-seven years ago, the idea of political independence in journalism was unique. Mr. Lawson of the Chicago News and Record has never carried his independence so far as the inde- pendence of the Indianapolis Netvs. MAJOR W. J. RICHARDS, 0/ the Indianapolis '■'■Newsy INDIANA'S LEADING PAPER. 109 The Chicago News and its younger- brother, the Chicago Record, always refrain from taking an editorial position in political campaigns, while the Indianapolis News has always exercised the right to ex- press its convictions upon all public questions. Thus, it supported Mr. Harrison for the Presidency, carrying the State of Indiana for him; and at the same time it supported the Democratic nominee for Congress. It believed Mr. Harrison's sub- lime abilities and lofty character guaranteed an honest administra- tion of the laws as they should come to hini from Congress — a belief his- tory amply justifies — while it advo- cated the doctrine of tariff reform for which the Democratic congres- sional nominee, if elected, would be able to cast his vote among the law-makers of the nation. The News has never hesitated to oppose or indorse either political party according to its view of the soundness of the policy presented for the suffrages of the people. It is the organ of the right- minded. There are many monu- rtients to its wisdom and public spirit. Mainly owing to its ef- forts Indianapolis has a city charter, providing for a board of public works, public safety, public health, etc., and a council which does all the city legislating, but handles no moneys, makes no ex- penditures, and does not meddle with the matters of administration — the ideal municipal government which Dr. Shaw, the editor of the Review of Reviews, pronounces per- fect, after studying all the munic- ipalities of the Old World and the New. Single-handed and alone The News created a sentiment which took the benevolent institutions out of politics and placed them under non-partisan administration. Such things as these have made The News so secure in the public confidence that it is practically impossible to carry into legislation for Indianapolis any scheme op- posed by The News, or long to postpone any reform which it advocates. ADVERTISING . INDEPENDENCE. It is equally indejienderit in -its advertising policy. It ' will not break rates nor print objectionable advertisements: Every advertise- no AMERICAN JOURNALISM. ment in its columns must con- form to the requirements of good typography. The day I called on Major W. J. Richards, the managing owner of The News, and who for the past twenty years has been its manager, having associated himself with Mr. HoUiday when The News-vms in its infancy — an association founded upon the identity of their ideas as to what constitutes a perfect news- paper, an ideal attained by Mr. HoUiday from the foundation of his paper and maintained inviolate by Major Richards to the present day — The News was moving into the new building erected for the accommodation of its mechanical plant and its editorial departments; a building so replete in unique improvements that it deserves better description than our space will allow. It is so absolutely fire-proof that a conflagration sweeping Indian- apolis would not disturb The News. The eleven linotypes, the compos- ing stones, the stereotyping plant and the two double-supplement Hoe presses are all ranged in toudi on one floor; thus placing the mechanical department under the supervision of one trained eye, effecting a perfection of mechanical equipment and saving of time that I have seen equaled nowhere else. The presses, which are new, and which will be followed a little later by still another, embody the best Mr. Hoe has been able to devise. They possess a delicacy and fineness of execution characteristic of the double-supplement pattern. Each prints 24,000 twelve-page papers per hour, or 12,000 sixteen to twenty- four-page papers, and the papers, as they come from the press, are carried by an endless belt through a tunnel to the distributing room in the main office. This carrier, like many other features of The News establishment, was devised by Major Richards as an improvement over anything he had been able to find in the big newspaper offices he has visited throughout the country. The News editorial rooms, like the mechanical department, exem- plify prosperity and up-to-date- ness. The Indianapolis News Company is composed of Major Richards, who has been the prime factor in the continuance and increase of its INDIANA S LEADING PAPER. Ill business prosperity since the retire- ment of Mr. Holliday, five years ago; Mr. Delevan Smith, who suc- ceeds to the interest of his father, the late lamented William Henry Smith ; and Mr. Charles R. Williams, formerly of New York, who occu- pies the post of chief editor. The terms of copartnership provide that no member of the firm shall hold any financial interest, directly or indirectly, in any scheme for money-making upon which the city may need to legislate or the press to comment. My opinion of The News is based upon the universal verdict of the principal advertisers of the city of Indianapolis; the statement made to me by Mr. George C. Hitt, the manager of the Indianapolis Jour- nal, which is the only other paper published in Indianapolis which enjoys a prosperity approximating that of The News; the experience of Mr. Charles Austin Bates, who used to be the advertising manager of the New York Store, the largest and most successful retail establish- ment of Indianapolis; and my per- sonal investigation. In attaining its circulation The News has never offered a premium to subscribers. In building its cir- culation The News has relied solely on its merits. The phenomenal success of the Indianapolis News naturally places its publisher among the leading journalists of this country, and as a consequence Major Richards has been much in demand for ad- dresses before the National and State editorial associations, upon the secret of successful man- agement, and his wise counsel is highly respected in the delibera- tions of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, of which he is one of the founders, and a long time on its board of di- rectors. The Chicago "Inter-Ocean." The Chicago Inter-Ocean has character and standing. Its edi- torial columns are a formative influence upon public opinion, and its other columns contain many- features of distinctive excellence. Its editor, Mr. William Penn Nixon, has never sacrificed his convictions as to what constitutes his duty as an editor, or his ideals as to what constitutes a newspaper for people of intelligence and re- spectability. The Inter-Ocean has never indulged in sensationalism or cheap schemes to increase its circu- lation or its advertising. Its steady growth in the esteem and patronage of the better and best classes is due to its merits as a newspaper. Though undeviatingly Republi- can from the beginning, it has many readers among the Demo- crats of Chicago and the West, who take it regularly for its fairness and the completeness of its news, and the unequaled quality and amount of its literary matter. In fact, it easily leads the Chi- cago newspapers in the stories and special articles that make a paper read by all the members of the family circle. OUGHT TO BE THREE CENTS. There is nothing about the Inter- Ocean to indicate that it is a one- cent newspaper except its price. No paper in the country, not ex- cepting the New York Evening Post, is better printed or printed on better paper, or with better ink, or with more attention to typographi- cal excellence; while in the mat- ter of illustrations, the Inter-Ocean is well worthy the study of publish- ers everywhere. Strong and dis- tinct, yet delicately toned, the cuts in the Inter-Ocean stand out like bas-relief. I do not know of better artists or better etching than the Inter-Ocean has. The Inter-Ocean is a paper that ought to sell for three cents — two cents, at any rate, for its constit- THE CHICAGO " INTER-OCEAN. 113 uency are not the kind of people who would be strongly influenced by the difference between one and two cents in the price of their favorite newspaper. It is run on the plan and scale of a three-cent paper. It has twelve to sixteen pages daily, and thirty. six to forty- eight pages Sunday. It prints the news fully. It has the service of the Associated Press, and it has special correspondents at the principal points of news interest. It has a very large local staff, and many correspondents in Illi- nois, Wisconsin, and Michigan and the other States that are the stronghold of its weekly edition, which, by the way, is the best weekly paper published in the West, being read constantly by the most prosperous and substantial people in the towns and villages of half a dozen States. For that matter the daily Inter-Ocean has a very large cir- culation outside the city of Chicago. The Inter-Ocean, aside from the dignity, earnestness, and force of its editorial page, and its complete- ness as a newspaper, owes its pop- ularity to its special features and departments. Its society editor probably knows more people in society than any other man in Chi- cago, while its Woman's Department is conducted with ability, and on a broad plan, that gives it the widest possible interest to the gentle sex. The sporting page is regarded by bicyclists, boaters, baseballists, and the Western amateur sporting world generally, as exceptionally interesting and authentic. Its financial editor is considered the best in Chicago. It has many writers on its staff who possess that rare ability to make whatever they write exceed- ingly interesting, no matter whether the person reading is particularly interested in the subject treated of or not. Thus the man who picks up the Inter-Ocean is always sure of finding something aside from the mere news of the day, that will well repay his reading. This is where the Inter-Oceanis like the New York Sun, which, by the way, quotes the Inter-Ocean more than any other Western paper. ITS LITERARY FEATURES. The Inter-Ocean is very strong as a literary paper. It has been Mr. Nixon's policy for twenty-five years to print the best literary matter, 114 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. and the most literary matter of any- paper in Chicago. He has the ser- vice of the McCIure Syndicate, of which he says, " There is no other anywhere near as good." He uses from a half to two-thirds more literary matter, particularly Mc- Clure's, than any other paper in Chicago, and spends more money for this valued feature. The Inter-Ocean has so high a standing for its book reviews that librarians all over the country make their selections of new books from its columns. To illustrate its force in this respect — a brief item published recently concern- ing David H. Mason's " Tariff His- tory," brought Mr. Mason seventy letters, and sold many of his books. No paper could be better equipped mechanically than the Inter-Ocean is. It has a splendid etching plant, it has twenty-three linotypes and three Scott double-perfecting presses, each with a capacity of 24,000 papers per hour. The entire plant is run by electricity. The electric outfit is double throughout. INTERVIEWING MR. NIXON. I interviewed Mr. Nixon in his private office on the sixth floor of the Inter-Ocean building. Mr. Nixon is quiet, unassuming, and as thoroughly democratic in his per- sonality as the Inter-Ocean is Re- publican in its politics. I asked him to tell me the distinctive char- acteristics of his paper, but he said he left it for others to define what the Inter-Ocean is. Later in our talk he said, "My theory of a newspaper is, that like a man, it must establish its own character and standing, and upon its character and standing depends its influence. A paper that is changeable is like a man that is changeable. Its influ- ence in a community is slight and fleeting. I do not think a news- paper should be run just for the purpose of getting subscribers. The Inter-Ocean has never been run on that plan. We have always tried to get subscribers by first getting the confidence of the people, and then giving them full value for what they bought. I have never taken that view of journalism which jus- tifies the publisher in aiming first for circulation and advertising." We talked informally of the re- duction in price of newspapers in Chicago, and Mr. Nixon said: "The Inter-Ocean remained at THE CHICAGO "INTER-OCEAN." 115 three cents when the other papers first dropped to two cents, and we noticed a steady growth in our cir- culation. Five had remained at two cents when the other papers dropped to one cent. I do not believe we would have lost five per cent, of our circulation, but we couldn't make advertisers believe this. I do not believe the real necessity exists for placing high- class papers upon a one-cent ba^is." " How much of your circulation is in the city of Chicago? " "About thirty-three per cent, daily, and fifty per cent. Sundays." "Is this street sales or deliv- ered by carriers? " "This is very largely delivered by carriers and dealers, and they supply the newsboys, to whom we sell the paper from our wagons. We have a large number of wagons which carry the Inter-Ocean to the points of distribution throughout Chicago." MAKING A GOOD NEWSPAPER. "What plan do you follow in pushing your circulation? " "We use no special schemes ex- cept making a good newspaper." " No gift enterprises? " "No." " When you decreased your price, did your circulation increase?" " It went up about 8000 or 10,000 in the city. It made practically no change in the country, for we made no reduction in the price for the paper outside the city." We fell to chatting of the influ- ence of the editorial page, and he said: "The real foundation of news- paper character is laid in the edi- torial page." " Do you think the editorial page has influence? " "I think our editorial page has, and always has had." " Do you put any of your edi- torial opinion into your news col- umns?" ABSOLUTELY FAIR. "No. We give more attention of course to our own campaign than to the Democratic, but there is one thing we will not do. We will not permit our reporters to twist reports of Democratic meet- ings to make a point for ourselves. I have here a letter from a Min- ii6 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. nesota Democrat, one of the many I receive. He says, "'Although I am a Democrat, I read your paper, and have always read it. I admire it because it is honest and fair. While you are strong and forceful, you always command the respect of your enemies.' " I think I may safely say that the Inter-Ocean has more political influ- ence than any other paper in Chi- cago, which is due to the fact that it has never hesitated. to express its honest convictions. The suc- cess and strength of its weekly edition is due to the fact that the intelligent farmers all over the Northwest find in its columns the information they seek in an abso- lutely reliable form. Mr. Nixon is one of those pub- lishers who makes few changes in his staff. He has about him a corps of faithful men whom he treats with a degree of appreciation that finds its expression in the fact that opportunities for advancement and for larger salaries are powerless to tempt them from him. I think the readers of the Inter-Ocean are something like the /w/^r-C^a;; staff — they do not materially change from year to year. The Inter-Ocean is a good news- paper property. The interest Mr. Kohlsaat held in it brought within a year or two very close to a million of dollars spot cash. I believe the Inter-Ocean to be strongly in- trenched in the morning field. It has been steadily growing for a quarter of a century, growing upon its merits, upon its character, and the character of its publisher. This is the kind of newspaper success that is not easily assailable. ITS ADVERTISING VALUE. Its advertising columns are edited as carefully as its news columns. "Objectional medical advertise- ments — in fact, advertisements par- taking in any way of the unclean or immoral, no matter how adroitly worded, are not admitted to our columns," says Mr. Irwin, its bus- iness manager. Other kinds of advertisements it has in copious quantities. Chi- cago's largest and best advertisers using its columns constantly, and the largest general advertisers through the country place it upon their Chicago list when they go outside of the papers that appeal especially to the masses. While the THE CHICAGO "INTER-OCEAN." "7 Inter-Ocean does not appeal to the masses, on the other hand it is not edited for the classes. As I said in the beginning, it is a news- paper for people of respectability and intelligence. They read it reg- ularly and believingly. Advertising in its columns influences with the purchasing classes. Its readers belong to the purchasing classes. This is its distinct value as an ad- vertising medium. The Chicago "Tribune." In thinking of the Chicago Trib- une two things appear uppermost: its greatness as a newspaper and its reduction in its price. Nothing in modern journalism has created more comment than the Tribune becoming a one-cent newspaper. In every city I have visited every prominent journalist, every prominent advertiser, has expressed himself upon this sub- ject with more than impersonal interest. There is something really per- sonal in the attitude people take toward the Chicago Tribune. To the people of the middle West it is the standard of respectability and completeness in newspaper making. It stands for everything that people most admire and most revere. Though it is a great money-making paper, the Tribune is at the same time a paper of char- acter and standing — a paper of convictions which it has never hesi- tated to express. While it has become the greatest newspaper certainly in Chicago — one of the three greatest news- papers in the United States — it has never sacrificed the elevation of tone, the refinement and the sin- cerity which have made it the rock upon which is founded a journalis- tic success that, measured by any standard, is among the greatest in this country — in any country. Its influence is felt far beyond the radius of its daily readers. What the Tribune says is copied, commented upon, and creates pub- lic sentiment from one end of America to the other. The people of Chicago are proud of the Tribune. I asked the Hon. Washington Hesing, postmaster of Chicago, for his opinion of the Trib- une, and this is his reply : SOME REPRESENTATIVE OPINIONS. "The Chicago Tribune is the best paper in the world. It is the squarest, most up to date, most Ii8 THE CHICAGO " TRIBUNE." 119 enterprising. Mind you, I am speaking of its news gathering, its dishing up of the news, its typo- graphical appearance. It is as clean and respectable a newspaper as you find anywhere. Yet it pre- sents more news than any news- paper anywhere. I except none. I do not agree with it politically, but that does not affect my un- qualified endorsement of it as America's greatest newspaper." Lunching with a group of gentle- men at the Chicago Athletic Asso- ciation one day, I quoted Mr. Hesing's opinion of the Tribune. " I agree with Mr. Hesing," said Mr. Lord of Lord & Thomas, the second largest advertising agency in America. "The Chicago Tribune is a great newspaper," said Mr. Thomas of the same firm. "As a newspaper, the Chicago Tribune stands second only to the New York Herald," said Mr. H. C. Wilkinson, one of Chicago's most prominent citizens, an advertiser of national note and the proprietor of the Hobbs Remedy Co. "I think one of the best things about the Tribune is the fact that the reader knows where to look for news in the Tribune and finds it always in the same place," said Mr. E. V. Church of the John Church Music Co., a lifelong reader of the Tribune. INTERVIEWING MR. PATTERSON. When I interviewed Mr. R. W. Patterson, the publisher of the Tribune, and to whom is due the decided progress the Tribune has made in business success during the past dozen years, I asked him what effect the reduction in price had had upon his paper. "Our dividends have been larger this year than they were last year," he said. "It is easy to account for this fact. In the first place we have saved a hundred thousand dollars on our pictures. We have absolutely discontinued the picture idea with our Sunday edition. Then, we have raised the price of our Sunday paper a half cent per copy, and we have not diminished the price of our weekday paper anywhere except in the city, and there we get sixty cents per hun- dred. We have also saved the cost of wholesale delivery by wagon in the city, which formerly cost us about twenty-five thousand dollars I20 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. a year. We have raised the whole- sale price more than enough to cover that. We have saved from thirty to forty thousand dollars by putting in type-setting machines. The cost of print paper is also less. This, coupled with the fact that our circulation has somewhat in- creased, accounts for our being able to declare larger dividends than when we were upon a wholly two- cent basis. " Our advertising has been as good this past year as ever, except during the last three months. The average merchant is obliged to sell his summer goods at such low prices that he cannot afford to ad- vertise them largely. AU papers have been phenomenally light in their advertising. This is true of Chicago and all other cities." "Then the Tribune will not return to the two-cent basis? " " No, sir! " replied Mr. Patterson emphatically. "By the way, Mr. Patterson, does Mr.' Medill still continue to take an active interest in the Trib- unel I have been asked this ques- tion a great many times by Mr. Medill's multitudinous friends in different cities." MR. medill's editorial WORK. " Mr. Medill does not enjoy him- self in anything else so much as he does in writing editorials for the Tribune and dictating its editorial policy. I do not know of any ed- itor anywhere who is working harder during this campaign than Mr. Medill. He is as enthusiastic as a boy. He sends the Tribune editorials daily by telegraph. He has been doing this all summer from his home in Bar Harbor. Not only that, but he telegraphs an outline of editorials he wishes others to write. Mr. Medill takes an intense interest in the editorial page. "He has the enthusiasm of youth with the experience of age. He is like a boy, in a political cam- paign. I don't believe anybody could be more bubbling over with political feeling than he. He scarcely thinks or talks anything else." "Then Mr. Medill's interpreta- tion of his duties as a journalist is to wield an influence in the direc- tion of his convictions?" MR. medill's view OF JOURNALISM. " Mr. Medill thinks a journalist has a duty to perform in certain THE CHICAGO " TRIBUNE.' 121 emergencies, that no journalist will or ought to shirk, if he has a right conception of his obligations. During the Debs strike, for in- stance, he considered it his duty •to stand up for law and order. This would have been a sacrifice for some papers. It was not a sacrifice for the Tribune, for it had always held that position, and its readers expect nothing less of it." I asked Mr. Patterson for a sketch of Mr. Medill for publica- tion, and he referred me to Andreas' "History of Chicago," where Mr. Medill's distinguished services, as a journalist, as one of the founders and corner stones of the Republican party, and as Mayor of the city of Chicago, were told in the warm terms all Chicago people and all eminent Republicans use in speaking of Mr. Medill. Mr. Medill's journalistic career em- braces forty-two years of active management of the Chicago Trib- une, and "before that the founding of the Cleveland Leader, and before that journalistic work in a lesser sphere, for Mr. Medill graduated - from law into jour- nalism. AMONG OUR GREATEST EDITORS. He is one of the few great jour- nalists of this country. Horace Greeley and Joseph Medill may be mentioned in the same breath, for Mr. Medill stands, in every light in which he may be viewed, as the exponent of broad-minded, sincere, influential journalism — a journal- ism that has had its influence for half a century upon the public affairs of the entire country, and that in Chicago has been the great formative influence creating a strong, healthy sentiment in great crises of the Garden City. It was in one of these great crises (the days following the de- struction of Chicago by fire) that Mr. Medill was called to the mayoralty, and assumed the helm when Chicago was in the midst of perils as great as any in its history. His wise financial policy and his undeviating devotion to the highest conception of his duties as the city's chief executive, restored public confidence and re-estab- lished the city's finances on a sound basis. But Mr. Medill has never been a seeker of office. He is heart and soul committed 122 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. to the great newspaper that is the expression of his personality, that owes its greatness to his energy and genius and the unchanging loyalty with which he has adhered to the highest idea of jour- nalism. INTERVIEWING MR. MONTGOMERY. I spent an hour with Mr. H. W. Montgomery, business manager of the Tribune, discussing its circula- tion and advertising. Mr. Mont- gomery formerly represented the Tribune as its Eastern agent, which gave him the proper perspective of the Chicago field. "The Tribune gained and held in the neighborhood of thirty thou-, sand additional circulation when it reduced its price," he said. "What is your circulation now? " "The figures of a paper's circula- tion do not properly represent its value to advertisers, when used in comparison with figures of other circulations; and for that reason we do not make circulation state- ments. The Tribune's circulation, to be compared with that of some other papers, would have to be multiplied several times in order to get at an adequate idea of its rela- tive advertising value." "What proportion of your cir- culation is in the city?" " About seventy per cent." "How much larger is your Sun- day circulation than your daily circulation? " " Over fifty per cent." " How does the Tribune stand in regard to advertising, in compari- son with other Chicago papers? " ADVERTISING. "We publish more advertising, both display and classified, and get more money for it. This means that the Tribune is a great paper, whose value is fully recognized by all advertisers. It brings results, and this is the only true measure of the advertising value of a news- paper. The Tribune leads in the volume of advertising carried be- cause its constituency has the greatest purchasing power of any, either proportionately or in the total, and its character and prestige give weight to the advertisers' announcements." "There are those that say that the reduction in your price brings a heavier burden on the advertiser." " How can that be true when we THE CHICAGO " TRIBUNE." 123 are giving the advertiser more for his money? We have not advanced our rates, but we have increased our circulation. The particular significance attached to the reduc- tion of the price on the Tribune comes from the fact that the Trib- une reduced its price at the very height of its prosperity, when our advertising and our circulation were increasing. The reduction of the price of the daily in the city placed a great newspaper within the reach of thousands of intelli- gent people who evidently did not feel they could afford to take the Tribune at two cents. That these people really wanted the Tribune was clearly shown in our gaining and keeping so large a number of new readers. Our reduction in price did not mean a cheapening in any other respect. We have printed more of a newspaper, and a more expensive newspaper, since the reduction than before." "You do not think the reduction in price was made at a reduction of the Tribune's standing? " STANDING NOT IMPAIRED BY REDUCTION. "No. The Tribune's standing remained unimpaired. The reduc- tion in price greatly extended the influence of a great newspaper. It was placed in the hands of a larger constituency, and it did not dimin- ish the Tribune's standing or in- fluence with its old-time readers. The reasons for reducing the price of the Tribune were not solely to increase circulation." "How about the statement that not a single morning daily paper in the city of Chicago is on a paying basis?" "I have no way of knowing absolutely whether that is true or not, of other papers." " If it is true, was it due to the reduction in price? " "No; if it's true now, it was probably true before the reduction in price." This led Mr. Montgomery to refer to the question of growth and circulation, and he made the remark, "Almost any amount of circulation can be secured by ex- penditure of money, but the value of that kind of circulation is doubt- ful. We spent money to get the Tribune into people's hands; the Tribune did the rest. It held all the readers we gained — held them by its merit as a newspaper. You 124 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. have only to make the intelligent reader acquainted with the Tribune's value, and he will read it regularly." "Is this campaign work you are doing — the sound-money debate you are advertising so extensively — increasing your circulation? " "Yes, naturally; but the Trib- une's circulation is not confined to people of any political faith. While an outspoken Republican paper it is always a newspaper, and thousands read it who do not agree with it politically." " Do you believe the opinion of leading local advertisers regarding newspapers in their field to be an absolutely reliable way of getting at the standing and value of news- papers? " LOCAL advertisers' VERDICT. " For reasons known to them- selves, local advertisers go into. practically, all the papers in their field to a greater or less extent. If one could know what they paid for space, that knowledge, in con- nection with the quanity of adver- tising they place with each paper, would be an indication of their opinion of its value. They know best what mediums pay. What they discover in this respect is pretty well expressed, I should think, in the amount of money they pay to the various news- papers." "What is the leading character- istic of the Tribune'i " "One of its leading characteris- tics is its enterprise, coupled with its reliability. Ask anyone in Chicago who knows, which paper handles any large event best and ablest, and he will tell you the Tribune every time." VICTOR F. LAWSON, Of the Chicago '■'■Recoj-d" and ^^ Daily News.'' The Chicago "Daily News," The Chicago "Record," And Mr. Victor F. Lawson. Outside of New York City there are no newspapers in America that have as much circulation, advertis- ing or income as the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Record. In New York the Herald and the World are probably each earning as much money as Mr. Lawson's pub- lications, but only one of these is credited with a combined circula- tion equal to the combined circu- latioii of the Daily News and Record, over four hundred thousand daily. The Daily News is making between five hundred thousand and six hun- dred thousand dollars annually. This is a reliable and conservative estimate. What the .ffi?r^r^ makes — ing posters, special features, mys- tery stories, and increased size by which it remains the envy and despair of its morning contempo- raries. The Daily News is regarded by everyone who knows anything about it as the best advertising medium in Chicago, — commands the largest amount of advertising and the highest rate. Its rates, however, are very low when you figure it out pro rata of the circu- lation. The Record is said to give more advertising for less money, and more resultful advertising, than any other paper in Chicago, with the possible exception, as respects re- a figure in the hundred thousands — suits, of the Sunday Tribune. goes into advancing its circulation Mr. Lawson's success, measured and popularity — into the advertis- by any standard, is probably the 125 126 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. most instructive and significant in the history of American journalism. He has attained everything that other publishers strive for, and yet his methods are in strict accord with the moral principles which are the keynote of his character. MR. LAWSON's character. His character is founded upon the sturdy morality he inherits from his Norwegian parents, a source from which also come mental quali- ties of a high order and a physique that twenty years of hard work that would wreck most men leave un- impaired. Mr. Lawson has the en- joyment of his splendid success in the very prime of life. He is using his influence and his means in a way that commends itself to those who appreciate patriotism, public spirit and judicious generosity. Person- ally, he is modest, unaffected and genial mannered. I had the pleas- ure of being with him in his private office, at the Union League Club, and on one public occasion when he was in association with Mr. Medill, Mr. Kohlsaat, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Nixon. He is held in the highest esteem by his fellow citi- zens and journalists. In attaining his success he has not indulged in that personal warfare between pub- lishers which leaves bitterness. THE OBJECT OF THE INTERVIEW. When I had defined the object of the interview and my plan of work (interviewing advertisers to deter- mine the real value and standing of newspapers) Mr. Lawson said: " I am glad you have undertaken this work. If the advertiser can be protected from the circulation liar and from his own emotional tendencies, I can see that you will be doing him the greatest possible service." THE GENESIS OF THE DAILY NEWS. I asked Mr. Lawson to tell me about the starting of the Daily News. " The Daily News was started by three young men with very little capital. The controlling spirit was Melville E. Stone, later, and for many years, my partner, and now general manager of the Associated Press. They had used up all their resources at the end of six months. They were tenants in my building, THE CHICAGO '• JD^ILY NEWS " AND " RECORD." 127 that is, the building owned by my father's estate, which I was hand- ling at that time. The only pre- vious experience I had in publishing was in a foreign publication. It was a part of my father's estate, and I had taken hold of it in a temporary way for the purpose of disposing of the interest. I bought the Daily News for its debts, which were about four thousand dollars. "We aimed from the beginning to make the first page of the Daily News worth the price of the paper. We gave a man his cent's worth on the first page. We put the best of our news and the most of our news, of course in a condensed form, on the first page, and thus we had no room for advertising there. We have never printed display adver- tisements on the first page." I was led to ask Mr. Lawson about his family. I learned that his father and mother were Nor- wegians, both strict Lutherans. He was born in Chicago; and though he inherited their mental and moral characteristics, cast his religious alliance with the Congre- gational Church. All through his life and work can be seen the stamp of a nature strong in its moral convictions as well as in its mental capabilities. " Did you start with capital, Mr. Lawson?" "I had about one hundred thou- sand dollars. I had the credit which of course came from this, and gave that credit to the Daily News. I paid all its debts, and whatever money has gone into the paper since then the paper has earned for itself." "From this beginning you have attained a success which may be measured in a circulation greater than any paper in the United States, except the New York World. Is that not true?" "Yes, my papers aggregate some- thing over four hundred thou- sand copies a day." "In interviewing the leading advertisers of Chicago I find that they agree that your papers have the largest circulation and that the Daily News is the best advertising medium in the city. They state that the circulation figures you furnish are absolutely to be relied upon." OBLIQUITY OF SOME ADVERTISERS. "Yes, I do not think people doubt our figures. We have always 128 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Stated them exactly as they are. Yet I think that many advertisers do not fully appreciate their sig- nificance. It is discouraging to find advertisers who are unable to realize that we are selling advertising by the wholesale. Some of them seem to believe that our 200,000 circula- tion is worth no more than someone else's 40,000 or 50,000, even though we figure out for them that, at the rate per thousand they are paying for their 40,000 or 50,000, our 200,- 000, at the rate we charge, costs them but a fraction of the other " cheaper " rates. TAKES HIS OWN MEDICINE. "We take our own medicine. When I gave Ayer & Son $50,000 to spend for us in the Northwestern States, we went into the big cir- culations. They are always the cheapest. This seems like the very ABC of successful advertis- ing, yet the great majority of advertisers do not understand it fully. Why, a 100,000 circulation of the New York Herald is cer- tainly worth a great deal more than 100,000 circulation made up of smaller papers. In the first place, the people who read the Herald have it ingrained in them to read its advertising columns. The. Chicago Sunday Tribune, the Daily News, and the Record are the best advertising mediums in Chicago, not only because they have the larg- est circulations, but also because they are the leading "Want" mediums. That directory char- acter of a paper increases the per- centage of readers of its display columns." PRINTING CIRCULATION FIGURES. " When I took the Daily News I had some convictions as to what was the correct business policy. I believed that we ought to tell advertisers what our circulation was. I came into the Daily News after it had been running six months and its circulation was about 4,000 a day. I remember saying to our advertising solicitor, ' I do not expect you to get much advertising for a time. I do not want you to work people hard for it. We are going to center our attention upon getting a circula- tion that we can sell to the adver- tiser. When we get up to 10,000 we shall state our circulation and THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD. 129 you can then go to advertisers and say, "Here is the exact circu- lation ! " and you can sell it on that basis.' "At the end of the first year we had reached 10,000 to 11,000 cir- culation, and since that time there has never been a day that we have not stated the exact figures of our circulation at the head of our edi- torial page, and my recollection is that in no other paper published were sworn statements of the cir- culation printed when we began. I think the New York Sun printed its figures without swearing to them." CIRCULATION IS COPIES SOLD. " What is your definition of cir- culation, Mr. Lawson? " " I do not think that circulation is the total number of copies printed. I should say circulation is the total number of copies printed and sold. This is the general principle. I mean sold at a fair commercial price. I do not mean sold by the pound for waste paper." " To what do you attribute your first ten thousand circulation? " " To furnishing a good news- paper of a condensed style of journalism, at a price that then was regarded, in comparison with the other papers, as phenomenally low." "Has your later growth come the same way? " "Our later growth we attribute to having printed an exceedingly good paper; a clean paper, inde- pendent in politics, and therefore truthful." I smiled a little at this, having in mind some papers that are not especially noted for their rectitude, though they claim to be independ- ent. Mr. Lawson saw the point, and continuing said: " No, but while it may seem a trite thing to say it, we simply try to print the news and tell the truth about it." A LOW RATE. "We attribute our growth in advertising to the fact that, when we gave the figures of our circula- tion, we made our price for adver- tising space low, with judicious discounts according to time and space. We made our rates low, but we stuck to our rates. One man's dollar will buy as much with us as another man's dollar. We I30 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. give one advertiser as much, or as little, as another advertiser. Our rates are as invariable as the price of a two-cent postage stamp. For the past twenty years there has not been a line of advertising in either the Daily News or Record printed at any other than the card rate. "We advanced our rates from time to time, but we never had any great trouble over it. Our trouble used to be to convince people of the value of the increasing amount of circulation we had to sell; but hav- ing once convinced advertisers on these points, and having once begun doing business with us, they never stopped doing business — chiefly because we always made it a rule, when we advanced our rates, to sell our space at a price that was pro- portionately less than previously. We can almost always show an advertiser, when we advance our rates, that he is paying us a lower price per thousand circulation under the new schedule than we asked when the preceding schedule was .first adopted." THE STORY CAMPAIGN. Mr. Lawson dwelt upon some of the methods he has used to popu- larize the Record ; especially the publishing of stories of mystery, offering heavy prizes for correct anticipation of their conclusions, in advertising which he has been spending recently fioo,ooo in efifi- cacious methods that have brought it over 50,000 new readers. Speaking of this, he said: "We believe women readers are alto- gether more valuable than men. " For this reason we have pur- sued the settled policy of extend- ing the paper's circulation among women. To this end we have selected the serial story as affording the strongest single leverage to secure new women readers. Some- thing over a year ago we offered to authors thirty thousand dollars, in cash prizes, for the best stories of mystery, so constructed that there should be a mystery run- ning throughout the story and disclosed only in the final chapter. We then offered cash prizes to women readers (excluding men) for the best solutions of the mystery in advance of its publication in the last chapter. We pushed the story campaign on these lines in both city and country, succeeding in increasing the circulation from THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD." 131 150,000 to 220,000. There has naturally been some reaction, and we now seem to have struck a normal pace of about 210,000 a day." The question was asked whether this new circulation acquired by these special inducements of cash prizes is likely to be permanent, and if so, whether it is as good a grade of circulation for the advertiser as the paper's ordinary reading constituency. Both ques- tions are answered in a careful analysis of the new circula- tion. " While it is doubtless true that some people may be attracted at first by the prize idea only, they must soon drop out of the race when they realize that the prizes are not won on a lottery system, but solely as rewards in a contest of skill. In view of this fact it does not take long to realize that people who have brains enough to win prizes possible only by the exercise of more than ordinary intelligence and mental ability, must be decidedly above the average intelligence in any- community. This means that we have been adding the kind of people that were already reading our paper. No other kind would be apt to long remain readers of the Record. They might be induced at the beginning to take the paper because of the mystery stories and the cash prizes, but if they were not of suffi- cient intelligence to appreciate a high-grade story, and be able to make a possible guess in the com- petition, they would soon leave us. The mystery stories are simply an advertisement of the paper and become the occasion for new people to direct their attention to the Record; but they are naturally going to stay only when they are the sort of people for whom the Record is being made. After all, the special interest in the mystery stories con- stitutes but a small feature of a daily newspaper. Unless readers are of sufficient intelligence to ap- preciate the character of the news- paper as a whole, we are indifferent as to whether they stay with us or not. Since, out of the increase in our readers — from 150,000 to 220,- 000 — all except about 10,000 have remained with us, it seems fair to assume that the mystery story ap- pealed in the main to the* kind of people who would want a paper like the Record, and yet who, for one 132 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. reason and another, have not had it so brought to their attention previously as to make them well acquainted with it. Many of these people were readers of other papers formerly, perhaps, in the case of women, of their husband's paper. Now they feel that, all the Chicago papers having reduced their price to a cent, they can afford to take two papers instead of one — one for the husband, who may want a paper that expresses his political prefer- ence and which he takes to his office with him, and the other for the woman, who reads her paper at home. Thus the Record has found a place in many a family without necessarily displacing any other paper." THE CHARACTER OF MR. LAWSON's PAPERS. " Tell me about the character of your own papers, Mr. Lawson? " "First, in the matter of news excellence, we aim to make both papers as good newspapers as possible. We do not stint our columns of news, but we aim to keep down the size of the paper as far as practicable. We do not believe in useless amplification and verbosity. The increased size of the papers does not mean longer news stories. We use the in- creased space for special news features that increase the inter- est with which we believe the papers are read. We print a clean, moral newspaper, but we do not take the attitude of a scold. We try to print a great deal of matter that will not only entertain but will make people smile. In controversial matters we present both sides of the case, institute debates and print sym- posiums of opinion by the best authorities on all sides of the ques- tion. For instance: a year ago we printed a ballot on the Silver Ques- tion, confining the voting to regu- larly registered voters of Chicago. This brought out the first indica- tion of the strength of the silver sentiment in Chicago. We are absolutely non-partisan in politics. We believe in conducting an edu- cational campaign instead of a partisan campaign, and in all politi- cal matters try to present all the news and comment upon it in our editorial columns judicially and intelligently. We never commit ourselves to either political party THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD.' 133 in the campaign. We do not interpret true independence in journalism that way. We try to present our views in such a way that the readers who disagree with us will never question our sincerity. Though they may question our conclusions, they rarely accuse us of being otherwise than absolutely candid. " THE CHICAGO ONE-CENT REDUC- TION. "Tell me the effect on the Record of the other morning papers coming down to a cent." "First, the Record lost circula- tion. Then we added two pages in size, redoubled our efforts to popularize it, and gained a good deal more circulation than it had before. I think the experiment was a disappointment to the Trib- une. The Tribune came to do it because it saw the Record going ahead very fast as a one-cent paper and they seemed to fear that this would cut into their future growth. The Record is not a one-cent paper outside of Chicago. We tried it on a one-cent basis about eight years ago, but we were forced to the conclusion that we could not make a success of it on a one-cent basis in the outside district. This is the conclusion of all Western papers that have reduced their price. You see the trade find it so much more advantageous to sell a two- cent paper with a large margin of profit that they were exceedingly hostile to a one-cent circulation. This led us at that time to add two pages to our out of town edition and fill it with matter especially interesting to out of town readers. At the same time we increased the price to two cents outside of Chicago, leaving our price at one cent in the city and our size for the city edition at ten pages. We have now increased our size to twelve pages, making the size uni- form both inside and outside of the city. The circulation of the Record, when the Tribune reduced its price, was 143,000. When all the other papers reduced their city edition to one cent, the Record's circulation shrank to 128,000. One day it was down to 126,000. Then it began to climb back, and in March of this year, just before we began to print the mystery stories, it had gone up to 151,000. The mystery story campaign was 134 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. pushed hard both in the city and tributary territory, and the circu- lation arose to 220,000. Some reaction followed the story work, bringing our circulation down to about 210,000, where it stands." DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS. "Tell me some of the features distinctive of the Daily Nervs." "The Daily News was the first paper in Chicago to use the elec- tric light; the first paper to use machine composition; the first paper to use an inserting press, thus abolishing the supplement idea; the first paper to put in an etching plant of its own, and the first paper to live up to the theory that there should be an absolute divorce between the advertising and editorial departments. Obli- gations of the editorial depart- ment as to readers stand alone and should not take into account the relation of the business depart- ment to the advertiser. We do not hesitate in our reading col- umns to make any statement of interest to our readers, even though what we say may have a distinct advertising value to some business establishment. For instance, our Washington correspondent the other day sent us an interview with Mr. LaDow, Mr. La Fetra's assist- ant in the advertising department of Royal Baking Powder. The story was about the Royal Baking Powder and Pears' sqap advertis- ing; their methods and the amount of money they expended, etc. It said incidentally that Royal Baking Powder did not advertise in the Record because Mr. La Fetra could not secure concession in price or position. We printed the article because we thought it of interest to our readers. Afterward a promi- nent advertising agent wrote us to know how much Royal Baking Powder paid for the article, adding that he would like to buy some advertising of us of that kind. But we do not sell our reading matter. Advertisements printed in reading form have to bear the mark that distinguishes them as advertise- ments, and our readers are never deceived in this respect. Further- more, we do not say things because people are advertising with us. The advertising value of our columns is the sole inducement of- fered to an advertiser to use them." THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD.' 135 NO POSITION. "An advertiser with us must take run of paper. Ttiere is not an advertisement in either the Daily News of the Record that has posi- sion assigned it. One year Royal Baking Powder took a contract with us on our terftis, and we treated theni just as we did our other patrons. The one rule in our composing room is that the largest advertisement goes at the top, and under that rule Royal Bakiflg Powder's advertisements floated around wherever thny were entitled legitimately to go. Mr. La Fetra apparently concluded at the end of the year that he had about all of that sort of thing he wanted, and we have not had the pleasure of his financial acquaintance since. "Our rule of 'no position' is necessitated by the space Hmita- tions of the paper. We always carry more advertising, proportion- ately to the size of our paper, than any other Chicago paper, and we would not give position to one advertiser if we could not give position to all who might want to pay for it; and we refuse to treat any one of our patrons differently from what we treat any other." " Then you do not believe in the New York Sun's idea of running small advertisements over the read- ing matter or anywhere else the advertiser wants them?" SIGNIFICANT DEDUCTIONS. "If an advertiser can get one and a half inches two columns wide in preferred position, he gets as much good out of it as if he took say twelve inches of space, run of paper. Therefore, why should he take a larger space if he gets no additional value for his additional expendi- ture? On the other hand, if he has to take run of paper, his twelve inches has the relative value that twelve inches ought to have, and the publisher has a fighting chance of selling him twelve inches. That is the simple ABC of the business." " Have you never lost any busi- ness on account of sticking to your rates and your rules?" " Yes, I presume it costs us from $70,000 to $90,000 a year on the two papers. Nevertheless we will not sell location either to the local or general advertiser, because we can- not, without unfair discriminations, nor will we for that matter use the out of town advertiser either better 136 AMERICAN JOURNALISM, or worse than the local advertiser. Our rates are based on run of paper, and thus all advertisers get the same treatment." WHAT A FAIR RATE IS. " What do you regard as a fair rate for advertising? That is, pro rata to circulation, Mr. Lawson. Your rate in the Record, of twenty cents a line is, according to your circulation figures, about a tenth of a cent a line on a thousand circu- lation, and your rate of ten cents a line for $10,000 contracts is about a twentieth of a cent a line per thousand circulation. Would you consider that a fair proposition for other publishers? " " I presume that is away below anything in the United States. It is too low. I do not know what is fair. Our rates are always as low as any — if not the lowest, in the United States. Our theory has been not to advance rates at any time so much as to raise any pos- sible question as to our claim of selling advertising very much cheaper than others." " Why not charge more for your advertising, and have less of it ? " "Well, so long as we can handle the volume of business offered us at the present rates, we believe the advertiser is better pleased with the special value he gets ; and while we might make as much, perhaps more money at a higher rate, we are dis- posed to let well enough alone. Advertising rates on the Record are too low and will be advanced. While the rates on the Daily News are apparently the highest in town, actually they are the lowest of any paper in the city, except the Record. Rates on the Record will be accord- ingly corrected." CHICAGO CIRCULATIONS. Then we talked of other circu- lation figures in Chicago. "How about the Journal V I asked. "The Journal has all it claims, forty-one thousand," said Mr. Law- son. The Evening Post is about the one other paper which gives its exact figures in the American Newspaper Directory. I quoted them at twenty-three thousand for the smallest edition printed within the year, which Mr. Lawson said was correct. I asked Mr. Lawson about the THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD." 137 Republican, a paper mentioned in the Newspaper Directory as appearing every evening. "It is not a newspaper," he re- plied. "It is probably a plate paper. I have never seen a copy on sale anywhere." The Times-JIerald -was rdit&A "A," that is, exceeding seventy-five thousand. I asked Mr. Lawson what he estimated their circulation at, and he replied, " The last sworn statement Mr. Kohlsaat made for the Times-Herald was seventy-two thousand. I have no doubt it was exactly true." " How about the Tribune, rated in the Directory as exceeding seventy- five thousand ? " "I think it has it." "Would it not be better if these papers gave their exact daily aver- age circulation ? " " Certainly, it would be very much better. They have good circula- tions and command a good adver- tising patronage, but they would stand better with advertisers if they printed their exact figures." "What percentage of Chicago people are readers of English news- papers? " "Well, our circulations do not duplicate very much in either field," morning or evening," said Mr. Law- son thoughtfully, "and adding either set together, I think you get a very fair idea of the number of English newspaper readers in this field. Take the city circulation of the evening papers: Daily News , Evening Journal Post Dispatch Total 200,000 26,000 18,000 26,000 , 270,000 MORE EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING. I asked Mr. Lawson if he thought advertisers were writing better advertisements now than formerly. "There has been a very great ad- vance in intelligence on the part of the advertiser in the last five or ten years. I think the Wanamaker style of advertising is to be credited with the first strong influence in this direction. It has had a great effect on advertising in this country. It is based on truth. Mr. Gillam told the truth about things he was dis- cussing in his advertisements. If he offered an inferior article, he said it was an inferior article, but he also gave the reasons why it was a good investment at the price offered." 138 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "Then, do you believe that the tendency is toward a condensed news style ?" " I believe the wise advertiser will formulate his statements as concisely as is consistent with con- veying his facts and ideas." " Do you believe in illustra- tions? " "Yes, certainly." " In funny illustrations ? " "Sparingly used. Not so much as to destroy the seriousness of an advertisement as a business propo- sition." CIRCULATION METHODS. " What are the methods of circu- lating your paper, Mr. Lawson ?" "The Record is circulated in Chicago by a carrier system that covers every part of the city. This system is not owned by any one paper. The carriers own their own routfes and carry all the papers, which they purchase at the offices of publication every morn- ing and pay cash for. In addition to this distribution, which includes the greater part of the city circula- tion of every morning paper, there is the sale by newsdealers and sales by the newsboys. The Daily News is sold entirely by boys, who in most cases have their own list of customers. In fact nine out of ten of these boys are carriers; that is to say, they deliver the same papers to the same people regularly, and additionally sell a few copies transiently on the streets. The out of town circulation is limited — only about ten thousand, which go by mail to newsdealers." "Do you use bicycles or tri- cycles in city or suburban de- livery?" "No." "Or delivery wagons ?" "The. Daily News is handled by a wagon service owned by four men who make deliveries to dealers and boys who own their own routes. They have probably altogether twenty-five or thirty wagons in service." THE COST OF PRODUCTION. " It must cost you a great deal to produce the Record, Mr. Law- son ? I have heard it said that it is the most expensive paper, pro- portionate to its price, in the country." "The Record has been called a two-cent paper sold for a cent, and THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD. 139 SO far as this is determined by the cost of production, it is true. The print paper, while not of the very highest grade used, is considerably better than the average. It comes from the Hudson River Mills, Palmer Falls, N. Y., which have a reputation of making uniformly high-grade paper. "The mechanical equipment is the best we could get. It cost four hundred thousand dollars. We own our own linotype machines. The cost of our building was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and is used exclusively for the various depart- ments of the Daily News and the Record." EDITORIAL INFLUENCE. I asked Mr. Lawson if the influ- ence of the newspaper came from its editorial page or the way it gathers and presents its news. "The influence of the newspaper proceeds from the degree of im- portance and confidence in which its readers hold it, and that I be- lieve is determined not merely by the editorial expression, but by the general policy, the character of the paper, as expressed in its general news columns as well as its editorial columns." " Do you think people read edi- torials nowadays ? " " I do not think that the news- paper is valued so highly now as a journal of opinion as fornierly; and, therefore, the majority of people do not read all editorials. I think all people read editorials to some extent." THE TRUE AIM OF JOURNALISM. "What do you think is the great mission of the newspaper?" " To inform the reader." " And thus influence the reader? " " And thus influence him to form a correct judgment. Journalism is the light by which we are able to see things as they are in their true perspective and relations." "Does this mean that the de- mand for the editorial writer is gone? " "Not by any means; but the editorial writer has to place his work upon a more analyzable and judicial plane." "And has larger responsibility?" "Yes; the editorial writer must be even better equipped than for- I40 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. merly — where, before, his edict was accepted, largely on faith, it is now accepted only in the degree which commends it to the judgment of well-informed readers." " Shall I infer that editorial in- fluence has been transferred to the news pages? That is, does the in- fluence a paper exerts, come from the way it handles the news rather than from the comments it makes upon the news ? " " Our instructions to people who write our local matter are that they are not called upon to editorialize, but, on the contrary, to refrain from it. We insist that their reports shall be judicially colorless; but that they are to recognize the con- victions of the paper as respects the general unwritten impression conveyed in their work. This is difKcult to define, but I think it may be expressed by saying that the influence that comes from reading the matter written by our staff shall not be, as far as the writer controls it, at variance with the settled policy of the paper. For example, we tell our men that we want them to recognize that the paper is not a religious, but a secu- lar paper, and just as distinctly to recognize that it is not an irreligious newspaper. We do not print mat- ter that will give offense to serious- minded people. On the other hand, we do not sermonize. In all his work, we insist that the writer re- cognize the fundamental sentiment of what he is writing. If he is re- porting a hanging, he must not forget the solemnity and awful- ness of that event. We tolerate no grotesqueness or levity in handling serious subjects." "Are your readers influenced by your papers? " " Yes; I believe all readers of all newspapers are influenced to a degree; whether to the point of distinct action on a given proposi- tion is another matter; but no newspaper can escape the responsi- bility of exercising an influence for good or evil on those who con- stantly read it." "I wish you would define your attitude toward sensationalism." " I believe a newspaper is justified in being sensational to the point of telling the whole truth, within the limitations of propriety. I don't believe in sensationalism that in- volves the element of dishonesty or exaggeration. We do not seek sen- THE CHICAGO " DAILY NEWS " AND " RECORD. 141 sational matter, but we do not overlook it when it comes in the ■way of the natural development of news, as, for example, proceedings of Court." "Would you print the details of a divorce case?" " We would print the details, with distinct limitations, where the matter involved persons who are sufficiently well-known in the community to give special news -value to the matter; otherwise not. "We never print news simply because it deals with immoral- ity." "How do you deal with the news of strikes?" " We always endeavor to be im- partial m printing both sides of the controversy, and urge the principle of arbitration as the method of settlement." " Then do you not cater to the masses by espousing their alleged cause ? " •' No, we seek to avoid the repu- tation of catering to any class, party, or faction in the com- munity." " Do you never ally your paper to a political party in national cam- paigns when you believe in the platform of that party ? " "No, never. We discuss the issue involved ; we express our convictions, but always with due recognition of the rights of the opposing side. There is an inter- pretation of independent journalism that leads a newspaper to become partisan in a campaign. That is not our view of judicial independence." The Chicago ''Chronicle." The only Democratic daily news- paper in Chicago is the Chronicle. The Chronicle is also Chicago's youngest paper, but it has already obtained a circulation that places it alongside its older competitors in advertising value. Only one or two of them exceed it in volume of business — the Tribune and Herald Sunday, and the Record weekdays. It is a one-cent paper of distinc- tive excellence as to news matter, grade of paper and ink, miscellany, typography, and illustrations. I read the Chronicle critically for several mornings and then got to reading it with personal pleasure, so well does its staff dish up the day's doings in that style for which Chicago newspapers are almost all famous — and the Chronicle par- ticularly so. MR. lawson's words. I asked Mr. Victor F. Lawson to tell me about Mr. Seymour and Mr. Russell, because Mr. Lawson should speak with absolute author- ity and impartiality, having known them both for many years, and witnessed their work and achieve- ments in the newspaper field. " Mr. Russell is one of the oldest editorial writers in Chicago, and is conceded to be one of the very best," said Mr. Lawson. "He is a master of clear, strong English diction; a man of very positive con- victions; and he has impressed his personality on the editorial page of the Chronicle in an unmistakable manner. " Mr. Seymour has had a long experience in the editorial depart- ment of newspaper work for a great many years. He was em- ployed on the Chicago Times as far back as when Wilbur F. Storey was actively directing its course. Shortly after the Chicago Herald was established, fourteen years ago, Mr. Seymour became its managing editor, and has had much to do with the high reputation achieved by that paper as an organ of the Democratic party in the 142 THE CHICAGO " CHRONICLE. 143 West and Northwest. When the Chicago Chronicle started, a little over a year ago, Mr. Seymour be- came its publisher. The paper shows the same evidence of Mr. Seymour's comprehensive and painstaking methods in its general news character, and he has already ■won his spurs as a successful pub- lisher. He has avoided the errors publishers are likely to fall into in the beginning of their work, and he has had the courage to establish at once business methods in the administration of the Chronicle that are ordinarily arrived at only after years of experience acquired, in part at least, as the result of one's mistakes. The Chronicle already €njoys the reputation, and I believe justly so, of being a one-price paper. Certainly it justifies the strict enforcement of that basic principle of good publishing. I do not recall any case where a pub- lisher has been able to make a detailed statement of circulation, showing a daily average attained during the first year of the paper's history, ranging from sixty thou- sand to seventy thousand a day, as Mr. Seymour has done. This indicates at once Mr. Seymour's recognition of the principle that newspaper success is more and more depending upon the applica- tion of true business ethics, as they are recognized in the domain of business generally. He has already received the indorsement of his methods by the unusual volume of advertising patronage carried by a paper only a year old. This has come, not as a manifestation of sentiment on the part of adver- tisers, but as a distinct recognition of the value given, and definitely indicated in Mr. Seymour's specific statement of circulation." MR. SEYMOUR SUGGESTS MR. SEYMOUR. With the idea of Mr. Seymour, which suggested to me the New York Evening Post's Mr. Seymour, and his successful methods, I went up to the Chronicle office and found in the person of its publisher a man quiet, unostentatious, easily acces- sible, and thoroughly in touch with- the subject that I had come to dis- cuss with him. He had a copy of the American Newspaper Direc- tory before him, and also a copy of Printer's Ink. He said, at the beginning of the interview, he was 144 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. familiar with my work, and at the end of it he said he had never been in his Hfe so thoroughly catechised. I never hesitate to catechise a man like Mr. Seymour, because the more searching questions I ask him, the more are revealed the fundamental principles that permeate successful publishing, and the more clearly is demonstrated the success of the right methods and the right think- ing. The questions and answers which follow are intended to bring out Mr. Seymour's attitude on paramount journalistic questions, and to reveal the reason for the un- paralleled success he has achieved in a twelvemonth. " What has been your first aim in making the Chronicle, Mr. Sey- mour? " " First of all we aimed to make a newspaper in a field that had been abandoned by the Herald and the Times, by their consolidation, their purchase by a Republican, and his announcement that the combined newspaper would be run hereafter on a Republican Protective Tariff basis. This opened up a very in- viting field for a Democratic pub- lication, which the Chronicle has assumed to be. We felt, in making the Chronicle a one-cent paper at the outset, that we were simply anticipating a little what was to be the inevitable policy in all great cities, and we were not disap- pointed, though the other papers' drop to one cent came a little quicker than we expected it would. We made a twelve-page paper, and retailed it in Cook County for one cent, and the aim was to make, as we expressed it at that time, a two- cent paper — by that meaning, of course, a first-class newspaper — for one cent. The response that we met with was very cordial and very gratifying." NEARLY A MILLION DEMOCRATS. "How much of a Democratic population has Chicago? " "Well, I judge by the voting strength of the parties in recent elections, when the Democratic party was formidable and united, that sixty-five or seventy per cent, of the population here was Demo- cratic." "That means six hundred thou- sand to seven hundred thou- sand? " "Yes, more than that. We have THE CHICAGO "CHRONICLE." 145 a population easily of one and a half millions. The Democratic party in Cook County alone cast one hundred and forty-four thou- sand votes for Cleveland." "Does the fact that your paper is Democratic make you especially valuable to advertisers? " "We feel that it does, for this reason: that this city is un- doubtedly the metropolis of the West and Northwest, and the Chronicle is the only Democratic newspaper of any pretensions in this whole territory, including seven or eight of the most popu- lous States in the Union. We cover this territory very fully, by reason of the large number of fast mails that leave the city early in the morning, and of course in the city proper, there must, in the very nature of things, be a very large clientage growing out of a situation that produces nearly one hundred and fifty thousand Demo- cratic voters, when politics are nor- mal, that will read, and must read, a Democratic newspaper, and will not read a Republican newspaper; always supposing that the Demo- cratic newspaper is as good as the Republican newspaper." MEN READ PAPERS FOR POLITICS. "Then you think men take one newspaper in preference to another of equal news value, or equal general interest, on account of their political preferences? " " I think they do, to a large extent. Of course there is a class of people whose range of informa- tion is very wide, and who read newspapers of every shade of political opinion." "Then it is true that the aver- age family takes one newspaper for the husband primarily, then per- haps another paper for the wife, but the husband first? " "We find that we have a great many women subscribers, and women readers. We find that the women determine very largely the paper that comes into the house. That has been my experience always, in every newspaper that I have been connected with; and it is so here. I know that it is true that some publishers may make the contention that their newspapers are ones that the women take, and must have, whereas other news- papers are ones men take, and carry around in their pockets; but there is not much in that. The 146 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. women are as likely to prefer one newspaper as they are to prefer another, and it has been my experi- ence that the women have very largely determined the subscription to the Chronicle, in Chicago particu- larly. Now in regard to that I would say that two-thirds of our Chicago circulation, which is large proportionately, has been deter- mined by the women of the house, but I suppose that ninety-five per cent, of the street sales, store sales, and train sales, is made to men." CIRCULATION ANALYSIS. " What proportion of your cir- culation is delivered? " "By carriers?" asked Mr. Sey- mour. " Well, about twenty-five per cent, in the city, by carriers." " Then do you mean to say that eighty per cent, of your circulation is street sales?" " Of course the other eighty per cent, takes in the entire country. There is a large delivery of which we have no knowledge — I mean irregularly sold from stores, and by boys." " What proportion of your cir- culation is out of the city?" "About forty per cent." " Of the sixty per cent, in the city, what proportion would you say went into the homes; that is, either delivered there, or taken there by men who might buy the paper down town? " " Fifty per cent., at the very least, and possibly more, of the city circulation, is delivered by carrier at houses." "Have you any subscription plans? " "You mean to obtain single subscribers? " "Yes." "We work a plan in the country," replied Mr. Seymour. "We are getting an average of sixty singles a day, which I am pretty well satis- fied with. I think it is a good scheme. It is introducing the paper all the time in small towns near Chicago, even within what you might call the purchasing dis- trict of Chicago, where there are no newsdealers to interfere with in any way, and where the paper is received by the subscriber through the mail. We do not make our offer in any town where there is a dealer. We have al- ready obtained 5,000 singles out THE CHICAGO " CHRONICLE." 147 of the city, and we hope to have 10,000 before fall." "I note that your circulation has been quoted in the American Newspaper Directory for December. What is your circulation now? " A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT. "The affidavit in December was about an average of 85,000 for the Sunday edition— daily 60,000. In February, March, and April we reached at times 110,000 on the Sunday and 76,000 on the daily. Our daily circulation now is about 70,000, and the Sunday circulation is about 100,000. We have fallen off several thousand copies, as I will explain to you, if you wish, but we are growing again." " How do you account for that falling off in your circulation, Mr. Seymour? " "That is due to the improve- ment in business methods on the part of all the publishers in Chicago, resulting from an agree- ment between them, which took effect on the ist of May, and by which the return privilege was wholly withdrawn, not only in the city but at all points in the United States, including the hotels and trains. It also did away with a practice that had grown into an abuse in many offices, of sending free copies to dealers with the idea that they might be sold, as a result of some unusual interest in that particular day's issue. The cir- culation, therefore, of the Chronicle to-day is absolutely net, and not a paper leaves the office that is not paid for; and I regard this Sunday circulation of 100,000 copies as superior, not only in money value, but in advertising value, to 125,000 copies under the policy that was pursued last December." " Do you attribute your present circulation to the demand for a Democratic paper, or to other things also?" "I think it is due largely to the fact that a Democratic newspaper was a necessity, but quite as much to the fact that the Chronicle has adopted some new methods, has made a departure from the existing style followed by nearly all the older papers, some of which are almost identical in appearance and contents, and to the further fact that a new paper, having no enemies, seemed to be received very cordi- ally by all classes of people." 148 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "To what do you attribute this early cordiality of support? " NO ENEMIES. " Very largely to the fact that both of the old Democratic news- papers had lost friends in heated political controversies and to the fact that the purchase of the combined newspaper by a Republican, excited a great deal of genuine indignation on the part of the Democrats of Chicago and the West; some of whom even charge that the deal was intended to silence the greatest mouthpiece of Democracy in the Northwest, on the eve of a Presi- dential campaign." "Mr. Seymour, will you kindly define what kind of a political paper you are making of the Chronicle? In other words, is it run on a platform dictated by the Democratic party, or do you support the kind of Democracy that you define your- self? " INDEPENDENTLY DEMOCRATIC. "Speaking for Mr. Russell, as well as myself, Mr. Russell being the editor of the Chro?ucle — we agree perfectly in regard to these mat- ters—I would say that the Chron- icle is not an organ. It advocates the broadest Democracy as its owners interpret it, and not as any machine, or any convention, may interpret it. The Chronicle is held by its owners and conductors to be a straight Democratic newspaper, adhering to every fundamental of the faith; but it will not deviate from these principles to please party managers or party conven- tions, knowing that the mass of people are sound, and having evi- dence every day of their most cordial support and sympathy." DEMOCRACY NOT a LOST CAUSE. " You do not look upon Democ- racy as a lost cause? " "Never!" with strong em- phasis. "It is evidently not a 'lost cause' with you, judging from the amount of advertising you are carrying." " No, there are a great many Democrats; more than the polls will indicate next November." " I suppose the advertiser recog- nizes that, being the one Demo- cratic paper in Chicago, you have a constituency exclusively your own? " THE CHICAGO " CHRONICLE. 149 "I think that is so. Some of them have undertaken to question that, but more in a spirit of ban- ter than anything else. Most of them appreciate that the Chron- icle reaches a constituency of its own, and one that cannot very well be reached through any other medium." PLENTY OF CAPITAL. Mr. Seymour, speaking of the financial energy manifested in pushing his paper, said: "The capital of the Chronicle was larger, I suppose, than any new publication ever started with in America. The faith of its owners in the venture as a business matter was unbounded at the out- set, and the result has more than justified their expectations. As a matter of fact, the resources pro- vided for the Chronicle at the out- set have not as yet been seriously encroached upon." " Do you mean to say, then, that you are rapidly approaching the paying basis? " "Yes, sir. I have not seen the completed figures for our first year's business, but my expecta- tion is that the last quarter of that year will show that the Chronicle has been more than self-sustain- ing! " HALF A MILLION INVESTED. " How much of an investment have you here at the present time — building, plant, etc.?" "The investment to date ex- ceeds five hundred thousand dollars." "This represents largely your plant, franchise, etc., and not losses? " "Yes, almost wholly, tangible property. " I might say right here that the mechanical equipment of the Chronicle is one that would be hard to discount. It has an entire five- story building, it has twenty-four Merganthalers, and an auxiliary composing room, with sixty-five hand compositors to call upon, in case of emergency. It has six double Potter perfecting presses, with a joint capacity of sixty thou- sand 12- or 16-page papers an hour. Its paper is supplied from Nekoosa, Wis., where two machines run constantly day and night, in a desperate effort to cope with the Chronicle's insatiable appetite. ISO AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "This paper of yours, Mr. Sey- mour, seems to be pretty good quality," I remarked, examining a copy of the Chronicle critically. " It is a very fair quality of all- wood sheet. We had some trouble with it at the start, but the manu- facturers have been very attentive to our interests, and are now mak- ing an excellent quality of paper of a cheap grade." "Reverting again to your edi- torial policy, Mr. Seymour; do you place great stress upon the edi- torial page? " THE EDITORIAL PAGE. " I do. I think the editorial page of a newspaper is of vital importance. Mr. Russell and I are just old-fashioned enough to think that a newspaper publication, to be respectable, should have a mind and a conscience. In this respect, I think, a newspaper re- sembles a man. The editorial page is the face of a newspaper body, in which the reader can see the character, the intelligence, the morality, and the courage of the newspaper entity," "Would you say that the influ- ence of the editorial page was diminishing or increasing ?" " I do not think the influence of any respectable editorial page ever is lost." "You think people read edi- torials? " " I know they do." "Are people not more analytical than formerly; owing to the pos- session of more information on most topics, furnished by the papers themselves in their general and news columns ? " " That is true. I think that also explains why the influence of some editorial pages has vanished; but the editor who is consistent, honest, and able never will lack readers nor followers. Some news- paper managers seem to adopt, as a matter of policy, the idea that no editorials, or very weak and color- less editorials, are what is wanted. Such newspapers sometimes suc- ceed, and gain a wide circle of readers, but they are not bought, of course, for their editorial expres- sions; nor are they held in high esteem, either at home or abroad." "Your business policy, Mr. Sey- mour, appears to me to be right in line with that adopted by the best THE CHICAGO "CHRONICLE. 151 publishers. In other words, you seem to believe in stating your fig- ures, and having one price for your advertising; placing the people whose patronage you expect in a position to know what they are buying." RATE CUTTERS, N. B. " We have never made any secret of our circulation; and one remark- able thing concerning the adver- tiser generally I have observed, is that he seems to be very reluctant to examine closely into a news- paper's circulation. We have never cut an advertising rate since we started the Chronicle. There has never been a line of advertising that was not paid for at our card rates; nor has there been a line in the paper that any other man could not have obtained at the same price, under the same conditions." "What do you consider a fair rate for advertising per thousand circulation." " That depends a great deal on the character of the circulation." " Your circulation.? " " Naturally, I think the rate we charge for our circulation is fair, in that it is cheap." "What is that rate, Mr. Sey- mour? " " Our net rate on the daily is ten cents a line, and in the Sunday edition fifteen cents a line. Those are the rates that any advertiser doing a reasonable amount of busi- ness may obtain under our dis- count." " Do you give position? " "We have done so, without extra charge; merely as a matter of courtesy to advertisers." "But you will not selliX?." " That is not our policy at present." "Are you very strict about the kind of advertising you admit to your columns? " " More so than many of the American newspapers of to-day. We will not receive objectionable advertising of any kind, and we have refused a great deal of that description already." " Your advertising support has been rather generous, has it not? " "Very generous indeed." " I think I have seen a statement that you were standing second among Chicago papers in advertis- ing patronage." 152 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "For the last three months the Chronicle has been second as to the daily repeatedly; sometimes for several days at a time." "Second to what?" "To \h& Record" " How about Sunday? " "Sunday we have held, very se- curely, third place." "Do you attribute that advertis- ing patronage to what I might call sentiment; that is, a desire to sup- port your paper on political or personal grounds? " "I have not been able to dis- cover any sentiment in the matter, thus far. It has been purely a matter of business. We have re- garded the Chronicle space, from the beginning, as of value, not only to advertisers but to ourselves, and have felt that the paper must suc- ceed on its own merits, and that whatever advertising we received must be given to us on business principles; and on that principle we have maintained a very small advertising staff, and have not tor- mented advertisers by solicitation. We invite them to purchase an article we have to sell, and if they do not see fit to buy, we have no complaint to make." THE "cuss ACROSS THE STREET.' In speaking of maintaining rates, a principle in which Mr. Seymour believes strongly, he said: " I do not know how many men have come in here and said to me, in the course of friendly conversation, that fifteen cents a line net for Sunday was a little more than they wanted to pay, and suggested that I make them privately a rate of twelve cents or thirteen cents a line; ob- taining which, they would give the Chronicle as much advertising as they give the Sunday Tribune. I have replied smilingly always to such propositions, putting the matter to the gentlemen themselves in this way: ' Suppose I acceded to your proposition, and gave you a private rate. Is it not true that you would no more than turn your back upon this office than the thought would enter your mind that " Now I have this rate of twelve cents a line privately, what assur- ance have I that some cuss across the street has not got it at ten cents? " ' and they have invariably replied that I was right; though I did not always get the advertising. " "Why don't you cultivate the small advertiser, Mr. Seymour?" THE CHICAGO " CHRONICLE." 153 "We have done so to some ex- tent, and have made fair progress in that direction." " Don't you think there is a great field in Chicago for mer- chants who are not advertising at all, to do so in moderate space, successfully? " "I think so, and have urged that policy upon many very suc- cessful merchants of the smaller class, but they seem to be very timorous." " What kind of advertising meets your ideas as to preparation. typography, etc. ? That is, do you believe in the Wanamaker style?" "I am not partial to any par- ticular description of advertising, so far as style is concerned. So long as the Chronicle secures the advertising at its rates, and the bills are paid promptly, the gentle- men who patronize it are entitled to any sort of display that pleases them best." "Then you do not believe in a censorship of advertising ? " " I do not, except as to objec- tionable advertising." The Chicago "Dispatch." The Chicago Dispatch is one of the most notorious newspapers in America. It is the one sensational newspaper of Chicago. Some of the other Chicago publishers say they consider it a disgrace to journahsm. Its editor and pub- lisher has been found guilty of printing alleged indecent matter. The Supreme Court will hear his case on appeal next fall. But I am writing a book about American journalism. I am pre- senting the facts as I find them. It is to the interests of my readers, to the interests of newspapers everywhere, that the facts about the Dispatch should be stated ; therefore, I studied the Dispatch as carefully as I know how. I ascer- tained the opinions of prominent people outside its office. One opinion was practically universal, and that is that it is a sensational newspaper, to the limit of the law. As to whether it has the circula- tion it claims, namely, sixty-five thousand — other publishers seem to believe it impossible. • One of them stated to me that it did not have presses with which to print that number of copies within the limited time an afternoon news- paper has to print its various edi- tions. One publisher said that I would find, if I could gain access to the Dispatch rooms, that its press capacity was absolutely in- adequate. Some of these publishers advised me to write the facts about the Dispatch as I found them; others advised me to ignore it entirely. Concluding to accept the former advice, I called on W. D. Boyce & Co., in whose building the Dis- patch has its office and on whose presses it is printed. Mr. W. C. Hunter, the advertising manager of Boyce's big weeklies, said: "Mr. Dunlop has been done a great injustice. He is a gentle- man whom we regard very highly, both from a personal and business 154 THE CHICAGO " DISPATCH. 155 point of view. I want you to meet him. I want you to investigate the facts and figures of his publica- tion. We print his paper on our presses. We know what he is doing." "It is said that he has but one press that he can use on his last edition and that this press is abso- lutely inadequate for printing the number of copies he claims to cir- culate." "He has three presses. They are amply large enough to print a great many more papers than he claims to print. We print our own papers of over five hundred thousand circulation upon them. Come down with me to Mr. Dun- lop's office — meet Mr. Dunlop, and have him show you his facilities and his figures. You will find that he will conceal nothing." I went down with Mr. Hunter to Mr. Dunlop's private office. Mr. Dunlop received me cordially. "I always read your articles very carefully," he said. "I am glad you are writing a book on this subject and glad you called upon me. Everything about my office is open to your inspection." " I believe my work is a distinct value to newspapers that can prove what they claim. If you are willing to stand or fall by what I may learn from an inspection of your plant, I will write a report of the evidence you submit; otherwise I will not." These figures, by the way, are stated in the editorial columns of the Dispatch as follows: NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION. There are in the United States 2205 daily newspapers, and, according to Rowell's American Newspaper Directory, a work of twenty-eight years' standing and noted for its conservatism and accuracy, there are only seventeen evening papers in this whole country with a circulation over 40,000. New York city has three, Boston two, Philadel- phia two, St. Louis two; Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland each one, and Chicago two — the Chicago Dispatch and one other. It is a striking feature of this showing that many of the papers with a large circulation have been established for years, the Chicago Dispatch, now in its fourth year, being the only notable exception. In the journalistic family of newspapers with big circulations, the Chicago Dispatch is the ' ' baby " of the household, and a mighty healthy and promising infant, when its circulation of over sixty-five thousand daily is considered. Before leaving Mr. Dunlop's desk, I took up a copy of the Dis- patch and searched its columns. I found plenty of the kind of medi- 156 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. cine advertising a good many newspapers refuse to print, but I did not find any of those " per- sonals " for whicli the paper is notorious. " I see you have ceased printing the ' Personal Column ' that used to make your paper notorious," I remarked. "Yes, we have changed our policy in that respect." " Purifying your paper? " I re- marked. "Yes," he replied. I searched his advertising columns again, and let me say right here that there was nothing in them approaching in character the "personal col- umn" of the New York Herald. If Mr. Dunlop is to stand or fall by the standard set by the Herald, he certainly will not fall. I am not dealing with what his "personal column " used to be. That is a matter which the courts have dealt with and which has become history. However, I honestly believe that, though Mr. Dunlop's paper is far more sensational than any paper in Chicago, it would bear favorable comparison with some of its Eastern contemporaries which bear a high ••eputation for character and pros- perity. Its alleged sins stand out very black, apparently, against the pure background of Chicago jour- nalism. I am afraid the same sins would find no contrasting back- ground at all if placed side by side with the matter printed by some of the big high-standing dailies of the Atlantic Coast. Perhaps this dis- tinctive character gives the Dis- patch distinctive value to adver- tisers, for its columns are well filled with the announcements of concerns which are not catering especially to the depraved and licentious. It carries such adver- tising as that of Siegel, Cooper & Co., A. M. Rothschild & Co., Morgenthau, Boland & Co., each of which use full pages in the Dispatch; Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., The Fair, The Hub, Mandel Bros , The Dunlap Hat, a page and a half of want ads, and a half page of Bus'ness Directory ads, not to speak of theatrical and amusement advertising, the latter in a larger measure than any other evening paper in the city, as Mr. Dunlop demonstrated by com- parison. This very significant showing proves the value placed^ upon the Dispatch by the highest THE CHICAGO "DISPATCH. 157 class and choicest advertisers in Chicago. In the general field, Professor Munyon, Sapolio, Aunt Jemima's Pancake Flour, Ripans' Tabules; Monarch, Jeffery, and practically all the other cycles; Dr. Pierce and Paine's Celery Com- pound and Woodbury Facial Soap are among those found copiously and constantly in its columns. On its first page the Dispatch has "Cook County Official Paper and City of Chicago Official Paper," which means it has the city and county printing. Mr. Dunlop stated that this was in spite of the fact that both the city and county printing was in Republican hands. I examined its news columns carefully. Criminal and sporting news — h la New York Evening World, were conspicuous, but there was plenty of political and general news too, and space to spare, after printing the four or five pages of ads and a page of press comment on the "marvelous suc- cess indicated by the Chicago Dis- patch in its three years' growth." Here are some examples. They show how the Dispatch seems to stand with the prominent news- papers outside of Chicago : " WILL MOUNT VET HIGHER." From the New York Telegram — Evening Edition of New York Herald. In its third anniversary number the Chicago Dispatch sets forth the marvelous strides made by that journal in its short career. From a small beginning it has jumped into the first ranks of Western journalism, and has commanded the attention of advertising patrons as v^ell as of the reading public. Nor is it likely to remain on its present pedestal, but promises to mount into yet higher spheres of usefulness. Philadelphia {Pa.) Record. The Chicago Dispatch has celebrated the close of its third year with a forty-four page edition, which is none too large to typify its growth in the favor of its constituency. The Dispatch, by aggressive independence and a liberal expenditure for its news service, has made for itself a foremost place in a field that was apparently filled before its birth. The policy that built it up so quickly assures a future of increasing usefulness and com- mensurate prosperity. "occupies an important place." Boston Herald. The Chicago Dispatch was three years old the other day, and its publisher, Joseph R. Dunlop, commemorated its anniversary by issuing a very large and interesting number of that paper. Its forty-four pages are re- plete with all the news of the day, besides a large number of timely articles. The story of the paper's beginning, growth, and present condition is noted. This number is evidence in itself, by the immense amount of patronage from advertisers and its typographical dress, that it occupies an important place among its older neighbors in Chicago's journalistic field. IS8 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. and that it is destined to improve as time rolls on. Joseph R. Dunlop is to be con- gratulated. "enlightened a new YORKER.'' Mail and Express, New York. The Chicago Dispatch celebrates the third anniversary of its birth with an issue that the most capacious of overcoat pockets could not accommodate. Birthday parties are quite as big in the city of Chicago as other things, and for a three- year-old in evening journalism the Dispatch shows a growth which we sincerely hope is firm flesh and not bloat. Incidentally, it prints more advertisements than we thought there were business houses in Chicago. "no other like it." Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N. Y. The Chicago Dispatch has celebrated the completion of the third year of its life by publishing " forty-four-page edition. That such a newspaper as this can succeed in Chicago indicates that there must have been a demand for it. If the Chicago people had not wanted it they would not have bought it. There is no other paper just like it in the United States, though some others are run on the same plan. The Dispatch has the courage of its desires. Star, South Bethelehem, Pa. The Chicago Dispatch last week closed the third year of its journalistic existence. It " has no quarrel with those who believe that namby-pamby, Sunday-school, lady-like journalism is the best literary agent of reform. But it insists that the ends of law and order and the interests of society can be more effi- ciently served by exposing the corrupt than by praising the pure." Best to do both within the limits of good judgment. But the Dis- patch is a live newspaper, even in the Chi- cago sense of that term. It has achieved success, and will keep on doing so, we do not doubt. " Nothing proves so much the standing of a newspaper as the advertising it carries," said Mr. Dunlop, as he compared the Dis- patch with the Evening Post and the Journal of Friday, June 12. The Dispatch on that day printed twelve pages, each of the other papers eight pages. This was none too much to accommodate the astonish- ingly large amount of business the Dispatch was carrying. It is par- ticularly manifest that bicycle and theatrical people use the Dispatch more freely than the other evening papers, which is more good evi- dence of its value, as theatrical and bicycle people know pretty well what a paper's value is. I confess that I was surprised to see the large amount of high-class business the paper was carrying, and I asked Mr. Dunlop, "What are your rates?" " Twenty cents a line, same as the Post and five cents more than the Journal, for amusement ads. On other business we have a scale THE CHICAGO " DISPATCH." 159 rising to a maximum of twenty cents a line." "Do you stick to your rates? " "Absolutely." Mr. Dunlop then took me down to the pressroom. He showed me two double Potter presses, printing nine thousand twelve-page papers per hour, and a single Potter press, printing an equal number of eight- page papers per hour. I verified this by counting the papers, and timing the register with my watch for several minutes successively and at different times. " What is the limit of your capacity? " "We can print one hundred and twenty-five thousand papers a day. During the strike we ran close to two hundred thousand." "When do you use the single press? " "We do on the first edition, not on the other editions. These presses are amply sufficient for our production. We are printing a newspaper for Chicago. We are not printing a newspaper for the country trade. Not four thousand of our circulation goes outside the city." I looked over the rolls of paper in the basement. There was enough there to print several times the number of copies Mr. Dunlop claimed for a good many days successively. "We get some of our paper from Mr. S. Bachmann, loii Monadnock Building, who is agent here for the Jay Mills, and we get the rest direct from the Rumford Mills. My bookkeeper will show you our paper bills.'' Before leaving the pressroom Mr. Dunlop said: "We begin printing at II o'clock and print till 12.30 on the noon edition, using all three presses. We begin printing again at 2 o'clock and run with change of plates until 5 on the other two editions. The Potter Printing Press Co. will verify the figures you have gotten as to the capacity of our presses." From the pressroom we went to the composing room, and I saw the seven linotypes and the hand composition cases from which and by which the Dispatch is set. In the editorial room I saw the special wire facilities of the United Press, the pneumatic tubes from the city news bureau, and the editors and reporters who manu- i6o AMERICAN JOURNALISM. facture the news columns of the Dispatch. "To what do you attribute your success?" I asked Mr. Dunlop. "To printing a newspaper that gives the news without fear or favor," he replied. "The news- papers here have fallen into a rut where more than half of the news is suppressed for interested reasons. I learned this when I was editing the Times. I started in journalism thirty years ago, as a reporter on the Times under Mr. Storey. I worked my way from a reporter at ten dollars a week to city editor, managing editor, editor in-chief, and finally, when it was sold to Carter Harri- son, I was a part owner in the Times, and in the Mail, its after- noon edition. During that time I could see that everything was con- trolled and directed in this field in a newspaper rut, and that any man who had the nerve and courage to start an independent newspaper and print the news exactly as it is, no matter whom it affects, would attain great success. This is the principle on which I conduct the Dispatch. It is to this we owe our success. I would not suppress a piece of legitimate news if it affected my own brother. We print an open invitation in our columns every day, for people with grievances to call us up, and we will investigate their cases and we will print the facts as they are. In this way we get a vast amount of news that the other papers do not have, and would not print for the reason I have given. When I first started the Dispatch my rela- tions with the other publishers were pleasant. They had been pleasant during all the years pre- vious. My failure was predicted here and in New York, but at the end of six months we were still running and paying our bills. At the end of a year the paper was on a paying basis, and in spite of the hostility manifested toward it, in spite of the fact that we were barred out of the Associated Press, and that everything possible was done to impede its progress, the Dispatch became so much a power that it secured the city printing when it had a Democratic leaning, and both the city and county organizations were Republican. The fearless course I pursued resulted in my being brought into THE CHICAGO " DISPATCH. i6i the Federal Courts. It is signifi- cant that the Tribune, the Inter- Ocean and the Chronicle did not join in the attack on me. Let me say right here that I never in my life have been arrested, that I have never had a criminal charge made against me, that I never have been sued for a debt. I have been sued many times for libel, but have won my case every time. I never libeled a man knowingly. We gave everyone justice." Mr. Dunlop spoke at length on this subject. He confessed that he could not discuss it without the feeling that he had been used very unjustly. "But it is a matter for the courts, and not for us to settle," he added. Dwelling upon the success of his paper, he said, "We have more advertising and more circulation than the Journal and the Fast com- bined. We have made money since the first nine months we were in business. This paper has paid its bills whenever they have come due and discounted them whenever we could gain financially by so doing. The success which has come to us is the reason why the cry of blackmail has been raised against me. While other pub- lishers were sitting in their clubs accusing me of blackmail I was sit- ting here attending to my business, was making the kind of a paper that I believed the people of the City of Chicago wanted, and was making it to suit myself. Last fall I went to New York the first time in a year. When I returned I found an indictment in the Federal Courts against me. The citizens of Chicago knew the incentive behind that. The Times, Herald, Tost, the Record, the News and the Journal all turned their guns at me. As I said before, the Tribune, the Inter-Ocean and the Chronicle kept their hands off. It seems to me that counts for something. There is a strong feeling in the human heart always on the side of justice, and I have been most generously supported by the public generally; supported by the readers and by the advertisers. Only one advertiser, and he, with a personal notice, dropped out of our columns. The others doubled their advertis- ing and to-day we have more advertising than we ever had." On returning to his office, Mr. Dunlop showed me a copy of the l62 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Dispatch of May 2, 1896, embrac- ing his statement to the public. I quote a paragraph or two: For thirty years I have been a resident of Chicago. During the last twenty-five years I have been closely identified vifith the news- paper press of this city. In 1873 I began as a reporter on the Chicago Times under the late Wilbur F. Storey. I remained with that journal until the fatal illness of Mr. Storey, advancing from reportorial work to an ex- ecutive position. Upon Mr. Storey's death, and when a complete change was made in the management of the Times, I secured a posi- tion with the Inter-Ocean as city editor, where I remained for nearly three years. During that time, as now, William Penn Nixon was the editor-in-chief of that paper, and I have no doubt he will bear testimony to the manner in which I discharged the duties devolving upon me. In 1888 I resumed connection with the Times, and a year later, upon the reorganization of that establishment, I took editorial charge of the paper, and was its chief executive until it was sold to Carter H. Harrison ; retiring then from that journal, after having filled the posi- tions of city editor, managing editor, editor, and part owner. I had then become fully convinced that the time was ripe for the establishment in Chicago of a thoroughly independent and fearless newspaper. With the knowledge, experience, and capital which I had accumulated I began the publication of the Chicago Dispatch on the 19th day of October, i8g2. The field was already ably occupied by morning and evening news- papers, representing every political party as well as independent journalism. The Chicago Dispatch struck out upon new lines. It adopted the motto of publishing " all the news all the time," whether it pleased or offended. That was an innovation eliciting varied public criticism. It began by calling things by their proper names and telling the truth about sinners in high places as well as offenders of low degree. Some of the older newspapers of the city had drifted into social, partisan, and capitalistic channels, and to these the Dispatch at once became trouble- some. Tliese new lines upon which the Dispatch was founded, in their very nature, were ele- ments of success. The people, of every class, began to read the paper and to be inter- ested in it. Every business interest in Chicago, as well as the East, took advantage of its advertising columns and found them a profitable investment. The Dispatch was essentially cosmopolitan. No paper had ever so strongly and correctly reflected all conditions of the city. Before the paper had been a great while in existence, a class of advertisements began to develop representative of business interests of alleged questionable reputation. Let it be known that nearly all of these questionable enterprises were authorized and licensed by the City of Chicago, and, in the regular course of administration of muncipal government, contributed to the city treasury their quota of the public revenues. I had not started a newspaper for the pur- pose of reforming anybody or anything. I have never engaged in the reform business. I had, however, undertaken to print a news- paper — one not controlled by trusts or other combinations— that should fearlessly give the news, as it transpired from day to day in the great cosmopolitan city of Chicago. From one standpoint the class of advertisements referred to appeared to be morally objection- able. From another they served the high moral purpose of disclosing to the world real conditions hitherto concealed. I believed, and still believe, that the publication of these advertisements was a legitimate factor in the evolution of society. A question, however, THE CHICAGO " DISPATCH." 163 arose as to whether or not the publication of these advertisements was a violation of the Federal laws regulating the postal service of the country. The Dispatch, even in the first two years of its existence, had aroused much jealousy in many quarters. A certain class of people, largely made up of those who had been brought to task for their irregularities through its columns, made an outcry against these advertisements, which, by the way, as the sequel has shown, constituted a very insigni- ficant portion of the advertising space of the paper. Rival newspaper publishers, smart- ing under the inroads which the Dispatch was making into their circulations, on the lines of legitimate competition, also seized upon this particular feature of the paper and made it a pretext for a conspiracy by which they hoped to overthrow the enterprise and crush its publisher. They have waged their warfare almost to a finish, but they have not, nor does it lie in their power to accomplish the destruction of this paper. It is true, these good people have been instrumental in eliminating from the columns of the Dispatch the class of advertisements held to be objec- tionable, but they have not attempted to rid the community of the still more objectionable business interests which these advertisements represented, and until they do this how can they justly lay claim to honest motives ? The Dispatch was founded upon the great princi- ple of fair play to all classes, and he fails to comprehend the signs of the times who does not to-day realize that this paper, instead of being overthrown, is born again to a higher and to a more forceful work. I desire here also to direct attention to the record the Chicago Dispatch has made up to the present time. From humble be- ginnings, in the comparatively short space of 7)% years, it has demonstrated its pre-emi- nence as a newspaper and has won at least second place in the local field, both in circu- lation and advertising support. The daily issues and files of the several evening papers will prove my assertion in this particular. It is daily giving employment to over one hun- dred persons at liberal trade union rates. Its advertising columns prove that the leading business houses over the country recognize it as a profitable medium through which to reach the great purchasing public. It has played no favorites, but has treated the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the influ- ential and the weak, without discrimination. Founded upon truth and upon the determi- nation to publish it abroad notwithstanding the consequences, the Dispatch has always had the highest appreciation, not only of the law, but of its enforcement upon those who violate its terms. This paper will not abandon any of the methods of news-gathering and news-dis- tributing which have made it a power, and which brought upon it the enmity of a certain element of the community. In other words, it will continue to reflect life in Chicago as it is. The rich hypocrite and the wealthy liber- tine shall be judged by the same standard with which the pauper thief or the pauper highwayman is measured. It will continue to treat the railroad wrecker with the same medicine, whether he be dislocating rails in some lonely forest-route, or operating in the gilded general office of the company. The Dispatch will continue to expose a pulpit fraud as it has done in the past with the same indifference with which it handles the levee tough. On these principles the Dispatch was built; on these it will survive. May 2, 1896. Joseph R. Dhnlop. Afterward Mr. Dunlop gave me access to his bookkeeper for veri- fication of his circulation and adver- tising figures. 164 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. " I am a member of the Iroquois Club, a life member of all the Masonic, from the Blue Lodge to the Thirty-Second Degree. I was Recorder of Apollo Commandery of the Knights Templar of this city for seven years, and on retirement from that office was voted a life membership. I was also President of the Press Club for two years, and I believe that no one will question that, if the character some have tried to make out against me in the East and elsewhere were verified, I would not be able to retain my standing in these bodies. Of course, I have made enemies, not through my personal life, but by the aggressive course the Dispatch has pursued, and the Times pursued under my editorship. The Dispatch has exposed insurance frauds, in- vestigated Building and Loan As- sociations of Chicago until it has driven one-half of them out of business, and has driven thieves out of the city or into jail; and if this will not make enemies, what will? I am not ashamed of enemies of that character. I feel that the battle they have waged against me has made me stronger to conduct this paper along the lines I originally laid down for it, and I believe that those lines are right; that if there is immorahty or wrong-doing in the community, that its exposure in the columns of a newspaper is the surest means of its eradication. The Dispatch does not create immorality. The course that the Dispatch pursues tends to diminish immorality. The grounds on which the case against me is based are purely technical. The post-office authorities themselves were unable to define what we should print and what we should not print, in order to conform to the regulations of the postal service." The Freie Presse." The Freie Presse is a prosperous German paper of Chicago, that has had a high standing and increasing circulation for upward of twenty- five years. It has both morning and evening editions daily, eight pages week days and twenty-four pages Sunday. Its business manager said, when I aslced him his cir- culation, "Daily, 35,000; Sun- day, 40,000; but we really never make circulation statements, owing to the impossibility of getting our competitors to authenticate their statements. All we say is, that an advertiser can easily find out our value by consulting the experience of other advertisers that have used our columns, and who have been using our columns for a great many years — shrewd adver- tisers who do not waste their money in unprofitable publications. The bulk of our circulation is in the city of Chicago. It is delivered by carriers to prosperous and intelli- gent home-owning Germans. We are the only German bimetallic, 16- to-i paper in Chicago, and that has been adding greatly to our circula- tion of late. We get a vast amount of mail every day from all over the country, containing sub- scriptions and lists of subscribers by the score. It takes three clerks to handle this correspondence. We sometimes get lists of from 600 to 1000 names from a single agent. Our weekly circulation has in- creased over 20,000. We are a bimetallic paper because our editor-in-chief, Mr. Richard Micha- elis, has given this subject most careful study, and reached the conclusion that bimetallism is the solution of the country's finan- cial problem. He was in Europe in 1880, and while there began the study of bimetallism. He committed the Freie Presse to a 16 to I policy in accordance with his convictions, and he seems to have 165 1 66 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Struck the keynote of the cam- paign." Mr. Richard Michaelis, by the way, is an eminent editor, who has been known in the German news- paper field prominently for upward of a quarter of a century. Years ago he was city editor of the Milwau- kee See-Bote, and after that editor of the Union in Chicago, before it was bought by another Chicago Ger- man paper. He attained national fame through his book, "Looking Further Forward," an answer to Edward Bellamy's "Looking Back- ward." It was warmly indorsed by the leading newspapers throughout the country, such as the Chicago Tribune, the New York Tribune, the New York Sun, the Boston Globe, the Kansas City Times, the Balti- more American, Public Opinion, etc. Mrs. Clara Michaelis is the editor of the Woman's Department of the Freie Fresse, and by her able work has won a warm place for her paper in the hearts and homes of thou- sands of Germans of the most sub- stantial class. In fact, the Freie Fresse is a very substantial paper. both in the character of its circula- tion and the advertising it carries. Practically all the principal local and general advertisers use the paper extensively. Mr. W. R. Michaelis, who makes semi-annual trips to the Eastern field, has secured every general advertiser of consequence except Carter's Little Pills, whom he has every expectation of landing eventually. The Freie Fresse has every me- chanical facility of a metropolitan paper. It has two Hoe perfecting presses, with a capacity of 20,000 each per hour, and five linotype machines. It has the service of the Associated Press, and an able staff of reporters and editors. It is made up on the best metropoli- tan plan, with its news carefully classified, interestingly presented, and handsomely printed. It is one of the papers that has been able to come down to one cent in price without deterioration in qual- ity. In fact, it shows constant im- provement, and its success may be predicted through increase in the steady ratio that has characterized its twenty-five years' history. GEO. G. BOOTH, 0/ the Detroit ^'■Neivs,'" Chicago '■'•Journal^'''' and Grand Rapids *^Fress." Mr. George G. Booth, and His Three Papers. His long experience as manager of the Detroit News, and owner of the Grand Rapids Press, equips Mr. George G. Booth to make a corre- sponding success of his compara- tively recent purchase in Chicago — the Chicago Journal — which he bought about a year ago and popu- larized it without sacrificing the standing it has had for fifty years as the New York Evening Post of the Garden City. Before then he bought the Chicago Mail, and afterward con- solidated it with the Journal. The Journal had about 17,000 circula- tion — the cream of Chicago. It has kept this and added many thou- sand more among the intelligent and well-to-do. It now has an actual daily average of 73,000. This is about half the circulation at which Mr. Booth is aiming. An- other year will probably see his ambition realized, though he tells me he is willing to work and wait ten years if necessary. He does not believe in sensational or dime-museum Sunday journal- ism. He does not believe in Sun- day papers at all. When he bought his Grand Rapids paper he abol- ished its Sunday issue. His Grand Rapids paper is his ideal. It is probably the most successful paper in anything like an equal area or population. A PAPER TO EVERY FAMILY. In a population of 90,000 it has a circulation of 21,000 — a paper to every five of the newspaper readers or more than one paper to every family without the city limits. It is about as thickly circulated as a paper can be. It is just as close to its readers as a paper can be. It is with them in all that 167 1 68 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. interests and elevates, and they are with it in their advertising, their constant readership, and in its efforts to educate its thousand newsboys to useful citizenship. It is an enterprise that some magazine man will make an interesting illus- trated article out of sometime. I have forestalled him a little with a picture of the Chicago Journal's Newsboys' Band. It is taken as the band is en route for one of the parks to give one of the popular concerts with which it entertains the populace and advertises the Journal. The Grand Rapids Press has a Newsboys' Band of national repu- tation, a cadet corps, a fife and drum corps, and a school where the boys are instructed during the forenoons in the English branches, and on Sundays hold meetings to sing and to be taught straightforwardness in the only complete Newsboys' hall in the country. Fast as the boys develop they are graduated into something better than newspaper selling, and smaller boys are taken in to fill their places. Mr. Booth has been concentrat- ing his attention upon educating his Chicago staff up to his idea of what constitutes the right kind of a newspaper. He aims to make every item in his paper interesting to every reader. He believes in those little news stories which have touches of human nature in them, and the reading of which is just as fascinating to a man in Kalamazoo as it is in Chicago. This doesn't mean that he neglects Chicago — for he is employing the largest local staff in the city. But he is doing more than printing merely the cold facts and figures. For instance, the day after the St. Louis cyclone, on the first page alongside the news from the stricken city he presented a poem written by a member of his staff. It was full of the sentiment and the sym- pathy the occasion would tend to arouse in every thinking, feeling reader. He insists on presenting the sentiment in things, and he succeeds. There is nothing sentimental about his business methods. He gives the people a paper they will read all the time if they have read it once — a paper full of the news prepared to the taste of the intelli- gent reader — and any quantity of MR. GEORGE G. BOOTH, AND HIS THREE PAPERS. 169 special departments and features from the pens of experts. HIS BUSINESS POLICY. He pushes out for circulation by the methods he believes bring the best results. He does not use schemes. He does not use posters. He does not give away anything nor have supplements full of prize puzzles and pictures to be cut out of pasteboard. He arranges his advertising so that it is easy to find and easy to read. He has plenty of it. He has more of some kinds than any other evening paper in Chicago. He has more financial advertising than any other paper in the field, either morning or evening, for the Journal has borne for years the reputation of being the financial paper of the city. MECHANICAL FACILITIES. There is nothing more modern, complete, or perfect than the plant contained in one of the finest new buildings in newspaper row in Chicago; everything is run by elec- tricity, and the touch of a button controls the largest and smallest machine. This record of growth demon- strates that Mr. Booth has the ability to attain the success at which he is aiming. It demon- strates that his belief that we are to have fewer newspapers and bet- ter newspapers is likely to prove a prophecy. He is Napoleonic in his methods. He will buy and con- solidate newspaper properties just as fast as he finds the right oppor- tunities. To make his success in Chicago he is investing all the money nec- essary and giving about half of his time to that field. The balance he divides between his Grand Rapids paper and the five publications issued under his management in Detroit — two dailies, a Sunday, a home weekly, and a commercial weekly. It was at the Detroit office that I interviewed him. He is a young man, about thirty- two. He has a quiet, quick way of talking and transacting business, but he hasn't a particle of nervous- ness and never seems to be in a hurry. He has been managing the Detroit News nine years now. Mr. James E. Scripps owns the News and the four other publications I/O AMERICAN JOURNALISM. printed at the News office, and is tlie parent publislier of the Scripps League, in all of which papers he is largely interested. THE DETROIT NEWS. The Detroit News is the leading paper of Michigan. It has made the State an evening paper field. It has a circulation of over 60,000 in the city of Detroit and that portion of the State not covered by Chicago or Grand Rapids papers. Everybody who knows anything about it says it is the best advertising medium in Michi- gan. I am quoting such men as Mr. D. J. McDonald, the adver- tising manager of the Mabley Com- pany, Petroit's largest clothing advertisers, and Mr. Brownell, the advertising manager of Detroit's largest general store, the J. L. Hudson Company. Everybody in Detroit reads it. It is a non-sensational newspaper first and foremost. It is equipped with all manner of modern facilities. It has seven Potter presses with a joint capacity of 80,000 papers per hour and a whole squad of linotypes. It is a two-cent paper. All the papers in Detroit are two cents. Some of them tried the one-cent scheme and abandoned it. It is absolutely independent in politics. The Tribune was bought by Mr. Scripps three or four years ago. It had had an erratic career. It had been edited at one time by Carl Schurz, and at other times by men with genius but no ability. Mr. Scripps has been making it a very acceptable newspaper, and has his reward in largely increased circula- tion. The Tribune now has a cir- culation of 18,000, with a Sunday circulation of 28,000 for the Sunday edition of the two papers called the News- Tribune. The Weekly Tribune has a circula- tion of 30,000 through the State. It is recognized as a good family paper. The other Scripps paper is the Herald of Commerce. It is purely commercial in matter and circula- tion, which latter is about 12,000 among the substantial business men who have made Michigan a State of commercial eminence. Milwaukee. What the general advertiser does not know about Milwaukee is the part that is best worth knowing. I judge this from the general impression people have of Milwau- kee, as a small city of large breweries. This does not discount the breweries, but it does discount the city, and gives no idea of its population. Milwaukee has nearly three hun- dred thousand people. It is a beautiful city. Its people are intelligent and industrious. It is a self-supporting city. It makes its money within its own borders, and draws much besides from all parts of the Union. There is no slum element in the city; there is no cheap beer-drinking element. It would be a liberal education to temperance people to see on what a high plane of respectability and moderation Milwaukee's beer- drinking is done. The resorts, such as Schlitz s Palm Garden, are patronized by the very best citizens, both American and Ger- man. They are as respectable as Delmonico's in New York. They are a reproduction of the German beer garden as known in Ger- many. Disorderly conduct, intoxi- cation, and people of doubtful character are rigidly excluded. The shrewd advertiser would see in the homes and habits of Milwau- kee people a strong reason for their being purchasers of reliably advertised goods. He would see a still stronger reason in the charac- ter and circulation of its news- papers. Milwaukee newspapers, without exception, are clean and non-sensational. They are eight in number, four English and four German. The majority of the Germans read English papers. They read the German papers, too. One-half of the population are German. Probably more than two- thirds of the industries of Milwau- 171 172 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. kee and the disbursements of money are in the hands of its Ger- man-speaking citizens. They are a prosperous people. They are famous for their frugality and con- servatism. Even the laborer in the streets owns his own home. They are remarkably intelligent people. They take a keen, active interest in all questions pertaining to their community, to their State, and the country at large. They read newspapers with a keenness and care that hardly finds a parallel. The German believes what he reads in his favorite paper. He believes the advertisements he sees there. He responds to them in a larger degree than does the reader of the English paper. The German paper of the city is the Germania. Its weekly edition has a larger circulation than any other German weekly in the world, larger than any three German weeklies in America. It goes into every state in the Union. It goes into Europe, Asia, Africa, even to the Carribean Sea and Sandwich Islands. Its proprietor is a mil- lionaire publisher. His daily paper has a circulation of over ten thou- sand in the city of Milwaukee alone. The three other German papers each have a constituency of their own, who could probably be reached best through these papers. The four English newspapers, the Sentinel, Wisconsin, Journal, and News, have each their field. The Sentinel is the only morning paper, and the News is the only one cent paper. All the Milwaukee adver- tisers use all these papers. Space does not come high, and their cir- culations do not duplicate to any large extent. It costs compara- tively little money to cover Mil- waukee completely. The Chicago papers claim to go into Wisconsin, but they do not go into the city of Milwaukee to any great extent. There is much that might be said of Milwaukee's financial responsi- bility. Its people have the highest incentive to careful financiering. They are not plungers, they are not speculators; they seek a steady income, and they are careful in planning their expenditures. They do not incur debts, they pay foi what they get, and they keep a surplus. The large number of well-supported banks in the city prove this. I talked with several leading bankers; for instance, Mr. MILWAUKEE. 173 Thomas E. Camp, of the First National, whose bank carries deposits of three millions, and Mr. Arthur H. Lindsey of the Wiscon- sin National. They stated to me that, with one exception, the banks of Milwaukee survived the panic, and that this is due to the fact that it is a habit in Milwaukee to be careful to a point of conservatism in matters financial. Milwaukee people are healthy and happy. There is none of that fever which infests the air of New York, and none of the consequent periodical demoralization that affects the family and business world. This means that the advertiser who has the right article to sell, and knows how to advertise sensibly, not sen- sationally, may hope for good results from the Milwaukee field, for he will appeal to well-fitted purses and wiseful purchasing. One-Cent Journalism. I TALKED with Mr. A. J. Aiken, the manager of the Evening Wis- consin Company and founder of the ready-print business of this country, about the reduction in the price of newspapers and increase in cost. " Do you regard the one-cent newspaper as the coming factor in modern journalism? " " We have discussed the matter among ourselves in Milwaukee as to the reduction of price even from three cents to two cents. We have never entertained the idea of re- ducing it to one cent, because we do not believe a circulation can be secured in the city of Milwaukee at one cent that would pay to publish a first-class journal, such as we attempt to make. It is possible that we might increase our circula- tion sufficiently at two cents to enable us to continue under the same expenses as at present. But aside from our judgment as to the inadvisability of the matter, we have never felt any great demand from our readers for that price. Our readers seem to be satisfied with the price we charge them for the paper." " Have you noticed a demand on the part of the advertiser for the much larger circulation securable through a reduction in price?" " Our advertisers do not express any desire for any circulation other than that which we have." "Where, then, can a paper of the character of the Evening Wisconsin find pressure that would force it to the reduction? " " There could be pressure brought to bear only through the reader or the advertiser, because we are printing our paper as a matter of business and along the lines of good journalism. We are printing our paper for a living, for its in- come, and I have always believed that this reduction in price in first- 174 ONE-CENT JOURNALISM. 175 class newspapers ot the country would in the end reduce the quality of the paper and the character as well. It must of necessity reduce the character of the paper as well as the quality, because the increased circulation would come from a class and community that are not as valuable as readers as those it has now. I have also always believed that to go to a reader at a cheaper price we should be obliged to charge more to the advertiser, and the advertiser generally is now paying more than his just share for the production of the newspapers of the country. Really first-class papers are not receiving as much from the reader as they ought." " Do you think the reader of a paper like the Evening Wisconsin is reluctant to pay a price commen- surate with the value? " "No, we have not found any- body." "Do you believe if you were to increase the price to five cents that you would find a heavy falling off in your subscription list?" "When you say five cents you only refer to the newsboys and newsdealers. In our case only one-third of our circulation is sold by dealers to consumers. If we should increase our price for in- stance to what it was, ten dollars a year instead of eight dollars a year as it now is, and in the country from six dollars to eight dollars, I do not think that such an increase would cause a falling off in the cir- culation that would be disastrous." "In the case of the Chicago Tribune, would you consider it as advisable to increase the price as to reduce it?" "It seems to me that, if I were printing the Tribune, I would rather have increased the price to three cents than to have reduced it to one cent." "Then you think the Tribune has not been helped by its re- duction?" "I do. I do not think the Tri- bune by selling its papers at one cent has as good a standing among high-grade newspaper readers as if it were sold for two cents as it was before. I consider the T7-ibune up to the time it made its reduction one of the best newspapers in the world, and I felt at the time the reduction was made that it was a mistake. There seems to be a craze in this matter of reduction. 176 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. I do not believe in this one-cent craze which exists among the large newspapers of the country." "Do you consider the Tribunes. competitor of the Chicago RecordV "No." "Because the Record ^d,s a suc- cess at one cent the Tribune came down to a cent also?" "Yes, I did not expect to find in the one what I looked for in the other. They had different fields and occupied them both with great credit. I consider the Chicago Record a good paper, the chief paper in its field." " Do you think it hurt the Record when the Tribune came down to a cent?" "I do not think it hurt it at all." " To what do you attribute Mr. Lawson's success in the one-cent field?" " I think that Mr. Lawson has made an excellent newspaper be- cause he furnished literary matter to the people who do not have books. His paper has been a sub- stitute for books with thousands of people. It has been a clean paper and a respectable paper in every respect. I admire the manner in which Mr. Lawson has conducted his newspaper, and I believe that he has exhibited uniform and strict business methods in his advertising department." "Are you one of those who be- lieve that the drift is toward fewer and better newspapers? " "That depends upon what you mean by better papers. There seems to be a demand for sensa- tionalism, particularly in the news- papers in large cities, and they seem to have acquired large circulation. From my standpoint the better newspapers have not had the widest circulation, and I must say that I should judge that the tendency is toward sensationalism in the news- papers." " Do you think a success founded upon sensationalism is secure? " "No." "Do you think a success founded upon the lines of Mr. Lawson's journalism is uncertain?" " No, it is as certain as any laws governing business." "Do you think a newspaper loses the support of a loyal constituency, such as you have or the New York Evetiing Post has, as long as it adheres strictly to the policy that has built up that constituency?" ONE-CENT JOURNALISM. 177 "No." "■Then you see a great danger to large business properties in their reduction in price? " "Yes, I do. That is why I pre- dict that it will stop. They will go back again." " Then you believe that, instead of higher class and higher priced papers being able to compete with the one-cent paper by a reduction in price, that it demoralizes the higher priced papers to be reduced to one cent? " " Certainly." " Is the tendency toward an in- crease or decrease of cost in the literary department of journalism?" "We are gradually increasing what we pay for that." "Because of the expense of gathering news or its preparation?" "I think the increased expense comes from the fact that we have higher standards of merit to admit it. We require better work of our writers and pay more for it." "That invites a better class of workers? " "Yes, we pay more in every department — for our reporters, for manuscript, for poetry, for stories, for everything than we ever did before." "The same is true of your editorial page? " "Yes." "Then is it not true that the newspaper is getting back again to first principles — namely its own personal excellence?" "Yes." "The cost of mechanical produc- tion is greater, is it not?" "We are compelled to use much more expensive machinery than ever before, though the cost of white paper is nothing compared to what it was before. We produce composition much cheaper than we did by hand now by machines, but it requires a large capital to do it. Only large capital can afford the machinery." " Is this not a force acting directly upon the production in number of newspapers and increase in merit? " "It should reduce the number of papers and increase the merit of individual papers because you can- not print a first-class paper now without a very large outfit — an expensive outfit." The ''Evening Wisconsin." The paper that comes first to mind when Milwaukee or Wiscon- sin is mentioned, is the Evening Wisconsin. For half a century it has been the paper of the Cream City and the Badger State. Messrs. Cramer, Aikens & Cramer, its publishers (now the Evening Wisconsin Co.) are held in the highest esteem, and wield an influ- ence, not only in their city and State but in social, business and journalistic circles throughout the country. They not only publish the Even- ing Wisconsin (eighteen thousand circulation) which probably every intelligent and well-to-do Mil- waukeean reads as regularly as he eats or sleeps, but they have a weekly edition of twenty thousand circulation among the towns and villages of the State, and are also the owners and publishers of the Newspaper Union, whose papers aggregate a Wisconsin circulation of over ninety-eight thousand. They are also the proprietors of the Chicago Newspaper Union, of which Mr, John F. Cramer of the Evening Wisconsin Co. is the pres- ident. The Chicago Newspaper Union prints weeklies aggregating five hundred thousand circulation. This company is also interested in other newspaper unions through- out the country, and Mr. A. J. Aikens, the manager of the Even- ing Wisconsin Co., is the founder of the newspaper union business in this country, having established the New York Newspaper Union, the Chicago Newspaper Union and others. He is a newspaper man of the broadest experience and ac- quaintance. His views on matters journalistic and advertising are deeply interesting and carry weight with every thinking mind. His success is far beyond the field in which his publishing interests center. It is national. He ranks among the leading journalists of the country. 178 THE " EVENING WISCONSIN." 179 The Evening Wisconsin has a large and handsome building com- mensurate with its dignity and success. It is equipped with all the modern improvements, such as perfecting presses, linotype machines, etc. It is printed hand- somely on excellent paper, with the best ink, as becomes a three-cent paper in class with the New York Evening Post, the Brooklyn Eagle, and the Boston Transcript, but its circulation, though in character as high, is broader in scope than these, for the Evening Wisconsin is read not only by the best educated and wealthiest, but by the intelligent and well-to-do of every class; giving it a circula- tion larger than any other paper published in Wisconsin. This circulation is printed daily at the top of the Evening Wiscon- sin's editorial page — the actual average for the preceding six months and the actual number of copies printed that day, sworn to by the pressman. TREATING EVERYBODY ALIKE. Let me say, on this point, that if there is anything that Mr. Aikens takes particular pride in, it is his success in getting his business by adhering to the one-price policy. The Evening Wisconsin is a monu- ment to success in doing business the right way. It prints a vast volume of advertising. It gets a fair rate for it. It excludes objec- tionable advertisements from its columns. It knows no compromise affecting its business ethics. Its circulation is entirely by sub- scription, paid in advance. People who do not send their cash for the Evening Wisconsin do not receive the Evening Wisconsin. The same is true of its weekly. The Evening Wisconsin s street sales amount to less than fifteen per cent., its re- turns to less than three per cent. OPEN TO INSPECTION. I asked one very leading ques- tion: "Are your plant and your books open to my inspection, if I wish to verify the figures you have given me?" "Certainly," was Mr. Aikens' prompt reply. " Do you place much stress upon the character of circulation?" "Yes." "Does it affect the value of a paper to an advertiser?" i8o AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "It affects the value of a paper to everybody." " Do you think permanent suc- cess is dependent upon the charac- ter and standing, of a newspaper?" " Yes, undoubtedly. Sometimes a temporary course in the publica- tion of a newspaper may seem to gain success, but if a man is going to make publishing a newspaper a life work, by building up a news- paper so that it will last after he is gone, he must depend upon sus- taining through all the years of its publication a reputation and a char- acter among the people who read it and advertise in it. To do this is to make a paper that will be worth something. It has been our aim to make the Evening Wisconsin a property that will stand for all time. We have not aimed to make so much money as we might by pur- suing some other course, but we believe we have built a property that we can leave a substantial legacy to those who come after us." The Milwaukee "Daily News." The Milwaukee Daily News is the youngest English daily in its field, but it claims a circulation of sixteen thousand. It offers to substantiate its claims by all kinds of proof, and backs it up with a certified check payable to Mil- waukee charities if any man can demonstrate that any other paper has as large a circulation in Mil- waukee. The News is a one-cent paper. It appeals to the masses. It takes a leading part in industrial issues, but it is not a sensational news- paper, nor an unclean newspaper, nor a cheap newspaper. Its news columns contain the matter furnished by the United Press, and special matter gathered by an able staff. Its news is edited in a dignified and interesting way, with strong educational tendencies on dominant questions. Its editor is a man of personal convictions and right thinking. He makes an interesting, forceful, truthful editorial page. He makes a newspaper with character and influence. Its editor is earnest, outspoken, and sincere. Its editor is Mr. M. A. Hoyt, a University of Wisconsin man of the class of '83, who received his newspaper train- ing on the Milwaukee Sentinel and the Chicago Daily News, and with Mr. W. H. Park, its manager, started the News ten years ago, without capital but with plenty of brains, ability, and push. Mr. Park was a practical printer. His success shows in the advertising carried by the News and the News' big bank account. He has the distinction of being the only Milwaukee newspaper owner born in Milwaukee. The story of the News is a story of success by merit. I learned it from Milwaukee people, and by interviewing Mr. Hoyt and Mr. Park. The day I called they were 1 82 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. putting in a linotype plant. They took me down to the pressroom, where, amid the jar of the fast printing papers, Mr. Hoyt said: THE STORY OF SUCCESS. "This press, a double perfect- ing, made by the Seymour-Brewer Printing Press Co. of Chicago, 111., is the only insetting press in any English newspaper office in Milwaukee. We started in to- gether, Mr. Park and myself, without any press at all. We carried our forms over to the Germania office, where they were printed for us. Now we have as good a mechanical plant as there is in the State of Wisconsin. This press runs fours, sixes, and eights at twenty-four thousand an hour, and twelves and sixteens at twelve thousand an hour. " When we started we had limited capital, and everybody predicted that the paper would fail in three months. They were disappointed. We do not owe a dollar. We pay cash for every- thing. We paid twelve thousand dollars for this press. AVe have made it all right out of this busi- ness. We have never borrowed a cent or incurred a debt. We could not have had the business success we have unless we had demon- strated our right to exist by bring- ing results to the men who do business with us." In this connection one of Mil- waukee's largest advertisers said to me: AN advertiser's EULOGY. " I am very partial to the News from a business point of view. It gives good value. I do not see how any advertiser can come into Mil- waukee without using it. Other newspapers won't admit it has a large influence, but it has. It has shown a wonderful increase in the last three years." I glanced through the Netus of Thursday, June 25, and I found that instead of a six it was an eight-page paper, with twenty- eight columns of advertising, including every house of any con- sequence in the city. The News of Friday, the 26th, was also an eight-page paper, with thirty-three columns of advertising. Fortu- nately for the News it has a flexible press, running from six to eight columns to the page. It is THE MILWAUKEE " DAILY NEWS.' 183 thus able to accommodate its rapidly increasing advertising, which includes Chapman's, Gimbel Bros., Heyne, Kelly & Co., the Boston Store, New England Furni- ture and Carpet Co., Skidmore, The Hub, and all the other local houses, most of which use about a quarter to three-quarters a page apiece. "What rates do you charge for this?" " Usually we get as much as the others do; sometimes more, and we are the youngest paper in this field. We have some advertise- ments that pay as high as $1.50 an inch." Among its general advertisers I noticed Royal Baking Powder, Dr. Price's, Battle Ax Plug, Wells, Richardson Co. , Scott & Bowne, etc. "We turn down lots of foreign business because we will not accept it at less than our regular rates," said Mr. Park. " W-e are believers in 'one price,' and in 'known cir- culation. ' We offer facilities for anyone who wants to learn exactly what we are printing. The people doing business with us are sure the price they are paying is the price that others are paying for the same amount of space. We raise our rates periodically as our circula- tion grows, and new contracts are always at an advance over old contracts." A MONEY-MAKER. In a comparatively short time the News has built itself up from nothing to a place where it is coining money faster, in proportion to its investment, than any paper in Wisconsin. I happen to know what the News made last year, and it would pay large interest on an investment three times as large as the News represents. The last edition was going to press, and Mr. Park took me out to show me an army of newsboys. I never saw anything like it except in New York City, the Chicago Evening News, Mr. Booth's paper, and the papers of the Scripps-Mc- Rea League. The boys stretched in two lines down one alleyway and halfway down another. It takes forty-five minutes to supply them with copies of the News, working as fast as possible. Still the News has a subscription list, delivered by carrier, that exceeds its street sales. Both 1 84 AME-RICAN JOUR-NALISM".- these circulations are paid in cash, and the way the Messrs. Hoyt and Park like to have their circulation figures tested is to have anyone add up the cash receipts, and divide the result by the price they charge for their paper. They are willing to stake a great deal of money that the result will justify all they claim. The Milwaukee "Abend Post." The Abend Post is the youngest of the Milwaukee German dailies, but it claims to rank next to the Germania in circulation. It caters to the great middle classes. It has a circulation also among the " four hundred," and likewise the poorer classes, but its strong hold is people who appreciate a good newspaper for ten cents, which pays for the Abend Post ■& week, in- cluding Sunday. There is no uncertainty about the figures of the Abend Post cir- culation, for its manager, Mr. Paul Bechtner, is a business man, who runs his paper on thoroughly busi- ness principles, giving his exact daily average, and verifying it any way that the advertiser chooses. Mr. Bechtner has been a success- ful manufacturer the larger part of his life, and has always taken a leading part in public and social affairs. He has the largest vinegar factory in the United States. He has filled many public positions, in- cluding two terms in the State Senate. The day I interviewed him he said: "I am putting my whole energy into the Abend Post now. I resigned to-day my last public position — trustee of the Mil- waukee Insane asylum; a position I have held for the last seven years." A WINNING CAUSE. Mr. Bechtner's love of journal- ism led him to purchase the Abend Post, and that paper during his management of the past five years has grown from seven hundred cir- culation to over six thousand and increased in advertising in almost a corresponding ratio. Mr. Bechtner had a hard fight to secure recognition of the princi- ples on which he was conducting his paper, namely, stating his exact circulation and charging a fair price for it, but he has won. 185 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. I think what is set forth in the announcement, written by his advertising manager, Mr. Otto Koch, one of the brightest adver- tising men in the country, is inter- esting to the general advertiser. Milwaukee's Germans. He says: "Milwaukee is the biggest German city in the United States. Fully two-thirds of the entire population is German — a thrifty, intelligent class. Not alone in German population does Milwaukee exceed all other cities, but more people own their homes; that is to say, the percentage of Milwaukee 'Home-owners' is higher than that of any other city in the United States. The richness of the German field for advertising purposes cannot be disputed." Mr. Bechtner has had a long experience in advertising. He was manager of the big skating rink in Milwaukee many years ago. He ran the Exposition, and he has been prominent in the show business. Through his advertising and enter- prise he has built up the largest vinegar business in the country. and has succeeded in placing his brand of compressed yeast on sale throughout the United States in competition with the celebrated Fleischmann yeast. All this goes to show that he knows something about progressive methods of ob- taining prosperity and publicity, and his methods find expression in the success he has obtained with the Abend Post. "The point for an advertiser to consider is, first, circulation, and then the class of people it is among. A party may have a certain article to sell with which he cannot go into the general field, if he is to be a judicious advertiser. A general dry-goods merchant would, in my opinion, be wise in going into almost any paper at a fair rate for its cir- culation; and again, one catering to the fine trade only might waste his money in some of our publications and be benefited in others. WHO BUY ADVERTISED GOODS. "The fact is, it is neither the very rich nor the poor who are most profitable for advertisers to cultivate. It is the intelligent people of medium means. They THE MILWAUKEE "ABEND POST." 187 have dollars to buy with, but count their dollars. They think a long time before making important purchases. They study advertise- ments and respond to them. The good mechanic, bookkeeper, agent, etc., are the people who spend the most money in response to adver- tising. We reach the great middle class with means and intelligence. We know the interest they take in the Abend Post from the scores of letters they write us whenever any question of importance is discussed in our columns, and from what such advertisers as Gimbel Bros, tell of the results they get from advertis- ing with us." I looked through the Abend Post to note the amount of advertising it carries, particularly local adver- tising; for I think a newspaper may be judged by the local firms that advertise in it and the amount of their advertising. I was surprised at the large amount in the Abend Post from such houses as Gimbel Bros., Chapmann, Kelly, Skidmore, the Boston Store, etc. ; most of them running from a column to three and four columns of space. (I read this article regarding the Abend Post to Mr. Huegin, the manager of the Sentinel, and to several other people of correspond- ing authority; they stated, without exception, that the Abend Post had all it claims.) The ''Germania" and Mr. Brumder. Nothing has surprised me so much in my study of American journalism as the extent and im- portance of the newspapers pub- lished by the Germania Publishing Co., of Milwaukee, Wis. Men had told me that Mr. George Brumder was a very successful German publisher, and that his weekly paper, the Germania, had the largest circulation of any Ger- man paper in the United States, and that the daily edition of the Ger7na}iia had the largest circulation of any German paper in Milwaukee. But this hardly prepared me for the facts I learned when I went over to the Germania building, and inter- viewed Mr. Brumder. I found him in his private office, a man whose robust, genial, master- ful personality is expressed in his portrait. If he had been studying for years how to present most convincingly and interestingly the facts concern- ing his personal success, and the success of his publications, he could not have been more prompt in his replies, or comprehensive and con- cise in his statements. It is the story of the son of a German school-teacher, coming to this country with only a five-franc piece in his pocket, and making his way by sturdy industry and sterling qualities, the practice of frugality, and the highest business abilities, to the ownership of a publishing house among the most prosperous in the country, a fortune measured in the millions, and a high personal stand- ing both in America and Germany. Mr. Brumder's education was ac- quired in the schools of Germany. With his sister he came to America in 1857. It was in Milwaukee he landed with his five-franc piece, and, as he tells the story: THE "" GERMANIA " AND MR. BRUMDER. 189 "That was all the means I had when I came here, and nobody here to help me. I had to rely on my own resources. I spent that winter at Ashford with my brother-in-law. In the spring I went to Jefferson, and chopped wood for a man there named Wichman, at seventy-five cents a cord. You see I had to cut my way through " — he said this with one of his hearty laughs; "then I came to Milwaukee, and worked at anything I could get to do. I was a carpenter for a number of years at seventy-five cents a day, but I saved some money always, no mat- ter what I earned. Of course I could not save much, but when I got to be foreman, when they were building the first street railway out here, and getting three dollars a day, I managed to save five hundred dol- lars. It was very hard saving these first few hundred dollars. I did not even take my meals at a boarding- house; I made my own coffee, morn- ing and night in my own room, and, my dear friend, for five years I did not taste a drop of wine or beer, or allow myself the least luxury of any kind. With my five hundred dollars I went into the book busi- ness. "In 1872 the German Protestant Printing Association was organized, for the purpose of publishing a German newspaper on a Protestant basis, in which enterprise I invested a small amount of money, but took no active part. The company soon found they could not carry out their plans, turned the property over to Messrs. Eissfeldt, Wol- laeger, and myself, and then dis- banded. I managed the establish- ment for the three of us, but Mr. Eissfeldt soon lost courage and drew out, when Mr. Wollaeger thought best to follow, and I took the concern upon my shoulders as my own. Then I worked for the Germania days — and I worked nights. I did not borrow a penny. I did not have any help from any- one, but I worked, and have kept on working, and this is the result," and he passed me a copy of a little booklet, in which the main facts were embraced. I reproduce the first page: Buffalo office, 66g Michigan Street. Milwaukee office, 286 and 288 West Water Street. Chicago Office, Garden City Block. The leading German Advertising Mediums in America. They cover the ground East and West, North and South. All owned and I go AMERICAN JOURNALISM. published by the Germania Publishing Co., George Brumder, President, Milwaukee, Wis. BONA-FIDE CIRCULATION. Each issue over Germania, Weekly, Milwaukee, see page 2-3, ..... 90,000 Deutsche Warte, Weekly, Chicago, see page 5, ..... 25,000 Erholungs-Stunden, Weekly, Chi- cago, see page 6, . . . . 22,000 Deutsches Volksilait, Weekly, Buffalo, see page 6, 9,000 Haus- und Bauernfreund, Weekly, Milwaukee, Agricultural, see page 4, 85,000 Germania, Daily, Milwaukee, see page 7-8, Germania-Kalender , Annual, see page 8, 45,000 Above papers are no so-called patent sheet make ups. They are independent of each other, with their own local offices, their own mail-lists, editors, etc. The general offices and headquarters of department for advertisements are located at Milwaukee. Mr. Brumder explained that these circulation figures were open to the fullest proof. "Our weekly Ger- mania has a circulation equal to the weekly New York Staats Zeitung, the St. Louis weekly Westliche Post, and the weekly Illinois Staats Zei- tung, combined. In fact it is larger than any three German weeklies put together. It goes into every State in the country. The bulk of our circulation is here in Wisconsin, eighteen thousand, then comes Illi- nois, etc. We charge $2.50 a year for the Germania, now issued twice a week. There is not a deadhead on the list. It is entirely subscrip- tion, cash paid. The Haus- und Bauernfreund \s the agricultural sup- plement of the Germania, but some of its readers do not care for the Germania, and some of the Germania readers do not care for the Jlaus- und Bauernfreund, so we print them separately, but send them together when wished." The daily Germania is a one-cent paper, six cents a week. Mr. Brumder states that it has more than double the circulation of any other German daily in Milwaukee, or more than the combined circula- tion of any other two German papers in Milwaukee. I asked him for the exact figures, and he took them from the books. " We print 11,873; iS°° 0^ this cir- culation only goes out of Milwaukee. The rest is delivered here in the city to subscribers. The daily Ger- 7nania is not for sale on the streets, except on special occasions. Our circulation is growing all the time. We are independent in politics, but THE " GERMANIA " AND MR. BRUMDER. 191 believe in the Republican platform and candidate this year." I looked at the daily Germania to see its advertising. It embraces most of the principal local and gen- eral advertisers. The circulation of the daily Ger- mania equals, if it does not exceed, the local circulation of any of the English papers. For the other German papers pub- lished by Mr. Brumder, there is a separate establishment in Chicago, and a separate office in Buffalo. The Milwaukee establishment is a large building thoroughly equipped with everything modern. I was asked to visit its various depart- ments. In the mailing room I was shown the mailing galleys and gal- ley proofs. They are kept on the same plan as the Ladies' Home Journal. Any- one who cares to can go in any time and see just how many copies of any of Mr. Brumder's papers go to any street or ward or city or town or State, and to whom. The presses consist of two Seymour-Ostrander insetting presses, and a Potter per- fecting. The composing room has six linotypes, and many hand com- positors for the job-printing and book-publishing business which Mr. Brumder conducts on a large scale, printing histories, Bibles, hymn- books, school books, and biogra- phies. His book business has a separate large store of its own, and keeps six presses constantly at work. The building at present occupied by the Germania is hardly a circum- stance to the magnificent structure in process of erection, a picture of which I herewith print. This building will be ready for occupancy in '97. I have digressed from what I was saying of Mr. Brumder personally. He would say very little about his present interests outside of the newspaper business, but I may state that he is the owner of much real estate and improved property in Milwaukee, is identified with many of Milwaukee's most substantial in- stitutions, and has an elegant home in Milwaukee with a handsome coun- try home on Pine Lake, where his family reside during the summer. Mr. Brumder's habits of life, bow- ever, have not essentially changed since the time he counted his daily receipts at seventy-five cents. He leads a life of industry and temper- ance; retiring early at night, and 192 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. arising at five or six in the morning. that pertains to the progress of his He is in every sense of the word a adopted country. representative German citizen, of He is also keenly interested in '■' ■''•H'l I •'■■J' ^ L •■'-' ISI ri^^ 7. ,.J IJ iL^ -ii - 'I < Ml whom his native country may well the progress of journalism and the be proud; but he is an American, art of advertising. He had on his actively interested in everything desk a copy of the last number of THE " GERMANIA " AND MR. BRUMDER. 193 Printer's Ink, with a page turned down to an article on " How to Ad- vertise an Office " — apropos of his new building. I asked him, in regard to his ad- vertising, what rates he charged. "Our rates are altogether too low. We ought to get a great deal more for our space. People who read our papers read them carefully and believingly, and are influenced thereby in their purchasing to a very large degree. They are people of means to buy, but adver- tisers do not yet appreciate how valuable Gerrnan papers really are; how indispen.sable, in fact." "Judging by results obtained from the advertising you are run- ning?" "Yes." "I suppose you have only one price?" "Certainly! " with great empha- sis. There is some interesting infor- mation regarding the importance of German advertising which I print elsewhere, crediting it to the Germania' s little book, entitled "A Skeptic Convinced." It will bear careful reading by wise ad- vertisers. The Germania- Kalender is a pub- lication in which Mr. Brumder takes special pride. It is hand- somely printed, copious, and com- prehensive. It went into forty thousand prosperous German families this year. It is one of the excellent advertising mediums by which the Germania Publishing Co. enables the advertiser to place his announcements where they will have the most influence with the most Germans. The publications mentioned in the list I printed above cover quite completely the sections of country in which they are published, as far as Germans are concerned. This means that they are the kind of papers the sober- minded, intelligent, thoughtful Teuton will read. That means they are conscientiously and care- fully edited. While they do not claim to be religious papers, the Germania weekly has such a strong following among the Lutherans that it might easily be classed among the great religious weeklies of the country. The contents of all these papers is very comprehen- sive in scope. It embraces matter of special interest to each member of the German family. Farming 194 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. matters, religious matters, house- hold matters, the news of the country, and especially that which interests the German^-the news of the old country, not to be found elsewhere — make these weeklies read and reread. One copy in a family means that all the " reading- age " members of that family see everything in it, and then it is probably loaned to the neighbors, afterward to be returned and placed on file. It is the Ladies' Home Journal, the Youth's Companion, Farm and Fireside, the Review of Reviews, and the religious press, combined and Germanized in the interest of German readers. To do this work Mr. Brumder has a splendid staff. His editors are scholarly, able, and each expert in his particular line. They are eminent everywhere among the German-speaking popu- lation. Mr. George Koeppen, the editor- in-chief of the Germania, has been with him from the start. Francis A. Hoffman, otherwise " Hans Buschbauer," Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in war times, is the agricultural editor of Mr. Brumder's publications, and his writings are read by the German farmers of the country as are those of no other writer. Dr. G. A. Zimmerman is editor-in-chief of the Deutsche Warte, and Gustav Haas is the city editor of the daily Germania. Mr. Brumder remarked that these, his loyal associates, are entitled to a large share of the credit for the success his publications have ob- tained — a success that demonstrates the underlying principle of all real journalistic success; namely, that it is dependent upon the man, and not upon extraneous circumstances. In Mr. Brumder may be seen all the elements that have made the success of his paper — the broad, magnetic personality; the clear, blue-gray eyes of honesty and in- tellect; the high, scholarly brow, but not the pale cast of thought, for Mr. Brumder is one of those robust personalities that wield the weapons of literary and business conquest with a master hand. He has never known a day of illness. He is in the prime of life and health, and has years before him in which to develop his monumental success to still greater proportions. The Milwaukee "Herold." The Herold has its standing there. It does not believe in among the better class of Ger- premiums or the coupon as a source mans as well as among the rank of increasing its circulation, and file of intelligence and moder- The Herold ^.x^A. the other publi- ate means. It is one of the oldest cations supplementary to it take daily newspapers in Milwaukee. It the German boys and girls when was established by Mr. W. W. they are in their ABCs, and sup- Coleman over a quarter of a cen- ply them with literature up to the tury ago, who left it a valued heri- time they are graduated into full- tage to his family. His three sons fledged readers of the ^ifri?/^!^. One are its editors and managers. Mr. of these supplementary publica- Edgar Coleman is the president tions is practically a text-book in and general manager. Mr. H. A. the public schools in some of the Coleman is its secretary and treas- principal cities, urer, while Mr. H. H. Coleman, a The first of these little publica- polished scholar and brilliant tions for juveniles is called the writer, is its associate editor. The ABC Post, and is about the size of Herold is a subscription paper. It a handbill. It goes into the has no street sales. It is delivered kindergartens. 'The next is the in Milwaukee by carriers, and by Kinder Post, which goes into mail outside the city. Ninety per the primary grades, and then the cent, of its circulation is in the city Jugend Post, an eight-page paper of Milwaukee. You cannot go something like the Youth's Com- into many German homes or Ger- panion, which goes into the gram- man places of business in Mil- mar schools. waukee, and not find the Herold From the kindergarten upward, 195 196 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the German readers graduate to the Herold and to the Herold's weekly editions, which go to the country people in all the Western and Northwestern States, for that matter into every State in the Union. The Acker mid Gartenbau- Zeitung (a German agricultural and horticultural journal) is the only exclusively weekly farming paper in the country. It is twenty-seven years old. The Herold -was the first German newspaper in America to adopt the American arrangement of its news columns, and while at first the other German papers tabooed the Herold for it, all the leading German papers have since adopted it. The Herold is printed in a build- ing of its own, equipped with every modern facility. It was the first paper in Milwaukee to put in a rapid printing press, and the first to introduce type-setting machines. It owns five Mer'ganthalers and a complete electric plant. Mr. Edgar W. Coleman, the manager of the Herold, reminds me in many ways of Mr. Victor F. Lawson. He is a thoroughly trained newspaper man, up to the full metropolitan standard. When I interviewed him he showed me proofs of the Herold's value to advertisers. For instance, Professor Munyon, the President of Munyon's Home Remedy Co., says: "The thousands of people who called at the Herold office for a free sample of Munyon's rheumatism cure, the day following the single announcement in your paper, speaks louder than words what one advertisement in the Herold will accomplish. We shall use your paper permanently in the future, and congratulate the Herold on its magnificent circulation." Miss Anna F. Clark of the Mil- waukee Cooking School says: "We always have more responses to advertisements in your paper than any other." Milwaukee, December 16, 1893. The Herold Co., City. Gentlemen : Enclosed please find an order for twenty-five ($25.00) dollars' worth of merchandise out of our stock. In accordance with our advertisement of the 14th inst., we made a test of the number of responses we received from the different city papers in wliich we advertised. The Herold has been awarded the German newspaper prize, consequently we are pleased to put in your hands the order to be donated for charitable purposes. We tender you our heartiest congratulations. A. F. Tanner. THE MILWAUKEE " HEROLD.' 197 This confirms the impression given me by prominent local ad- vertisers as to the value of the Herold. Among the recent achievements of the Herold was the scooping of all the German papers, including the New York Staats Zeitung, by securing by telegraph (twenty-two thousand words) the entire con- tents of Emperor Frederick's diary in 1888, the longest telegram ever transmitted in the Ger- man language in America. The metropolitanism of the Herold is undoubted. The Milwaukee "Seebote." The German Democratic morn- ing daily of Milwaukee is the See- bote. It has a Sunday edition called the Telephon. The Seebote is about a half a century old, and has a good stand- ing. The editor-in-chief, the Hon. P. V. Deuster, is an influential German citizen, who has the con- fidence and respect of his prosper- ous Milwaukee constituency to the extent of representing them in the State Senate, and three times in Congress. He is now Consul to Crefeld. The political editor of the Seebote is Dr. Oscar V. Deuster, a polished scholar and able writer. I interviewed Mr. Julius Muehle, who was, at the time of my visit in Milwaukee, business manager of the Seebote for the past fifteen or twenty years. Mr. Muehle has since re- tired to spend the rest of his days in his native city, Dresden, Ger- many, and is succeeded by Mr. Hugo H. Deuster. "The Seebote has a circulation of between 7000 and 8000 daily. and 9400 Sunday, a large portion of which is in Milwaukee, and the balance among the prosperous farmers of the State, "We have a large weekly and semi-weekly edition that circulates all through the West. This cir- culation is entirely by subscrip- tion. Some of the readers of the Seebote have been taking it ever since it started. "It is handsomely printed, in long primer and brevier, set by five linotype machines. "It has the service of the United Press. "Our circulation does not fluctuate. We do not vary from year to year, except that we have a steady increase." Mr. Muehle showed me the advertising columns of the paper, containing ' an amount of repre- sentative city and general busi- ness that denotes the esteem in which the Seebote is held by those who are in a position to know the most about it. 198 The Minneapolis ''Journal." I ASKED advertisers and repre- Swift is a partner of W. E. Haskell, sentative citizens of Minneapolis to the manager and owner of the name the leading paper of their Minneapolis Times, and Mr. Chas. city. M. Palmer, the manager of the "The Journal," was the reply in New York Journal, who, together every instance. with Mr. E. B. Haskell and John "The Journal \^ the paper that McLain, own the Journal and the brings us the most satisfactory re- Times. It is a strong combination suits," said W. J. Haliday, adver- of brains, energy, and capital. Mr. tising manager of Donaldson & Swift, who has been manager of Co., one of the largest department the Journal since its present man- stores and most extensive adver- tisers in Minneapolis. "It reaches the most people of our clientage — the great middle class. We have a splendid mail-order business, gotten principally through the Minne- apolis papers. The Journal has a agement eleven years ago, is a believer in the Victor F. Lawson style of journalism — one price, known circulation, a clean news- paper, and as good a newspaper as money could make. "All the papers here are one very large circulation outside of cent except the Journal, which Minneapolis among the 300,000 people in the contributory district." " What is its circulation ? " "It claims 42,000. It has all it claims." I called on Colonel Lucian Swift, manager of the Journal. Mr. is two cents," said Mr. Swift. "We have held our circula- tion without dropping in price. We have met competition from the one-cent papers here and the papers of St. Paul, by making the Journal better and better all 199 200 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the time. When we bought this paper it had been running on most frugal lines. Its former owners were spending only five or six thousand per month on it. Now it is costing us about a thou- sand dollars a day. Under the old management its circulation was 10,000; its circulation is exceeding 42,000, figuring the actual daily average for the past year. This 42,000 is practically all in one edi- tion, the noon edition only run- ning about 500 copies; 18,000 of this is in the city of Minneapolis; 24,000 goes by mail to the outly- ing district— a district particularly rich in advertising opportunities for people with the right sort of goods. Our circulation in the city is delivered regularly by carriers, with the exception of street sales amounting to two or three thou- sand." SURPRISINGLY LARGE. I Stopped at this point to figure the relative importance of the Journal circulation compared with the circulation of the most success- ful newspapers in other cities. The deductions are surprisingly large; 18,000 daily circulation in a city of 200,000 population is a very flatter- ing figure. It means in this case that not only all the substantial, well-to-do citizens of Minneapolis, all the wealthy mill-owners and lumbermen and the intelligent, well- to-do American-born citizens read the Journal regularly, but also that it has a large circulation among the thrifty, educated, newspaper-read- ing Swedes and Norwegians whom Minneapolis proudly counts as a considerable portion of its popula- tion. Mr. Swift offered me every facility to investigate the figures and facts of his circulation — to in- spect, if I wished, the running off of the paper by the three triple- deck insetting Seymour presses, the books of his circulation depart- ment, and his paper bills. His mechanical facilities are of the very best. He has a plant of eleven linotype machines, three triple-deck presses, and a com- plete assortment of the latest faces of type of the American Type Foundries Co. The Journal gives its advertisers the Jensen old style and the new borders and ornaments which many a city further East has not yet secured. They take THE MINNEAPOLIS "JOURNAL.' 20 1 great pains with tlieir ad-setting in the Journal office. They have an advertising genius in the person of Mr. A. W. Warnock, who used to be the assistant general passenger agent of the Northwestern Road and who had charge of the adver- tising there. His ability in getting up ads was so marked that Mr. Swift offered him a very strong in- ducement to join the Journal staff. He is establishing an ad-writing bureau which will give the Joitnial even more of the advertising of Minneapolis than it has now. Mr. Fred H. Sanders has been super- intendent of advertising for several years, and to his ability in present- ing the merits of the Journal much of the success of the Journal's ad- vertising department is due. It has now more than any of the otl^er papers and gets a higher rate for it. Mr. Swift has very pronounced ideas regarding the conduct of his advertising columns. He has purged his paper of personal and massage ads, and is refusing to re- new medical advertisements of the objectionable order. He has cut out three-quarters of a column of the latter during the last two months. ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS IN CROPS. He is very enterprising in mak- ing his paper known on its merits. For instance, he has a handsomely printed booklet, on the cover of which it says, "The Purse of the Northwest. One hundred and seventy million dollars in Crops for Minnesota and the Dakotas. How to get some of it is told on the in- side." It contains some significant testimonials. " Sufficient to con- vince the most skeptical that the Minneapolis Journal is the leading newspaper in the Northwest." John W. Thomas & Co., the dry- goods store in Minneapolis that commands solid family trade, says, "We think the Journal the best advertising medium in Minneapo- lis, and give it the preference in our business. It is a first-class family paper, and, we believe, is read in more homes than any other paper published in this city." The Lion Shoe Co. of Minneapo- lis says, "We consider the Journal the best advertising medium in the Northwest, and also the best news- paper." Yerxa Bros. & Co., the big grocer firm of St. Paul and Minne- 202 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. apolis, say, "There is no paper in the Northwest that can compare with the Journal. We would rather pay three times the rates of the Journal than any other daily." E. D. Best, a prominent optician of Minneapolis, says, "The Journal is by far the best reading and ad- vertising newspaper we have in the Northwest. I have used it four years, and I can thank the Journal for the prosperous business I have had since I started. I have al- ways paid high prices for the Journal, but would be willing to pay twice the price of any other paper rather than to stay out." BoutelleBros., big hardware store of Minneapolis, say, "The Journal has always given us the best re- turns for the money expended." The big New England Furniture Co., which occupies a half block in Minneapolis, says, " The Minne- apolis Journal has no superior in the Northwest as an advertising medium. No merchant with goods to sell can afford to pass it." munyon's experience. The Munyon Homeopathic Remedy Co. said, "We had our distributions from your office, and we have no hesitation in saying that you lead all the other papers in the Northwest, as the writer was in a position to know; receiving all the answers, both from the city and outside places." C. S. Brackett, importing grocer, says, "My advertisements in the Journal universally bring the best results." The Palace Clothing Co. says, "There is no question in our mind but that the Journal is the best evening paper published in the Northwest. It has helped us to build up the largest exclusive men's and boy's clothing business in the entire Western country." Frank Teller & Co., the big manufacturers of Philadelphia, say through their Minneapolis repre- sentative, " The Journal is the best medium in the Northwest for ad- vertising our goods." In making the Journal the suc- cess it is, Mr. Swift has followed original and interesting methods. For instance, when the Park Board was slow about moving the house formerly owned by Colonel Stevens, who founded Minneapolis, and the first house built in Minneapolis, down to the site selected for it at THE MINNEAPOLIS " JOURNAL." 203 Minnehaha Park, Mr. Swift got all the school children of the city and all the principal citizens out for a holiday, and, arranging the chil- dren in relays, moved the ancient dwelling four miles that day to its place of honor at the park. Great excitement prevailed. Patriotism ran high. Likewise appreciation of the Journal. He has a depart- ment in his paper that the school children contribute to, and he gives them prizes for the best items fur- nished each week and has them get up essays on assigned sub- jects. GOOD SALARIES — GOOD MEN. He has a large local staff and pays such good salaries for good work that his men never leave him. He has at Washington Mr. J. S. Van Antwerp, who is said to be the best correspondent of any newspaper in the Northwest. The editor of the Journal is Mr. John S. McLain, who has a high standing all through the North- west, both for ability and char- acter. The principle on which the Journal is edited is to make it paramountly a newspaper with the latest news prepared in the most acceptable manner. Mr. Swift is broad-minded, and therefore in- cludes in the scope of his news- paper a department devoted to advertising hints; quoting Printer's Ink, Brains, Charles Austin Bates, etc., once a week at least, and con- ducting contests as to the best ads that appear in his paper. He has a very clever cartoonist, Mr. C. L. Bartholomew, whose work is copied extensively by the metropolitan dailies. Mr. Swift was a chief man in the business department of the Tribune for a number of years before be- coming manager of the Journal, and there is probably nothing he does not know about newspaper re- quirements in the Northwest, and how best to meet them. He is proving this by the success he is attaining with the Journal. The Minneapolis "Times." Mr. W. E. Haskell has been making an interesting success of the Minneapolis Times during the past two or three years. He is a son of E. B. Haskell of the Boston Herald, who is also one of the owners of his son's paper. Mr. Haskell is a Har- vard young man, who went West and attained a success that has all the enterprise of the West in it, and all the completeness of the East. He has increased the circu- lation of the Times from nine thou- sand to twenty-two thousand in two years, and has made it famous all over the Northwest, by special edi- tions. One of these penetrated to every farmhouse in the British Isles, and contributed not a little to the substantial progress of the rich region he has chosen as his publish- ing field. But Mr. Haskell tells the story better himself than I can. BROUGHT UP IN A NEWSPAPER OFFICE. "I was brought up in the atmos- phere of a newspaper house, the Boston Herald. I had the journal- istic idea all the time I was in Har- vard. In my first year I started a college daily and for three years ran the Harvard Daily Herald, which was a financial success, and which exists to-day. On graduat- ing from college I spent three months with the Boston Herald, studying system chiefly, and in 1884 I bought the Minneapolis Tribune, in conjunction with Alden J. Blethen, the founder of the Penny Press, and former business manager of the Kansas City Jour- nal. The next year we bought the Minneapolis Journal, in connec- tion with Mr. Swift and Mr. Harry Hawley, now business manager of the San Francisco Examiner. In the spring of 1888 I bought Mr. Blethen's interest in the Tribune, and sold a quarter interest to Mr. Charles M. Palmer. In the fall of 1888 my father, Mr. Palmer and I bought Mr. Blethen's interest in the Journal. That left us sole owners of the Jourtial. In 1889 204 THE MINNEAPOLIS "TIMES." 205 Mr. Blethen purchased the Tribune property from us. I spent a couple of years then in real estate and mining. "In 1894 I purchased the Times, which had been running for six years as a Democratic paper, sup- ported by the wealthy Democratic politicians. I had always been independent in politics, and in tak- ing this paper I pulled down the Democratic flag, and began to ex- plain and prove its independence. I also reduced its price to one penny. It had then nine thousand circula- tion, and its advertising was meager. I immediately tried making a news- paper of it. I featured and freaked it and did everything to call the attention of the people to it." SPECIAL FEATURES. "We made decided news hits during the railroad strike that summer, and the terrible forest fires. In the latter case the Chicago papers copied our pictures, and used a great deal of our story. In the Katherine Ging murder case, the Times was facile princeps, getting the history of the crime finally from the murderer himself. We sold over one hundred and forty thousand copies of the paper that day. "We have gained steadily and rapidly, so that to-day the circula- tion of the paper is twenty-two thousand, the largest of any morn- ing paper in this field. "The Sunday paper has been an entirely different proposition in its way. When I took the Times, the Evening Journal was selling for ten cents for six issues. The other papers in Minneapolis and nearby cities had cut their rates all around, so we decided to give seven issues a week instead of six, and the Jour- nal made a contract with me to supply all of their regular sub- scribers, both mail and carrier, with a copy of the Sunday Times, giving, with my regular circulation of the Times, a regular Sunday circulation of fifty thousand copies." THE SUNDAY EDITION. "The Sunday paper I featured a great deal. We got out a bicycle number that gave the name of every bicycle rider in six hundred towns of the Northwest. It was the first thing of the kind that had ever been done in this field, and it increased our circulation among a very desir- 2o6 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. able class of people, for I figure that people who can afford to buy bicycles can afford to buy adver- tised goods and newspapers. The Times has carried double the amount of space at higher rates than any other paper in the Northwest." Mr. Haskell showed me copies of this edition, and the other special editions by which he has lifted his paper to an interest much wider than its field. The bicycle edition of last year carried an enormous amount of business, and was a wonderfully well illustrated paper, but was hardly a circumstance to the big bicycle edition he had this year. "This town is the gateway of the greatest hunting region of the United States," continued Mr. Has- kell. "In August last year we issued a sporting number of twenty pages, devoted to the hunting and shooting interests of Minnesota. Every town where there was hunt- ing or fishing was described, with its hotel accommodation, its livery, its transportation facility, etc. "We issued a big manufacturing edition. All the big flour mills, saw mills, jobbing houses and business establishments of this city were represented therein, in stories and half-tones." GOOD ART WORK. "I have spent much of my time in the last ten years in developing the half-tone process for use in the daily newspaper fast-running presses, and this is the evidence of the success we have met with." His half-tones are indeed excel- lent, much better than I have ever seen in daily newspapers. " Last year the question of immi- gration received our attention in a special edition. I prepared a pro- spectus exploiting the Northwest and sent copies to three thousand boards of trade-. We secured ar- ticles signed by the most eminent experts in the United States on every subject in connection with this question of the Northwest. We had an article on the climate, pre- pared by the Head of the Weather Bureau ; articles on Soil, by univer- sity people ; on Land, by the State Auditors of the different States ; articles on Bonanza Farming, by Oliver Dalrymple; on Farm Machin- ery, Flax Culture, Stock Breeding, Agriculture; articles on Lumber- ing, on Mineral Wealth, Railroads, THE MINNEAPOLIS "TIMES. 207 Road Improvements, Wage-earners and Hired Help; the Indian Ques- tion, Fairs, Game and Fish. The articles were indorsed by the boards of trade and the ofificials of the different cities. We printed the paper on half-sized sheets, one hundred and four pages. Fifty thousand copies were distributed in the United States, and we sent thirty tons by a special repre- sentative to Europe. He spent six months in distributing them to the farmers of the British Isles, This edition contained twenty thousand dollars' worth of paid write-ups, of which I did seventeen thousand dollars personally. The presidents of several railroads told me that they had never received such good returns from anything." BICYCLE SPECIAL. "This year I saw that there would be a great deal of interest in bicycles. I went down to New York, and saw Mr. Coleman, Presi- dent of the National Cycle Board of Trade. I got his sanction to an exhibition here. We leased the Exposition Building in Minneapolis, and gave a bicycle show that was not equaled by the bicycle shows in New York and Chicago. We had an attendance of sixty thousand people. This gave the newspapers here more bicycle advertising than they had ever had before. For our special number I got out special page head lines. At the top of the first six or eight pages in large type I ran 'The Wheel's the Thing,' and at the top of the other pages ' The whole Northwest Awheel.'" Mr. Haskell is not only interested in bicycling personally and journal- isticly, but he also introduced horse- less carriages into Minneapolis, ex- hibiting them for the first time at this Cycle Show. "Of course these special editions are a great help to us, and pay us splendidly, but we are making primarily a newspaper. This is the one idea with us. We are trying all the time to make our paper a strong champion of the interests of its readers. In this line of work we combated the Great Northern's attempt to consolidate with the Northern Pacific and destroy rail- road competition in the great North- west empire. We found out all the facts, we published Mr. Hill's plans and defeated Mr. Hill's scheme. While we were carrying on this 208 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. fight we had a circulation of five hundred papers daily in Wall Street. We sent special representatives out on the line of the Northern Pacific, and felt the pulse of each city and town along the line. "We have devised a plan to center attention on our advertis- ing. We began in June to number our advertisements in small type. Twenty-five advertisements, num- bered consecutively, constituted a set. The one who cut out the greatest number of sets and sent them in to us would have a chance at a series of prizes. How much interest was taken in this may be judged when I tell you that 91,900 sets were entered, and 2,298,000 advertisements were cut up. "We are also strengthening our circulation by our independent course in politics. We believe in bimetallism unequivocally, and no one says that the paper is strad- dling because it espouses this course between the two extremes." At this point Mr. Haskell and myself deviated to a discussion of a paragraph to my introduction to this book, namely, that "Success in journalism is dependent upon the personality of the publisher," and Mr. Haskell said : " No paper can succeed perma- nently unless there is conscience and soul right in it. I like Mr. Victor F. Lawson's method. I think he is the cleanest publisher in America." " Do you think his newspaper success the greatest in the country ?" PERSONALITY COUNTS. " I do decidedly. It is the suc- cess of the individual newspaper. I believe his success is due to the fact that nothing appears in his paper that does not reflect the taste of the master mind. He is working on a high plane, and has so imbued the members of his staff with his personality that nothing appears in his paper that is not worthy of his conception. "This is the period of great changes. Sensational newspaper work is an ephemeral phase of journalism. I think the kind of a newspaper which stands for the highest and best, which aims to im- prove and elevate instead of pan- dering to the sensational taste of THE MINNEAPOLIS " TIMES." 209 the masses, is the only one that will secure permanent success.'' Mr. Haskell's success is of this kind. Not only has his circulation increased over one hundred per cent., but his advertising has in- creased from six thousand dollars per month to an average of twelve thousand dollars per month. When he took the paper it was losing four thousand dollars per month. Its expenses have been increased five thousand dollars a month, and it is now playing even. "I have a staff of the cleanest and brightest young people in the Northwest," said Mr. Haskell in conclusion. "They are all in sympathy with the aims and pur- poses of my paper. They are all working for our common success, and I feel strong in the support they give me, and the support I get from the readers and the adver- tisers." MR. HASKELL. A word, in closing, as to Mr. Has- kell personally. He is a young man of brisk, businesslike person- ality; pleasant, genial and a very hard worker. He puts in long hours at his office, and then takes a ride on his bicycle, to keep him- self in the robust health that a publisher, pushing forward to suc- cess such as his, needs to have in an abundant measure. I happen to know that he has received flatter- ing offers to take the management of at least one of the largest dailies in one of the largest Eastern cities, and he has refused, because he chooses to cultivate the field in which he has made his mark; a field well worth cultivating, and one which the advertisers could know a great deal more about to their best advantage. The Times has an excellent mechanical plant. It was the first paper in the Northwest to put in a zinc etching plant, and an excellent plant it is; the one that was used for the most important work of the World's Fair. Good paper, good ink, commodious offices and a hand- some building are some of the evi- dences of a thoroughly up-to-date and well equipped establishment. The Leading Swedish Weekly. The Svenska Amerikanska Fasten is published by the Swedish Ameri- can Publishing Co. at Minneapolis, Minn. I called on Mr. Swan J. Turnblad, its manager, an enter- prising young Swedish gentleman who has made the Posten the suc- cess it is. "We have the largest circulation of any Swedish paper in the United States," he said. He showed me his subscription galleys, containing thirty-five thou- sand names, cash in advance. "The Posten is the first Swedish paper to introduce this system. Its largest circulation is in Minne- sota, Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, though it goes into every State in the Union. We give away over five dollars' worth of premiums to each subscriber annually. These pre- miums are of the most practical and valuable character. One is a serial novel, printed separately from the paper, but folded in. Its pages are book size, and thus may be bound together by the reader. The stories are the best we can get. Another premium is a map of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, in colors, worked out with the most minute exactness. The post offices throughout the country have adopted it in their foreign money-order departments." The Posten is the first Swedish paper to use linotype machines — not rented, as is usually the case with these machines, but owned by the publishers. The Mergenthaler Co. cast special matrices for it. It is printed handsomely. It uses no plates. All its matter is original, consisting of news sent by special correspondents in Sweden, the general news of the country, church news, interesting general THE LEADING SWEDISH WEEKLY. 21 I articles, and short stories. It is edited by the two best Swedish editors in the Northwest: Mr. Herman Stockenstrom, who has been Assistant Secretary of State of Minnesota for eight years, and by Mr. Magnus Turnblad, brother of the manager. When Mr. Swan J. Turnblad took the Posten, it was the smallest Swed- ish paper in the country; it is now the largest. It now carries fre- quently as many as twenty columns of high-class business. It is so. good a property that a year or two ago he was offered one hundred thousand dollars for it. He wisely refused to sell. He is now its sole owner. He is the owner of one of the handsomest blocks of flat houses in Minneapolis. He is a substan- tial, highly respected citizen. The St. Paul "Dispatch." Ask anyone who knows to name the leading newspaper of St. Paul, and he will reply every time, and without hesitation, the Dispatch. The Dispatch is the only evening newspaper in St. Paul. It not only covers St. Paul, but has an exten- sive circulation throughout the Northwest. Mr. George Thompson, the owner and editor of the Dispatch, is one of the most widely known and popular men in American journal- ism. He is in class with Victor F. Lawson, Colonel Wm. M. Singerly, and Mr. John L. Seymour. He has made a success that places tremendous emphasis on the right kind of journalism. In the abund- antly filled columns of his paper is not to be found a single objection- able announcement, either in the news or in the advertising. Medi- cal advertisers find there is a rigid rule in the office of the Dispatch, and they have long since ceased attempting to evade it. Of course I mean the wrong kind of medical advertisers. The right kind of medical advertisers are found in his columns in generous and con- stant measure; so are the biggest advertisers and the most adver- tisers, both local and general. Some big general advertisers have given the Dispatch carte blanche to get up designs for their advertise- ments in its columns. Royal Bak- ing Powder had a magnificent full page recently, illustrated in half tones made by a patented process, which the Dispatch has perfected and uses exclusively. I secured the facts about the Dispatch in an interview with Mr. Thompson and with Mr. Adrian M. Knox, the secretary of the com- pany, and business manager of the paper. Mr. Knox up to a year ago was with the Pioneer Press, in charge of the circulation depart- ment. He and Mr. Thompson are the designers of the new Dispatch Build'ing. It is as fine a newspaper THE ST. PAUL " DISPATCH." 213 plant as you will find between the two oceans. You would hardly expect to find anything approach- ing it outside New York or Chicago. There is nothing in either of these cities that is more complete. Mr. Knox showed me through the building, which, with its equipment, cost two hundred thousand dollars. It is called " Newspaper Row." THE "dispatch " BUILDING. The business office is large and bankified. It is easy for people coming in to do business with the Dispatch to secure an audience with Mr. Thompson or Mr. Knox, and there is a comfortable place for them to rest while they are waiting their turn. The various depart- ments are connected with one another, and with Mr. Thompson's and Mr. Knox's desks, by a system of office telephones and pneumatic tubes to carry copy and advertising to the editorial and composing rooms. Downstairs the press and mailing rooms are marvelously clean and commodious. The motive power is furnished by two great engines, named Hazel and Flossie, after Mr. Thompson's two little girls. The electric arrangements are such that if power should fail from either of the dynamos, connection can be made instantly with the city power. The mailing room looks like a division of the post-office depart- ment. It takes 250 tie-sacks daily to carry the mail edition. The newsboys and carriers have sepa- rate inclosures where they receive their papers, and the pressroom employees have a shower bath of their own. This great series of rooms are each fourteen feet in the clear, and are tiled throughout. OTHER PAPERS, TAKE NOTICE! There is a feature about the composing room that deserves special comment. "The trouble with an afternoon paper is," said Mr. Knox, " that advertisers com- ing in to see their proofs are apt to see the ads of their competitors on the galleys. Therefore we do not admit anyone to our composing room except employees, and we have two rooms for the conven- ience of advertisers where they may receive their proof and edit their copy." The Dispatch composing room 214 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. has a great deal of light and space, has a marble lavatory for the printers, has a perfectly equipped room for the foreman, and is sup- plied with an even dozen linotypes. The mechanical work of the Globe is done by the Dispatch. The editorial rooms are as ele- gant and as admirably arranged as a congress of journalists could have devised. The room of the editor-in-chief, Mr. Thompson, suggests in its luxuriousness a parlor at the Waldorf. In fact there is not a newspaper published in America which could not get something suggestive from an in- spection of the Dispatch Building. Mr. Knox invested pretty much all last year in studying out its details, and Mr. Thompson invested all the money that was necessary to make it the best that money could buy, after inspecting all the leading newspaper buildings in America. That is the principle on which the Dispatch is run. The editorial department has only one instruc- tion from the business department: " Spend all the money necessary, but show results for every dollar." It spends seven hundred dollars alone on its Northwestern corre- spondence each month. This is said to be as much as any two papers in St. Paul or Minneapolis spend in the same department. It has an art department that is probably without a rival anywhere. It produces half tones on its rapid- running presses that suggest the finest work of a flat-bed press. It has several artists, an art room, and a photographing room. It has invested seventy thousand dollars in Potter presses, two of them triple- deckers and the third a color press. PROVING CIRCULATION. Its daily circulation exceeds 35,000 — this time of year ten-page papers; in the busy season twelve- and sixteen-page papers. These papers are printed on $2.60 paper with eight-cent ink. I asked Mr. Knox how he proved his circula- tion, and he sent for a pressroom report. "Are you willing I should go through your cash books and divide your cash receipts by the price per copy of your paper and determine your circulation that way? " " Certainly." THE ST. PAUL " DISPATCH.' 215 " How much of your circulation is in St. Paul?" "Exceeding 17,000; this is larger than the total circulation of either of the morning newspapers. We guarantee a larger circulation than the combined circulation of the Pioneer Press and Globe. We were ready to prove that when we had only 30,000 circulation. The cir- culation of the Dispatch in the country goes direct to the sub- scriber by mail. We do not distrib- ute our circulation by carriers in the country as some papers do, send- ing them at least fifty per cent, more papers than they have subscribers for, and get the surplus papers back at the end of the month, but still counting the number of copies sent out as circulation. We count our circulation by the number of copies actually sold. We cannot do business any other way. We print the largest daily in the State, an average of eighty pages per week of six days. This, combined with the fact that our paper is but twenty-five cents per month by mail, precludes the possibility of our having large returns. We simply cannot afford to have our paper turned back on us." Speaking of the St. Paul circula- tion of the Dispatch Mr. Knox said, "No other paper has a circulation in St. Paul exceeding 5000." "How much of your circulation is street sales? " "About 2500 per day." " How did you secure your large circulation." "By making the best newspaper for the least money — by making it as attractive a newspaper, and as clean a newspaper, as interesting and complete a newspaper as it is possible to make. Newspaper readers like pictures— good ones — and we have the most complete etching plant we know of in any newspaper office." " Tell me the history of your paper? " "It was founded in i868 by Harlan P. Hall. It had a varied experience until eleven years ago, when Mr. George Thompson pur- chased it. Mr. Thompson had been in the newspaper business in Illinois for several years. When he bought the Dispatch it was a four-page paper with 2500 circula- tion. Its phenomenal, growth is due to Mr. Thompson's methods, enterprise, and personal popularity. 2l6 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. He is a man of strong personality. He has injected his personality into the paper in a way that has been winning in a degree, and with a rapidity that can hardly be ex- pressed in the exact figures of the growth, for this growth has come in hard times. If this growth has been so great in hard times, what may we not expect in good times! "Our advertising patronage is particularly strong in the local field." Mr. Knox showed me a copy of the Dispatch of that date, and it seemed to me that it was carrying about all the advertising it could reasonably accommodate. St. Paul local advertisers must be getting big returns, or they would not be able to spend money so liberally, especially in the middle of July. "About the only advertisers we have not got are some who would not pay our advanced rate. We put our rate up some months ago, and Cuticura and one or two others have stayed out, but we are not afraid that they will stay out very long." "Are you one of those papers that believe in treating all adver- tisers alike? " "We guarantee every advertiser in our columns that he is paying no more than any other advertiser under the same conditions. Our contract books are open, just as our circulation books are. Speak- ing of circulation figures reminds me that we have ordered three electric counters; one for each press, to be put upon the street. These will enable people not only to watch our presses run from the street, but will enable them to see just how many copies each press is printing. No local advertiser ever questions our circulation. They all admit we have what we claim. Until within the last year and a half, however, the Dispatch has not had the advertising it deserved from general advertisers. Adver- tisers have been giving their business from sentiment to other papers, on account of their prestige. They are now coming in very rapidly. We are running nearly double the general business we had two years ago." Mr. Knox is very tenacious of the position held by his paper in regard to its value to advertisers. "Our advertising rates are higher than any newspaper in this city; THE ST. PAUL "DISPATCH. 217 our circulation is two and a quarter times greater. We are prepared to prove our circulation in its relation to other papers, and we will not abate our advertising rates one iota." Mr. Knox suggested to me that, if I had any doubt of the accuracy of his statement, that make an in- vestigation of the Dispatch's cir- culation and the circulation of the other papers. As the other papers make no exact claims, and those who know most about it, especially local advertisers, concede all the Dispatch claims, such a course was unnecessary. The Dispatch has a typographical excellence and metropolitan ap- pearance that are in touch with its character and prosperity. It re- quires no gift of prophecy to fore- cast a future of increasing interest to the alert advertiser. The St. Paul "Pioneer Press." The name of the Pioneer Press, and the name of its publisher, Mr. Frederick Driscoll, are associated with St. Paul and the great North- west in the mind of everyone acquainted with the history of American journalism. I suppose the paper that occurs first to mind when either St. Paul or Minne- apolis is mentioned is the Pioneer Press. It is one of those papers that require no statement of loca- tion. People do not say, " The St. Paul Pioneer Press" \ they simply say " ThePioneer Press," and every- one knows where it is published, for there is but one Pioneer Press. Mr. Driscoll's name stands for the history of journalism in the Northwest. For a third of a cen- tury he has been the publisher of his present enterprise. His sphere of activities has been wider than the immediate field in which his papers are published. He was chairman of the committee ap- pointed by the American News- paper Publishers' Association to investigate the merits of the various type-setting machines, and was instrumental in the broad in- troduction of the Mergenthaler, with the assistance of which, by the way, he and his fellow-pub- lishers of St. Paul and Minneapolis have recently been enabled to overcome one of the most notable strikes in the typographical his- tory of the country. He also was prominent in the fight of the Asso- ciated Press against the United Press, on the side of the Associ- ated Press. He has long been a member of the Executive Commit- tee of the Associated Press, and also of the American Newspaper Pub- lishers' Association. 2JS THE ST. PAUL " PIONEER PRESS.' 219 INTERVIEWING MR. DRISCOLL. I found Mr. Driscoll in a com- modious office on the tenth floor of the big Pioneer Press building. He talked without reservation regarding the paper and its his- tory. He said: "This paper was first published in 1854 as the Daily Pioneer. The Press was estab- lished in 1861. Early in 1863 Mr. J. A. Wheelock and myself pur- chased the Press and continued it as a Republican paper until 1875, when we bought the Pioneer, and named the consolidated paper the Pioneer Press. The political and general policy of the paper was thereafter continued on the same broad plan on which it had been previously conducted, and has so continued to the present time. It was the first or pioneer daily paper of the Northwest, and it has con- tinued to maintain its supremacy from that date to the present. The chief claim of the paper is that its constituency embraces all the leading elements of the com- munities where it circulates, hav- ing in business, financial, and educational, circles a most pre- ponderating circulation. It has multitudes of subscribers who. for more than a quarter of a century, have unfalteringly continued to be readers of this paper. It has achieved great distinction in bat- tling in its editorial columns against all the fads and theories of impractical men, and labored in season and out of season for the well-being of the comjmunity." " Has the newspaper been a great factor in building up the great Northwest ? " " The very greatest. No advan- tage or attraction possessed by this country existed that did not receive the utmost publicity and commendation to the people out- side of this territory to induce them to come and live with us. We have seen the State of Minne- sota alone, which only embraces a part of our circulation, grow, since we entered the business, from 180,000 to more than 1,500,000 inhabitants." " How much has your circula- tion grown in that time, by the way ? " " In about the same proportion. The circulation could hardly be expected to fully keep up with the rate of increase of population, for the reason that such a vast number 220 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. of our people have come directly from foreign countries and from other States, who were not habitu- ated to reading a daily newspaper; but I will say that the second generation is rapidly coming to the front and becoming thoroughly Americanized, and are vying with our own people of native birth in acquiring an active interest in cur- rent affairs — so much so that they are increasing our list of sub- scribers rapidly." "What facilities have you for making the paper of strong local interest outside the city — that is, in the news territory you cover?" "We have correspondents in some four hundred different locali- ties, who send us daily all the news of their locality." " I see at the head of your paper you print daily a statement that the Pioneer Press has a larger paid general circulation than any other paper published in St. Paul." "That is what we believe. We do not know it absolutely, but we state that as our belief." "What are your general ideas of the treatment of the advertiser, as regards rates, position, etc.?" "Our primal idea is to make the advertising in our paper profitable to the advertiser, believing that if we do we will continue to keep him as our customer. In that way we endeavor to accommodate him as much as possible. If any adver- tiser wants any special place, we ask an additional consideration for it, which is in the main cheerfully paid. We are great sticklers for uniformity of rate, and we very often return advertising, which is sometimes even accompanied by a check paying for a year in ad- vance in the hope that we will accept same on account of said advance payment; but if it does not come up to rates, the check is returned invariabl3\" "Mr. DriscoU, will you kindly give me your opinion of the North- west as a field for advertising?" "I regard it as one of the best in the country." "Why?" WHY THE NORTHWEST IS GOOD FOR ADVERTISING. "For the reason that a multi- tude of our people have come to this section of the country within recent years. When they first THE ST. PAUL " PIONEER PRESS." 221 came to us very many of them were not well off in this world's goods, but their circumstances have been improving, and for that reason they are more able to pur- chase than they were before, and are better enabled to become patrons of the advertisers whose notices they see in the columns of the different daily papers of the Northwest. The field of the Pioneer Press covers not only the State of Minnesota, but thoroughly covers the entire territory of Northwestern Wisconsin, Northern Iowa, all of South and North Dakota, a portion of Manitoba, and from thence west to the Rocky Mountains. The State of Minne- sota has never suffered a crop failure. While the agricultural interest is predominant, financial, mercantile, and transportation in- terests have also wonderfully grown, so that this field to-day, in any respect it may be viewed, is one of the most promising in the United States." The editorial staff of the Pioneer Press is headed by Mr. J. A. Whee- lock, who has been associated with Mr. DriscoU since 1863, and he has been editor-in-chief of the paper continuously since that time. Mr. Wheelock is an editor whose writ- ings would have made a foremost place for him in any field of journal- ism. He is a man of scholarly at- tainments, who concentrates the energies of a strong mind upon the leading questions of the day, reach- ing advanced views along conserva- tive lines. He has been the uniform advocate of civil service reform and sound money. The sincerity and earnestness with which he has writ- ten these many years in the North- western field, has given great value to whatever he writes, and created an earnest reading of the Pioneer Press editorial page among the lead- ing people throughout the country. "Who is your New York agent, by the way, Mr. Driscoll ? " "We have no New York agent, and have not had for three years. We tried the special agent plan, but found large advertisers and also general advertising agents in the East desired earnestly to deal with us directly, and after our late ex- perience, we feel sure it is the most satisfactory way in dealing with our customers to deal with them with- out the intervention of a special agent." The St. Paul "Globe." The success of the St. Paul Globe dates from the coming in of the present management a year and a half ago. Its success has been marked. The other pub- lishers in the same field admit this. Mr. Frederick Driscoll, the publisher of the Pioneer Press, says: "The Globe is an excellent paper under its present manage- ment." " They are making a good paper of the Globe," says Mr. Knox, the manager of the Dispatch, "and they are gaining in advertising." The Globe has a handsome busi- ness office and an air of metropoli- tan prosperity. I called on Mr. Harold Smith, its manager. He looks like a brother of Manly M. Gillam. He is a New Yorker by training, but a Mainite by several generations of ancestors. They say out in St. Paul that its best people are Maine people; they are the substantial citizens who have pushed St. Paul to the progressive foreground. Mr. Smith talks like Mr. Gillam, incisively and comprehensively. He is full of energy, personal magnetism, and geniality. He has ideas of pushing that are in line with the best everywhere. "Tell me about youi- paper," I asked him. BEST IN THE NORTHWEST. "It is the best newspaper in the Northwest. First and foremost because we have the best editorial page of any paper in the AVest, including Chicago. A newspaper man said to me yesterday, ' Your editor-in-chief, Mr. J. G. Pyle, is one of the first four editors in the United States.' I believe he is. He was for fourteen years associate editor of the Pioneer Press, and it was his editorials that made the Press famous from one end of America to the other. THE ST. PAUL "GLOBE. 223 "Another reason why we have the best newspaper in the North- west is because we have the best arranged news, directed by our thoroughly competent managing editor, George F. Gifford. This I will submit to your judgment We are the only paper that pub- lishes on its first page and in its first column a bulletin of its contents. "The other reason is that we have the most local news and an incomparable city editor, Mr. A. R. Fenwick. "Here is one thing that has brought us the admiration and com- mendation of all sound money men irrespective of party: Although we are the only Democratic paper in the Northwest, we have put our back to the wall and are fighting for sound money." AN EXCLUSIVE CONSTITUENCY. "We have a constituency en- tirely and exclusively our own, be- cause we are the only Democratic paper. Anyone who wishes to reach our constituency must use the Globe. Our circulation is now larger than ever in the city of St. Paul. We have made rapid ad- vances in circulation during the last year. We have employed all the legitimate schemes to push our circulation. We give excursions to the Pacific Coast, Yellowstone Park, and Niagara for those getting subscribers for us. We have a system of bicycle premiums, etc., and we have a corps of city can- vassers and country canvassers. They are bringing us in new sub- scribers all the time. "But for gaining and keeping circulation we place our reliance upon the newspaper we are making. AVe are making a unique editorial page. Its extreme candor is win- ning many friends for us.'' Mr. Smith is justly proud of his editorial and composing rooms, and I went up to see them with him. Each editor has a private office of his own, and the editor-in-chief has a luxurious suite with a reception room, library, etc. There are office telephones, and pneumatic tubes, and all kinds of modern appliances. It would pay some New York newspaper publishers to come out to St. Paul and get a few points from Mr. Smith on how to treat their staff and how to give the public an idea of the dignity 224 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. and importance that is a natural part of a prosperous newspaper establishment. He has been fre- quently complimented for his cabinet of news cuts, which fills a wall side of the file room. Mr. Smith is especially proud of his composing room. It is uniquely arranged. The ad alley is three sides of a square, with a line of cases down the center. The linotype machines are at the other end of the room, and the type matter comes in from each end separately, to be assembled on the stones in the center. The proof room is practically sound- proof. The advertisers have a room of their own, where they can edit their copy and read their proofs. It is as perfectly arranged and systematized a composing room as one would hope to find in a long journey, and a model of cleanliness and order. Mr. Wm. Koch is the very able foreman. " Typographically we have the best newspaper in the Northwest," he said. " We print in colors when we have special editions. We use the best ink and type." Mr. C. B. Nichols, advertising manager, said, "We are getting more business all the time. The Globe has greatly increased its city circulation, and we have advanced our rates. Both local and foreign advertisers have shown a willingness to pay our advance, which demonstrates pretty well their attitude toward us." St. Louis. St. Louis as a manufacturing city is third in this country. Her in- dustries pay $70,000,000 annually to 90,000 people. That's a pretty good average income. Her manu- factured products aggregate more than $350,000,000 annually — $50,- 000,000 more than Boston. Between agriculture, commerce and manufacturing, St. Louis keeps her population, both city, suburban and country, pretty steadily em- ployed and well paid. The people are, as a class, intelli- gent and pushing. The local advertiser of St. Louis is progressive and enterprising. There are half a dozen very large local advertisers — Nugent's, Barr's, Crawford's, Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney, the Famous and the Grand Leader. I learned that all these firms use all the St. Louis papers; that they do not vary the amount of their ad- vertising to a very large extent. but pay prices that approximate pretty closely the value they place upon the space. They pay the largest price to the Globe-Democrat, next the ReptMic. They are pay- ing the Star more each year, as it is growing in circulation and stand- ing. They place it, in some in- stances, ahead of the Chronicle, which is a Scripps-McRea League paper, edited for the masses. My investigation of St. Louis convinced me that this is one of the few fields that are not over- crov/ded with newspapers. Five newspapers are certainly not too many for a population of half a million in the city of St. Louis and four or five times this much in the contributary territory. Two of these are Republican, two Demo- cratic, and one Independent. They are all on the one-cent basis, and all, with the exception of the Chronicle, print from eight to six- teen pages daily, with large Sunday 225 226 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. editions running from thirty to forty-eight pages, and well filled with good reading. It's rather unique to find an after- noon newspaper with a Sunday edi- tion, but both the Star and the Post- Dispatch run Sunday editions that have a larger circulation than their daily edition, and greatly strengthen their daily edition. There is a great field for weekly papers. Both the Republic and the Globe-Democrat run semi-weeklies that each have a circulation of 115,- 000 throughout Missouri, Arkan- sas, Nebraska, Texas and the other States that are dominated by St. Louis. All the St. Lous papers make de- tailed statements of circulation when anyone cares to investigate. There is a feeling of rivalry be- tween the Republic and Globe-Demo- crat on this question of circulation which is all out of proportion to the realities of the situation. I Moked over the figures each sub- mitted in the form of actual daily and Sunday average, and I found that they both lay within the limits of from 65,000 to 75, 000 daily, and 70,000 to 80,000 circulation Sun- day. Any way you figure it, there is not enough difference in the cir- culation of these two papers to affect an advertising contract. In fact, I don't see how a general ad- vertiser of an average article could come into St. Louis and get the best results without using the Globe- Democrat, Republic, Star, and for most things add the Chronicle; for their circulations added together are not more than sufficient to cover the rich territory in which they circulate. They do not largely duplicate. The papers of St. Louis are ex- ceptionally strong in their news service, enterprise and respectabil- ity. While the Chronicle, catering to the masses, seems to care very little about appearances and goes in for sensationalism, it is not dis- reputable. The Post-Dispatch, under the management and editorship of Colonel C. H. Jones, is pushed as they push newspapers in New York city, particularly the World and Journal. It is a free-silver paper. The Republic, under the editorial and business management of Mr. Charles W. Knapp, has made de- cided progress in the last three years. ST. LOUIS. 227 The Star, since Mr. Nathan Frank, one of the Republican lead- ers of Missouri, and a member of the Frank family that owns F'rank Bros.' big State Street Store in Chicago, became its managing owner, and Mr. M. J. Loewenstein, formerly of the New York World, became its manager, has grown from under 20,000 to nearly 50,000 circulation, principally in the city of St. Louis and among the best people. It has the Republican evening field all to itself and is improving its opportunity to good advantage. Of course, the Globe-Demoa-at, Colonel D. M. Houser, its pub- lisher, and Joseph B. McCuUagh, its editor, have stood for so many years as first in St. Louis journal- ism that no one in St. Louis or any- where else questions that position. I have dwelt upon the Globe-Demo- crat's prosperity and prestige else- where. In the want field the Post- Dispatch is its only rival. It gets a very high figure for its want ads. The Post-Dispatch is beginning to get a very appreciable amount of business and commands a lower but increasing rate. The prosperity and progressive- ness of St. Louis are well repre- sented in the prosperity and appearance of her newspapers. The St. Louis newspapers, especially the four leading ones, average a bet- ter appearance than almost any newspapers in the country, except Chicago. They have the latest faces of type, such as the Jensen old style, the Quentell, and their compositors know how to set up advertisements in the most ap- proved style of typography, carry- ing out the ideas of St. Louis' expert ad writers to the best ad- vantage. The fact that St. Louis newspa- pers are all on a one-cent basis does not reveal itself in the ink or paper they use, or in the amount or quality of the matter they publish. They are better newspapers than they used to be when their price was two cents or five cents. The strangest thing about it is they are all making more or less money. The "Globe Democrat," Colonel Houser and Joe McCullagh. When St. Louis is mentioned, I learned this from personal the Globe Democrat, Colonel Houser investigation. I called on the five and Joe McCullagh come instantly leading local advertisers of St. to mind. Louis, the firms that spend from From one end of America to the $50,000 to f 100,000 a year each in other the Globe Democrat, its pub- the St. Louis newspapers, and lisher and its editor are known to asked them to name the news- the thinking classes, for the Globe papers of their city in the order of Democrat is one of America's great- their advertising value, est newspapers and more widely Every one of them placed the copied than any except the New Globe Democrat first, without a York Sun, New York Herald or the moment's hesitation, and what was Chicago Tribune. most remarkable about it, not first The popular estimate of the for any one class, but first for all. Globe Democrat is just the estimate These firms appeal to the entire held by the citizens of St. Louis, purchasing population of St. Louis, both readers and advertisers. and there is no advertisement any They are proud of it as a great one of them ever publishes that newspaper. They read it as does not go first and foremost into regularly as the day dawns, and the Globe Democrat. It seems to they advertise in it more liberally be a paper that is read by every- and at a higher rate, and with better body, and while it is strong with results than any paper in the field. the business men and strong 228 THE " GLOBE DEMOCRAT." 229 with the masses, it is strongest of all in the homes of St. Louis. " I take note of the papers read on the Olive Street cars that run out to the western section of the city where the better class of people reside," said Mr. Fred Goodwin, advertising manager of Nugent's, one of the largest depart- ment stores in the city, "and I notice the Globe Democrat has about twelve readers to eight or nine of the Republic. We pay the Globe Democrat the highest price, for it is worth the most to us. We use all the papers and know the exact value of each." "The Globe Democrat reaches the most people and the people with the most purchasing power. It is best for any advertising we put out," said Mr. J. F. Crawford, the manager of D. Crawford & Co., a 52-department store that spends in the vicinity of fioo,ooo a year in St. Louis advertising. "The Globe Democrat has un- doubtedly the largest and best circulation in the city. I believe its sworn statement to be abso- lutely correct, but if it made no sworn statement at all I should still place it first by all odds. We consider character as well as amount of circulation. The Globe Democrat's circulation has the largest purchasing power of any in the city," said Mr. Joseph Franklin, vice president of Wm. Barr Dry Goods Co., one of the best and largest stores in St. Louis. Mr. Franklin was selected two years ago to make an official investiga- tion of the circulation of St. Louis newspapers, and no one is better posted than he upon that subject. The "Famous" is a big St. Louis department store, dealing in ready- made garments for both sexes. It appeals to the entire purchasing public and spends about $60,000 a year in advertising. Its advertis- ing manager, Mr. Louis E. An- fanger, said the Globe Democrat is the best advertising medium in St. Louis and was one of America's greatest newspapers. This is a position the Globe Dem- ocrat is unquestionably entitled to hold both on account of its char- acter, success, its standing and its public services. It has held this place for quarter of a century, first as the Democrat, and afterward as the Globe, then as the Globe Demo- crat. 2 30 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. During the war it was called the great loyal newspaper of the West. Before the war it was a great power in the free-soil agitation, and since the war it has been constantly in the van in everything that pertains to national, State or municipal progress, or progress in journalism. It occupies a magnificent building constructed of red granite, red sand stone and brick, that cost nearly half a million, and within a radius of two or three blocks are probably three-quarters million dol- lars' worth of real estate owned by the owners of the Globe Democrat, purchased with the twenty, thirty and fifty per cent, dividends it has paid uninterruptedly for the past thirty-five years, on a capitalization of $500,000, which sum represents less than half the actual value of the paper and less than a quarter what it would cost to buy it from its present owners, for even with its price reduced to one cent and the times unusually bad, the Globe Democrat pays $100,000 a year at least, and in better times has been known to pay as high as $250,000. This cut in price meant no cut in the cost of production. At one cent the Globe Democrat is more of a newspaper than it used to be at five cents and is conducted on the same high plane. To gain popu- larity it did not sacrifice its stand- ing. Its circulation has increased from about 45,000 to 72,000, as the actual daily average sworn to by Colonel Daniel M. Houser, the president of the company and the manager and one of the large owners for over seventeen years, amply demonstrates. INTERVIEWING COLONEL HOUSER. When I called on Colonel Houser in the onyx-walled office where he receives everyone who calls in true Jeffersonian simplicity and old-time courtesy, he gave me a copy of these figures, saying: "The Ameri- can Newspaper Directory did us an injustice this year in printing our circulation, and we propose here- after to furnish Mr. Rowell and every advertiser a detailed state- ment that cannot be refuted or dis- counted." This detailed statement, covering the first seven months of 1896, shows the daily average subscribed for and sold — for January, 62,791: February, 66,275; March, 66,655; THE " GLOBE DEMOCRAT. 231 April, 65,197; May, 71,835; June, 77,376; July, 68,557. 1 The Sunday average subscribed for and sold: January, 74,688; Feb- ruary, 77,316; March, 77,879; April, 75>66o; May, 81,765; June, 79>797; July, 75,285. This makes the daily average 68,376, and the Sunday average 77,641- Colonel Houser called my atten- tion to the fact that the Globe Democrat does not include in its circulation statements anything except copies actually subscribed for and sold; that it does not in- clude sample copies, nor copies sent to canvassers. The press count is not estimated at all, for Colonel Houser does not believe the gross figures should include copies spoiled in the printing. Therefore, the "total printed" in the case of the St. Louis Globe Democrat means the total number of copies delivered at the office or mailing room in ac- ceptable condition for distribution. And it is from this figure that the deductions are made. Colonel Hou- ser has very clear-cut ideas on cir- culation. He expressed them last spring at the meeting of the Ameri- can Newspaper Publishers' Associa- tion when the subject of circulation was under discussion. There had been a number of more or less rambling efforts to define what circulation exactly is, when Colonel Houser, who was then in attendance for the first time, being urged to give his definition of circulation, said: "I know what the circulation of the Globe Deiiwcrat is, and I don't think there is a man sitting in this hall who does not know the circu- lation of his own paper. He knows how many papers he sells; he knows how many papers he prints. I could probably print as many papers as nearly any pub- lisher in this country, for print paper is very cheap, and under certain interpretations of the word ' circulation ' I could call the number of copies printed the circu- lation of the Globe Democrat, but that would be dishonest." Colonel Houser called my atten- tion to the weekly, which has an average, subscribed for and sold, of 115,872. THE GLOBE DEMOCRAT'S WEEKLY. " Now mind you," he said, "this is the actual paid for circulation of 232 AMERICAN JOURNALISM, each section of our weekly. We print an eight-page paper twice a week, or 104 times a year, and not one of those editions ever runs below 110,000, while the average for the past seven months is 115,872, as you have seen. Our weekly goes all over the Western country, particularly Illinois, Mis- souri, Kansas, Arkansas, Western Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, while we probably have 7,000 or 8,000 subscribers in Texas alone." The Globe Democrat' s weekly is made up from its daily with the latest news to the time of going to press and well-selected miscellany and special features from the Sun- day edition. At a dollar a year it is a mighty good paper, and easily ranks as the most successful weekly newspaper of the section in which it circulates. In making circulation state- ments, the Globe Democrat follows a little different method from its competitors. The Republic, for instance, which has an actual aver- age circulation very close to the Globe Democrat, deducts only the copies spoiled in printing, left over or filed, and makes its average of the number distributed, which includes of course sample copies and unreturned copies placed in the hands of newsdealers — returned copies too, for that matter. I have no way of knowing how much of the Republic s circulation is made up in that way, but it is certainly a factor, almost as much so as the fact that the Globe Democrat's cir- culation is very large in the city of St. Louis, while the Republic's circu- lation is larger out of the city than it is in it. I asked Colonel Houser what proportion of his circulation is in St. Louis. " Fifty per cent.," he replied. "Seventy-five per cent, of this is delivered by carriers and the rest sold by newsdealers and news- boys. The mail circulation amounts to about 5,000. The rest goes out to newsdealers throughout the territory in which we circulate." Colonel Houser has always been very enterprising in placing his paper in the hands of newsdealers and newsboys wherever it could hope legitimately for a sale. At one time he ran a special train to DuQuoin, 111., at a cost of $54 a Sunday, to place the Globe Demo- THE " GLOBE DEMOCRAT.' 233 crat in the hands of readers along the Illinois Central; he kept this up until the Baltimore and Ohio put on a fast mail; then the Globe Demo- crat and the Republic for two years, at a cost of $32 divided between the two papers per day, ran a special train over the Keokuk and Northwestern until the Burlington route showed enterprise enough to put on a fast mail train. OBTAINING CIRCULATION. The Globe Democrat, however, has never indulged in the other forms of newspaper circulation enterprise known as premiums, or schemes. It has confined its circulation efforts to making a good newspaper and distributing that newspaper adequately in its legitimate terri- tory. It has always had an excel- lent staff. Henry M. Stanley, James Redpath, JohnC. Hay and Whitelaw Reid are among the old Democrat's distinguished graduates. Henry M. Stanley made his first mark in journalism representing the Demo- crat in the Indian country, and Whitelaw Reid was its Washington correspondent before Mr. Greeley induced him to join the Tribune staff. The Globe Democrat editor, as everyone knows, is Joseph B. McCullagh, the famous war corre- spondent of the Cincinnati Coiinner- cial, and editor of the Chicago Republic, in which position he suc- ceeded Charles A. Dana. The business management of the Globe Democrat is one of those dem- onstrations of the best journalism on which I love to dwell. It has been in the hands of Colonel Houser since the very beginning of the two papers that are now the Globe Democrat. Colonel Houser was manager of the Democrat 'htioxz&Vidi during war time, and afterward until that property was sold for the then fabulous figure of $456,100. Then Colonel Houser in connection with his old partner in the Demo- crat, Wm. McKee, established the Globe and made it a success. A few years later they purchased the Democrat at a price representing about sixty per cent, of what they had sold it for, and consolidated the two properties, the entire man- agement of which has rested in his hands from that time. The Democrat was as much a misnomer as the Republican was for Mr. Knapp's paper, for the Democrat was uncompromisingly Republican 234 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. from the foundation of the party, and the Republican has been uncom- promisingly Democratic ever since tlie Globe turned Republican. Colonel Houser has never devi- ated in his management of the Globe Democrat from those ideas of business integrity which are in- dorsed by such publishers as Victor F. Lawson of the Chicago News and Record, and J. L. Seymour of the New York Evening Post. Every ad- vertising contract in his establish- ment is open to the inspection of every one of his advertisers, and the figures of his circulation are as un- deviatingly exact as are the figures advertisers are obliged to pay if they wish to enjoy the incom- parable benefits of advertising in the columns of the Globe Democrat. The Globe Democrat has stood so squarely upon its merits that its growth and its success are not in the slightest degree problematical, either as to the present or the future. It cannot fail to enjoy the position of first place in its field, as long as its present policy is adhered to. It is steady, strong, loyal jour- nalism of which the Globe Democrat typifies. There is certainly a journalistic lesson to be learned from the his- tory of a paper like this, and from a study of the methods pursued by its manager. It is a demonstration that the principle underlying the greatest successes in journalism is always analyzable to the same fun- damentals that success in any great enterprise touching the af- fairs of men must be based upon if it would permanently prosper. The St. Louis "Republic." The St. Louis Republic has been making decided progress in stand- ing, circulation and advertising since it came under the editorial and business management of Charles W. Knapp, the president of the Republic Company and also president for the past two years of the American Newspaper Publish- ers' Association. Its growth for several years has been steady and large. It has con- tinued to grow in spite of the hard times. Its manager informs me its circulation is evenly divided be- tween the city and country. It states its circulation at the head of its editorial page. This is the showing of paid circulation for November: 68,204 daily, 71,042 Sunday, net paid circulation, all exchanges, samples, and other free copies, as well as returned copies, being omitted. It has a semi-weekly of 118,000 circulation, printed in five editions. one each for Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas. It places grekt stress on the value of its weekly and carries therein a very large amount of advertising. In fact, the Republic is plenteously endowed with both weekly, daily and Sunday advertis- ing. It prints a total in columns greater than any paper in its field. It commands a good price for its space. It is an enterprising publication and fully up to the times. It has led the press of the West in intro- ducing mechanical and news im- provements. Its mechanical plant consists of three Hoe presses and twenty lino- types. It keeps a corps of house- to-house canvassers constantly busy securing new subscribers, and a large force of traveling men on the road. It is one of the oldest papers in the country. It bore the name of 235 236 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the Republican until May, 1888. That name was a misnomer, as the Republican was Democratic from the time the St. Louis Democrat was Republican. The Republic is one cent in price, but two cents in volume and value. It has not diminished but has increased the expense of its news features since it diminished its price. It runs a large amount of special matter and miscellany, that makes it interesting to all members of the family. It prints from ■twelve to sixteen pages weekdays and thirty-six to forty-eight pages Sunday. Its weekly has the pick of the daily matter and is exceptionally interesting to the intelligent agri- cultural classes, who are its devoted readers — many of them all their lives, and their fathers before them. The opinion St. Louis' leading advertisers hold of the Republic is very high. "I place the Republic first," said Mr. Topping, the advertising manager of Scruggs, Vandervoort & Barney. " It certainly carries the largest amount of advertising, and that is a good test." Mr. Knapp, the arbiter of its destiny, is one of the most polished and able journalists in the country. He was elected in February, 1895, to the presidency of the American Publishers' Association as a mark of the esteem in which he is uni- versally held by his fellow-journal- ists all over the country. He has long been a potent factor in building the success of his paper. The prominent place the Republic holds as a newspaper re- flects the place held by its editor in the newspaper world. He has given his paper a national reputation and attracted to its columns a patronage from the largest advertisers. He exempli- fies my belief that the personality behind a newspaper determines its success. The business manager of the Republic, dwelling upon the ques- tion of circulation, said: "We make a sworn statement of our actual circulation from day to day, deducting copies spoiled in printing, left over or filed, as well as all returned as unsold, and we are ready to back up this statement with our cash receipts; allowing anyone interested to make a per- THE ST. LOUIS " REPUBLIC. 237 sonal examination of our books and determine for himself, by dividing the cash receipts by the selling price of the paper, how many copies we actually sell. I believe that is the only true test that can be made — the cash receipts and the post-ofifice receipts. I cannot see how any- one can dispute figures of that kind. Lord & Thomas, Fuller, Bates, and other leading advertising agents, went through it all several times two or three years ago and determined for themselves the cir- culation of the Republic. The Republic is also a patron of the Advertisers' Guarantee Co. of Chicago, which makes a thorough expert examination every month and certifies to the circulation under the guarantee of a $50,000 fund. In Printer's Ink of April 10, 1895, appears an interesting article regarding the Republic. It contains much interesting historical matter. It appears the Republic was issued as a weekly at first, under the name of the Missouri Gazette, its first edition appearing July 12, 1808. There were very few settlers and many Indians in these regions in those days. Adventures punctu- ated the Gazette's career. It appears to have manifested in those early days the strong tend- ency toward legislation in the interest of its territory that has marked its more recent course. Some of the early issues of the Gazette contained vivid accounts of the riotous conduct of the Indians while under the influence of liquor, coupled with urgent demands that something be done to the traders who sold them liquor in violation of the law. In those early days it took months to get news from Washing- ton to St. Louis, and the Republic manifested all the enterprise possi- ble with the primitive news facili- ties at its command. It achieved the remarkable feat of getting the President's message in 1847 in three days, making special arrange- ments with a line of stagecoaches from Vincennes, Ind , which was the furthest point West then reached by wire. Mr. Charles W. Knapp, its present editor, is a son of one of the partners through whom the ownership descended. The secre- tary and treasurer, Paschall Carr, and the business manager, Walter B. Carr, are grandsons of another 238 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. partner. Its ownership and man- agement have remained in the hands of the original partners and their descendants for over eighty years. Mr. Knapp entered upon his duties as a member of the Republic Company twenty years before he became the editor of the paper. For a number of years he was editor and practically the creator of the Republic's widely circulated weekly edition, and afterward, until the autumn of 1887, was in charge of the Washington bureau. He has remained continuously in the presidency of the company since that year. Mr. Knapp has served for a number of years on the executive committee of the American News- paper Publishers' Association, of which orginization he is now presi- dent, and is a member of the Ex- ecutive Committee of the Associ- ated Press, having held that position since its organization. He also held a similar position in the Western Associated Press, of which he was the vice president in 1883. The "Post Dispatch" and Colonel Jones. The Post Dispatch is St. Louis' It states at the head of its leading evening paper. editorial columns that its street St. Louis' largest advertisers, sales equal the street sales of all without exception, give it that the other newspapers, morning and place. It carries a large amount evening combined, and that its of advertising at a high rate, paid books are open to prove this at on its merits. It is a popular any time. On alternate days, it paper, yet is read in the best homes. The advertising manager of one of the largest stores in St. Louis says, "The actual, bona fide cir- culation of the Post Dispatch in the city of St. Louis, East St. Louis and immediately adjacent suburbs is told me he saw five Post Dispatches double that of the Globe Democrat to one copy of any other evening or Republic and equals the two paper on the Olive Street cars, which run to the best portions of the city. He based his statement upon daily observations. The Post Dispatch does not state combined. Our books are open to prove this at any time." I interviewed Colonel C. H. Jones, the managing owner and editor of the Post Dispatch, and his its circulation at the head of its brother Mr. G. W. Jones, its busi- editorial columns, but it gives its ness manager. actual daily average and its actual Sunday average in the American Newspaper Directory as follows: Daily, 78,156 ; Sunday, 80,355. Colonel Jones is one of the most interesting and conspicuous per- sonalities in modern journalism. He has probably had more to do 239 240 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. with the widespread interest taken in the silver question than any other editor or public man. When he took the management of the Post Dispatch he immediately made it of strong interest to the people of the South and West, and com- mitted it unreservedly to the advo- cacy of their cause. He came to the Post Dispatch with long experience and estab- lished fame. A Georgian by birth, he began his literary career in New York City, where he was for several years editor of the Eclectic Magazine and Apple- ton's Journal. He also wrote several books and contributed largely to leading periodicals and magazines. He went to Florida in 1881 and established the Florida Daily Times at Jacksonville. He distanced an older paper in the same field and consolidated the two under the name of the Times Union. He became a power in the State and four years later was elected President of the National Editorial Association. He afterward became editor of the Missouri Republican, changing its name to the St. Louis Republic, and startling the readers of that paper by his innovations. His work on the .^(f^«Mc attracted national at- tention. He contributed materially to Cleveland's triumph in Chicago in 1892, was prominent in framing the platform at the third Cleveland con- vention, and was both active and popular in affairs throughout Mis- souri and the West. He wrote the platform of the Democratic National Convention of 1896 on which Mr. Bryan made his cam- paign. In 1893 he took editorial charge of the New York World. He made the World stronger as a newspaper and made his mark in the journalism of the me- tropolis. From the World he came to his present position of management and editorship of the Post Dispatch, which, under his guidance, and inspired by his per- sonality and genius, has made great strides in circulation and influence. A BEEHIVE OF ACTIVITY. There is an activity and push about the Post Dispatch establish- ment that reminds me of the New York World when it was outgrow- ing its old building. The Post Dispatch is in that position to-day. THE " POST DISPATCH.' 241 It Crowds its press capacity to the limit to print the four editions with which Colonel Jones supplies the city of St. Louis in the after- noon up to six o'clock, and the edition which he sends out at eight o'clock to forestall the morning papers in the surrounding terri- tory. The establishment is a bee- hive of compositors, reporters and editors, all under the personal supervision and inspiration of Colonel Jones. I found the colonel himself buried in a mass of constantly in- pouring editorial and news matter, in the acceptance and rejection, expansion and compression of which he was the master mind, molding it into the magnetic whole known as the Post Dispatch. This is the secret of Colonel Jones' success. He is an editor in every sense of the word. Every man on his paper feels personally responsible to Colonel Jones, and it is Colonel Jones who dictates the newsgathering, the arrangement, headings and preparation of which make the Post Dispatch an after- noon newspaper edited with the amplitude and care of a morning paper. It was upon this Colonel Jones particularly dwelt in our interview. - My first question was, "To what do you attribute the great success of your paper? " ADVANTAGES OF AN EVENING NEWSPAPER. " In the first place, the Post Dis- patch prints the news twelve hours ahead of the morning papers," he replied. " This opens up the great question of the relative news opportunities of the morning and evening papers. Time was when the morning newspaper was re- garded as the greater. Twenty years ago there were only two or three even fairly good evening newspapers in the country. Since then we have learned that almost all news of importance happens in the daytime. All banking and business institutions close their doors long before we go to press, and the afternoon paper therefore gets everything of interest from the commercial and financial world.. Thfe same is true of nearly every- thing of human interest, with the single exception of a few meet- ings and conventions that are held in the evening. Nearly all great 242 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. accidents, murders, etc., happen in tlie daytime. The evening news- paper used to print this news briefly and brightly, and leave the morning paper, to amplify. The Post Dispatch aims to give all this news as completely and carefully as the morning paper, yet with that lightness of touch that is charac- teristic of the evening paper. People have learned that the Post Dispatch gives them all the news and leaves but little for the morn- ing newspaper. This is what has given us our tremendous growth in circulation — a circulation which we prove by every authentic method. We make a statement of oiar net circulation which shows that the Post Dispatch has a larger bona fide circulation than any paper in its field." NO CONCEALMENT OF CIRCULATION. "This is one of the elements of our business dealings which have helped to make the Post Dispatch so popular. There is no conceal- ment of our circulation; any time anyone wishes to investigate, we give every opportunity. "On the editorial side I have established the reputation of stat- ing my absolute convictions to the readers of this paper, and they have learned from reading after me that I never permit an editorial ex- pression of opinion to appear in my columns that does not convey my real opinion. I state what I honestly believe, and no power on earth can prevent my printing what I believe to be true. They have tried bulldozing, they have tried withdrawing their patronage, they have tried boycotting, but to no effect." "Then your advocacy of free silver is not for the purpose of gaining circulation? " "It is a case where interest and conviction go side by side, and hand in hand." EFFECT OF FREE SILVER. Colonel Jones, speaking of his free-silver policy, called my atten- tion to the fact that no Southern or Western paper that had opposed free silver had bee« able to con- tinue in prosperity, so manifestly is the public sentiment of those sec- tions arrayed on the side of the white metal. Speaking of his news service, Colonel Jones said: THE " POST DISPATCH." 243 " No other newspaper in the West pays so much attention to the proper handling of its news, placing it and preparing it, and putting the right kind of a head over it. You'll find no No. i heads over No. 3 matter in the columns of the Post Dispatch, no insignificant matter on the star pages. Even little four-line items, if important, are lifted up to the eye by being properly headed. I suppose I am an exacting editor, for I demand that the members of my staff shall make the kind of a newspaper that I believe in; a better newspaper every day, and when the day comes that I can say, ' I have made a newspaper that I am satisfied with,' I shall resign my position. I wish the day were forty-eight hours long instead of twenty-four, and it would require all of them to make a newspaper that would come up to my ideal." When I called on Mr. G. W. Jones, the business manager of the Post Dispatch, he showed me a statement of the paper's circulation from day to day, and Sunday, with the copies not actually sold or sent to subscribers deducted. He did not give me the figures for publication, but to satisfy me that it had a larger circulation than any other of the leading papers of St. Louis. The difference in favor of the Post Dispatch, by this show- ing, is between three and four thousand. I asked whether this was campaign or permanent cir- culation, and Mr. Jones said emphatically that it was per- manent. I asked about circulation methods. "We do not use schemes," he replied. "We have solicitors for circulation in the- city, and a number who procure only legiti- mate subscribers on the road. Our circulation is purely on its merits. We are making a good newspaper, and it is steadily and strongly growing.'' "What about your advertising rates ? " "They are averagely as high as the Globe Democrat, and in some instances they are higher. We get as much advertising from our lead- ing houses, and, at the rate we secure, we think we are the leading newspaper of this city." " How do you prove your claims to have so much circulation in excess of all your competitors ? " 244 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "We are ready at any time to submit the wliole matter to a com- petent committee, and have that committee publish a full account of its findings. This would give the figures we cannot get at now, though, as business manager of the Republic before coming here, I think I may safely say that I know pretty nearly the Republic's circu- lation. Our circulation is greatest in the city, where circulation counts the most." Mr. Jones called my attention to the growth of the Post Dispatch in paid-for want advertising, in which it is gaining all the time and begin- ning to share with the Globe Democrat its rich patronage in the small ad field. St. Louis "Star." The St. Louis Star is one of those evening papers that are com- ing rapidly to the front because of enterprise and opportunity. It has the evening Republican field all to itself. It is conducted along the lines that appeal strongest to the conservative people of St. Louis. Its progress has been steady and its gains permanent. Its record in the past four years is one of phe- nomenal growth, but not growth of the mushroom order. It was four years ago that its present management came into power with Mr. M. J. Lowenstein as business manager. Mr. Lowen- stein came from the New York World, where he was in the busi- ness department when John Dillon was the World's business manager. Before that he was on the Re- public with Colonel C. H. Jones. The President of the Sayings Company, which publishes the Star, is Mr. Nathan Frank, ex-congress- man from Missouri, and a Repub- lican leader in his State. Mr. Frank is largely to be credited with the progress this paper has made. The Star, with ample capital, energy and the right idea of filling the evening field acceptably to the best people, the home people, of St. Louis, has met success where success counts. Its manager states he has a bona fide circulation daily of 63,000 and Sunday of 65,000, with an advertising patronage from the best and largest houses in the city that has increased constantly during the past three years, in spite of the Star repeatedly advancing its rates. I interviewed Mr. Lowenstein in his private office in the handsome brown-stone Odd Fellows' Build- ing, really the best newspaper corner in the city, being opposite the Post Office and having two million dollar buildings within a block of it — indicative of centrali- 245 246 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. zation of St. Louis business in- terests. Mr. Lowenstein answered can- didly every question I aslced him. "How do you prove your circu- lation?" "We show the advertiser every- thing he wishes to see in our establishment. We have convinced local advertisers that we have what we claim." "Is your circulation regularly delivered by carriers ? " " To a very large extent, yes." " Do you use schemes or premiums to gain readers ? " "We abandoned that method years ago. Our circulation has been gained purely on the merits of the paper. It shows an increase each month, even in the hardest times. What it gains it keeps. There is no fluctuation except upward." "Is your circulation more in the city or in the country ? " "Vastly more in the city, to the best people. Our circulation has undeniable quality, which gives its quantity unusual value." Mr. Lowenstein showed me through the establishment, which is admirably arranged, with the com- posing room with its ten linotypes and make-up stones on the same floor with its handsome business office. It has put in two triple- deck, straight-line Goss presses within the past year. It shows more taste and enterprise in up-to- date type for advertisers, and in up-to-date typography than almost any paper I have seen in my Western travels. It is a handsome newspaper. Mr. Knapp, the proprietor of the Republic, recently said .that the Star was the best printed paper in St. Louis. " The day is not far distant when the Star will be great as St. Louis' leading evening paper," says one of its admirers among the larger St. Louis advertisers. The St. Louis "Westliche Post." Forty per cent, of the population of St. Louis is German. The Ger- mans of St. Louis are an indus- trious, intelligent, prosperous, home-owning people. It is a pe- culiarity of the German that what- ever newspaper he reads, he gives that newspaper undeviating loyalty. He reads every line in it. He be- lieves everything it states, whether in its editorial, news, or advertis- ing columns. He is wonderfully influenced by it. I should say of the five German newspapers in St. Louis, only two are successful. One of these is phenomenally so. It is known all over the United States, and has a standing that entitles it to rank among the best newspapers of St. Louis, whether English or German. It is the only German newspaper in the United States that is a member of the Ameri- can Newspaper Publishers' Associ- ation. 2-17 I am referring to the Westliche Post. It occupies a handsome building of its own, centrally located on the best business street in St. Louis. It is a German newspaper, conducted on the most enterprising metro- politan English newspaper methods. In deciding to give it a place in this book, I acted on the advice of the leading advertisers and news- paper publishers of St. Louis. I called on Mr. Edward L. Pree- torius, its manager and the secre- tary and treasurer of the Westliche Post Association. Mr. Preetorius is one of the most prominent, popular and prosperous young men of the Mound City. He holds a high social position, he is identified with St. Louis' most progressive commercial affairs, and, as a newspaper man, is known to all the leading newspaper men in the country, among whom he has many warm friends and admirers. 248 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Mr. Preetorius has a private office that, in point of tasteful, artistic appointment, makes it a gem among business offices, and has, therefore, frequently been de- scribed in newspaper and advertis- ing publications. He received me with characteristic courtesy, and placed himself immediately in touch with the objects of my errand. "What is your circulation, and how do you prove it ? " I asked Mr. Pretorius first. " Our daily circulation exceeds 12,500. Our Sunday circulation exceeds 25,000. Both of these cir- culations are in the city of St. Louis entirely, and altogether de- livered by carrier. Our weekly circulation has been averaging dur- ing the campaign 27,000; 10,000 of this will probably leave us on the 3d of November, so you may put us down as exceeding 15,000 for our weekly circulation. Our weekly really has about i6,ooo permanent circulation. These fig- ures are open to proof any time by an examination of our books, cash receipts and post-office receipts.'' It will be seen from the tone of this reply that Mr. Preetorius is very explicit on the subject of cir- culation. He has written a number of articles which have attracted national attention among adver- tisers and publishers. They have appeared in the columns of Printers Ink, Art in Advertising a.r\di iheFourth Estate. They set forth the now recognized fact that circulation consists not solely in the number of copies printed or distributed, but more in the people that actu- ally read a given newspaper regu- larly, and are influenced in their purchasing by the announcements that appear in its advertising col- umns. In fact, Mr. Preetorius is father of the thought that the larger a circulation becomes among the masses, the less value it be- comes proportionately to the aver- age advertiser. His own circulation belongs in the list of circulations that have the largest purchasing power. The people that read the Westliche Post have money to buy the average advertised article, and are strongly influenced in their purchases by what they see in the columns of their favorite paper. Mr. Preetorius very candidly stated that there was a growing tendency on the part of the younger Ger- THE ST. LOUIS " WESTUCHE POST." 249 mans to read English papers, and that while his paper enjoyed unex- ampled prosperity at the present time, he could foresee the day when there would be no demand at all for a German newspaper in an American city, and he called my attention to the fact that he is al- ready printing prominent articles in both English and German in his columns. However, the Germans of St. Louis have shown no inclination to diminish their reading of the Westliche Post. In fact, it has been growing steadily for the past few years, somewhat owing to the fact that the establishment of fast mail service enables the Westliche Post to reach many smaller cities and towns in its outlying territory in time to compete with the smaller German newspapers which have, in consequence, been killed off, leav- ing the best of the German field to the Westliche Post throughout all the places within reasonable dis- tance of St. Louis. Its mechanical facilities are com- mensurate with its character. It has two Hoe perfecting presses and seven linotypes. It sets all the matter that appears in its daily, its weekly, its agricultural weekly (a part of its regular weekly edition) and its twenty-eight to forty page Sunday edition. It does not use any of the' plate matter to which so many >German newspapers are addicted. The Westliche Post commands an advertising rate that closely approximates the rates charged by the best English papers of St. Louis. It carries a very large amount of advertising, particularly from the local houses. It secures fifteen cents per line for much of its business, while the lowest price paid on any of its contracts is eight cents per line on yearly business. It runs three pages of high-priced want business on Sunday. It gets ten cents a line for this business, which is more than any paper in St. Louis gets except the Globe .Democrat. That personal investigator of newspapers and shrewd buyer of newspaper space, Frank H. Stevens, gives the Westliche Post practically his whole line of advertising and does not use any other German newspaper in St. Louis. Mr. Erwin, of Lord & Thomas, investigated the Westliche Post not 2SO AMERICAN JOURNALISM. long ago, and in consequence it has a great deal of Lord & Thomas' business. It is a significant fact in regard to the Westliche Post that when -the English newspapers came down to a penny and the Westliche Post did not, only about two hundred of its subscribers dropped off. They, however, continued to take the Sunday paper, and soon came back to taking the daily. Dr. Emil Preetorius is the emi- nent founder of the Westliche Post. It was forty years ago or more that he began establishing the success that, founded upon his character and convictions, has been made a monument to success in the kind of German journalism that accords most completely with the best ideas of newspaper making and newspaper management held by the most prosperous and highly esteemed of American publishers. MR. PREETORIUS PERSONALLY. Mr. Edward L. Preetorius is a son of Dr. Preetorius. His success has been a perpetuation and accre- tion of his father's success. He is a practical newspaper manager, not only acquainted with every- thing that pertains to typeset- ting machines, presses, advertising and circulation, but personally acquainted with most of the princi- pal advertisers in the United States, through the expeditions he used to make in earlier days to the Eastern field in the capacity now filled by Mr. Kentnor, the paper's assistant manager; one of the men whose personality, ideas and writing industry are towers of strength in good newspaper building. I predict that Mr. Preetorius, if in the days to come he should decide to enter the field of Ameri- can journalism, will meet with a success as great as that he enjoys in the German field, for his ideas of journalism are in closest accord with the best and most successful among the most prominent and prosperous of his American news- paper associates. In this high opinion of Mr. Preetorius I do not stand alone, but reflect the opinion held of him and his methods by such men as Colonel Daniel M. Houser, the pre-emi- nently prosperous publisher of the Globe Democrat, one of Mr. Pree- torius' warmest and most sincere admirers. Kansas City. I INVESTIGATED Kansas City thoroughly. Everything combined to give me the impression that Kansas City is enjoying substantial prosperity and progress. This is log- ical, for Kansas City is the center of a large grain and cattle region, and has manufacturing interests more extensive than most people realize. Kansas City has the largest coal fields within a radius of loo miles of any city west of the Mississippi River. She has 530 factories with an annual output exceeding in value thirty millions of dollars. The population of Kansas City is 210,000, with between two and a half and three million of people liv- ing within a radius of 100 miles. In point of population, Kansas City is twenty-fourth of the cities of the Union, while she is eleventh in value of business transacted, and tenth in bank clearings. The territory tributary to Kansas City raises 25 per cent, of all the wheat raised in the United States. The livestock business of Kansas City amounts to about $100,000,000 a year. There are 3000 retail houses in the city, doing a business of about $40,000,000 annually. Kansas City has been devoting herself strictly to business, and it is only recently that she has given very much attention to those things which come with wealth and ease. She is now spending money liber- ally to improve her suburbs, where hundreds of beautiful residences are being constructed, and where a boulevard and park system is materializing on a scale that fore- shadows great growth for this pro- gressive city. The merchants of Kansas City are very progressive. There is nothing of the wild and woolly 251 !S: AMERICAN JOURNALISM. order about the most of them. Their advertising is much better than in some larger Eastern cities. They are good buyers of space in Kansas City's four newspapers — the Star, the Journal, the Times and the World. The Star has a circulation of about 62,000; the other papers have circulations rang- ing from 20,000 to 26,000. This makes a total of 125,000 for all the Kansas City papers, which is not any too much for the large terri- tory in which they circulate. Of course, everybody takes the Star. Then they take the Journtil if they are a Republican, the Times or World if Democratic. The World is well named. It caters to the masses, and is a prototype of its big New York namesake. The circulation question has been a great deal agitated in Kansas City. While I found advertisers disposed to credit each paper with the value it claims for itself, I found the publishers disinclined to make specific statements of their own circulation, except in the case of the Star and the World. They eventually decided to let me go through their books and figure out a statement for myself. In this way they placed this matter entirely beyond question, and placed them- selves in line with the policy of the most successful publishers of the country. Kansas City "Star." The Kansas City Star is one of America's greatest newspapers. It is one of America's four greatest evening newspapers; tiie other three are the Chicago Daily News, the New York Evening Post and the Washington Star. The Kansas City Star has the best features of each of these papers. It has the typographical and news excellence of all three. It has the fearlessness of editorial policy that characterizes the New York Evening Post; it has the incomparable home circulation of the Washington Star, and it has the popular circulation and pulling power of the Chicago News. My estimate of the Kansas City Star is based on the almost uni- versal opinion of the leading pub- lishers of this country, expressed to me before I visited Kansas City, and the confirmatory evidence given by the leading advertisers of that city, by an investigation of all the outside and inside facts regarding the Star, its character, its policy, its establishment, its circulation and its advertising value. It is one of the few papers that leave no one in doubt as to its exact place in the newspaper world. Every one of the big local adver- tisers of Kansas City placed the same estimate upon the Star. I asked them to tell me its value as expressed in results, the rate they pay and the amount of circulation they give it credit for. I asked these questions regarding all the Kansas City papers. I was answered candidly — in every case. Some of these advertisers are not advertising in the Star at present on account of a rate war they are conducting against its inflexible; policy in charging a price that is commensurate with its value.. These advertisers — at least one of whom said he was feeling bitter 253 254 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. toward the Star — did not place a less estimate upon the Star's value than did its very best friends. THE "star's" value. Without exception they stated that its value as an advertising medium equals the value of all the other Kansas City papers com- bined. That its circulation equals approximately the circulation of all the other Kansas City papers combined. That they paid it a price ap- proximately equal to the price paid the other papers combined. That the purchasing power of its readers was as great as the purchasing power of the readers of all the other Kansas City papers put together. I naturally hesitate to make assertions so sweeping as this, when I know that they may not be accepted by the other Kansas City papers without question; but I am in position to prove that these opinions are held by the leading advertisers of Kansas City and sustained by all the evidence sub- mitted to me at the Star's office. I followed my usual custom of calling upon the principal adver- tisers and leading citizens before calling upon the newspapers. It is the opinion of the advertisers and leading citizens that invariably fixes the value of a newspaper with me. The peculiar thing about the Kansas City situation is the fact that the other newspapers have points of excellence and strength which make them well worthy of success, and that they would be ordinarily considered successful newspapers if they were not so completely overshadowed by the Kansas City Star, whose greatness lifts it out of local comparisons, and places it among the newspapers to be considered in the same way that I have entered into a discus- sion of the leading papers of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc. Elsewhere I do full justice to the other Kansas City papers; but if I were writing a book about Amer- ica's twelve greatest newspapers, the Kansas City Star would be in- cluded in that book. A STUDY OF SUCCESS. A study of the success attained by the Kansas City Star proves that KANSAS CITY " STAR." 255 it is a striking demonstration of the fact that success in journalism is always founded upon the character, convictions and personality of the publisher. From the first day it saw the light — seventeen years ago — to the present, the Kansas City Star has expressed the ideals of journalism held by the Hon. William R. Nelson, its publisher and proprietor. Colonel Nelson came to Kansas City from a field of lesser opportunities which he had cultivated to the limit. He selected Kansas City as the field of his life work, because he believed — and the logic of events has justified his belief — that nowhere else in America was there an opportunity so rich in possibilities for the right kind of journalism as that afforded by the fertile and prosperous re- gion whose thousands of miles of increasingly active and productive territory centered at and was dom- inated by the city wherein Mr. Nelson pitched his journalistic tent. The Star was started without money. It did not own the type or the press with which it was printed. Courage characterized the Star at its birth. Courage has charac- terized the Star at every step in its progress. It has expressed, with- out fear or favor, what its editor believed to be the truth, and what he believed to be for the best in- terest of the honest, industrious peo- ple of his community. Its course was that of ideal journalistic inde- pendence, but not neutrality. It was the fierce foe of every enemy of the public good. Its crusades for an adequate street-car system, for dollar gas, for a municipal owner- ship of the waterworks system, for parks and boulevards, for expand- ing the area of Kansas City and making it attractive as a place of residence as well as a place of business; its attack upon election corruptionists, policy shops, pool rooms and every form of political dishonesty, were conducted in the face of tremendous opposition from the rings and corporations which were interested in everything ex- cept the success of what the Star undertook to accomplish. Never- theless, the Star succeeded. There is not a year in its history that is not marked by some great victory. The magnificent street-car system of Kansas City, the municipal own- 256 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. ership of its waterworks, are mon- uments already erected conspicuous to the credit of tlie Star; while the park system and the boulevards, and the beautiful residential im- provements in the lovely suburbs of its city, becoming more a tangi- bility each month, complete the overwhelming evidence that exists as to the real greatness of this newspaper. In politics it has not hesitated to advocate the cause and support the candidate of either party, provided that cause and that candidate were indorsed by the convictions of right-thinking people. This -independence of policy — this disinterested public-spirited- ness — this heroic fearlessness of management, are what have made the Star a great power in its local- ity and throughout the surrounding tributary territory. It goes without saying that the news service of the Star is com- plete in every detail. It has a le- gion of special correspondents, and it has the exclusive afternoon As- sociated Press franchise for Kansas City. How liberally it spends money for news may be judged from the fact that it wired more matter from the Chicago Conven- tion than any other paper in the United States. It has a splendid staff of men, who know Colonel Nelson's policy so well that, though he has been absent for the past two years travel- ing abroad, his paper has gone on just the same as if he had been here. Or, as he expressed it when I called on him at the Star's hand- some new building, "The Star is exactly what I would have made it if I had been at home. There is nothing in its editorial or business conduct that I would have changed. We are jealous of giving up too much space to advertising. We sometimes throw out several col- umns of advertising to make room for reading matter. I have never personally solicited an advertiser to use the Kansas City Star in my life. AVe want the advertiser to be happy in the results he gets from his advertising with us. We give him just as good a paper as we can make, and just as much circulation as we can get; but we do not give him the opportunity to dictate our business, advertising or editorial policy." Colonel Nelson said this with the utmost good nature, and yet with KANSAS CITY " STAR." 257 that force which left no doubt as to the sincerity of his sentiments. Drifting on with our talk, the Colonel said — for one thing — " There is no success without honesty. It has looked at times as if the honesty of the Star were not building success for it; but success has come, nevertheless; and came on the only terms on which I would accept it. " My staff know exactly my ideas and they carry them out fear- lessly and fully. This is a great field for a newspaper, and I attribute the success of the Star to that fact, and to the fact that we have made the best newspaper that we know how to make." Mr. A. F. Seested, the business manager of the Star, knows how to conduct a campaign of education when any such becomes necessary to convince advertisers of the cir- culation or standing of the Star. A few years ago, when the other papers attempted to assail the Star's circulation, Mr. Seested in- vited in five leading advertisers of Kansas City, two of them were friends of his, and three of whom were more or less interested in claims made against the Star by other papers. An examination of the cash receipts, paper bills, the books, etc., etc., of the Star, resulted in a unanimous verdict of these five men that it had all the circulation that it claimed. This verdict was questioned by the other newspapers, the committee made another investigation and reaffirmed its original verdict. ;" Advertisers in Kansas City, in estimating the circulation of the Star, place it exactly at the figures claimed at the head of its editorial columns, namely, an actual daily average of a little more than 62,000. The other papers, of course, are not anxious to admit that the Star is correct in making the additional statement that it has double the circulation in Kansas City of all the other papers combined. This is a point which Mr. Seested emphatically affirms, basing his statement upon the facts and fig- ures he tells me he has been able to secure as to the circulation of the other papers. Mr. Seested offered me every facility for verifying the figures of his circulation. A curious thing about the Star is the fact that, although it is a two- 258 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. cent newspaper it is practically a one-cent newspaper, for it gives six weekday editions and its Sunday edition for ten cents a week, wliicii is one cent less than the Chicago papers charge for their ostensible one-cent daily and five-cent Sunday papers. In other words, when the price of paper, cost of composition and news service had become so greatly reduced by recent progress in these things, the Star added a Sunday edition, which is a sixteen- page paper, of great attractiveness and popularity without increasing its price per week. The weekly Star has a circulation of exceeding 110,000 throughout the adjoining States. It is an eight-page newspaper and stands high in the esteem of the farming population. The Star is the want medium of Kansas City, naturally. It gets twenty-five cents as the minimum price of a two-line classified want ad, of which it has a very large daily and Sunday showing. As in the case of the Chicago Tribune this is indicative of the place it holds with readers and advertisers. The best want medium of a city is nearly always the best advertising medium. Mr. Seested, after our interview, showed me through the Star's new building, which suggests the New York Herald building. One of the best things about it is that it is occu- pied solely by the Star. It is on a prominent corner, surrounded by aristocratic business interests. The business office has the atmosphere and appearance of a prosperous bank. Mr. Seested's private office discounts the offices of some of the best newspapers in the country. The composing room with its twelve linotype machines, and the double stereotyping plant, are on the same floor with the business office. The commodious press- room, with its electric and steam motive power, accommodates the three brand-new Hoe quadruples upon the floor below, in plain view of the street. The two upper floors are devoted to the library, the art room, the etching and illustrating depart- ment, — for the Star has four or five artists, — the public parlors, hand- somely furnished for the reception of visitors, the reportorial and edi- torial suites which in point of elegance and commodiousness would turn most newspaper men KANSAS CITY " STAR." 259 "green with envy," the big tele- graphing rooms and the handsome private office of Colonel Nelson. The newspaper that discounts the Kansas City Star on the con- venience, comfort and up-to-date- ness of its establishment will have to make a tour of the best news- paper offices in the country, includ- ing the Star, in order to get the necessary information. It makes me feel, to see the way newspapers are beginning to treat their staff in these matters, and the way they are beginning to recog- nize their own dignity and pros- perity and place in the community, that journalism is actually attain- ing a proper recognition of its own place in the world. I think, in closing, it is just as well to say that it is useless to at- tempt breaking the Star's rates. Some of the shrewdest advertising men in the country have wasted lots of time trying it. It gets a price that is higher than some of the Chicago dailies, and ad- vertisers have learned that it is worth all it charges. It could probably charge more and easily get it. The Kansas City ''Journal." The Kansas City Journal is the leading Republican daily of Mis- souri. It is the oldest paper in the State and has a record for uphold- ing the principles of the Republican party in such a way as to place it high in the esteem of the best people. For nearly its entire career it has been edited by the Horace Greeley of Missouri journalism, Colonel Robert T. Van Horn, who won his rank by four years' fight- ing on the Union side in the Civil War, was one of the founders of the Republican party in the West, has been several times mayor of his city, served in the State legis- lature and five terms in Congress. He has retired from the active editorship of the Journal, which, however, is conducted on the admirable lines of policy to which it has adhered during its forty-two years' life. The Journal has a field of its own. As the only Republican paper of Kansas City, and because of its high standing, it does not suffer from competition. Its value is a fixed fact. Its circulation is among the better and best class of people. It is valuable to advertisers because the people who read it spend money freely. The leading adver- tisers of Kansas City give it a strong indorsement. They pay it a price that is a fair approximation of the value it places upon itself. It is a larger price than is procured by the Times or the World. It is a price that has been fixed by adver- tisers from results they have secured. An advertiser going into Kansas City would, in most cases, use the Journal with good results. It is a good property. It has frequently paid large dividends. 260 THE KANSAS CITY " JOURNAL." 261 It has always paid its own expenses and the interest on a large invest- ment. It is stronger now than ever, owing to the political course it has pursued. It has stood firmly for sound money. This has given it added esteem and prestige with the leading merchants and advertisers of Kansas City, which is at bottom a very conservative city, in close touch with the industrial and com- mercial interests which are every- where vitually affected by the money question. The Journal is under the management of Mr. Hal Gaylord, one of its principal owners. Mr. Gaylord took the helm last June. For four years before that he had been the Journal's assistant man- ager. He is enterprising. He states the exact figures of his cir- culation after deducting all copies that are disposed of in any way except by actual sale or subscrip- tion. This statement places at rest every question as to the exact figures of his circulation, but does not materially interest the large number of local advertisers who are constantly using his columns. The value of his circulation does not lie altogether in numbers. All the Republicans who amount to anything in Kansas City and the contributary portions of the States of Missouri and Kansas read the Journal regularly, and so do their families. It is a home newspaper, in addition to being a paper of strong influence and high commer- cial standing. The Sunday Journal is an excel- lent newspaper, full of good reading. Its circulation exceeds that of the daily. The Journal building is a hand- some brownstone structure, and the Journal's mechanical plant is adequate and up to date with type- setting machines and fast-running presses. There is no other paper that fills the place in Kansas City that is filled by the Journal. In any advertising appropriation designed to thoroughly cover this region, the Kansas City Journal must be included. Its rate, taking other leading journals as a standard, is eminently fair. The minimum for its largest contracts without position is six and a half cents; the average for position ads is eight to twelve cents 262 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. per line, with a maximum of fifteen cents a line for contracts; the Star's prices running from eleven and a half to fifteen cents. Editor's Note. — The two affi- davits which follow were sworn to by H. Gaylord, the business manager of the Kansas City Jour- nal, and should be interesting to all general advertisers: State of Missouri, ) County of Jackson f On this 29th day of September A. D., One Thousand Eight Hun- dred and Ninety-six, personally appeared before me, a Notary Pub- lic in and for the County aforesaid, H. Gaylord, who, being duly sworn according to law, says he is the business manager of The Journal Company, Publishers of the Kansas City daily Journal, a daily news- paper printed and published in the City of Kansas City, County of Jackson, State of Missouri, and that the actual average daily circulation of the said newspaper for the five months preceding this date was Twenty-Two Thousand Five Hun- dred and Sixty-four copies (22,564). H. Gaylord. Sworn and subscribed before me this 29th day of September, a. d, 1896. My commission expires November 8, 1897. Lionel Moise, / — ■ — , Notary Public. State of Missouri, ) County of Jackson f On this 28th day of September A. D., One Thousand Eight Hun- dred and Ninety-six, personally appeared before me, a Notary Pub- lic in and for the County aforesaid, H. Gaylord, who, being duly sworn according to law, says he is the business manager of The Journal Company, Publishers of The Kansas City Journal, a daily and Sunday newspaper published in the City of Kansas City, County of Jackson, State of Missouri, and that the books exhibited to A. A. Reed this day are the actual books and records of The Journal Company and are the books that are used by them daily, and furthermore that there are no other books and records in their office and all their records have been opened to the said A. A. Reed for his inspection. H. Gaylord. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 28th day of September a. d. 1896. My commission ex- pires November 8, 1897. Lionel Moise, L.S. \ Notary Public. JL.S. The Kansas City "Times." During the past year big changes have occurred in the Kan- sas City Times. It is the only Democratic paper of its section, and its espousing the silver cause has highly increased the circula- tion. The management that entered upon the control of the Times last February has plenty of money, brains and enterprise. It has put in an editor known all over the West for his ability— Mr. R. H. Lindsey, recently of the St. Louis Republic, and before that in charge of the Kansas bureau of the Star. He is now making his paper strong with the large body of Democrats in Kansas City and the three States thereabouts, in all of which the Democrats were in a majority at the last election. The Times has been widely known throughout the country for the past twenty-eight years. The company that own it have a paid up cash capital of $250,000 and they are using their means liberally where it does the most good. They have bought ten linotypes, three Potter eight-page presses with a capacity of twelve thousand papers each per hour, and are now figuring on a three- deck, straight-line press. They have a news service that embraces special offices at Topeka, Leavenworth, St. Joseph, Atchison, Jefferson City, St. Louis, New York, Chicago and Washington (D. C), supplementing the Asso- ciated Press service. They use good paper, good ink and as good typography as the Chicago Record. The TiOT^j daily has eight pages; the Sunday, sixteen to twenty-four, filled with news of general and local value and very little mis- cellany. The Sunday circulation is now twenty-four thousand and the daily twenty-one thousand, a 26'? 264 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. growth of ten thousand during the last year. These figures were given me in September by Mr. F. P. Fuoss, the Times business manager, who has been with this paper some fourteen years. Its circulation is ten thousand in Kansas City; the rest is scattered through Nebraska, Kansas, Indian Territory, Missouri and Iowa, with some in Texas. I find local advertisers patronize it liberally, paying a good, fair figure. On its pages may be seen the advertisements of such houses as the Doggett Dry Goods Co., the Emery-Bird-Thayer Dry Goods Co., The Hub, and the Model Clothing House. The Times is owned by some of the most prominent men in Kansas City. The President of the Com- pany, Hon. Wiley O. Cox, is one of the electors on the Democratic National ticket and was elected to carry the official returns to Wash- ington because of the effective fight the Times had made for the Demo- cratic ticket. Mr. Cox is also Presi- dent of the Kansas City State Bank. [The Kansas City Times has sent to me the following legal certificate concerning the amount of their cir- culation. — Editor.] State of Missouri, ) County of Jackson [ ' Frank P. Fuoss, of Kansas City, Missouri, of lawful age, being duly sworn, says he is the Business Manager of The Times Publishing Company, and that the figures here- with submitted for circulation during the last quarter of 1896, being the months of October, No- vember and December, are taken from the cash book of The Times Publishing Company of Kansas City, Missouri, and the bills for white paper used by The Times Publishing Company and show the average daily circulation of the Kansas City Times for the above named months to have been twenty- three thousand, eight hundred and two (23,802) copies. Frank P. Fuoss, Business Manager, The Times Publishing Company. Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 9th day of February, 1897. My commission expires January 25, 1899. Chas. W. Lake, Notary Public. The Kansas City "World." The most interesting story of newspaper enterprise I struck on my travels is the history of the Kansas City World, a paper started two years and a half ago with the sole aim of gaining circulation among the masses, using the most approved methods of the New York World, the New York Journal, the Chicago Jiecord and Scripps-McRae papers. Its success is shown in the fact that it has already secured a sworn daily circulation of 29,000, has put in a three-deck Goss press, a Hoe perfecting press, and seven linotypes, ordering three more lino- types and having still another Goss press built to order. I made an examination of their circulation, and it is all they claim for it. The man who has done this is Mr. L. v. Ashbaugh, whose early newspaper training was on the Youngstown (O.) Telegram, where he was reporter, city editor, manag- ing editor, and correspondent of the Cincinnati Post and Cleveland Press. Afterward he was on the local staff of the Pittsburg Times, and then he started out to find a field for ambitious publishing. He had $100,000 cash to put into that field when he found it. He visited St. Paul, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City last of all, because, he expressed it to me, he considered Kansas City as the least likely place on the list. He selected Kansas City because it has two and a half millions of population within a radius of a hundred miles, and he made his paper an evening paper because all the principal trains of distribution run out of Kansas City in the afternoon or evening. He found the field of course pre- occupied by the Star, but that did not make the least bit of difference to Mr. Ashbaugh. He started out to make a newspaper that would eventually have a larger circulation 265 266 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. than the Star had. He believes that circulation is the all-essential thing. He believes in printing all the news he can get hold of, making it as interesting as possible, and giving lots of pictures. He started all right with a promise of a United Press franchise, but after things were all ready he received a tele- gram from John R. Walch, then in control of the United Press, saying that the deal was off. Then for three weeks Mr. Ash- baugh sent Mr. Walch a telegram regularly about once an hour, ask- ing why that franchise wasn't forth- coming, giving the last circulation report and any other information that would make material for a dis- patch. These telegrams kept mes- senger boys chasing Mr. Walch all over Chicago, to his clubs, his bank, his church, and after he had gone to bed at night. He finally yielded enough to tell Mr. Ashbaugh that the reason he could not grant the World a franchise was due to a moral obligation he felt he owed Mr. Nelson, the pro- prietor of the Star. After Mr. Walch resigned from the United Press Mr, Ashbaugh got his franchise. He got his staff by spending a month before he started his paper in studying the men on the other Kansas City papers. Having picked his men in this way, he offered in- ducements that brought all but one of them into his employ. He then proceeded to make the kind of a newspaper the people want. He made an independent paper and did not fail to give the silver news, because free silver is the hobby of the masses round about Kansas City. Didn't try to get any advertising; didn't solicit any, in fact, the first six months. Took what came in and got a good price for it. At the end of the first year he had a circu- lation of 12,000, at the end of the second year he had a circulation of 21,000. At the present time he swears to a daily average exceeding 29,000. I asked him how he proved this circulation. " By press room reports, paper bills and our cash books," he re- plied. "What do you consider circula- tion ? " " The number of papers actually bought and paid for." " How much of your circulation is in Kansas City ? " THE KANSAS CITY " WORLD." 267 "About 13,000." ' How much is street sales ? " " About 2000." " How many editions do you run ? " 'Four usually, but we run an edition whenever we need to, to give the news. The night of the St. Louis cyclone we ran a midnight edition, waked up the people of this city and sold them 6500 papers." "What effect has your circula- tion on your advertising ?" " We are getting more local ad- vertising than any other paper in this field. We are getting a better average price than any paper except the Star." " How much are you getting ? " " Five cents is the lowest figure; the highest is about twelve and a half. Every contract on our books is open to the inspection of every advertiser, who can duplicate it if he wishes to." "You are a believer in known circulation ? " " Exactly. A man will pay more for six thousand circulation if he knows you have it than he will for twelve thousand if he is in doubt about it. If you claim twelve thou- sand and don't prove it, he will probably be willing to pay for about three thousand. We have paid out $150,000 so far to make this paper a success, and we are not going to have anyone cast any doubts on our actually having a circulation we claim. It costs too much to make a newspaper successful to have that success held in doubt." " How much are you losing ? " "The World is now on a paying basis. But every dollar we make goes into the plant." " How long are you going to keep that up ? " " Until we have the biggest cir- culation of any paper in this town — that's what we are going to have. There have been five evening papers started in this field, and they have all failed. This paper is not here to fail. It's here to get a circulation that every local advertiser in Kansas City, and every general advertiser in the United States, will recognize to be the largest in the field." Mr. Ashbaugh is a young man with plenty of ability and energy to accomplish what he is aiming for. He is an incessant worker. He is at the office at 7.30 in the morning, and he is the last man to leave it at night. With youth and capital, and 268 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the right ideas of what constitutes circulation in its relation to the ad- vertiser, he stands every chance of winning, and this is the opinion lots of people in Kansas City seem to entertain. [Editor's Note. — December 28, 1896. Since the above was written the Kansas City World has been purchased by the Scripps-McRae League. Mr. Ashbaugh retains an interest and will continue as business man- ager of the paper.] The Omaha "Bee." In spite of the fact that the Omalo*j5^^ has a standing that is known all over the United States, and is unquestionably the best ad- vertising medium as well as the leading paper of its city and State, I followed my usual course of calling upon the leading advertisers to ask their opinion of its merits. I called upon the proprietors of the six lar- gest houses in Omaha. While the silver sentiment was running high at the time, and some of these gen- tlemen are ardent white metalists, they gave the Bee the position ac- corded it by everyone who knows the facts of the case. Their un- qualified indorsement of its adver- tising value is found in their extensive use of its columns. I asked them one and all if they believed it had the circulation it claimed. The)r emphatically replied, "Yes." I asked them if they had ever known Mr. Rosewater to make a false statement in circulation, and they replied that they had never known him to depart a hair's breadth from the exact truth. This I state in view of that clerical error by which it became involved in a newspaper directory episode. A DESERVED STANDING. One has only to go to Omaha to see that the reputation the Bee has abroad is fully deserved. Everybody in Omaha who amounts to anything reads the Bee. Its building has probably only one superior in the country, the New York Herald building. The Bee building is a magnificent metropoli- tan structure, conspicuously and centrally located. I know of no newspaper ofifice anywhere that has a more commodious, prosperous appearance. The Bee makes a daily statement of its actual circulation, after de- ducting all copies that are disposed 269 270 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. of Otherwise than by bona fide sale or subscription. Anyone who cares to may ascertain just how many copies there are in each of its edi- tions, morning and evening. Its daily average is about 20,000; its weekly double that. MR. ROSEWATER. Its prosperity and success are a monument to Mr. Edward Rose- water, its proprietor, editor and founder. Mr. Rosewater is one of the most conspicuous figures in the public affairs of Nebraska. He has always been active in politics along the lines of his convictions; in fact, he started the Bee as a campaign document about a quar- ter of a century ago, without any expectation of its outliving the purpose for which it was estab- lished, namely, the reform in Omaha's school affairs. It won in this fight, and continued to live, and though there were two papers in the field with age, capital and press franchises, it kept on grow- ing, kept on fighting for those things Mr. Rosewater believed best for his city and State. Suffice it to say that Mr. Rose- water builded his paper to the strength and success it has to-day, while his competitors, the papers that were strong when he was weak, large when he was small, have gone to the wall or been con- solidated into the World- Herald, its only competitor. This- year Mr. Rosewater has been conduct- ing a vigorous Republican cam- paign through the columns of his paper, and with his matchless elo- quence, which proves a great force upon the stump. I called upon Dr. Victor Rose- water, the managing editor of the Bee, and vice president of the Bee Publishing Co. Dr. Victor Rosewa- ter is a son of Mr. Edward Rosewa- ter. The Review of Reviews recently printed a sketch of Mr. Rosewater and his two sons. Of Dr. Rose- water it said: "Few young men in American journalism have had so complete a training for the work. Dr. Rosewater is a graduate of the Omaha High School, of the Johns Hopkins University and of Colum- bia College. He took the bachelor degree, and after two years a grad- uate student, when only twenty-two years of age, obtained the Colum- bia degree of Ph. D. ; his ' Thesis THE OMAHA "BEE." 271 on Special Assessments ' being published by the college and be- coming a standard book of refer- ence to all students of taxation. He had before this studied the workings of Congress and political matters in Washington, and, before leaving New York, spent consider- able time in the office of the Asso- ciated Press, familiarizing himself with news gathering and news dis- tribution. He spent some months in foreign travel, and wrote enter- taining European letters to the Bee. He has been three years actively at work on the Bee, and has been managing editor for the past eighteen months. Although but twenty-five years of age, he holds down the editorial chair like a veteran. He is thoroughly up in newspapers, newspaper manage- ment, politics and all the other things that a man must be expert in to be successful as a managing editor. " Charles Coleman Rosewater, the other son, is a Cornell man of '94, who, after studying at Colum- bia and earning the degree of A. M., has been in charge of the circulation department of his father's paper. In fact, Mr. Rosewater and his two sons are practical journalists in every sense of the word. The property builded to such strength and success by the father, will be perpetuated in its prosperity and prestige by the sons. By this I do not mean to infer that there is any probability of Mr. Rosewater relinquishing the helm for many years to come, for he is in the prime of life and vigor, pushing his paper to still greater achievements. I called upon Mr. N. P. Feil, the business manager of the Bee, for corroborative details concerning circulation and advertising. Mr. Feil, as it goes without saying, is an up-to-date publisher, a firm believer in known circulation and in sticking to rates. The Bee's circulation is almost wholly by subscription. The street sales amount to practically nothing, which means there is very little fluctuation in the daily aver- age. This of course is the kind of circulation that counts. This is the kind of circulation the advertis- ers of Omaha and the big general advertisers have learned gives the Omaha Bee a value hardly expressed in its rate, which, though rigidly ad- hered to, might be higher without being extortionate. The "World-Herald." The World-Herald of Omaha, Neb., is now generally known as Mr. Bryan's paper because of the fact that Mr. Bryan was one of its editorial writers at the time he was selected for the Democratic candi- dacy for the Presidency. It goes without saying that it is a free-silver paper ; perhaps the free-silver paper, and free silver has greatly helped its circulation, which Mr. W. H. Wilbur, whom I interviewed as the representative of Mr. G. M. Hitch- cock, says is in the vicinity of 25,- 000 at the present time, with a weekly circulation of 30,000, both of which figures are open for verifi- cation by an examination of the books. In fact, no one I saw in Omaha seemed inclined to doubt that the World-Herald had all the circula- tion it claimed. The World-Herald is a consolida- tion of the two papers that for many years have held the Democratic con- stituency of Nebraska. It is both a morning and an evening paper. It is owned and controlled by the World Publishing Company, whose president, Mr. Gilbert M. Hitch- cock, established the World, and who is a son of the late United States Senator, P. W. Hitchcock, one of the earliest settlers and most prominent citizens of this section of the country. The World-Herald\\2A2.c^'s\\xz!C\.y located establishment, permeated by the bustle of its increasing busi- ness. It has a Hoe perfecting and a Potter press. It has ten type- setting machines, and the United Associated Press franchise. It is the only metropolitan daily news- paper, with the exception of the Bee, in a territory comprising sev- eral States. Mr. Hitchcock, manager of the World-Herald, is a vigorous fighter and knows how to assume with tell- ing effect the position in the jour- 272 THE " WORLD-HERALD. 27,3 nalistic world that naturally came with the prominence of Mr. Bryan. He campaigned with his paper, and personally. A good public speaker and a vigorous newspaper manager, he can be relied upon to make the World-Herald strong in its exponency of the cause that is believed to be most popular in these regions. He has the field all to himself, the Bee being intensely Republican — a substantial basis for an experienced newspaper man to build prosperity and progress on. Printer's Ink of April 22, 1896, prints the following statement: "The law of Nebraska requires all saloon keepers and druggists in Omaha to publish certain notices in the paper having the largest circu- lation in the county. In December, 189s, the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, having jurisdiction over the matter, spent a full week in investigating the circulation books of the Omaha World-Herald and the Omaha Bee, and reached a unanimous decision that the daily World-Herald has a larger circula- tion in Omaha and Douglas County than any other newspaper. The contest involved about $3,000 of cash advertising. No daily paper in the State of Nebraska pays as much postage as the Omaha daily World-Herald. No weekly paper in the State of Nebraska pays as much postage as the Omaha weekly World-Herald. The guaranteed, paid-in-advance circulation of the Omaha weekly World-Herald is over 20,000 copies. " No other daily paper in Ne- braska has credit for so large a regular issue as the Omaha World- Heraldj and no other weekly in the State has credit for so large a regu- lar issue as the weekly World- Herald, and the publishers of the American Newspaper Directory will guarantee the accuracy of the circulation rating accorded to this paper by a reward of one hundred dollars, payable to the first person who successfully assails it." Twice within the past two years this paper has proven in the courts that its circulation is larger in the city and county than that of the Bee. The books were taken into court and examined ofificially. The Denver ''Republican." The Denver Republican is the Chicago Tribmie of Colorado. It has a high standing and large circulation among the intelligent and well-to-do. Its editorial columns express the convictions of its owners and exercise a forma- tive influence on public opinion. Its circulation is very substan- tial. Its readers have great pur- chasing power. Those who do not pay for the Republican are promptly stricken from the list. It does not print sample copies or resort to any other means of inflating its circulation. The principal Denver advertisers indorse it with more of their week- day advertising than they give any other paper. They told me that it had a field of its own, made im- pregnable by many years of the best journalism. It is metropolitan. It prints the complete Associated Press reports and a very large amount of matter from special correspondents throughout the West and its news bureaus in Chicago, New York and Washington. It has an up-to-date mechanical plant, consisting of nine linotypes, one Bullock press and a three-deck, straight-line Goss with a capacity of 24,000 eight- ten- or twelve-page papers per hour. SENATOR HILL. The Republican is owned by ex- United States Senator N. P. Hill and Mr. K. G. Cooper. Though Mr. Hill does not edit the Republi- can personally, he dictates its policy. His fearless advocacy of the men and measures he regards best for the public good have made the Republican a power. Mr. Hill is one of Colorado's most influential and highly respected citizens. He is a man of character, scholarly attainments and the possessor of a vast fortune that came to him as his share of the increased wealth of the West in the development of whose mining interests the method 274 THE DENVER " REPUBLICAN. 275 he devised for dealing with refrac- tory ores proved a potent factor. Mr. Cooper is a newspaper man of long experience, whose ideas of journalism are identical with Mr. Hill's. He has been actively en- gaged in the management of the Republican for the last fifteen years. SPARING NO EXPENSE. "It is our rule to make the best paper in the New West," he said to me. " Senator Hill believes that if that policy leaves anything to divide up, all right; if not, all right. However, the Republican has paid large dividends. Even in the depressed days that followed the panic of 1893 it never had a note or acceptance outstanding. We spare no expense. We have a large advertising patronage. We have printed as high as 240 columns of advertising on a single Sunday. We run regularly, even during the present depression, from 65 to 75 columns on Sunday and from 25 to 35 on weekdays. A CASH PAID SUBSCRIPTION LIST. "I believe our subscription list pays more than any other paper in this field. We are making a good newspaper for people who can afford to pay for it. A man who cannot afford to pay for a newspaper of this kind cannot afford to buy the average adver- tised article.' " Our policy is independently Republican. We support the men and measures we believe best for the public good." The Republicans editor, Mr. William Stapleton, a man of high ability, conducts the Republican in accordance with the ideas of its owners, who believe in the kind of journalism that gives a newspaper high standing and permanent prosperity. Absolute accuracy in its news columns, earnestness, dignity and conscientiousness in its editorial columns and a typographical ap- pearance equal to the Chicago Daily Record or News are points of strength that help give the Republi- can its popularity and prestige. Mr. Cooper showed me his press- room reports, by which an actual weekday average of 22,000 to 23,000 appears and a Sunday average of 28,000; large figures, considering the net-cash character of the Republican's circulation. The "Rocky Mountain News." The Rocky Mountain News is the best advertising medium in the City of Denver and the State of Colorado. It has the largest circulation and brings the- best results. This I say after interviewing the largest and most successful adver- tisers in Denver. They did not differ in placing it first. Without exception they credit to it the cir- culation it claims — an actual aver- age exceeding 26,000 daily and 34,000 Sunday. The News is a member of the Advertisers' Guarantee Company of Chicago, which has furnished bonds to forfeit $50,000 if the News is proved to have less circula- tion than it claims to. The most successful advertiser in Denver is the Denver Dry Goods Company. In the last two years and a half its business has increased over forty per cent. ; that is, it has grown from $500,000 to $800,000 annually. This is due to the management and the advertis- ing of Mr. W. R. Owen. "Our business will be better this year than ever before," he said. "I attribute this to our advertising more than anything else. We spend about $27,000 annually. The News brings us the • best results; it has the largest circula- tion in this field. It has from 7,500 to 10,000 more circulation than any other paper in Colorado." "Then you have investigated the circulation of the Denver newspapers?" "Yes, I know absolutely what the News has and what the other papers have; we have verified their figures. Three or four years ago the Republican had the largest circulation; we discovered this by sending two of our men to make a personal house-to-house canvass. The Republican at that time had the largest circulation; but our later 276 THE " ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS.' 277 investigations show conclusively that the News is now very largely ahead of any paper in this field. While we pay the News and the Republican the same price, we get better results from the News." "To what do you attribute the News' success? " "To its excellence as a news- paper and to its enterprise. Its editor and chief owner, Mr. T. M. Patterson, is a leading lawyer, and he has stamped the paper with his progressive, forceful personality. Mr. J. M. Burnell, its experienced business manager, has long since established the principle of known circulation. He proves whatever he claims. I believe no one in this city doubts the figures he gives as his circulation." The News is a paper entirely saturated with the progressiveness of Denver. On annual occasions, such as Christmas time and the Mountain and Plain Festival, it comes forth in beautifully illus- trated colored covers, and reflects in every page the beauty and the energy of the city. It is a metro- politan paper. Its news matter from the Associated Press and from special correspondents is cleanly and copiously presented. It varies in size of page from 7 to 9 columns to accommodate the expansion of its matter. It is a 5-cent 8-page paper week-days, and a 20- to 24-page paper Sundays. It is printed with nine linotypes and a three-deck straight-line latest im- proved Scott press. It is what one might call a roomy newspaper. By this I mean that it finds place for all that it cares to print, and never is obliged to sacri- fice typographical appearance to news exigency — that is largely because of its flexible page size. The Rocky Mountain News has a good staff. It is particularly proud of its artist, Mr. A. W. Steele. Its managing editor is Mr. T. E. McKenna, and its city editor Mr. John C. Martin. The News is one of those papers which grow stronger each year. It already has the leading place in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. About fifty per cent, of its circula- tion, however, is in the city of Denver, among the better and best classes. It is almost entirely sub- scriptionary. This means stability. Stability means a good deal to a shrewd advertiser. Its rates are 2/8 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. not high. It could charge more and still be worth all it charges. It is published by the Rocky- Mountain News Printing Company, of which Mr. Patterson is the presi- dent and largest holder of stock. It is a money-making institution; it is backed by plenty of money. Mr. Patterson is wealthy. It never hesitates to purchase anything necessary to its keeping up with and a little ahead of the times. It uses the best new type, and what is equally important, its compositors are masters of effective typography. The Markham hotel building is being remodeled for the occupancy of the News, regardless of expense, which will make it as attractive a newspaper office as there is west of the Missouri River. The News has rep-atedly offered to compare its circulation with the circulation of the other Denver papers without finding an accept- ance. "We offered Mr. K. G. Cooper of the Republican $2,000 if he would throw his circulation open to com- parison with ours," said Mr. Bur- nell, "but he declined, though I offered the $2,000, whether he proved his circulation larger or smaller than ours." I learned from another source that a recent house-to-house canvass, made for purposes outside the cir- culation of the News, showed the News had been found to nearly if not quite double the Republican's^ circulation among the homes of Denver. The Denver "Post." The Denver Post is an evening "We are printing seventeen to newspaper, flushed with success. There is an air of activity and enterprise about its offices. It has been this way since Messrs. Bonfils and Tammen became its owners a year ago. They took it out of a cellar into a conspicuous office in the shopping center. They bought a big three- deck, straight-line Scott press, that prints thirty thousand papers an hour, a battery of seven linotypes, and hired a staff of the best men they could find. "We print all the news we can buy or steal," said H. H. Tammen, who is widely known through his magazine advertisement of Color- ado curios and the World's Fair picture scheme, that so many lead- ing newspapers adopted, and by which Mr. Tammen made so much money. Mr. Bonfils is a Westerner of wealth, and they are both young men of push. I interviewed them both. 279 eighteen thousand papers per day," said Mr. Bonfils. "We have gained three hundred per cent, in a year. Our pressroom, cash books, sub- scription lists, everything, are open to everyone." MR. TAMMEN INTERVIEWED. "We have every display adver- tisement in Denver," said Mr. Tam- men, who spends most of his time in the outer office watching the boys buy papers and the people come in to subscribe or see the big press run. " I have had to make a new rate card every month. When we started people said we would not succeed. The paper was los- ing $600 per week; we doubled the loss; we sunk $5000. Then the tide turned. We began to make money. We put out money freely. We have the brainiest, highest-paid staff in the city. We keep them on duty all of the time. We get out an extra whenever the news re- 28o AMERICAN' JOUIWALISM: quires it. With our press we can flood the city with papers long be- fore any other paper can get out at all. We got out a midnight edition after the St. Louis cyclone, waked up the city, and sold ten thousand copies. We print a newspaper for Denver all day long. We print a newspaper late at night for the State of Colorado. We have a day and night franchise of the United As- sociated Press. We get out through the State in the morning twelve hours before the morning papers. We scoop the other papers every day. People may be blind and not appreciate this, but it don't look that way. We are getting new subscrib- ers every day. People like a news- paper that prints all the news. We are independent in politics. We are not sensational; we are printing a newspaper that goes into the homes. Before we stop growing we shall have thirty thousand circulation. When we had grown considerably, we asked Mr. J. E. Van Doren to represent us in New York. Mr. Van Doren wrote back no; we wrote to him to come to Denver and investi- gate. If he decided not to take it we would pay the bills. Mr. Van Doran came and looked into the Post. He went back to New York with this paper on his list. " One of the secrets of our suc- cess is the fact that we print more of a newspaper than Denver ever had before, and charge less money for it. We forced the other even- ing paper to come down to our price. We give the newsboys a chance to make a penny more sell- ing the Post than they make selling the other paper. This makes the newsboy a hustler for the /'^rf. Our street sales are a great deal larger than those of any other paper in this field, but our strength is in our cash paid, regularly delivered papers." Among advertisers, the Post is given credit for what it claims. Mr. B. F. Seymour, advertising manager of Skinner Bros. & Wright, a big furnishing goods house that has nearly doubled its business in the last two years through advertising, says the Post is the best evening paper in Den- ver. The Berlin Cloak Company, who have the largest and best busi- ness in cloaks and tailor-made gar- ments, use the Post evenings and the Sunday News, almost exclu- sively, having canceled their con- tracts with the other papers. The Denver "Times." The Denver Times is the leading evening newspaper of Colorado. During the past quarter of a cen- tury over a dozen newspapers have entered the evening field to com- pete with it, and they have all gone to the wall. The last one was the Sun, which sunk $740,000 in three years, and then was discontinued by its owners, who purchased the Times from Mr. H. W. Hawley, who had been its manager for some four years, and who had been making a conspicuous success. Mr. Hawley bought the Chicago Times, became the managing editor of the Times-Herald on the consoli- dation, and, selling out to Mr. Kohlsaat, became the publisher of the San Francisco Examiner at $25,000 a year. The Times is now under the man- agement of Mr. F. H. Johnson, Mr. Hawley's cousin. Mr. John- son was formerly circulation man- ager of the Times. The day I called upon him he refused to make any statement of the circulation until I investigated his cash books, his ledger, his mailing list, route books, pressroom reports, and the results of a house to house canvass his circulation staff is making in Denver. " I do not believe the advertising public places the fullest confidence in the statements of publishers regarding their own papers," he remarked; " therefore I want you to reach your own conclusions re- garding the circulation of the Times, and state your conclusions, whatever they are." The pressman stated to me that he had been with the Times for twelve years, and that he now printed on an average between twenty-five and twenty-six thou- sand copies daily. I added up the paper bills for the past eight months and found the amount of paper used in printing the daily Times, after deducting the amount consumed in printing the 281 282 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Weekly Times, was very much more than sufficient to print the number of papers claimed by the press- man. I divided the amount of paper consumed by the number of papers to the pound, making careful allowance for the occasional six- teen-page papers, and the regular twelve-page papers. I weighed the papers myself to find out exactly how many of them were to the pound. I followed the same proc- ess with the Weekly, for which Mr. Johnson claims a paid circula- tion of 25,000, a statement he proved by his mailing list, which I looked over very carefully, espe- cially noting whether the subscrip- tions were paid or not. I found that fully seventy-five per cent, of them were paid up to some time in 1897. The rest were paid to cover 1896, with not over five or ten per cent, in arrears of over ten months, and not one of them in arrears of over twelve months. "We have the only weekly of any consequence in this State," said Mr. Johnson. "We charge only fifty cents a year for it, which the subscribers seem to consider reasonable enough, judging from the regularity with which they re- new their subscriptions without so- licitation or premiums. We charge fifteen cents a line for advertising in our weekly edition, and run four columns of advertising regularly." Continuing my investigation of the Times daily circulation, I went through the books of the boys who delivered the papers in the differ- ent city routes, comparing the figures furnished for each route by the house-to-house canvassers. I will admit being somewhat sur- prised to find that in almost every instance the Times has a larger cir- culation than either the Republican or the JVeivs. The Times is sold to the carriers, who make their payments daily and are allowed no returns. I looked over the daily cash books and fig- ured out that the city circulation of the Times amounts to 8300; street sales 490; the mail list 7500; the agents' list 5000; clubbing lists 2100. The result figured out the same by cash receipts and by circu- lation books. I felt pretty sure that I could state the circulation of the Times as exceeding 23,000, and I asked Mr. Johnson if he was willing to THE DENVER "TIMES." 283 make an affidavit that his paid cir- culation exceeded 23,000. "Certainly," he replied. "I be- lieve that our claim to a circulation of 25,000 actually printed and cir^ culated will be justified and fully sustained in a careful detailed ex- amination of all the facts and fig- ures in the case." Mr. Johnson then answered my question regarding the character and make-up of his paper. "We are printing a newspaper that we do not believe will ever suffer from competition. We have the exclusive Associated Press franchise for the State of Colorado, getting everything happening in the Atlantic Coast States up to six o'clock; printing it at four. We have more correspondents in this State than any other paper. We have special correspondents in New York, Chicago and Washington. We print all the news there is, including the market reports for the day, and we send out our papers twelve hours before the morning papers. "The claim that any other paper can steal our news and print in time for extensive distribution is not sustained by the facts. Our first edition is sent sealed to our mailing list. Our four o'clock edi- tion is the first that appears upon the streets of Denver, and it will certainly take any other paper at least one half-hour to reprint our news. When it comes to stereo- typing and presswork we will take even chances with any paper in the field and beat it nine times out of ten. With our two Scott presses, and our one Goss press, we can run off the papers quicker than any other paper here, for after the first ten papers our presses turn out papers in good condition for circu- lation. When it comes to reading matter we print somewhere in the vicinity of sixty columns every day, and never allow the advertising to encroach. " About everyone who takes the Republican or the News in the morn- ing, takes the Times'va.^t evening." Mr. Johnson took me through the building, which is owned and occupied by his paper. Its press- room is open to the street. It has nine linotypes, and its editorial rooms are commodious and modern. Its editor is Mr. L. H. Bickford, who is one of the brightest young journalists of the West. 284 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. The Times is a newspaper and not a political organ. While it is editorially committed to silver, because that is what the Times con- siders best for Colorado, it has not made circulation capital out of the campaign, and has gone steadily on. It has neither lost nor gained in circulation by the outcome of the political situation. It has plenty of good general reading matter, including a woman's department, and is printed hand- somely on excellent paper. It well justifies the claim of being the tea- table paper of Colorado. It is so regarded by the advertisers of Denver, who use its columns regu^ larly and largely. On certain days in the week it carries considerably more advertising than any other paper in the city. Its week day average is as great or greater than the News. The Empire Beyond the Rockies. Important newspapers are not numerous in the Empire beyond the Rockies. But I heard the fame of several that I did not consider im- portant enough to visit. The Butte Montana Miner, a paper of much strength in its region and known all over the West favorably, was one of these. The notable newspapers of the Empire beyond the Rockies are the Salt Lake Tribune and Herald; the San Francisco Examiner, Chron- icle, Call and Bulletin; the Oakland Enquirer and Tribune; the Sacra- mento Bee, the Portland Oregonian, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the Los Angelos Times. The last belongs to the big four of the coast — namely, the Examiner, Chronicle, Oregonian and Times. The Ex- aminer is the New York World of the coast, but enjoys a higher stand- ing. In circulation it leads with 79,000 actual daily average. The Chronicle puts its circulation at 68,- 000, claims that to be the largest in California, and is commonly cred- ited with forty to fifty thousand. The Examiner and Chronicle are constantly in circulation. The Ex- aminer places all proof before the investigator. The Chronicle gives no proof. "We do not need to prove our circulation," says Mr. De Young; " we already get all the advertising there is and as high rates as people can possibly pay. The results we bring advertisers demonstrates our value." The Chronicle is a splendid piece of prop- erty. It has made Mr. De Young a millionaire. In its early days it used to be as wildly Western as California was. But the Chronicle has become conservative. The Examiner costs more to pro- duce than the Chronicle — about 285 286 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. three-quarters of a million an- nually — and earns about $75,000 net. The Los Angeles Times nets $50,000 on an expenditure of a quarter of a million and a circula- tion of seventeen thousand. It has never belonged to the mining-camp order of journalism, but like Los Angeles, has always been of the West-Eastern. The Pottland Oregonian has ab- solutely everything in its field. It is prosperous and powerful beyond competition. The big four will become the big five if the San Francisco Call main- tains its newly gained circulation, exceeding fifty thousand, and succeeds in getting adequate ad- vertising rates — though high rates are not Mr. Shoftridge's aita. The S^h Francisco Bulletin and the Sacramento Bee are among the leading evening papers of the coast. The Bulletin is of the New York Evening Post order of journal- ism, and has had high standing for thirty years or more. Recently, under the management of Mr. Crothers, it has put on an up-to- date appearance, has a new shape and size, and is printed on Mergan- thalers. Its circulation has doubled in a year, and is still going up. It was reaching the 20,000 point when I was in San Francisco. The San Francisco evening papers fight against big odds. These great morning papers, each owned or backed by a millionaire, spend in the aggregate over $150,000 a month for production a;nd have a combined circulation of nearly 200,000. The three papers in the evening field cost not over $30,000 a month to rUn, and have a total circulation of not over 45, 000. In other words, any one of the morning papers in San Francisco exceeds in circulation and expendi- ture all the evening papers, while the Examiner s expenses and circu- lation are double that of the even- ing papers combined. LOS ANGELES. To average advertisers the one hundred thousand population of Los Angeles equals in value two hundred and fifty thousand popu- lation anywhere else. It is a city of beautiful homes. In a city like this one expects newspapers of the best Eastern THE EMPIRE BEYOND THE ROCKIES. 287 stamp, and he is not disappointed — in one instance, at least. The Los Angeles Times is one of America's best newspapers, and is unique in the fact that while being the highest-class newspaper in the West, it has the largest circulation in its territory. I go into details regarding the Times elsewhere, and I quote its editor and chief owner, Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, in the general introduction to this book upon the subject of success in journalism attained without the sacrifice of the editor's highest convictions of right, and the expressing of those convictions under all circum- stances, especially in great crises — a course that Colonel Otis has pursued, even when it meant con- verting the Times building into a shot-gun fortress. Such pros- perity seldom crowns a newspaper as has crowned his. The large advertisers and promi- nent people whom I interviewed in Los Angeles gave the Times a pre- eminent place. It has half to a third more circulation than any paper in the Southwest, and carries more advertising than the other three Los Angeles papers combined. The other Los Angeles papers are not without merit, but they are overshadowed by the Times. The Herald, after divers vicissitudes, has been making claims to in- creased circulation and advertising recently, under the business man- agement of Mr. H. S. Smith. The Record is a one-cent paper of Scripps-McRae affiliation, con- ducted by Mr. Paul H. Blades, who is also owner of the San Diego Sun, and who even has his ambitions fixed on the San Francisco field. He may become a league in himself • eventually. His paper is sold by the boys on the streets with the ^v^-CQ'oX Express, "two papers for a nickel." One of the boys said there was a margin in the proposi- tion at that figure, though the penny is no more known in Los Angeles than it is in San Francisco. The Express is an evening paper edited by Mr. H. Z. Osborne. The present limit of circulation in Los Angeles is about 30,000. The Times has 18,000; the Herald claims, but does not prove, 12,000, an asserted doubling in one year; the Record has about 5500, and the Express swears to 7600. The most complete system of AMERICAN JOURNALISM. proving and stating circulation I have encountered anywhere, except in the offices of the San Francisco Examiner and Sacramento Bee, is the system pursued by the Los Angeles Times. DENVER. Denver is the most beautiful city in America. Its climate and mining resources are famous everywhere. Every- thing is on a broad gauge; people pay five cents for their newspapers; the streets are broad and asphalt paved. Business blocks and resi- dences are spacious and handsome. Even the little houses the working- men live in are solidly built of brick, look comfortable, cozy and not cramped. I should say the workingman in Denver is better off than the middle-class man in most places. There is no tenement- house district, no poverty-stricken "east side." One newspaper pub- lisher said that if I rode through the city I would not be able to find the homes of the lower classes, because there were no lower classes. I found this substantially true. Not even the panic that followed the boom reduced Denver to a level with other cities. People complain of being broke in Denver, but that is only a relative term. There is lots of money there, and there is a great deal more conser- vatism in its use than there used to be. This is a good thing for Denver. It means the new pros- perity that is coming will be more permanent, more substantial than its prosperity of the past. The News has grown very rapidly of late, and has obtained the largest circulation in this field. But any amount of growth on the part of the News cannot hurt the position of the Republican. I do not believe a general advertiser would think of going into Denver without using both of these papers. It is not possible for any one newspaper to completely fill any one field of size or importance, and the rich field of which Denver is the center is no exception to this rule. In the evening field the JiVwwhas been the successful paper for up- ward of a quarter of a century; a dozen competitors have appeared and vanished. The last one lost three-quarters of a million, and then its owners bought the Times. THE EMPIRE BEYOND THE ROCKIES. 289 The Times has a very large cir- culation and a very substantial circulation. It has reduced its price from fifteen cents a week to ten cents per week under the com- petition, assumed or real, offered by the Post since it came under its present management a year ago. The Post has made strides in circu- lation. It is hustling for a gain in circulation, but I do not see how that will affect the Times. The Times has a field distinctly its own, and if it cultivates that field it will remain as valuable as it is to-day; it will increase in value. The circulation of the Denver newspapers is about as follows: The Nezvs swears to 26,000 daily, 32,000 Sunday; the Times prints 25,000 to 26,000 daily; the Repub- lican's owners do not swear to its circulation, but its pressroom re- ports place it at 22,000 daily and 28,000 Sunday; the Post has a cir- culation which its owners claim to be from 16,000 to 18,000. Three of the papers in Denver, the News, the Times and the Repub- lican, charge exactly the same price for advertising. The rates on the Post change from month to month. SALT LAKE CITY AND UTAH. Salt Lake City is the metropolis of five States. To its 60,000 popu- lation should be added the 20,000 of Ogden and the divers thousands of several other places that are sub- urban to it and in which its news- papers circulate. It is a field not overcrowded with newspapers. There are only three — the Tribune, the Herald, and the Deseret News. The Deseret News, the official organ of the Mormon Church, is an afternoon paper with a particu- larly large semi-weekly circulation throughout the State. The Tribune is Republican in politics. It has an average daily circulation exceeding 8000, and a Sunday circulation of 12,000, and a semi-weekly circulation of 3500. The Herald is the Democratic morn- ing paper and under new manage- ment is making rapid strides. For its daily circulation it prints about 4600 papers, and Sunday about 6000; semi-weekly, 6000. The Salt Lake papers have the service of the Associated and United Presses and a large amount of special matter. They are metro- 290 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. politan in make-up. Their impor- tance is growing and their value to advertisers is not duplicatable. They could have much larger cir- culations than they have now and not crowd the field. One reason their circulations are not so extraordinarily high, is the fact that the papers are very high in price. The Herald is $10 a year, the Deseret News, $7.50, and the Tribune, $12. This is entirely a subscrip- tion field; not 1000 papers are sold on the streets of Salt Lake City, except Sunday, when the Tribune sells sometimes nearly 3000 copies, and the Herald 1000. Being clean in tone, respectable and thoroughly accurate in their statements, they command much in- fluence with their readers. No one could attach the slightest suspicion of sensationalism to Salt Lake papers. A sensational newspaper would not succeed in that field. A very large majority of the peo- ple who read newspapers and ad- vertising newspapers are educated up to the kind of journalism that is expressed in the Salt Lake City newspapers. Salt Lake "Tribune." The Salt Lake Tribune is the leading newspaper of Utah, Wyo- ming, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and the western part of Colorado. It is the highest priced paper in the United States — $12.00 a year. It is a paper of very great influence. The abolition of polygamy and the establishment of Utah's fine school system were made possible by the efforts of the Tribune. It has an interesting history. Its editor for the past sixteen years has been Judge C. C. Goodwin. Judge Goodwin is the most eminent jour- nalist in the inter-mountain section. With positive convictions and a fearless fighter, always on the side he believes to be right, he is never- theless personally popular with almost the entire community. The Tribune is owned and managed by Mr. P. H. Lannan, who went into the enterprise to give business strength and editorial freedom to Judge Goodwin's journalistic cru- sade. Mr. Lannan helped the Trib- une to a substantial success that no paper in that section of the coun- try has ever approximated. He is a great admirer of Victor F. Law- son, and his ideas of newspaper integrity are identical with Mr. Lawson's. He believes in one price for advertising space and in known circulation. The Tribune went through many hazardous episodes during the days when it represented the views of the Gentiles as opposed the Mor- mons. So completely was it alone in this work that the management put in a double plant of presses, engines and so forth, to provide against contingencies. Now those days have passed. The causes for which the Tribune contended are accomplished facts. Utah has the best educational system in the coun- try. Salt Lake City has municipal improvements that are famous, and the lines on which the people are 2gi 292 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. divided are Republican and Demo- cratic, with many Mormons enrolled among the regular readers of and advertisers in the Tribune. In fact, the large Mormon advertisers of Salt Lake City accord the Tribune the pre-eminent position it is en- titled to. Mr. T. G. Webber, Superintendent of Zion's Co-opera- tive Mercantile Institution, the largest department store west of the Mississippi River — doing a busi- ness of from three to six millions annually — spoke to me in the high- est terms of the Tribune's circula- tion, standing and influence. In fact, the opposition the Tribune used to meet from the Mormons has been converted into indorse- ment and support. The Tribune is above all a news- paper. When Mr. Lannan assumed its management he largely increased its outlay for telegraphic matter additional to the Associated Press. It has a large volume of special correspondence. It has a hand- some building of its own. It has eight linotypes and two Goss per- fecting presses. Its daily circula- tion—sworn to — averages over eight thousand, and within a small fraction of twelve thousand on Sun- day. Its semi-weekly circulation is thirty-five hundred. This is actual net paid circulation and is open to verification by the Trib- une's books, paper bills and so forth. Judge Goodwin and Mr. Lannan are particularly proud of the political independence of their paper. "The opinions of the Tribunehayt never been bought, can never be bought," said Mr. Lannan to me. " That is what has saved the Trib- une. That is why the Tribune has lived when so many other papers have gone down — lived in a com- munity where two-thirds of the population were opposed to it." The Tribune's one-price policy has been repeatedly proven. In making large contracts with influ- ential advertisers, it has refused to make any concession that is not granted to every advertiser in its columns. The Tribune's pre-eminence in its field is unassailable. Salt Lake "Herald." The Salt Lake Herald is twenty- the circulation of the daily, makes seven years old, but the interesting part of its history dates from May, 1896. It then went under the management of Mr. E. A. McDaniel, representing Mr. R. C. Chambers, who had been the president of the Herald Publishing Company since 1890, and who acquired a managing ownership in the early part of this a total that Mr. McDaniel assures me is greater than the circulation of any other newspaper in the field. The Herald circulation is two- fifths in Salt Lake City— almost entirely delivered by carrier — at ten dollars a year. It is the Democratic newspaper of Utah. Its readers year. Mr. Chambers is a wealthy are the Democrats among both the mining man and one of the owners Gentiles and the Mormons. Up to of the noted Ontario Mine; he was within four or five years the people an intimate personal friend of the late Senator Hearst of California, which probably accounts for the fact that the Salt Lake Herald, the San Francisco Examiner and New York Journal are very friendly in their relations with one another. In May the Herald had a circula- tion of 3500 daily; it now has a circulation of 4600 actual daily average and 6000 Sunday. The circulation of the semi-weekly edi- of Utah used to be divided into Mormons and Anti-Mormons. Now they are divided into Democrats and Republicans, and the old religious lines have been obliter- ated. The strong silver sentiment in that section has been a potent factor in building the Herald's success. Manager McDaniel is presenting an excellent newspaper which is well tion (now 8000 copies), added to appreciated, and there is no other 293 294 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Democratic newspaper in the field. It's hard to see how the Herald can be anything but successful. The principal advertisers of Salt Lake City concede all that Mr. McDaniel claims for the Herald's circulation. They are prepared to pay an advance in its present rates. The mechanical equipment of the Herald is metropolitan. It consists of eight linotypes and a Goss per- fecting press. The news service comprises the complete franchise of the United Associated Press and correspondents from the Western field, aside from special matter fur- nished by a large corps of corre- spondents east and west. The Herald occupies a building of its own. With ,ple.nty of Capital and increasing success this paper is on a firm foundation. Its business policy is thoroughly open and above- board. Mr. McDaniel believes the advertiser has a right to know what he is paying for. The Herald is contemplating the erection of a new building and the purchase of another press. The "Deseret News." The Deseret News is the only evening newspaper in Salt Lake City. It is the oflScial organ of the Mormon Church. It is the oldest paper now in existence west of the Missouri River, having been estab- lished in 1850. It has a semi-weekly edition that has the largest circulation among the Mormon farmers of Utah and surrounding States and Territories, wherever the Mormon people are located. Mr. Freed, the proprietor of the Freed Furniture Company, one of the largest advertisers in Salt Lake City, and a gentleman who has made a careful study of local circulation, said that -the semi-weekly Deseret News was the best advertising medium in Utah through which to reach the country trade. This is conceded to be a fact by all the large advertisers of Salt Lake City. The Deseret News is edited by John Q. Cannon, a son of George Q. Cannon, First Counselor of the President of the Church. It is an eight-page paper, printing the tele- graphic news and a large amount of local matter. It also prints all the official announcements and important sermons of the Church. It has a circulation of about 4400. The semi-weekly circula- tion is 16,000. Owing to the fact that it is the official organ of the Mormon Church, it has a very strong influ- ence upon its readers. Announce- ments in its columns bear to them the hall-mark of reliability. It is liberally patronized by the advertisers of Salt Lake City. It has a field so distinctly its own that no advertiser desiring to get the best results from Salt Lake City and Utah and adjacent country would think of omitting it from his appropriation. 295 Personality in Journalism. I INTERVIEWED Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, editor and chief owner of the Los Angeles Times, on person- ality in journalism, because Colonel Otis is an editor of conviction and character. Colonel Otis' paper is recognized as one of America's greatest newspapers. Colonel Otis is, without question, a distinguished journalist and a distinguished man. He holds that place in the esteem of the nation. He is a fearless journalist. His paper has had many stirring epi- sodes. During the Debs strike it came out absolutely for the up- holding of law and order. In con- sequence it was made the victim of an advertisers' boycott, and of vicious attacks upon the chief and members of his staff. This is but one of countless instances that prove Colonel Otis well qualified to talk regarding personality, independence and fearlessness in journalism. I started the interview by ask- ing: "Is it not true that the public likes a strong personality in journalism ? " THE POWER OF PERSONALITY. "Yes, the public is prone to fix its mind on the individual who stands at the back of the news- paper. It does not like to regard a journal as without individualism. A journal with a strong personality behind it has its merit in the fact that, first of all, there is a central control. A central control is nec- essary to success. Of course a single individual cannot produce a great newspaper of himself, by his own labor alone; he must gather and mobilize his forces for the carrying on of the daily battle. He must be able to inspire and draw out the best ability of every individual on his staff, and give to each full credit; to secure his best 296 PERSONALITY IN JOURNALISM. 297 work not alone by adequate com- pensation, but by enlisting his heart as well. To manage a great journal is like commanding a great army. Not only are there scores of men employed in the home office, but also a vast army of cor- respondents covering a wide field. In selecting and handling these forces, the managing editor shows his ability. The chief at the head of the paper furnishes inspiration to the subordinates. The man acting under a strong personality feels that his chief knows what he wishes to accomplish and how the end is to be achieved, and this enables the lieutenant to do his work with certainty, confidence and success. Without confidence the newspaper worker loses much of his force. LEGITIMATE JOURNALISM. "One feature of modern jour- nalism which has difficulties, and upon which are based the severest criticisms that are made by a section of the public, is alleged 'sensationalism,' a word that is used rather loosely and without sufficient discrimination by some people. My definition of sensa- tional matter is this: If the action or event described is in itself sensational, if the facts are sensa- tional, then the newspaper is justi- fied in making a sensation out of the matter just in proportion to its importance. The public has a right to all the facts. It is not fair to withhold from the reader who is absent, and has no means of knowing what took place on any given occasion in reference to any certain thing a full statement and description of the occurrence, or to describe it in less graphic language than the incident justi- fies. But, on the other hand, a newspaper that creates a sensation out of that which in itself is not sensational has no justification. It is a practice that very closely re- sembles ' faking.' "Understand me, I make no plea for or defense of sensa- tionalism, as the word is under- stood in its objectionable sense. I speak for truth-telling and im- partiality in presenting facts: I advocate and defend our motto, 'AH the news all the time.' I would have the news columns full, graphic, luminous and always as 298 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. near the truth as it is possible to get in the roar and rush of the world's great daily march. I would make the daily journal " ' A map of the busy world, Its fluctuations and its vast concerns. ' "The principle involved is this: The newspaper is not responsible for happenings or events over which it has no control, but it is responsible for correctly reporting events. A newspaper has no right to create something out of nothing, or to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Such practices bring discredit upon it and upon the profession. When the public is once convinced that a newspaper is habitually and intentionally correct in its work of recording events — it places its confidence in that journal to an extent that gives it almost un- limited power as a molder of public opinion. THE EDITORIAL PAGE. "Necessarily, the recording of events and transactions has almost everything to do with giving the stamp of character, good or bad, to the paper, and fixing its place in the public esteem. I attach importance, not undue importance, to the editorial page; but I try not to make the mistake of supposing, as some editors have been known to do, that the populace is in the habit of rising at an unseasonable hour in the day and Tushing out, en deshabille, to seize the morning paper in order to find out what the editor wrote the night before. The average citizen, like a man of sense, wants to know, first of all, what the news is. The matter of the editor's opinion comes later." INDEPENDENCE VS. NEUTRALITY. "What is definition of indepen- ent journalism? " " Independence is not neutral- ity," he replied. "There is a wide difference between the two." "Have both a place in journal- ism?" " Undoubtedly. While I myself could not conduct a neutral journal, not being ' built that way ' — I rec- ognize the fact that there is a certain demand for newspapers that will present both sides of all public questions, and take no atti- tude editorially on either side. The very large circulation of Victor PERSONALITY IN JOURNALISM, 299 F. Lawson's Chicago Daily News and Chicago Record demonstrates this truth conclusively. His jour- nals are independent to the point of neutrality. On the other hand, there is a great demand — greater now than ever in the history of American journalism — for inde- pendent newspapers that will take a firm stand in every great crisis and upon public questions, in accord- ance with the editor's convictions of right." " Do you believe we are reacting from the ' mechanical ' stage of journalism to the Horace Greeley stage? " "Yes." " Do you believe we are to have fewer and better papers in the future?" "Undoubtedly." The Influence of Newspapers. Mr. William Mitchell Bunker, has been subordinated to sensa^ the editor of the San Francisco tional news, but that the decline of Daily Report, is an earnest believer editorial influence is more apparent in the editorial page and journal- than real." istic influence. He has used his paper to effect the advancement of California and San Francisco, and in recognition of his services was made chairman of the State De- velopment Committee and also of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce and other public and semi-public bodies. He has led the fight in California for a competing railroad with such success that the road is actually being built, and has done many other things that demon- strate how much can be accom- plished by a newspaper. When in San Francisco I interviewed Mr. Bunker on the subject of editorial influence. " Do you believe the editorial page has declined in interest and influence? " I asked. "I believe that the editorial page " Then you are not a believer in sensational journalism?" DEFINING SENSATIONALISM. "It depends upon your defini- tion of sensational journalism. If you mean hysterical and freak sen- sations I certainly am opposed to it, and will further say that I believe that it has nearly run its course. The limit of filth and extravagance in that line has been reached, and there will be a reaction, based not so much on public condemnation of the class of news as upon the revi- val of common sense." "Then you do not believe the sensational newspapers to be the newspapers of the future." " Emphatically, no! " "What do you believe will be the 300 THE INFLUENCE OF NEWSPAPERS. 301 character of the great newspaper of the future? " "The great newspaper of the future will tackle live issues in a sen- sible and scientific way, and with the aid of specialists, masters of their subjects, will arrest public attention and influence the public mind." " On what do you base your con- clusions? " INCREASING INTELLIGENCE. " My conclusions are based on the fact that people, as a people, are growing more and more intelli- gent and the increase of general intelligence will demand and make profitable better and stronger journals." "Has it been your experience that this kind of journalism meets with success at the present day?" " A newspaper may be brisk, bright and buoyant without being sensational, and may give all the news without posing as a censor of public morals, and a newspaper which takes this course wields an ever increasing influence and achieves a business success." "The Report is an instance of that? " " I think I may say the Report is a striking instance of legitimate newspaper success. It has never been sensational, and yet its worst enemy has never called it slow. It has always had a policy. It has always had a mission. I do not mean a mission in a moral sense, because I do not believe a daily paper is meant to work moral reforms. Such reforms may result from its work in certain lines, but such is the peculiar nature of the newspaper business that the moment a newspaper takes on a strictly moral tone it is very natu- rally and very justly viewed with suspicion." " Isn't this especially true in San Francisco? " Mr. Bunker leaned back in his chair and laughed. He hesitated before replying. SAN FRANCISCO NEWSPAPERS. "The newspaper men of this city were born and partially edu- cated in the East, and while they may still retain some of the charac- teristics that have caused harsh comments on Eastern journalism, they have as a rule grown broader and reached for a higher ideal in the Golden West. The newspapers 302 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. of San Francisco are sui generis. This city is isolated and cosmo- politan, and in all that goes to make the fluff and flutter of social life, differs essentially from any other city in the United States. Dion Boucicault used to say that there were only three cities in the United States competent to criti- cise a play or performance — San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. When he made this statement in Boston he named Boston first. San Francisco is broad in an intel- lectual sense, and its breadth is always remarked by impartial and independent visitors." WHAT THE PAPERS DID FOR SAN FRANCISCO. "What influence have the San Francisco papers had on San Fran- cisco?" " The San Francisco papers made Golden Gate Park possible; the San Francisco papers purified the social atmosphere of the place in the days of '56; the San Fran- cisco papers prevented the railroad company from grabbing Goat Island; the San Francisco papers forced the construction of a com- peting railroad; the San Francisco papers have on several occasions relieved destitution in the city; the San Francisco papers have built hospitals, and to-day the San Fran- cisco papers are widening the foreign commerce of the city and stimulating local development. These are only a few of the many material results of San Francisco journalism." " Do you believe that a sensa- tional newspaper can also be an influential newspaper?" INFLUENCE AND SENSATIONALISM. "Again the definition of sensa- tionalism comes to the front. A newspaper may exploit legitimate sensations in such a way as to wield great and beneficial influence. The cartoons of Nast, for instance, in the Tweed case, were certainly sensational, and in the late cam- paign there were many sensational cartoons that certainly had a strong and salutary effect on the public mind. If a paper aims to make a dent in the public mind it often finds it necessary to put a scare head on an article that of itself is not sensa- tional in a flash way, although inherently sensational, because if the ordinary heading were used the THE INFLUENCE OF NEWSPAPERS. 303 ordinary reader would pass the article by." " Do you be-lieve the publication of crime increases or diminishes crime? " " As a rule it has little effect one way or the other, as far as I have seen. If a paper makes a point of printing criminal news in an offen- sively prominent way, heads of fatiiilies either give it up, or see that it does not reach their little ones. I do not think the publica- tion of criminal news feeds crime to any material extent." " Do you think it helps circula- tion?" HORACE Greeley's reply. "Many years ago, before my time, a woman reader of the New York Tribune and a personal friend of Greeley wrote a scathing letter to him on account of a report of a murder trial, finally asking him if he intended printing more reports of the same kind. His reply was, ' Madam, the question is not whether the Tribune will print reports of this murder trial, but whether the Tribune will continue to be a newspaper. The Tribune will continue to be a newspaper.' All depends upon the manner of giving the news. Let two reporters write accounts of a trial, and one account will be clean and clever and the other will be coarse. The news itself is all right. It is the method of giving that news that makes the difference. Take the dramatic stage for illustration. Some actresses, essentially quiet and refined in private life, eschew some characters from the fact that they are unequal to a wholesome representation of the parts, whereas other actresses, breezy in private life, are the essence of refinenient on the stage. In the matter of printing criminals news, very much depends upon the style in which it is done." " Mr. Bunker, have y6u found that it is possible to gain influence in the commercial, financial and industrial World by any other than journalistic methods?" I asked this question because Mr. Bunker has made his piper a power among the class of people I refer to, and his own place among them has been recognized in his appointment to the chairmanship of the citizens' and commercial Committees that have in hand the energetic enter- 304 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. prizes by which California and San Francisco are to be developed to an approximation of their oppor- tunities. PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR NEWSPAPERS. " If the people be satisfied that a newspaper is honestly working for the public good, they will support that paperin any reasonable under- taking to almost any amount. If the people be satisfied that the editor or publisher of a paper in advocating a public or semi-public measure is not selfishly trying to promote his own interests or those of the paper, they will rally to his assistance and stay with him. If I am emphatic in my statements in this respect it is because of my own varied and satisfactory experience with the citizens of San Francisco. When the Report started the relief fund in 1889, the people came for- ward with thirty-two thousand dollars in less than thirty days, and again in 1893, to meet pressing want, they again came forward with ninety-two thousand dollars, and again, when the Report agitated and demonstrated the necessity of extending our foreign commerce, the three great commercial bodies of the city appointed a committee and sent a special commercial representative to Japan. Show the people the paper that is working for their best interest in a material sense, and they will back it hand- somely." "Your work for the competing railroad illustrated this? " "Yes. When the Report began its great fight for a competing rail- road, the people, recalling previous experience with papers in this State, very generally thought the Report would be bribed, bullied or broken inside of six months, and they said so plainly. The other papers abused and ridiculed the Report, caricatured its publishers, in some instances had the impudence to say that we already had competing roads, referring, of course, to the several roads controlled by the Southern Pacific. As the months and years rolled by and the Report shouted for a competing railroad in season and out of season, the public gave it their confidence and sup- port. I am free to confess that that confidence and support made the daily Report what it is to-day. I were an ingrate if I failed to make proper acknowledgment." The San Francisco ''Examiner." The San Francisco Examiner is the leading newspaper of the Pacific Coast. I was unable to find any adver- tiser in San Francisco who would discount this statement or give it any less circulation than it claims; an actual daily average of 77,203. This is the paid circulation after deducting all copies that go to employees, post office, Wells- Fargo's exchanges, files, advertis- ing, charity, returned by railroad, news agents, and Eastern hotel samples and unsold. This state- ment appears at the head of the Examiner s editorial page and is sworn by T. J. Flynn, head book- keeper of the Examiner office. It is the exact statement for Septem- ber. Each month's statement is printed in the same way. A SUPERFLUOUS INVESTIGATION. paper publishers of San Francisco state that they believe the Ex- aminer s circulation statement to be correct, it seems almost super- fluous to verify it by an investiga- tion. However, I satisfied myself on every figure by a personal ex- amination of the Examiner's books and paper bills. I called on Mr. T. T. Williams, the business manager, and Mr. W. R. Hearst's personal representative. Mr. Williams called in Mr. Flynn and Mr. W. F. Bogart, the cashier, and directed them to let me see anything I wished to in the Ex- aminer office. I called for the monthly balance sheet for 1895 ^"^ 1896, showing the actual cash received for circula- tion and advertising and the expen- ditures for different departments. PAPER BILLS SUBMITTED. When all local advertisers and I found the paper bills to average the majority of the other news- about the same this year as last, 305 3o6 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. while the number of pounds con- sumed was greater in 1896. Mr. Williams explained this by stating that he paid less for paper now than formerly. To verify his paper bill he gave me an order on Mr. Johnson, the manager of the Wil- lamette Paper Company, author- izing me to see the Examiner' s account, which, by the way, runs an average of eighteen thousand dollars a month. The Examiner's advertising re- ceipts averaged forty per cent, and its circulation sixty per cent, of its gross receipts for a period of the past two years. I verified the receipts by going back over the cash book for a period of four years and examining the yearly balance sheets for that period. The Examiner shows a gradual steady growth during the past six or eight years. EFFECT OF THE CAMPAIGN. Having examined the yearly statements to note whether there had been an increase or decrease from year to year, I again exam- ined the monthly balance sheets to see whether the campaign had an appreciable effect on the. Examiner' s circulation. There was a slight increase above the normal growth of the paper during the months of silver excite- ment, but not enough to affect the yearly average, for what was gained did not equal over five or six per cent, of the total and part of it fell off again in November, leaving the figures on the steady basis that is the Examiner' s pride. The falling off appeared in the daily reports from the circulation department. These reports give the exact number of discontinu- ances each day with a cause for each. MORE "gains" than "LOSSES." The "gains" appear on the same sheet and a balance is struck between the two. I went through a stack of these reports covering every day in 1896. The gains days exceeded in number the loss days, and the totalized difference gave the Examiner a net increase of several thousand copies. The falling off after election was about two thousand, which is less than the number gained during the THE SAN FRANCISCO " EXAMINER." 307 campaign, which s€ems to have left the Examiner with a net gain in spite of the Republican victory. "These reports are made daily for our information and for the direction of canvassers in their work," said Mr. Williams. "We have every discontinuance investi- gated. When a man stops the Examiner one of our representa- tives calls upon him and asks the reason why. If it's not on account of removal— in which case the account is merely transferred to another route — but if it is on ac- count of politics or because of a contemporary getting our sub- scriber away from us, or because of any one of many reasons that leave a chance for us to regain our subscriber, we have our canvasser call upon him monthly for several months, and then at longer intervals afterward, until we either have him back again or give him up as a hopeless case. We really lose very few subscribers. People who get into the habit of reading the Ex- aminer are not apt to get over rt. Another thing — our readers sub- scribe by the month. Thus if a subscriber happens to g^t excited over something that appears in the Examiner he has a good chance to get over it before his subscription expires, and the chances are he will keep right along with us after he has 'cooled off.'" THE ROUTE BOOK. I then examined the route books. There are forty of them. I added up the averages of each route for October, '95, October, '96, and June, '96, to see if there was much or any fluctuation, and I went through a good many individual accounts for several months in the past two years. Then I went through the cash receipts from these routes. I found the fluctuation compara- tively small and the increase steady. I then took up the question of price. I averaged the price paid by each route carrier, ranging from six cents, in districts of large terri- tory where subscribers are few and scattered and cost of delivery is comparatively heavy, to eleven cents for largely populated and easily distributed districts. I found the boys pay an average of ten cents and a half a week for the Examiner, selling it at the uniform 3o8 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. price of fifteen cents per week in- cluding Sunday. It sells for five cents a copy on the streets, daily and Sunday, but the street sales are so small the Examiner manage- ment lays no stress upon them. RETURNS UNDER ONE PER CENT. The boys pay for their papers weekly. There is no return privi- lege. The return privilege is limited to railroad news agents and Eastern hotels. It amounts to less than one per cent, of the total cir- lation — the smallest percentage of returns I ever encountered. I verified the carriers' circulation of the Examiner from the press- room to the money in the bank and then went through the agents' accounts, verifying them by the same method. Agents are dealt with very rigorously on the ques- tion of payment. Mr. Williams has the reputation of being a very close collector. He states that he would have not met with one dol- lar's loss in 1895 but for the flood in Portland, where he remitted three hundred dollars to an inundated agent. The mail circulation of the Examiner is not much over six thou- sand. (The agents' and carriers' system covers practically the whole area of the Examiner's circulation and renders Uncle Sam's system almost superfluous.) I went over the galley proofs of the mail list — all paid in advance with a separate book- for the "stops," who are notified a week before expiration. Then Mr. Williams took me to a room he is very proud of, where he had all the galleys of the daily mail list taken down for me to add them up, prove them or measure them in any way I wished. I made two computations of my own and veri- fied the galley proofs. Incidentally he showed me the galleys containing the names of eighty-eight thousand people who are paying a dollar and a half a year each for the Weekly Examiner. Returning to Mr. Williams' office, I examined the daily pressroom and distribution-room reports for the past year. They are kept on a most minute check plan that keeps Mr. Williams apprised of the work of each press, each pressman and each distribution clerk. LIMITED PRESS FACILITIES. " Our press facilities are the smallest, compared with the number THE SAN FRANCISCO "EXAMINER." 309 of papers we print, of any paper in America," said Mr. Williams. "We have three Hoe double-sup- plement presses that we run from twelve o'clock midnight till nearly seven in the morning, printing our sixteen pages in two parts and beginning to run our thirty-two page Sunday paper on Friday, in order to make connections. We have had an order in for three Hoe quadruples for over a year and a half and we have already dug a fifteen-hundred-dollar pit for one of them, but Mr. Hearst has quietly appropriated them for the Journal as fast as Mr. Hoe has completed them; even making us send him a color press he ordered for the Ex- aminer after it had actually been shipped to us. Mr. Hoe hasn't been able to more than supply Mr. Hearst, and we have had to suffer. We are hoping to get in some new presses as soon as the Journal gets through cornering the press market. We haven't even been able to get the freak typesetting machine Mr. Pancoast devised and the Mergen- thaler people made." "What's a freak typesetting machine?" "Sets type any width up to two columns and a half. Mr. Dodge's people made one for the Examiner', but as soon as Mr. Hearst saw it he corraled it for the Journal. We did succeed in getting our lino- types." " How many ?" "Nineteen, and two or three more on the way." FIFTY PER CENT. IN AND ABOUT 'FRISCO. This was incidental to our circu- lation discussion, which I continued by asking what percentage of it belongs to San Francisco and Oak- land. Mr. Williams let me figure it out for myself, and I found the Examiner reaches eighty per cent, to eighty-five per cent, of the dwell- ings Occupied by other than China- men — thus making approximately fifty per cent, of the Examiners circulation in San Francisco and suburbs. I asked Mr. Williams if he hadn't pretty nearly reached the limit of local circulation. "We don't think so," he replied. "We are gaining all the time. But that doesn't help us any with the local advertisers. They are already 3IO AMERICAN JOURNALISM. paying us as high a rate as they think they can stand. But we want more circulation for its own sake. This is a newspaper that considers its circulation more important than its advertising. Our circulation pays us ten thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars more per month than our advertising does. I don't think you will find that ratio true of another newspaper in the country." THAT TEN-THOUSAND-DOLLAR PROPOSITION. Mr. Williams called my attention, as we were closing the investigation of th€ Examiner's circulation, to the standing offer made by Mr. Hearst-t-o pay Mr. de Young, the proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle, ten thousand dollars if he could prove on an examination of the Examiner's books that the Examiner was not stating the exact truth or if an examination of the books of the Chronicle proved the Chronicle to have the sixty-eight thousand the Chronicle claims. " I will pay you one thousand dollars, Mr. Archer, if you can get the opportunity to examine Mr. de Young's books." Mr. Williams added, "I believe you can tell in twenty minutes whether Mr. de Young is telling the truth or not. The questions you have asked me convince me you know how to get at the truth regarding newspaper circulation. If you investigate the Chronicle' s circulation I will believe any statement you may make re- garding it. The local advertisers that know a thing or two are paying for Chronicle space on the basis of forty-five thousand circulation. They can't get paid for any more than that by those who figure out results. Now if Mr. de Young has any more circulation than that, let him prove it to you, and we of the Exatniner will accept your state- ment as final! " CIRCULATION CHARACTER. Later in our interview, I asked Mr. Williams about the character of the Examiner s circulation. " We go to the ordinary people," he answered. "We do not cater to the rich. Some of them take the Examiner anyway. We want and we have the people who pay twenty to forty or sixty dollars a month THE SAN FRANCISCO " EXAMINER. 311 rent. We do not want the man who is too poor to pay fifteen cents a week for his paper. The man that's so poor as that is a bad in- vestment. We have convinced the people here that the Examiner is the people's paper," and he dem- onstrated this to me more fully when I cross-examined him on the elements that enter into the Ex- aminer's success. The Examiner spares no expense in making a good newspaper. Its news service costs, in United Press matter and for specials from the corps of famous Journal and Examiner correspondents, more than twice as much as any other paper west of St. Louis. Its art department alone costs about thirty thousand dollars a year. It pays its reporters and editors one hun- dred and ten thousand dollars a year, while its heads of departments draw salaries larger than any paper in America pays with the possible exception of the New York World, Journal and Herald. It does not hesitate to send men anywhere after news, and its scoops over the New York papers, before Mr. Hearst bought the Journal, are history. For instance, when Sam Chamber- lain-, now managing editor of the New York Journal, came in from Hawaii with that interview with Queen Liliuokalani, he was met forty miles offshore by the Ex- aminer tug and printed his story be- fore the steamer reached her wharf. The Examiner was first with the news of the hurricane that sunk the American warships at Samoa. But of this and many other things we talked when Mr. Williams took me to drive through Golden Gate Park out to the Cliff House, showing me on the way some of the monuments to Examiner philanthropy and public service. For instance, the "Little Jim" Hospital for Incur- ables and the Free Eye and Ear Infirmary that were erected from the proceeds of the Woman's Christmas edition of the Examiner in '95, when the ladies of San Francisco took charge, got out a paper entirely their own and cleared twelve thousand dollars — and a school children's edition, entirely edited and conducted by pupils of the public schools, by which eight thousand dollars was netted for the same charity — and to this adding money contributed by Mr. Hearst or raised by Examiner enterprise. 312 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. PHILANTHROPIC ACHIEVEMENTS. " The greatest achievements of the Examiner have been philan- thropic," remarked Mr. Williams. " It has worked for the poor people; it has improved the hospitals; it has helped to develop the beauties of this Park and it has done much to stimulate scholarship in our schools. I think the greatest thing the Examiner ever did was sending a car load of grammar-school chil- dren to stay twenty days at the World's Fair at the expense of the Examiner. The children were selected for their scholarship out of all the schools in California." As we drove through the Park he showed me the wonderful luxuri- ance of rare plants and semi-tropi- cal trees into which a desert sand tract had been converted by a popular and long continued cam- paign in which the Examiner was a factor. JUSTICE TO MR. DE YOUNG. He did not neglect to do full justice to the Mid-winter Fair and the resultant buildings that are credited to the enterprise of Mr. de Young of the Chronicle. As we were driving through miles of beautiful roadway lined by a foliation the details of which, even to the Latin names, were at his tongue's end, he suddenly asked, " Would you suppose it possible to get an advertisement into this Park? " "Hardly!" "Well, that was what Mr. Hearst said when I told him it could be done— but the advertisement has been here several years now," and he drew up his horse beside an in- closure where a big grizzly bear was reposing in state behind a sign that reads "MONARCH." The only California Grizzly now in Captivity. Presented by the San Francisco Examiner. A ONE-PRICE STICKLER. The Examiner is always one price in its advertising rates, it is a stickler for rates, and its every con- tract is open to the inspection of every one of its advertisers. It is independent. It can afford to be. I asked Mr. Williams to tell me the Examiner's history and he began THE SAN FRANCISCO "EXAMINER." 313 with the days before the War when three famous Democratic orators of California owned the Examiner and went stumping the State every year, with their saddlebags full of sample copies of the then weekly, at ten dollars a year payable in advance. They were royally enter- tained, wielded great political in- fluence and made money hand over fist. When Senator Hearst bought the Examiner it was an evening paper with two thousand two hundred circulation, and the twenty-two thousand dollars he paid for it, considering it had no press and no franchise, was a big enough price. But now it is capitalized at seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and earns a fair dividend on that sum. W. R. HEARST AS A JOURNALIST. W. R. Hearst was a young man at college when his father bought the Examiner.' Senator Hearst's idea was purely political in owning the Examiner, but the son was a born journalist. After Harvard and Europe and a few months spent in studying the New York papers from aa inside point of view, the young man took the Examiner and proceeded to spend money gener- ously but effectively; in a way that his friends regarded erratic, to say the least, and made Mr. de Young of the Chronicle laugh at "the boy journalist," in his editorial columns; deriding his balloon ascensions, his voting contests, and the other manifestations he made of metro- politan ideas. "But Mr. De Young ceased laughing a few years ago when he found Mr. Hearst had passed him in circulation," said Mr. Williams, "and since then he has never ceased trying to make the public believe Mr. Hearst's circulation is overrated. Whether it is or not you have had the opportunity to judge for yourself. Mr. Hearst is the best newspaper man I know of. He has the rare ability to pick his men. He knows the value of news. He has a broad grasp of the whole situation in journalism, and he is a general who. knows how to handle his forces. Attaining a circulation of five hundred thousand with the New York Journal in less than a year is proof enough of that." "Mr. Hearst's methods are 314 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. called sensational," I suggested, in order to draw Mr. Williams out. WHAT SENSATIONALISM IS. "That depends on what you call sensational. Sensationalism is largely a matter of type — of head lines, display, illustrations. The most eminently respectable news- papers in this country at times print matter that the so-called sensational newspaper would never dare to print — but the so-called respectable newspaper escapes un- criticised because it does not look sensational. When Mr. Hearst spent five thousand dollars for that Dunraven letter it was called 'enterprising journalism' — simply because it was a case of yatching. If he spent five thousand dollars cabling the details of a Whitechapel murder, it would be called sensa- tional journalism. Yet the number of people interested in yachting is not a hundredth of the number of people interested in the crimes which occasionally startle humanity. Mr. Hearst believes a newspaper's success depends on its printing the news uppermost in public interest — printing all possible about that news and illustrating it. The public is hungry for news of startling and unusual events — a highway robbery, a shipwreck, a hurricane, a revolution, a national election, a Dunraven letter, a Whitechapel murder — and it wants all the news it can possibly get. Mr. Hearst gives them all the news he can gather. He does not create the news. He is not respon- sible for it. He does not distort it. He believes in being perfectly un- biased and truthful. He gives the public what the public wants." "Doesn't he consider the ques- tion of journalistic influence?" MR. Hearst's personality. "He is unconsciously an influ- ence for good. His ideas of justice and charity, of art and education, are almost ideal, and are con- stantly working out through his paper. He does not preach or pose — but his papers are an elevat- ing influence. His character is the embodiment of refinement, cour- tesy and kindness. Only a few months ago he spent thousands of dollars trying to save the life of one of his staff, and to-day one of his THE SAN FRANCISCO " EXAMINER." 3IS men is returning to work in ro- bust health, restored through Mr. Hearst sending him to the moun- tains for a long vacation. The acts of charity that are his are without number but not heralded by him. In his personal habits he is remark- able. He neither smokes nor drinks. He does not care for society or the friendship of dudes. His heart and soul are in his work. " Mr. Williams told me many interesting things of Mr. Hearst, especially his marvelous modesty. " He will come in and say to any of the clerks ' If it is not too much to ask, Mr. So-and-so, would you kindly make me up a balance sheet. ' " Mr. Hearst is not running newspapers for personal or political advancement. He aspires to no office and will indorse no man for office. The Examiner is edited for the people and not for the politi- ticians. " Mr. Hearst is very particular about the cleanly character of our advertisements. I go through every medical ad that is sent in and reject all containing objection- able words. We reject as many medical advertisements as we accept. Probably thirty thousand dollars' worth a year. We are the only paper in the country that edits Lydia Pinkham's beautifully written announcements while Paine's Celery Compound calls us the greatest cranks in the United States." The San Francisco "Chronicle." The San Francisco Chronicle is thoroughly respectable and sub- stantial. The advertisers of San Francisco accord it the position given to the Chicago Tribune in the Middle West. The Chronicle has the finest newspaper building in San Francisco. It is centrally and conspicuously located and towers many stories above surrounding structures. There is no other news- paper office west of the Mississippi River that impresses one with such a sense of success. PRINTING FACILITIES. The Chronicle's press facilities are the best on the coast. It has a Hoe quadruple and two Hoe double supplement presses. This gives it a ca,pacity of seventy-two thousand eight-page papers per hour. It has a battery of nineteen lino- types, in a well-lighted composing room. Its art department is con- ducted on a liberal plan that makes the Chronicle's illustrations equal in merit to the illustrations of the best papers anywhere. In its editorial departments are features which well express the life study Mr. de Young has made of newspapers and newspaper offices. The rooms are arranged to give each special writer, each depart- ment and each editor an apartment of his own. There is a reception room for visitors. Mr. de Young's private office is sumptuous. It is filled with curios reserved by him from the Mid-Winter Fair, the suc- cess of which is credited unani- mously to him. Mr. de Young's special pride is the Chronicle's library and special reference and biographical departments. For over a quarter of a century he has 3i6 THE SAN FRANCISCO " CHRONICLE." 317 been perfecting a system which is so far beyond that used by any newspaper I have yet encountered that it deserves a detailed descrip- tion. A SPLENDID REFERENCE SYSTEM. The library contains only refer- ence or historical books, and information likely to become iraiuable at some time to the Chronicle. On any subject of im- portance which the paper may be called upon to discuss, it has copious reading matter and illus- trations clipped from the leading daily, weekly and monthly periodi- cals. These are kept in tin boxes, each box labeled. For instance. New York City has five boxes which contain everything of general information regarding the city, its buildings, its schools, its streets, its taxes, its government, its history, its historical features and points of interest. There are five more boxes devoted to the State of New York. Every State in the Union, every country in the world, is handled on a similar plan; while the State of California and the City of San Francisco have scores of boxes devoted to their diverse interests. The record of crime, which embraces only information regard- ing men who have actually been convicted, is so complete that the police frequently come to Mr. de Young for permission to refer to it. The biographical department, covering the important people of the whole world, is conducted on an equally adequate plan, with from one to a dozen pictures of each prominent person the paper is likely at any time to discuss. This is supplemented by a cut depart- ment where the plates of all the important pictures the Chronicle has ever printed are kept indexed for instant reuse INDEXED FILES. The files of the Chronicle are indexed by a card system, with dif- ferent colored cards for diiferent years. The cards are kept in a set of drawers, the departments in which are labeled to correspond with the subject treated. When one desires to see what has been said on insanity by the Chronicle at any time during the last ten years. 318 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. referring to the box labeled "In- sanity " he finds a collection of cards, each giving the branch of the subject treated of, the issue in which the article appeared, the page and the column on the page. These cards reach back three or four years. Beyond that the index is by another system which the Chronicle has discarded. Any member of the staff wishing information regarding any subject on which he is writing refers to the librarian, who immediately pro- duces everything that there is in the Chronicle s library touching upon that subject. The reporter or editor does not go personally to the files, which are guarded by two or three young men who are expert librarians, and who are employed exclusively in clipping, filing away and indexing. The Chronicle has additionally an iron vault where it keeps its most valuable documents. EDITORIAL SYSTEMATIZING. everything that is going on — up- stairs and down. He knows just when every plate leaves the stereo- typing room, when it is put on the press, when the press starts, and how long it runs — exactly how much money is paid each employee in each department, and for what — each compositor having his work carefully checked and each artist having his picture space measured up regularly. I asked Mr. de Young at the beginning of our interview to tell me how he secured his ideas of journalism. "I have been a student of journalism from my very boyhood," he said. "I was the owner, with my brother, of this paper at seventeen. I was pro- prietor of two other publications before that. I studied journalism through my own experience and the experience of others. I studied the New York Herald, as a great newspaper. I Jstudied suc- cessful newspapers wherever I could get a chance." The Chronicle is run in every starting the "chronicle." department upon a businesslike plan which enables Mr. de Young "We started this paper with to keep very closely in touch with twenty dollars borrowed capital. THE SAN FRANCISCO " CHRONICLE." 319 My brother and I thought there was a field for a dramatic weekly. We figured with a local printer, who said he would print our paper for sixty-five dollars a week. He de- manded twenty dollars' security on the first week's bill. We went to our mother's landlord and induced him to loan us the twenty dollars. "With this we started the Dramatic Chronicle. We dis- tributed it free at noon, in all the restaurants, to each guest at each table. It contained dramatic news and advertisements. It had sorne other news and plenty of skits on public officials and people around town. This made everybody read it. Then we distributed it at night at all the theaters as a programme. We used to go around after the theaters were out and gather up all the copies that were left, and that were not soiled too badly, iron them out and mail them to hotels along the coast. In this way we got a double circulation for our advertisers. In those days I used to fold papers, set type, deliver papers and solicit advertising, aside from getting out the paper. Our office was the ' Bohemian Hospital,' of San Francisco. MARK TWAIN AND BRET HARTE. "Mark Twain and Bret Harte wrote for us, as did lots of other geniuses, without pay or asking pay. Mark Twain wrote his ' Car- son Appeal' letters from our office. We had a great deal of talent on our staff. Bre'c Harte was then a clerk in the Mint. He used to come over and hand in his copy to me very much as if he were afraid I would not accept it. With the talent that was lying around loose, and our persistency, we gave the Chronicle its start. "The Dramatic Chronicle was the most persecuted paper that was ever published. It thrived on persecution. STILL IT GREW. "It kept growing, and people kept sending us in money from the city and all over the State, asking us to deliver it at their homes. Capitalists offered to put up the money to start it as a daily newspaper, but we said no. We were making money. We made a thousand dollars a month, and living at home, we were able to 320 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. put nine hundred and ninety-eight of it in the bank and keep it there. "We scored several big news scoops in those days. We were the first paper to publish the assassination of Lincoln. "Once there was a prize fight between Tommy Chandler and Dooney Harris. The fight was to be pulled off up the State some- where, but the police interfered, and then they announced that they would have the fight somewhere on San Francisco Bay, but kept the exact spot a secret. They arranged to have a steamer leave the wharf in San Francisco at a certain hour and take the crowd where they could see the fight. We figured out every possible point on the bay where the fight could come off and sent a man there on horseback, and we hired the fastest yacht on the bay. "Meanwhile we had gone to the telegraph company and obtained a letter stating that the paper that filed its copy first should have right of way. We followed the steamer, and as soon as it landed and while they were preparing for the fight we had handed our letter from the telegraph company to our man who was waiting there on horse- back, and a book entitled 'Youat on the Horse.' "We gave him the story of the first three rounds and he dashed into the telegraph office in Oak- land, showed his letter to the oper- ator, sent what we had of the fight and then began sending the book. When the other reporters came in with their stories we had the wire. When the operator would receive additional news from our reporters he would interpolate the book with the news. Clear through the fight, and for some time after it was done, we thus held the wire. We got out an extra that was bought by the thousands — and not another paper in the city had the story till long after we had sold every copy we could print. This was when our paper was only the Dramatic Chronicle. Three years and a half from the birth of the Dramatic Chronicle we announced in our contemporaries (September i, 1868) the publica- tion of the morning, evening and weekly Chronicle, all at one fell swoop. We had so much adver- tising the first issue that we had to turn away several columns. We THE SAN FRANCISCO " CHRONICLE.' 321 had a book filled with subscribers before we started. We grew steadily and strongly from the first." A FAMOUS FIGHT. "We had many fights. The most interesting one was our cam- paign for the new Constitution. All the corporations in the State organized and raised a campaign fund of $600,000. We had in- dorsed the new Constitution be- cause it had features distinctively in the public interest. The cor- porations employed the machinery of the Republican and Democratic parties in the city and State, and bought advertising in large amounts in every newspaper in California except the Chronicle. They tried to bulldoze and they tried to bribe, but they could not budge the Chronicle. We put speakers in the field to stump the field at our expense. "Long before election many of the largest merchants withdrew their advertisements from our columns, and merchants that kept on patronizing us were boycotted. They denounced and threatened in every possible way. Clerks of the big establishments were called to- gether and warned not to take the Chronicle. But our circulation kept on increasing. Before the election they hired every hall in the city except the Pavilion, which was regarded as too large for us to hire. Thus there was not a hall in the city that we could get, except the Pavilion, for any night for two weeks before election. But my brother and I hired the Pavilion. We called in our speakers from the State. We announced a grand mass meeting. The hall was packed — over twenty thousand people, at least. AN EXCITING SCENE. "Judge Terry, six feet six, with a voice like an ox, stood up on the music stand in the middle of the hall and said, ' I stand here as the advocate of the New Constitution.' "He got no further. Pande- monium reigned. Hats were thrown in the air. Men shouted and cheered until they were hoarse, and they went down to the polls and gave us a majority of one thousand in the city of San Francisco, and over ten thousand 322 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. through the State. There has been opposition to the new Con- stitution from that time to this. It came up again in this very last election, but we had established it upon a firm foundation in the be- ginning and it has stood. "After the election we found our circulation had increased thou- sands and thousands, and all the advertising we lost came back to us and on our own terms. We finally built the building now occupied by the Post. With its cut- off corner and its onyx counters it was the journalistic wonder of the West. But eventually it proved inadequate and we put up the building we now occupy; worth over a million dollars, including the ground on which it stands. "The Chronicle was the first paper in the West to break away from the crude ideas of journalism held in those early days." THE FIRST SUNDAY PAPER. " The Chronicle was the first paper in the country to have a literary Sunday edition. There were several papers that had Sun- day editions merely for news, but we were the first to print a large literary number for that day spe- cially. It was this Sunday edition of ours that reduced the price of the San Francisco newspapers from ten to five cents. Ten cents was the smallest coin circulated here just as five cents is to-day. CIRCULATION. " It was years ago that we estab- lished our standing with the people and the advertisers of this field so securely that we have not had to worry about our circulation or our advertising rates since," continued Mr. de Young. "Our circulation is stated at a minimum figure of sixty-eight thousand, which allows for the fluctuation that is inevita- ble in the history of every news- paper. We prefer to give our minimum circulation and keep that figure permanent rather than to state the high-water mark and have to reduce our figures and put them up again each time we fluctuate. I do not believe that a few thou- sand circulation makes any differ- ence to the advertiser. It certainly does not to the advertisers in the Chronicle. They know our value. " Local advertisers have identi- THE SAN FRANCISCO " CHRONICLE." 323 fied their interests with this paper so long they need no argument to convince them of its value. We are not a sensational newspaper, and we do not compete with sen- sational newspapers. We do not think that sensational journalism can make a newspaper that will have a high standing with the thinking people of the community or give advertisers in its columns the value that advertising has in its columns of such a paper as the Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune or the New York Herald" Mr. de Young's services in ad- vancing the interests of his city and State have been widely recog- nized. Like all aggressive men of positive convictions he has made enemies, but even the most virulent of them admit that he has accom- plished apparently impossible un- dertakings, carrying through to success large enterprises such as the Midwinter Fair and the Chron- icle itself, which is one of the few metropolitan newspapers that are making money. His business ability, journalistic genius and indomitable energy are the forces with which he conjures. He ap- plies himself with undeviating devotion to his paper, his property interests and the various enter- prises of which he is the leading spirit. His daily personal pres- ence at the Chronicle office, and his personal supervision of his paper in all its departments, are funda- mental factors in the achievement of an income from the Chronicle alone equaling more than a hun- dred thousand dollars a year, in spite of the increasing expense incidental to keen competition in a field where all three of the prin- cipal newspapers are owned by millionaires, among whom Mr. de Young has the distinction of having made his fortune in journalism. His staff is carefully selected. Mr. J. B. Eliot, his business man- ager, and Mr. John P. Young are men of mature judgment and con- spicuous ability, who have been fill- ing their present position with the Chronicle for fifteen or twenty years. Good service is well appre- ciated and well remunerated on the Chronicle. Mr. de Young's rule is the best men, the best facilities, the best newspaper the field can command. The San Francisco 'Bulletin." The leading evening newspaper It is the New York Evening Post of California is the San Francisco of California. Bulletin. The Bulletin has high The merchants and bankers of standing and great influence with San Francisco regard its financial the best people. It has been the and commercial reports as accurate exponent of good government, prog- and authoritative, and read its edi- ress and respectability for nearly torial utterances with religious half a century. In the Civil War it regularity, was a power for the Union, and in the recent campaign it was the one San Francisco newspaper that undeviatingly supported the plat- form and the candidate that received the ultimate indorsement A GREAT INCREASE. This has given the Bulletin a very substantial circulation among the purchasing classes, which it has of the nation. In fact it was the increased nearly one hundred per first to announce Major McKinley for the Presidency. It was a potent factor in secur- ing for California an overland rail- road and for San Francisco the Golden Gate Park, lower street-car fares, the dollar tax limit and it led the crusade against Chinese invasion. cent, during the two years it has been under the management of Mr. Robert A. Crothers. Mr. Crothers is a Canadian by birth and a lawyer by education. He is a man of scholarly attainments, pronounced convictions and high character. He was graduated from the McGill College of Montreal with the 324 THE SAN FRANCISCO " BULLETIN. 325 highest honors, being first in his class and receiving the gold medal. After practicing law eight years in Montreal he came to California, where he was admitted to the bar, but the management of the San Francisco Call being placed in his hands' by Mr. Loring Pickering, then its owner, Mr. Crothers decided to devote his abilities to journalism. He met with a success that is demonstrated in the fact that the Bulletin has largely gained in popularity, circulation and advertising under his management without sacrificing the high place it has always held in the esteem of the thinking classes. He made the Bulletin very much more of a newspaper in the popular sense of the word; increasing its news service and its size, adding a woman's department, a sporting department and an illustrating plant. He changed it from a blanket sheet to the modern book form, put in a battery of linotype machines, a stereotyping outfit and a pony Hoe. quadruple press, to which will shortly be added still another press of the very largest possible capacity to print the Bulle- tin's growing circulation — a circula- tion that most people in San Francisco, especially the large advertisers, concede to equal the combined circulation of the other evening newspapers. CORRECTING A FALSE IMPRESSION. This position, however, has not been accorded the Bulletin by the newspaper directories, which have indulged in a very palpable over- statement of the circulation of the Bulletins competitors. Out of justice to Mr. Crothers I investi- gated his circulation with the utmost care, going through his paper bills, pressroom reports, route books, agents' book, and cash receipts. I went through the carriers' book first and examined every one of the route reports for a period of eleven months. The Bulletin's carrier cir- culation fluctuated very little during that period. There was a slight decrease in September, which Mr. Crothers attributes to his put- ting all the boys on a cash-paid-in- advance basis at that time. The actual paid carrier circulation of the Bulletin figured 6523. Adding the actual cash street sales brings 326 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the total city circulation of the Bulletin to 10,156. News agents' sales amount to 6732. To this should be added the mail list, counter sales and the free list, which bring the total circulation to ex- ceeding 18,000. The Saturday issue is between 21,000 and 22,000, which increases the average by about 600 copies. The free list is very limited. There is no return privilege, except in the case of one railroad news agent. In fact the rigid policy pursued by the Bulletin cuts down its street sales to the minimum number the newsboys think they can sell. I went through all the figures of the Bulletin' s z\xzvi\.2X\QVL, and then I called for its balance sheet of the preceding month. They furnished me not only a balance sheet of the preceding thirty days, but a de- tailed statement of the preceding ten months, in comparison with the corresponding ten months of 1895, showing the receipts and disburse- ments for each department. VERIFYING THE PAPER BILLS. I verified the paper bill by calling upon the Willamette Paper Co., where Mr. W. P. Johnson, the manager, with Mr. Crothers' per- mission, showed me his ledger account with the Bulletin, covering the Bulletin's purchase of paper for the first ten months in 1896. We figured out the total and it corre- sponded with the figures that appeared on the Bulletin's balance sheet. The Bulletin's balance sheet showed another interesting fact — the increase in the cost of running the paper and the corresponding increase in the advertising and cir- culation receipts. This shows that, after paying all disbursements, the Bulletin makes a profit; a good deal to say, considering the fact that Mr. Crothers' present policy is progress and not profit. He increases and improves his news service, and his mechanical plant to correspond with every increase in the paper's income. He appreci- ates the fact that his paper has the lead in a field where an evening newspaper can easily obtain a cir- culation approximating forty thou- sand. San Francisco is three hours later than New York, and just three hours better off in news- gathering opportunity. There are THE SAN FRANCISCO "BULLETIN." 327 three hundred thousand people in San Francisco, and a million more in California, a great majority of whom are intelligent newspaper readers. THE RIGHT KIND OF CIRCULATION. The Bulletin is just the kind of a paper advertisers appreciate. Its character gives it the standing with the purchasing classes that makes advertising in its columns of more pulling power than mere figures indicate. In other words, if the Bulletin keeps on growing along its present lines, it will attain a very large circulation with the choicest sort of a constituency. It already carries a very large amount of local business, while its foreign advertis- ing patronage is exceeded by no paper on the coast. It gets a good rate — an average of seven and half cents per line. It has a rate as high as any in the city for financial advertising, of which it carries more than any paper in San Francisco. Many important bond sales are advertised in the Bulletin exclu- sively. Mr. Crothers practices the one-price principle, which is one of many respects in which his manage- ment is identical with the policy pursued by the most successful publishers throughout the country. [The following affidavit regarding the circulation of the San Francisco Bulletin has been handed to me, which I publish without comment. — Editor.] San Francisco, Feb. i, 1897. Mr. Charles Austin Bates, Vanderbilt Building. My Dear Sir: The actual num- ber of complete copies printed of the San Francisco Daily Bulletin ior one year from January ist to De- cember 31st, 1896, inclusive, was 6,450,785, BEING A DAILY AVERAGE OF 20,742. The above is a correct report for the entire year 1896, and is made in good faith for the purpose of being placed on file in your ofifice. Thos. F. Boyle, Business Manager, T/ie Bulletin, Subscribed and sworn to before me this i^th day of February, 1897. [l.s.] Jno. F. Lyons, Notary Public. In and for the City and County of San Francisco, State of California. The "Argonaut." The San Francisco Argonaut has such a world-wide reputation that a great many people in other cities look upon it as San Francisco's principal newspaper. It certainly is San Francisco's principal weekly newspaper, ranking among the two or three weekly publications of the United States that have a national standing and circulation. It is a very interesting publication, in its history, its policy, and its contents. The Argonaut \% not a newspaper. It is a journal of opinion, criticism, and literature. Its readers are the thinking classes. Its circulation closely resembles Harper s Weekly. It is $4.00 a year, strictly cash in advance, and on this basis it has a circulation of two thousand deliv- ered by carriers in the city of San Francisco, eleven thousand mail subscribers, and five thousand through the American and San Francisco News Companies, mak- ing a total of eighteen thousand. This eighteen thousand is consid- ered very valuable circulation by the shrewdest general advertisers of the country and by the leading publishing houses. The Argonaut gets fourteen cents a line for its space. Certain heavy advertisers, like the baking powder companies, pay a little more than this for posi- tion ads. The business you see in the Argonaut is the very highest class of general advertising, with a preponderance of book advertising, railroads, steamship lines, cham- pagne, etc. STRONG IN BOOK REVIEWS. The book reviews of the Argonaut are famous. All the principal pub- lishers — The Century Co., Harper & Bros., Scribners, The Macmillan Company, D. Appleton & Co., Houghton, Mifflin & Co. — send it 328 THE " ARGONAUT." 529 all their latest and best books for review and advertise almost as ex- tensively in its columns as they do in the columns of the New York Evening Post. Last year the Argo- naut printed 26,171 agate lines literary advertising matter, and de- voted 311 columns to notices and reviews of new books, publishers' announcements, etc. The Argonaut' s book reviews are the kind that I have long consid- ei-ed the best for the reading public. It gives a resumd of the principal publications and it quotes the works of the leading novelists, like Mrs. Humphry Ward and Marion Craw- ford, in well-selected verbatims that give an adequate idea of the story and the style, whetting the appetite for "more." This takes space, but it makes the best of reading and the best of advertising for novels of real merit. Its editor, Mr. Jerome A. Hart, is a scholarly, incisive writer, with the magnetism that comes from expressing his con- victions without fear or favor. CIRCULATED EVERYWHERE. "Our circulation is in all the principal cities of America and Europe," said Mr. A. P. Stanton, the business manager of the Argo- naut, and one of its owners. " I suppose you will find the Argonaut for sale upon the news stands of every important city in the United States; it is also on sale in both London and Paris. But our strength is in our subscription list. Sixty per cent, of our regular readers are women — the most intelligent, thoughtful women in the world. We know the value of our circula- tion. We charge a high rate and we stick to it. We want only the kind of advertising that can afford to use our columns. This publica- tion is absolutely independent. It has been independent from the first. It has made a fortune, which gives us additional independence." "How did you happen to start the Argonaut V " It was to have a three-months' campaign skylark, and to kill off some political people. This was in 1877. The three original owners were Frank M. Pixley, Fred. M. Somers and myself. The other two are dead, and Mr. Jerome A. Hart is now our principal owner and editor." "Did the Argonaut succeed in killing off its political people? " 33° AMERICAN JOURNALISM. " Yes, it did. One was a United States Senator, whom we retired to private life. Our crusade brought us lots of subscribers and advertis- ing. We found we had struck a gold mine. We were filling a long- felt want, so to speak. We have been filling this want ever since. We don't lose any subscribers, ex- cept by death. " The Argonaut ha.sheen very suc- cessful in all its political crusades. Twelve or thirteen years ago John F. Swift, subsequently Minister to China, was running for Governor of California. The Argonaut was then, as now, an intensely Ameri- can paper, but at the same time its editor was a warm personal friend of Mr. Swift. Mr. Swift, however, feared that \h& Argonaut' s2iAvocd.cy of his candidature might injure him with certain classes of foreigners whom the Argonaut v^^s in the habit of denouncing. He therefore called upon the Argonaut to take down his name from the ticket at the head of its editorial columns. While the Argonaut's editor had been in- terested in Mr. Swift's success, this was too much to endure. He not only took down the name of Mr. Swift, but actively entered into the campaign against him, and, as a re- sult, John F. Swift, although a Re- publican of high standing, was defeated for Governor, and Wash- ington Bartlett, a Democrat, was elected. The whole of the Repub- lican ticket was elected with the exception of Mr. Swift. Even the Republican candidate for Lieuten- ant Governor was elected — Lieu- tenant Governor R. H. Waterman, who subsequently became Governor of California by the death of Wash- ington Bartlett. "Again the. Argonaut shovitA its power when M. M. Estee was nominated for Governor. The Argonaut opposed Mr. Estee vigor- ously, with the result that George Stoneman, a Democrat, was elected Governor, although nearly all the Republican candidates were elected. Still another time M. M. Estee ran, in 1894. Again he was defeated, although every Republican on the ticket was elected from top to bot- tom, with the exception of Estee, the candidate for Governor. This post was filled by Mr. James H. Budd, a Democrat. Therefore, we think that the ^rD-^»fl«^ can surely be considered as a political power in California. "At all events, the Argonaut is THE "ARGONAUT. 331 owned by its owners, and not by anybody else. Its proclivities are Republican and strongly American, and, other things being equal, it favors Republican candidates. It excited the admiration of the lead- ing Republican politicians of the East during the campaign of 1896, when it undertook a brilliant fight for sound money almost alone in the field, for nearly all the newspa- pers of California had been in favor of free silver. They fell into line eventually, but in a half-hearted way, while the Argonaut fought the fight to a finish. It succeeded in getting California to cast its vote for McKinley by about two thou- sand majority; not a large one, but infinitely better than the proof of failure which a Democratic majority would have meant. " During the depression of the last three years a striking proof of the Argonaut's solidity is shown in the fact that it has made no reduc- tion in its advertising rates. It has held its circulation during the hard times, which is most gratifying, and has registered a slight advance. As to its advertising, I must frankly admit that it, in common with that of all the newspapers, has fallen off heavily. But, as our circulation has not fallen off, we have steadfastly refused to lower our rates, as any special or general advertising agent can tell." The San Francisco ''Report." Mr. William M. Bunker, Presi- dent of the Daily Report Publishing- Go., is a three-generation journal- ist, his father and grandfather having been newspaper men before him; his grandfather in Massachu- setts, and his father in California. Mr. Bunker constantly advocates the interests of the people, of Galifornia and San Francisco in his paper. Recognition of his service in this work is shown in his having been elected chairman of the State Development Committee, which is doing so much for California, and also chairman of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, by which San Francisco is establishing more ex- tensive trade relations with foreign countries. In fact the Report, from the time he converted it out of a daily stock report into an evening newspaper, has been con- ducting energetic crusades for public interest. Its cry for over half a dozen years has been "a competing rail- road," and owing to the Report and Mr. Bunker, a competing rail- road is becoming a fact and not a theory. The Valley Road, two hundred miles of which have al- ready been completed, has opened up to the farmers of the San Joaquin Valley communication with ship- ping points at a net saving of from thirty to fifty per cent, in freight. This road is being pushed through to connect with the Atlantic and Pacific, and when in the near future that is accomplished, Cali- fornia will have another transcon- tinental line, which will impel the Southern Pacific to make more favorable rates for the produce raisers of California. MR. bunker's interesting career. But there are many other things of interest in Mr. Bunker's career which come naturally into his life work. 332 WM. M. BUNKER, Of the San Francisco " Report. '" THE SAN FRANCISCO " REPORT. 333 He began his newspaper career as reporter and continued it as city editor, dramatic editor and literary editor of tlie Bulletin. His adventures in several capacities would make an interesting story in themselves. On two occasions he made balloon ascensions, one time being carried 180 miles in three hours. He was war correspondent during the Modoc War when Gen- eral Canby was killed. Once when there was to be a prize fight some- where around the bay, and the people were carried on a steamer to a position half a mile offshore from the place of holding the fight and the crowd was conveyed to the land in small boats, they decided to leave Mr. Bunker on the boat, as the paper had printed on a previous oc- casion the names of the people pres- ent at a prize fight. Mr. Bunker went into the pilot house, took off everything except his undershirt, took his notebook between his teeth, dropped over the side, swam ashore and reported the fight, clad in the altogether. ENLRGY AND ELOQUENCE. He is a man of great energy, physically and mentally. He keeps himself in superb condition for his work by daily athleticism. In fact he. served three years as Vice President of the Olympic Club, is a member of the Bohemian, Press, the Cosmos and divers other San Francisco clubs, but is not a clubman in the leisure sense of the term. He is a gifted after-dinner speaker in great demand, and has personal popularity in many differ- ent circles. The energy he has injected into the Report has made that paper a financial success. Mr. Bunker has at least two hundred thousand dol- lars of real estate in San Francisco, bought with his publication profits. I called upon him at the office of the Rep07-t and had him tell me the story of his success. "When I converted the Report into a daily evening newspaper," he said, "all the morning papers in this city predicted it would not last. But I realized that the hori- zon for an evening newspaper was wider than for any other paper on this coast from the fact that when it is six o'clock in New York it is three o'clock here; when it is four o'clock A. M. in London it is the day- before in San Francisco. This 334 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. is well illustrated in our report of one of the most famous prize fights that was fought, that between Slavin and Joe McAuliffe. By arrangement with the Postal Tele- graph Co., and with the assistance of my friend Mr. Mackay, we were able to print the full details of the fight by special wire running di- rectly, into our office. The fight occurred at four o'clock in the morn- ing in London, we printed an extra containing the full story of the fight at nine o'clock in the evening of the day before. We sold twenty thousand papers and paralyzed the Associated Press. We received ten different dispatches, the shortest time required for transmission from London to our office being 3 minutes and the longest 6 minutes. SPENDS MONEY FREELY. "We have never hesitated to spend money on news or any enter- prise in the interest of the people. This paper is edited in the interest of the masses and is not edited for show. We waste no money in appearances, we put our money into the news, and you will find that though we have been conserva- tive in our expenditures during the past few years we have never scrimped or hesitated to make any reasonable expenditure that would enhance the news value of this paper. " This paper has always had an object. All the other papers in city, when we were starting, were tied up with the Southern Pacific, and some of them are to-day. Nine years ago we shouted for a competing railroad, in season and out of season; at banquets when I was called upon for a speech, and on all other occasions, I urged the necessity of a competing railroad. This resulted in demonstrating conclusively that we were not owned by any corporation, that we were in the true sense of the word the people's paper. "This made us stronger all the time, and is in fact one of the great secrets of our success. We said at first ' we must have a competing railroad,' printing this every day as a side head; then we said 'we will have a competing railroad'; and finally, ' we are building a compet- ing railroad.' The San Joaquin Valley Road is the direct result of the Report's agitation. We at one THE SAN FRANCISCO " REPORT." 335 time, with the assistance of O. D. Baldwin, a millionaire, canvassed the city for a bonus for any railroad that would build west of Mis- souri River to California. We raised two hundred thousand dol- lars for that purpose, but no rail- road came forward to accept the proposition. A WONDERFUL RELIEF MEASURE. many as twenty-six hundred men a day and built twenty-five miles of road and path in the Park. It did not cost one cent to raise and dis- burse this money on either occa- sion. Every cent went to' the men behind the shovels and the com- mittee paid it own expenses. Every paper in the city com- mended the work that was accom- plished by the Report. "In '89, the winter of great rains, when all industries were tem- porarily suspended here and great suffering prevailed among the poor, a mass meeting of citizens was held, and a committee of citizens was ap- pointed to raise funds and provide work. I was elected chairman of that committee in recognition of the work the Report had been doing. In three months we raised thirty-four thousand dollars, gave work to nearly a thousand men a day and built the superb south road in Golden Gate Park. Again in 1893-94 the Report was active in advocating similar means of reliev- ing the distress. At that time I was again appointed chairman of the committee, and we raised ninety- two thousand dollars, employed as A CREATIVE CAMPAIGN. "Our purpose has always been a creative fight: that is to develop the State, create new institutions and stimulate harmonious trade relations between various parts of the State, between this State and other States and other countries. In this work our State Develop- ment Committee traveled twenty- four thousand miles through the State, making addresses at different points. This was done under the auspices of the Half-Million Club, an association formed for the pur- pose of increasing the population of this city to the half-million point. "The Report, ever watchful of the interests of the community. 33^ AMERICAN JOURNALISM. was the first to tell the story of Japanese commercial invasion. We printed a page of the facts. A copy of the Report went to every news- paper in the United States, and Senator Stewart based his Congres- sional billon the facts that the j'P^/c'A-^ had presented. A Bureau of Foreign Commerce has been organ- ized by committees appointed from the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trade and the Merchants' and Producers' Association. We are actively investigating our for- eign commerce with a view to its extension and have sent Mr. W. R. Townsend to Japan in search of trade. We shall now proceed to look after our trade interests with Central America. " The great wealth of this State lies in its food products. We should make a market for them. The better the market, the better the State; and the cheaper trans- portation is, the better for the State. Here is where the neces- sity comes for a competing line. You notice I go back to that point because it is a vital one. The day is coming when we shall see success crowning our efforts. We have already reunited Northern and Southern California, making the two sections feel that their inter- ests are identical." CIRCULATION. I asked Mr. Bunker about the Report's present circulation, and he replied that he wished to make a statement of its circulation at the last possible moment before this book goes to press, in order to get the benefit of the new circula- tion he is securing by energetic methods he is pursuing, in view of revival of business following the election. " I am content to stand upon the rating given us in the American Newspaper Directory, namely, ex- ceeding twenty thousand, but I want a better rating than that in a very short time." The mechanical plant of the Report consists of two Hoe presses and one Scott, the combined capa- city of which is placed by Mr. Bunker at twenty-seven thousand per hour. The Report is set up with four linotype machines, but being a ten- to sixteen-page paper daily,- sometimes twenty-four pages, the linotypes are worked considerably THE SAN FRANCISCO " REPORT.' 337 over hours to do the work. Mr. Bunker's pressroom is open to the public, and being situated on the street level is always accessible. I think there is certainly a great field for the newspaper in San Francisco. The dramatic criticisms of the Report are regarded as among the fairest and most interesting in the country. They are written by Mrs. Bunker, who also edits the Report's Woman's Department. Mrs. Bunker has had flattering offers from New York newspapers. The Report has been the official newspaper of the city and county of San Francisco since 1881 and has been awarded the contracts for the next two years. "As every official advertisement of this city and county must be printed in the Report, it gives the Report a large circulation among property owners, business men, contractors and libraries." The "Post-Intelligencer." Ask anyone in the West, that knows about newspapers, and he will tell you that the Post-Intelli- gencer is THE newspaper of the State of Washington and much territory besides. Outside of San Francisco, there are only two papers on the Pacific Coast that are mentioned in the same breath with it — the Portland Oregonian and the Los Angeles Times. The Post- Intelligencer is as pros- perous a property as the Los Angeles Times or the Portland Oregonian. It is netting nearly as much money as the Los Angeles Times is, and on the expenditure of little more than one-half as much money annually. Its influence and standing cannot easily be overestimated. For in- stance, the largest dry-goods house in Tacoma spends as much money in advertising in the Post-Intelli- gencer, in Seattle, as any house in Seattle does, and more money than this same house spends in the Tacoma papers. "The Post-Intellgencer brings us mail orders from all over Washing- ton and near-by States and brings us direct trade from even Seattle itself," says Mr. Woodruff, manag- ing owner of the People's Store of Tacoma, the firm referred to above. WHERE THE " POST-INTELLIGENCER " GOES. " The Post-Intelligencer reaches everybody in Tacoma, Seattle and all the other principal points, where daily papers are read, throughout the State of Washing- ton," said J. G. Pacey, advertising manager of the MacDougall & Southwick Company, the largest dry-goods store in Seattle. "The weekly Post-Intelligencer has a still more extensive circulation, and through our mail-order advertising in its columns we have built up a mail-order business that has 338 THE " POST-INTELLIGENCER.' 339 grown larger each year and equals one-quarter of our entire business. The Post-Intelligencer is the only, paper that we use. When I say that we do more business each year, no matter what the general trade conditions may be, I have expressed the value of advertising in the Fost-Intelligencer." Every advertiser in Seattle tells the same story. Like all high-class successful newspapers, the Post-In- telligencer is very explicit and out- spoken regarding its policy, circu- lation, etc. INTERVIEWING MR. HOGE. I called at the Post- Intelligencer office for the purpose of getting exact facts about circulation, policy, etc. I interviewed Mr. James D. Hoge, Jr., the proprietor and manager, and Mr. Samuel P. Weston, advertising manager. Mr. Hoge, in age, is the young- est manager of a large newspaper property of this country, but he has a mature judgment, ability and experience. He is twenty-five years of age and yet has been the manager of the Post-Intelligencer four years, and three years before that he had the responsible posi- tion of note-teller in the First National -Bank of Seattle, which gave him that business training which can only come from intimate contact with men and affairs as experienced in banking circles. Mr. Hoge, on deciding to enter journalism, took a course of train- ing in the New York Recorder, familiarizing himself with the busi- ness departments. Mr. Hoge is a member of and secretary of the Executive Board of the Western Associated Press. On assuming active management of the property, he purchased the Seattle Telegraph, an influential Democratic daily, on which $200,- 000 had been expended in a vain effort to make it a successful com- petitor of the Post-Intelligencer. The Telegraph was absorbed by the Post- Intelligencer, which thus secured the morning field for itself. There never had been any danger of the Post-Intelligencer being in- jured by competition, but the purchase of the Telegraph strength- ened its hand. IMPROVEMENTS. Mr. Hoge put in type-setting machines, the first used in Wash- 340 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. ington, and in other ways adopted a liberal, enterprising policy, which has strengthened the circulation, standing and income of the Post- Intelligencer. His plant is com- plete with perfecting presses, stereotyping outfit and illustrat- ing facilities. The Post-Intelli- gencer artist is Arthur H. Lee, formerly of the San Francisco Chronicle, and its etcher is J. M. Knox, also from San Francisco. Mr. Weston is said to hold the advertising of Seattle in the palm of his hand. This is because he is an ad writer, as well as an ad solic- itor, and before identifying him- self with the Post-Inteillgencer, handled the advertising of twenty or more different houses in Seattle. He is the kind of a man that aims to make the advertising pay the advertiser as well as the newspaper, and keeps thoroughly up to date by reading theadvertising publications and studying advertising in other cities, as well as his own. Mr. Hoge and Mr. Weston, answering my questions, said: PROOF OF CIRCULATION. " We are now prepared to prove the circulation of the Post-Intelli- gencer any way you like. Our daily has a circulation of 12,000, at one dollar per month, or ten dollars per year, if paid in advance. It is eight pages, seven or eight columns to the page, according to the demands of our news service. We have the service of the Asso- ciated Press and special corre- spondents all over this State. The Sunday Post- Intelligencer runs an average of 15,000. It sometimes exceeds that very largely, fre- quently averaging 20,000. We put out a special edition on the 3d of January that reached a circulation of 61,000. We shall put out a special edition next month, that will have 30,000 to 40,000 at least. The weekly Post-Intelligencer has a circulation of 18,000 very exten- sively distributed. It is the only paper that goes to Alaska and British Columbia, where it has a circulation of 4000. It circulates through Idaho, Montana and along the Columbia River, in Oregon. In fact, the Post- Intelligencer reaches down to the territory pre-empted by the Oregonian and up into British Columbia. We make contracts on the basis of the circulation we can prove." THE "POST-INTELLIGENCER." 341 ENORMOUS ADVERTISING PATRON- AGE. Mr. Weston called my attention to a comparative statement of the amount of display advertising printed in the Post- Intelligencer, San Francisco Call, San Francisco Chronicle and the Portland Ore- gonian. The Fost-Intelligencer actu- ally leads all the papers on the Pacific Coast, except the Los An- geles Times, in the amount of the advertising it runs in its Sunday edition, that is, the amount of the actual paid space. Mr. Weston is very proud of this showing, as he very justly states it is the true measure of a newspaper's advertis- ing importance. EDITORIAL ENTERPRISE. Mr. Hoge introduced me to Mr. E. A. Batwell, of his editorial de- partment, and I learned from Mr. Batwell some of the respects in which the Post- Intelligencer is a remarkable newspaper from the editorial point of view. Its man- aging editor is Mr. R. C. Wash- burn, nephew of Senator Washburn, and its editor is Mr. C. M. Nettle- ton, formerly of Minneapolis jour- nalism. The Post - Intelligencer employs the best talant in the country and pays good salaries. It spends money generously for specials. It sent Mr. Herbert L. Bruce to Japan to investigate the newly established commercial rela- tions between Japan and America. It sent Mr. Batwell to interview Li Hung Chang, and Mr. Batwell not only succeeded in his mission, but received from Li Hung Chang the Double Dragon decoration, a distinction conferred upon no other newspaper man in this country. The Post-Intelligencer sent Mr. L. K. Hodges as corre- spondent to investigate personally the condition of all the mines in the State, which is a pretty good illustration of the way in which it keeps the public posted on matters pertaining to the prosperity and progress of the great Northwest. SUMMED UP. The Post - Intelligencer may be summed up in the statement that it is one of the important news- papers of this country, completely covering a territory of extensive area populated by the highest class 342 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. of industrious, progressive people, devoted to the development of enormous natural resources — a newspaper-reading people of great purchasing power, and conse- quently attractive to the discrimi- nating advertiser. They like the Fast- Intelligencer well enough to pay a dollar a month for it, the highest price charged by any daily newspaper in the country except one, and local advertisers who pro- test against the high rate charged by the Post- Intelligencer admit in the same breath that their advertising in its columns pays largely. S. B. CARLETON, Of San Francisco "'Town Talk.'' Pacific "Town Talk." Town Talk is a leading literary, musical, theatrical, society and po- litical weekly of the empire beyond the Rockies. It is read regularly by the best people. The advertis- ers of San Francisco use it to reach the rich and cultured. It has three thousand mail subscribers in the city and State, and an additional news- stand circulation of fifteen hundred. I saw it on all the principal news- stands on the coast, and heard it well spoken of by newsdealers, ad- vertisers and readers. In size it is twenty-eight pages, 9^ X 1 3, and each issue contains more or less handsome half-tone engravings. Its editor and proprietor, Mr. S. B. Carleton, is a man of culture and character. He wields a fearless and facile pen, handling vigorously all subjects interesting to his readers. No party or corporation controls his columns. He is outspoken re- garding political corruption and prize fights. Anyone acquainted with Pacific Coast journalism will appreciate the force of this ob- servation. Town Talk is clean, conscientious and courageous. Its success is substantial. It re- cently installed a new Cottrell four- roller, front-delivery press. The press was paid for out of its earn- ings. It is the only weekly in the city owning its own plant. It is printed and illustrated in the very best manner. Mr. Carleton also owns and edits The Sentinel, the official organ of the Supreme Lodge of Knights and Ladies of Honor. The Sentinel has ten thousand subscribers, to whom it is absolutely necessary. 343 The Los Angeles ''Times." The Times belongs to the short success in proportion to their field, list of America's greatest news- or such a lead over their competi- papers. tors. Every large advertiser in It deserves to be mentioned with Los Angeles places the Times the New Vork Tribune under incomparably first, in its own field, Horace Greeley, the Philadelphia and some of them say that it has no Ledger under George W. Childs, the second anywhere. Chicago Times under Wilbur F. "The 7z'/«m is first and the other Storey, the Chicago Tribune under papers nowhere," is the way one of Joseph Medill. the largest advertisers in the city Its greatness is the result of the expressed it. work of Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, "It is the best newspaper west who is one of the strongest person- of the ' Rocky Mountains," said a alities in modern journalism. With prominent citizen of California, positive convictions and indomi- " There are only three news- table will, he would have made the papers on the Pacific Coast that Los Angeles Tiniest, strong news- have paid during the last few years, paper in any event; but, possess- and the T'mM is one of them," said ing, besides, great journalistic a well-known journalist who has genius, a broad grasp of public studied this question from the affairs and a widely sympathetic inside. nature, he has made the Times naX. "The most gratifying thing only a power, but wonderfully about the Times is the fact that it is prosperous. Not more than two a high-class paper that caters only or three newspapers in the United to the best elements in the com- States have anywhere near as much munity, and yet it has very much 344 COL. HARRISON GRAY OTIS, Of Los Angeles ^'- Times." TH^ LOS ANGELES "TIMES." 345 the largest circulation in this field." "I would rather pay $5 an inch in the Times than 5 cents an inch for space in any other paper in Los Angeles," said one of the largest Los Angeles advertisers; "we once ran a card in the Times and its contemporary in order to ascertain the relative value of advertising in each. There was a coupon in the advertisement offering $1 worth of goods for 50 cents to anyone bringing in the coupon. We had 150 replies from the Times and 6 replies from the other paper." "We spend all of our appropria- tion in the Times," said the largest local advertiser in Los Angeles, a firm that does a business of three- quarters of a million dollars, and spends thirty or forty thousand dollars in advertising annually. In fact, most Los Angeles adver- tisers are absolutely indifferent to the other Los Angeles papers. In consequence the Times carries an enormous amount of advertising at exceedingly good rates. It has from 25 to 35 columns of advertis- ing daily, and from 85 to 140 columns on Sundays. Its classified or 'Miner" advertising reaches from 7 to 9 columns daily and from 27 to 35 columns on Sundays. It has printed as many as 1350 "liners ''in a single Sunday issue. For most of its "liners" it gets i cent a word, or about 6^ cents per nonpareil line. For display it gets $1.50 an inch for one-time insertions and about 50 cents an inch for long-contract ads. WELL-SET ADVERTISING. It is only in Chicago and Wash- ington that advertisements are set as well as those in the Los Angeles Times. Its "Fraternity"' compositors have mastered the art of artistic ad-setting. Their work is unique, neat and effective. The Times uses the very latest faces of type— the Jensen old style, for instance. Some of its an- nouncements suggest the best ad- writing of the East. This is strong evidence as to the influence the Times has upon the obdurate adver- tiser, who usually clings to big type. The Times gets up its •' liners ' better than any paper in the country except the Washington 346 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Star. '■'■Brains" frequently repro- duces handsome display advertise- ments from the Times, which abound in originality and artistic effect, yet are never freaky. Of course everything in Los Angeles that is advertisable is advertised in the Times, and anything anyone anywhere else wants to advertise in Los Angeles — which is a pretty good place to advertise in, since it has doubled in population in six years, and expects to have a clean quarter of a million by 1907. A METROPOLITAN NEWSPAPER. The Times suggests the best dailies in the largest cities. It has a very complete news service — the Associated Press and a great deal of special correspond- ence. It prints from 10 to 16 pages daily, set on t2 Mergenthaler machines. It is printed on a Hoe double insetting press — the "Old Guard " — and on a special press, the "Columbia," built by R. Hoe & Co., for the Times. The "Columbia" prints either 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 pages, each size at a single operation, insetting and pasting the supplement sheets. It has about the best ink distribution of any press I have ever seen. It does beautiful work inconsequence, the letterpress and the cuts show- ing up clear and clean. Colonel Otis has a fashion of giving names to his favorite machines, and would no more think of omitting this pleasant task than of failing to name his babies. The T'mw battery of linotypes bears the following striking names: "The Vanguard," "The Wizard," "The Eagle," "California," "The De- fender," "E Pluribus Unum," "Maid Marian," "El Hombre Viejo," "Nancy Hanks," " Yo Tam- bien," "Angelena," "Fin de Siecle." The Times runs a daily summary of the news on the first page, the same as the Philadelphia Ledger — but briefer. It did my heart good to see the headings in the Times. They vary in length and conspicuousness to suit the news, and there were not too many of them. The Times is a paper that feels sure it will be read. Its headings do not give one the impression that people would skip part of it if it were not for the Gothics. On the other hand it THE LOS ANGELES " TIMES." 347 does not assume that the reader is so vitally interested in everything that appears in the Times that he will search for it with a magnifying glass. It's easy to find what one wants to read in the Times. Its news is kept in the same places right along. WELL ILLUSTRATED. The Times has an art plant of its own. Its artists do good work. On occasions such as anniversaries, Midwinter and Midsummer edi- tions, etc., it uses beautifully litho- graphed covers in original designs. The Times occupies a centrally located, substantial three- story building. It is almost unique among newspaper buildings, inas- much as it is used for no purpose except the editing and printing of the Times; and also in the fact that it has been wholly paid for. It is a complete newspaper establish- ment, up to date in everything. It has a double press plant, engines, dynamos, boilers, etc. The Times is owned by a stock company, of which Colonel Otis is the president, and Mr. L. E. Mosher the vice president. In the absence of Colonel Otis on a trip East, I interviewed Mr. Mosher, who is in charge upstairs and down, when his chief is away. INTERVIEWING MR. MOSHER. Mr. Mosher is the business man- ager and the dramatic critic of' the Times. He has carried the duties of the latter position with him through his promotion. He was formerly, for many years, with the Southern Pacific Railroad, a fact, however, which is not apparent in his treatment of Mr. Huntington's interests. While I was in Los Angeles Mr. Mosher was working earnestly to defeat the Southern Pacific's efforts to secure a govern- ment appropriation for that com- pany's private harbor at Santa Monica. Since then these efforts have failed, the deep sea-harbor having been officially located at San Pedro, the Government site and the people's choice. Mr. Mosher is quiet, unostenta- tious, genial, very much like Mr. Seymour of the New York Evening Post, Mr. Noyes the Washington Star, Mr. Montgomery of the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Sief of the 34S AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Kansas City Star. He is very- much to the point in discussing cir- culation, advertising or the policy of the Times. THE BOOKS ARE OPEN. "Are you willing I should verify your circulation by your books?" I asked. "Certainly. You may see any book in this office. The more you analyze or verify our circulation, the better it will please us. Our books are always open to the in- spection of advertisers." Mr. Mosher called my attention to the detailed statement of the Times circulation, made daily in its own columns. It is the most com- plete circulation statement made by any newspaper in the United States. It occupies three-quarters of a column. It gives the total number of copies circulated each week and the daily average. Under about 50 subheads, it shows just how many papers go each day in the week to every town or news agent that takes over 20 news- papers daily, and it summarizes 86 other towns that take in the aggre- gate about 700 copies of the Times daily, and it gives the names of 86 towns. It asks the advertiser to verify these figures by inquiring of any of the news agents any- where. It also tells how many- papers go to the newsboys, the news companies, to California sub- scribers and to Eastern subscribers. It prints the affidavit of the superintendent of circulation and the affidavit of the pressman. The pressman swears to how many copies are printed each day in the seven. It quotes the law, which makes it a penal offense to misrepresent cir- culation for the purpose of obtain- ing patronage. Then it says " The subscription price of the Times is invariably 75 cents per month. No class nor clique is furnished it at a lower rate. No copies are given away, and no unwilling readers are sub- sidized to take it. "The net daily average paid cir- culation of the Times is equal to twice that of any other Los Angeles paper. Sworn statements of net paid circulation are made monthly." NET AVERAGE CIRCULATION. "Sworn net average daily cir- culation for the twelve months of 1895—15.1"- THK LOS ANGELES " TIMES." 349 " Sworn net average daily circu- lation for twelve months of 1896 — 18,091. " An increase of nearly twenty per cent. ; double the circulation of any other Los Angeles daily." The Sunday Times is a twenty- eight to thirty-six page paper. It contains much very interesting general reading matter; its miscel- lany is particularly good. The same is true of the daily. In fact, the Times is one of those papers that print the news and a great deal more than the news, but never distort the news nor enlarge upon it. COLONEL HARRISON GRAY OTIS. Colonel Otis came to the Times well equipped for achieving large success. For twenty years he had taken a deep interest in public af- fairs. He served gallantly through- out the war, the last year of it in the same regiment with Major McKinley, the famous Twenty- third Ohio, and it was there he won his spurs, having been twice brevetted "for gallant and meritorious services throughout the war." He has to his credit fifteen engagements, two wounds in battle, and seven promotions. Af- ter the War he was in the office of the Public Printer at Washington as foreman of printing; subsequently in the Patent Office for five years as the chief of a division, and later was appointed by President Hayes Special Agent of the Treasury De- partment to take charge of the Seal Islands of Alaska, which important trust he discharged during a period of three years. Just prior to this he edited the Santa Barbara Press. He has shown his eminent qualifications to fill acceptably the position which he holds as editor-in-chief and chief owner of one of America's best newspapers. Los Angeles was not an exten- sive community in those days — 1881 -'82. The Times was a potent factor in its growth, but the Times has grown faster than has Los Angeles. I don't mean to say that it has outgrown its field, but it certainly has so thoroughly filled it as to leave no room for competi- tion. COLONEL OTIS AS AN EDITOR. Colonel Otis is one of the most outspoken, positive men in this 350 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. country. He has never been known to strike his colors. He is a great fighter. He has bitter ene- mies and he has warm friends; the latter vastly outnumbering the former. The Times under his editorship has had many stirring episodes. It had to contend with strikes of union printers, and, on account of the position it took during the Debs insurrection in '94, aroused hostile feeling among certain classes to such an extent that its carriers were assaulted and their papers taken away. Although strongly Republi- can, it does not indorse local nomi- nations unless it believes that by so doing it can best serve the interests of the public. The Times has always been a strong influence in national cam- paigns, and did much for President McKinley's cause in the recent election. Colonel Otis has fre- quently been mentioned promi- dently for public honors, and official recognition would be no more than a just reward for his long and con- spicuous services to his country and his party; but, like a born journalist, he sticks to his post of duty rather than wander off in search of public honors of less dignity. The Times has never attempted to gain readers or popularity by cheap methods, but it has done much for Los Angeles. It recently led off in a local movement by which nearly six thousand dollars was raised for a newsboys' home. I questioned Mr. Mosher about the probability of the paper ever being reduced in price. ' ' You can say that the Times sees no occasion to make another reduction in price. We reduced our price from 85 cents to 75 cents a month, a year ago, but even that was unnecessary. I believe the reader should pay for his news- paper. It is not right to ask the advertiser to make up the deficiency that inevitably occurs in the sub- scription end when the paper is sold at too low a price. The peo- ple are perfectly willing to pay 5 cents for a good newspaper — or an average of 2j^ cents a copy to regu- lar subscribers — in any city in this country. They do not expect a high-class, complete newspaper for a penny. That is particularly true in Los Angeles." San Jose Herald. Between San Francisco and Los Angeles the San Jos6 Herald is the leading evening newspaper, in a field peculiarly rich. Last year Santa Clara county received $7,000,000 for its products — more money earned from the soil, proportionately to the population, than anywhere else in America. Coming into San Jos^ through the Santa Clara valley you see the great fruit-growing district, the floral beauty and the cozy homes of its people — about everybody owns his own home, paid for on the installment plan. A home-owning population is a newspaper-reading, advertisement-responding popula- tion, and this accounts for the sup- port given the Herald — enabling it to have its full Associated Press reports, a new Goss perfecting press, good ink, good paper, eight pages of local and general news daily and a good staff. I think the Herald compares favorably with the San Francisco evening papers. The population within five miles of the San Jose City Hall is 35,000. In the valley there are 75,000. These people have steady incomes and live on the nothing-less than- five-cents basis, shown in their well-appointed garden-surrounded homes, their broad streets, elegant business and public buildings. The Herald is almost entirely subscriptionary by carrier or mail. It covers the homes of the intelli- gent and the well to-do. It does not fluctuate. The way it is looked at by local advertisers who know it well is shown in its advertising columns, which carry a large amount of small ads — such as cards of physicians, lawyers and banks, ad- ditional to all the local advertising and such foreign business as the Gorham Manufacturing Company, Royal Baking Powder: then, too, a column of good foreign business that has been with the paper a good while, some of it twenty years. The amount of local business is far 351 352 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. beyond the ordinary in character and amount. There are no ads of an objectionable character in the Herald. It works for the best interests of San Jose and has sev- eral municipal reforms to its credit. It is peerless in its editorial inde- pendence. The circulation of the Herald is variously stated in the directories and in controversy. Mr. H. H. Main, the Herald's manager, left me to judgefor myself the circu- lation and nature of his paper — stat- ing that he was willing to stand or fall on the verdict I would reach by comparing his paper with the best evening paper in San Fran- cisco (the Bulleti?i), by its standing in San Jose and the estimate it is fair to make of its circulation. A circulation of 3500 is very large for a thirty-five cent a month paper in a population of 15,000 voters or 75,000 people. I do believe the Herald has all the circulation it can reasonably be credited with on that basis. It is an old-established paper that enjoys the esteem and respect of the community. It has cast its influence on the side of the right-thinking. It has made no mistakes in policy to cut down its circulation — or impair its standing. It has practically no competition in the rising field, and everyone is the rising field. The Duplex Mergenthaler for Small Offices. I HAD an opportunity to observe the operation of the Duplex Mer- genthaler Machine for small offices in the office of the Stockton (Cali- fornia) Independent, an associated press paper, which, printing the full service daily, gets out eight pages daily and maintains the leadership in the San Joaquin Valley. It has two Duplex Mergenthalers running day and night. The answers that Mr. J. L. Phelps, the president of the J. L. Phelps Co., which owns and publishes the Independent, made to my questions will interest the publishers of other papers in places where like condi- tions exist. ' ' We were advised by people who had bought Mergenthalers to buy only one Duplex, but I investigated the matter pretty thoroughly and decided to put in two and to chang the font as well. We have put pica on one of our machines for legal work, and our operator on pica will do as much on the machine as four men with hand composition. In printing the register of voters we set all of the names — eight thousand five hundred — on the machine and also a large part of the register of voters. We took those names which we had in the slugs in twenty ems measure and laid them away. Two years from now when we reprint the register we shall draw out those names and use eight thousand of them without cost. This is merely the cost of keeping the metal standing. "There is no kind of book work we can't do. We have all the ap- paratus for it. We have all the measures for different widths of columns. We set the nonpareil or minion bodies. "There is a bug-a-boo about metal, but we doctor our own metal, enriching it from time to time. We h^ve never had a particle of trouble with our metal, and at no time in 353 354 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. the nine months we have run the machines have we stopped five minutes. With two operators we average eight thousand minion ems every night of eight hours. In that time we have never been late to press and have never had a mis- hap from reason of any fault with the machines. With a very little help from an expert machinist and operator we have made our matrices last nine months and they are good for two months longer. In all that time we have broken but two space bands. We haven't worn out one. The Mergenthaler people supply their customers with all the im- provements they have for the better working of the machine. They got a pot balancer for taking the jar off the machine which mini mizes wear and noise. They fur- nish that to papers free of cost. We put one on our machines yesterday. " Many people tell you it is not economical to run one or two machines. But I know a newspaper plant where there is one machine, and it has never missed a day. I think they get out one daily and two or three weekly papers. But it is in the hands of a competent man. " We believe in good operators. There is not an office in the State that pays their operators more and probably not as much as we do. We pay one of our men six dollars a day. The breakages on our machines have not amounted to ten dollars in nine months. The machines are better to-day than the day we bought them." "How much do you save over hand composition? " "We are not saving any money from the fact that we have increased our facilities. We are giving our readers twice as much reading matter as we ever gave them before and we are doing it at half the cost of composition for the same amount of matter. It is possible to make the machines pay for themselves in two years — estimating on the basis of a plant like ours — and largely increase the news service." " Have you examined into the merits of other typesetting machines?" " I know these suit us exactly and we are very much pleased with them. If there is anything wrong with them we would have found it out in this time. " On the night of election we had the returns from every precinct in THE DUPLEX MERGENTHALER FOR SMALL OFFICES 355 this county and we set the table up on the machine. There wasn't a type in it. We were so proud of this that we sent a copy to the Mergen- thaler Company." Mr. Phelps showed me the table. It was a big job. It took only half the operators' time and the paper was not delayed a moment. "Of course you know the advantage of anew dress," continued Mr. Phelps. "We have a new dress every day. We set many of our advertisements on the machine as well. It costs us fifteen dollars a day to run our two machines. We set eight thou- sand ems with them and have them for use for any kind of job work that presents itself." "How many different kinds of type areyou using onyour machine?" "Three at present, nonpareil, minion and pica. You can use as many as you have money to buy. We are going to put in several other fonts to complete our equipment for job work, so that we can set any kind of straight matter that comes into the ofifice. The average life of a font of matrices is six months where they are used every day. With perfect adjustment of the machine, such as we have been able to have, matrices can be made to last nearly a year." " How much do the matrices cost?" " Thirty-five dollars per font, "The credit for the long life of our matrices is due to our expert, who has kept his machines in per- fect order." The Fresno ''Republican." I FIND the Fresno Republican ad- mittedly one of the leading news- papers of Central California. Business Manager William Glass informed me that everything and anything pertaining to the stand- ing of the Republican was open to my investigation. I asked him for the history of the paper, and he said : "The Republican was started in 1876 as a weekly, by Dr. Chester Rowell. Dr. Rowell was then and is now a practicing physician, with probably the largest practice in Central California. He was and is an ardent Republican, and although at the time the. RepublicanviSLS estab- lished, Fresno County was almost solidly Democratic, his personal popularity was such that his paper gained friends and subscribers from the start." "It is, then," I said, "a strictly party paper. '' "It is," responded Mr. Glass, " thoroughly Republican in its prin- ciples; at the same time it is inde- pendent and fearless in defending the rights and interests of the peo- ple. It is dignified, and its course on all public questions has brought it many friends. To-day it can honestly boast of being one of the most potent influences in the State." " Am I to understand," I asked, "that the Republican claims the largest circulation in the county that is overwhelmingly Demo- cratic? " " Since the establishment of the paper," said Mr. Glass, " many new settlers have come into Fresno County, and the politics of its people have undergone a change. Twenty-one years ago there were very few Republicans in the county. To-day, nearly all the city and county officials are of that party." "Exactly where," I queried, 356 THE FRESNO " REPUBLICAN." 357 "does the Republican claim to stand in regard to circulation? " "The Republican." said Mr. Glass very emphatically, "has the largest circulation of any news- paper published in the great San Joaquin Valley. It is delivered every morning except Monday by mounted carriers, over a territory extending in some directions fifteen miles from Fresno city, to the vine- yardists and orchardists living in the colonies which surround Fresno; and the people in the neighboring towns of Sanger, Clovis, Selma, Fowler and Madera are thus sup- plied with news before breakfast." "What," I asked, "about news service?" " The Republican," Mr. Glass re- sponded, "takes the full Associated Press dispatches and prints an average of five columns imported telegraphic news in each issue. It gives the local news in full, and is admittedly the best local paper." "Who is the editor?" "It is edited and managed by J. N. Short, an independent and conservative writer of considerable influence in this community. A. J. Waterbury, a writer of note on the Pacific Coast, is on the editorial staff. R. M. Mappes is city editor. The paper is owned and conducted by the Fresno Republican Publish- ing Company, of which concern Dr. Chester Rowell is the president, F. H. Prescott, vice president, and William Glass, secretary." Typographically, the Republican is above the average of newspapers in minor cities. I found Mr. Glass, a man who has had many years of newspaper experience in California, always in the business office. I found the business management of the Republican enterprising and pro- gressive. Mr. Glass claims for the Republican that it is in the lead of all the other papers in that sec- tion as to standing, circula- tion, influence and advertising patronage. Its claims appear to be in a very great measure justi- fied by the facts. The Butte "Miner." The appearance of the Butte Miner is all in its favor. Wherever I saw it, and I saw it all through the Rocky Mountain West, it im- pressed me as a paper of distinctive excellence. I like the paper it uses, the ink, press-work, and make- up. There is nothing cheap about it. The advertisements in its col- umns bear evidence of expertness. It looks like a substantial, well- supported newspaper. I asked two men whom I met on the Northern Pacific going through to Chicago, to compare the Butte Miner with the Anaconda Standard. One of them said the Miner was more metropolitan in appearance. I found that he was from Chicago. The other man thought the Stand- ard was more of a newspaper, and I found he was from Tacoma. Before I reached Butte of course I heard all about the Miner's back- ing, and the interesting episodes in its history, especially that campaign in which Mr. W. A. Clark, the multi-millionaire who backs the Miner, used it as a fighting force with which to defeat the Anaconda Standard' s crusade for moving the Capital to Anaconda. On this oc- casion Mr. Clark and other promi- nent citizens of Butte, Helena, and other parts of the State, raised a half million, which they spent in a six months' campaign. During this crisis the circulation of the Miner was steadily about thirty thousand a day, and its press was running night and day. Just now the Miner's circulation is alleged by its manager, Mr. M. M. Miller, to average six thousand two hundred per day. MR. miller's statement. Mr. Miller, who is an enterpris- ing manager, asserted that the Miner was by far the more valuable advertising medium for the city of 358 THE BUTTE " MINER." 359 Butte for people who desired to reach the purchasing classes, more especially the families. " In that section of the city where the better classes live, the circulation of the Miner is twice that of the Standard." He said, " In the section of the city occu- pied by the employees of the Ana- conda Copper Mining Company, — this company also owns the Ana- conda Standard, — the circulation of the Standard is double that of the Miner. The standing and value of this paper we want you to find out for yourself. Interview the lead- ing advertisers of the city. We are willing to stand or fall by what they say. Some of them do not advertise in our paper at all, for instance, D. J. Hennesy, whose store is owned by the company that owns the Standard. See M. J. Connell & Co., Courtenay, Case & Gravelle, the two largest advertis- ers in the city. See the Parchen- D'Acheul Drug Co. See Hight & Fairfield, John Caplice Co., Gans & Klein, O. K. Lewis & Co., Kennedy Furniture Co., Good Luck Shoe and Clothing Co., and anybody else you want to. That is the sort of evi- dence we stake our reputation on." I followed Mr. Miller's sugges- tion. I have quoted in my in- troduction some of the things advertisers said. The Miner s advertising manager is Mr. Henry D. Bushnell, widely known in the advertising world as a bright writer and designer of ad- vertisements. He has had a thor- ough training in the business and artistic side of his work, in Wash- ington (D. C. ), Spokane, Portland, Seattle and Butte. AD-WRITING DEPARTMENT. " I have found the advertisers of this city enterprising and dis- posed to appreciate enterprise," said. Mr. Bushnell. " The Miner established a department of ad writing under my management, for the purpose of helping our adver- tisers every way we can. We be- lieve it pays us to make advertising pay the advertisers. We put in new type, we hire good composi- tors, and embody the best our mer- chants know about their business and about advertising with the best we know about making advertising profitable. "You will notice that we are 36o AMERICAN JOURNALISM. carrying a pretty large amount of business," and he called my atten- tion to an average of twenty-five columns per day and more than that Sunday. It looks pretty nearly as good as Chicago advertising. It is easy to make advertising look well in a newspaper like the Minei-, but the Miner's advertising does not encroach upon its reading res- ervation. The Butte Miner is an eight and ten-page paper weekdays, sixteen pages on Sunday, seven columns to the page; making the Miner sixteen columns larger on Sunday than any paper in the State. It is printed on a Cox Duplex press, with a ca- pacity of thirty-six hundred papers per hour. It is set on linotype ma- chines. It has the full service of the Associated Press and special correspondents at important points. It has a good local staff. It is edited by Mr. J. M. Quinn, whose ability and personal popular- ity have contributed largely to its success. Mr. Quinn is mentioned among the foremost editors of the West. The Sacramento ''Bee." In California, a State supporting statements were consequently re- iio daily newspapers, I found but freshing and satisfactory. a scant half dozen of the more "I am glad that you are right here important dailies willing to state on the ground, "said Mr. McClatchy, their circulation in exact and defi- "and am more than glad to furnish nite figures, and not all of these you or any other person full and were willing to show me freely and ample proof as to the character and without reserve all their books and amount of our circulation." other documents in support of their ",From what I have heard in claims. Sacramento, I understand, Mr. Mc- Among the few papers that gave Clatchy, that, like the Washington me every possible aid in pursuing Post and the Indianapolis News, my investigations was the Sacra- mento Bee. On my visit to Mr. V. S. McClatchy, the business mana- ger of the Bee, I found him more than willing to assist me in every way in ascertaining the circulation of the Bee, and the character of its circulation. The publisher of the Record- Union, Sacramento's morning paper, had refused to give me access to his books or any satis- the Sacramento Bee appears to be delivered in about 90 per cent, of the houses in town." "The percentage is not quite so high as that, but over three-quar- ters, or 75 per cent, of all the houses in Sacramento, receiving any newspaper by carrier, are pay- ing subscribers to the Bee. One- half of all the houses receiving any paper by carrier, take no news- paper except the Bee.' ''How many copies are thus factory proof of their claimed cir- culation. Mr. McClatchy's frank delivered to actual subscribers? 361 362 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. "The last time we counted, we found that out of the 6101 occu- pied houses in the city, 3484 received the Bee by carrier." " Surely, 3484 is not the total amount of your circulation? " "No, sir; that constitutes but one-half of our entire circulation. The balance goes to the newsboys and newsdealers and the subur- ban and train routes and outside agents and our regular mailing list. We pride ourselves, however, par- ticularly upon the extent of our carrier circulation at home and the number of homes reached, because every paper so delivered is care- fully read by from three to six per- sons, each one of whom may fairly be supposed to be an admirer of the paper. The advantage to the advertiser of space in a paper so read, in contrast with the benefits derived from papers sold on the streets or cars and then thrown aside, is apparent without explana- tion. The average daily circula- tion of the Bee during 1896 was 6747, as appears from the detailed statement sworn to and on file in our New York office of the paper, 230 Temple Court, in charge of Mr. E. Katz." " What class of people receive your paper by means of carriers? " " Our Subscription Block Book shows that the Bee goes to the finest homes and the best class of people." " Pray, what is your Subscription Block Book? " A NOVEL IDEA. "We invented in 1890 the idea of a Subscription Block Book, or Subscribers' Directory. This is practically a Block Book of the entire city, made after careful can- vass and showing at a glance every house in the city, with its street and number, name of occupant and the daily papers received at such houses by carrier. The last Direc- tory, made one year ago, shows, as I have already told you, that three- quarters of all the newspaper sub- scribers in town take the Bee. The accuracy of our Subscription Block Book is fully verified by affidavit." When I analyzed the carrier route figures given me by Mr. Mc- Clatchy, I found many valuable suggestions. For instance, in January, 1896, only 8 per cent. THE SACRAMENTO "BEE." 363 of the houses and stores in Sacra- mento were vacant — a very small percentage, considering the ex- treme financial depression. The number of houses in the city has steadily increased, as shown by the Block Books, from 5699 in 1893 to 6635 in 1896, and the Bee's circu- lation has steadily kept pace with the increase. As already stated, of the total of 6101 occupied houses and stores in the city 3484 receive the Bee. That is to say, three-fourths of this 4610 houses receiving by carrier any local newspaper get the Bee every day, and pay for it. Still again, of the 4610 houses and residences receiving a local daily by carrier, while there are 3484 that get the Bee in this man- ner, there are 2jji that receive no paper but the Bee. Consequently, the occupants of 2351 buildings in Sacramento — say from 10,000 to 12,000 people — cannot be reached by an advertisement unless it be placed in the Bee. And these 10,000 residents, as can be seen from the route books, are equally distributed among all classes and conditions of people. If adver- tisers want to reach these 10,000 buyers they can do it only in the paper which reaches at the same time three-fifths of all the city's population. Further investigation showed the great superiority of the Bee as a circulating and advertising medium,_ not only locally, but in all the adjacent territory. The circulation of the Bee in a great portion of its Congressional District (the Sec- ond), outside of the City of Sacra- mento, was second only to the San Francisco Examiner. The Second Congressional District comprises 15 counties and 162,000 population. The Bee's outside circulation, in comparison with that of other newspapers, is shown by a record which is kept of the condition of the routes of all the Sacramento and San Francisco daily newspapers in the towns adjacent to Sacra- mento. THE "bee's" advertising PATRONAGE. The Bee, having, as already demonstrated, the greater quantity and better quality of circulation in its own district, necessarily takes first rank as an advertising 364 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. medium. The Bee's rates are the highest in Sacramento. Notwith- standing this, a comparison of one year's record of the Bee and the Record-Union, shows that the Bee carried 117,837 advertisements within the year as against the 78,895 carried by the Record- Union. This means that the Bee is publishing 50 per cent, more general advertising than, and twice as many " want ads " as, any other local paper. The steady increase in the advertising patronage of the Bee shows beyond question that the paper pays its advertisers. The Bee was founded in Febru- ary, 1857, which makes it next to the oldest daily newspaper in the State. James McClatchy became editor of the paper within a few months after its start, and shortly after became one of its proprietors. He is, therefore, generally looked upon as the founder of the paper. After his death, in 1883, his two sons, the present managers, became the exclusive owners; Charles K. McClatchy acting as editorial manager, and V. S. McClatchy as business manager. Under the able management of Mr. V. S. Mc- Clatchy, the Bee has always been up-to-date in its mechanical equip- ment,, being the first evening paper in the State to put in a stereo- typing plant, and has always kept up with all lines of progress in the newspaper field, literary and mechanical. ALDEN J. BLETHEN, Of the Seattle '•^ Times.'' The Seattle "Times." One of the neatest and newsiest newspapers west of the Rocky Mountains is the Seattle Times. Typographically, it leaves little to be desired. Editorially, it is force- ful but dignified. I think it is one of the newsiest papers that I ever found in a city of sixty-five thou- sand population. In enterprise and rapid progress it rivals the Queen City of the North Pacific, in which it is published. In 1881 Seattle had a population of 4000; to-day it has a population of 65,000, is the commercial metrop- olis of the State of Washington and controls the trade of Puget Sound and Alaska. The Seattle Titnes is an old paper, being in its fortieth volume. But of late years it has grown as rapidly in circula- lation and advertising patronage as the Queen City has in population. Its editor-in-chief is Alden J. Blethen. Mr. Blethen is one of the most forceful and facile edi- 365 torial writers in the country. His opinions, as expressed in the columns of the Times, are widely quoted as representative of the convictions of the people of the North Pacific. In Seattle the Times has the reputation of always advo- cating the best interests of the people, regardless of party and politics. As a consequence, the story of the paper has been one of constant growth. The business manager of the I'imesis Mr. C. A. Hughes, formerly the business manager of the Post- Intelligencer. I asked Mr. Hughes if the Times had any circulation secrets. "That," he said, pointing to the upper left-hand corner of the front page of the daily Times, "doesn't look much like it." In the space pointed out I found the following announcement dis- played: "The actual circulation of the daily Times yesterday was 8013. 366 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. See circulation statement on p. 4." Turning to p. 4, 1 found a detailed statement of the Times circulation for each day of the previous week. Continuing, Mr. Hughes said: "If any advertiser desires to know the exact circulation of the Times, to-day, yesterday, last week or last year, he is at liberty, and is re- quested to come to the office and make a full investigation. We will thank him for doing so; no guess- work, no claims — just facts and figures — everything proven. The Times' daily circulation is larger than any other daily in the State. There is no guesswork about it. Here is a detailed statement, con- taining the complete circulation story of the Times for the twelve months ending December 31, 1896." At this point Mr. Hughes handed me a printed circulation statement, showing the exact circulation of the daily Times for each day during the year named. The statement showed that the Times' circulation during that year was 1,880,742 papers. That is a daily average for the year of 5989 copies. The average for the last six months in 1896 was 6841. The average for the last three months in that year was 7794 copies. This statement is sworn to by Mr. Hughes. In the matter of advertising, the Times compares favorably with the big dailies of New York City. Mr. Hughes said to me that the pres- sure upon its columns was becom- ing so great that it was only a question of a short time until he would be forced to advance his rates as a matter of justice to the paper's readers. There is also a weekly edition of the Tifties that is a thriving publica- tion. It has an average circulation of about 3500 and a liberal adver- tising patronage. It is widely circulated through- out the State of Washington and exercises a large influence upon the country people of the State. I reproduce a photograph of Mr. Alden J. Blethen, the editor-in-chief of the Times. A more forceful writer upon political and economic subjects is seldom found. The Portland ''Oregonian.'* I CONSIDER the Oregonian the great daily of the Pacific Northwest. It is a strong paper with a strong individuality. It is a paper that has a marked, virile personality of its own, like the New York Sun, the Louisville Courier- Journal and the Chicago Tribune. This feature of the Oregonian is due to the strong personality of its editor, Mr. H. W. Scott. Mr. Scott ranks along with Charles A. Dana, Joseph Medill and Henry Watterson. A single instance will show the force and fearlessness of Mr. Scott and the Oregonian. Six months before the National Con- ventions met for the nominations of Presidential candidates last year, Mr. Scott came out squarely in the Oregonian for a platform that would declare unequivocally for sound money. In doing this he fiew right in the face of the prevailing public sentiment in his own State. 'At that time it was estimated that the allied forces of the Democrats, Populists and Free-Silver Republi- cans in Oregon over the Sound Money advocates were no less than 8000. The power and influence of the Oregonian is shown by the fact that on election day not only was this 8000 majority overcome, but Oregon was held in line for McKin- ley by a majority of 2000 votes. That is a record for any newspaper to be proud of. The manager and principal owner of the Oregonian is Mr. H. L. Pit- tock. Mr. Pittock is an old-timer in the Pacific Northwest. He first came to Portland in the early fifties. His first work was found as the "devil " in the primitive office of the weekly Oregonian, then but recently established. Advancing by rapid and successive stages from the posi- tion of ofifice-boy to owner of the paper, Mr. Pittock has shown the same aggressiveness and force in the business department that Mr. 367 368 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. Scott has displayed in the editorial rooms. The Oregonian, like many other strong business institutions, has talcen advantage of the hard times during the past three years to crowd its way to the front. It has been enabled to do this largely through the financial weakness of papers that were formerly in a sense its competitors. During the worst pinch of the panic in 1893 a com- plete linotype plant was installed, at a cost approximating $50,000. In addition to this, a radical cut was made in the price of the daily, from 25 cents a week to 15 cents a week. This was followed by the largest increase in circulation ever noted by the Oregonian during any time in its history. The circulation of the paper, since this cut in price was made, has increased fully 33^ per cent. The Oregonian is the one paper of the Pacific Northwest that com- mands recognition all over the country. It is the only morning paper in Portland. It is the big paper of Oregon. Of all the papers in the four States included v'thin Portland's trihjiitary terri ory the Oregonian commands the largest share of national prominence. The rates of the Oregonian are fair and honest. Its schedule is a reasonable one, and every advertiser is required to conform to it. There are no exceptions. It is claimed for the Oregonian that it almost covers the field for the general advertiser in the Pacific Northwest. The advertiser who wishes to seek trade in this territory may safely expend half or even two- thirds of his advertising appropria- tion with the Oregonian. The field that it covers contains in the neigh- borhood of a million people. Port- land claims a population of about 100,000. A better field for the general advertiser cannot well be found. A trade established in this growing community promises some- thing more than present profit. The Oregonia7i is not only the strongest paper in this territory to- day, but it has been so for nearly fifty years. The Oregonian has the largest circulation of any morning news- paper in the four States of the Pacific Northwest. It has no circu- lation secrets. The advertiser is welcome to know just what he re- THE PORTLAND " OREGONIAN." 369 ceives in the way of circulation and return for his money. It is the only newspaper on this territory having a general circula- tion throughout the entire length and breadth of the territory. All other newspapers in Oregon are practically limited in circulation influence to the immediate commu- nity in which they are published. All the other morning papers take only a "pony" service from the news associations. The Oregonian is the only morning paper that takes a complete service. I find it hard to say enough about the value of the Oregonian to the general advertiser who wishes to cover this Pacific Northwest terri- tory. In the first place, it is pub- lished at the greatest city on that territory. Portland is the clearing port of a vast territory nearly 1000 miles square. It to-day ships nearly three-fourths of the wheat grown on the fertile soils of Wash- ington, Oregon and Montana. Probably as great a proportion of the goods consumed by the people of this territory are supplied by Portland's merchants. The impor- tance of Portland's position can be appreciated from the statement that its weekly bank clearances have often been equal in value to those of Seattle, Tacoma and Spo- kane combined. During the busy season last fall, it was frequently noted' that they were even greater than those of the three other lead- ing populous centers of Portland's tributary territory. Portland is the tide-water port for the traffic of the Columbia and Willamette rivers. It is the great- est railroad center in the far West. Its two great rivers afford easy access for shipping to the rich country for hundreds of miles in- land. The Columbia is the great river of the West. It drains the country thousands of square miles in extent. Its magnitude can be appreciated from the statement that a thousand miles from the point where it empties into the Pacific Ocean it carries a sufficient volume of water to float vessels of deep draught. The Columbia River Gorge is the only tide-level pass through the mountains that gives easy travel between East and West. Crossing the mountains at any oth'' " point than through the Great Gorge of the Colurr /ia necessitates 370 AMERICAN JOURNALISM. a climb ranging from 3500 to 10,000 feet. A single locomotive will haul a train of forty cars through this pass. One engine of equal capacity will haul only one- fourth of this number of cars over the heavy grades of the Cascade Mountains to Tacoma or Seattle. This advantage, which Portland enjoys over any other city in its territory, will always insure its supremacy as the great center of the population and wealth of the four States with which its business connections have always been so close. The supremacy of the Oregonian is as well established as that of the city in which it is published. The advertiser who wishes to sell his wares to the people of the Pacific Northwest must reach them largely through the Oregonian. The Oregonian has for a home one of the most magnificent buildings in the city of Portland. Its plant is modern and complete. It is an aggressive, but always a clean, dig- nified publication. It is ably edited. It is ably managed. It publishes more news than any other news- paper on its territory. The people of Oregon, ^Vas ing- ton, Idaho and Western Montana are more impressionable than those of the great metropolitan cities of the East. That means that they respond more promptly to adver- tising appeals rightly made. The New Yorker does not read his daily paper carefully. He avoids, as far as possible, attention to sub- jects not directly bearing upon his own business. He becomes a specialist. He has a disinclination to give serious thought to any sub- ject not connected with his own special business. He sees signs glaring at him from all quarters, and he unconsciously acquires the art of ignoring signs. In a word, he is not impressionable. He is not easily swayed by the appeals of the advertiser. With the rural Westerner it is different. He is willing to discuss all manner of subjects, regardless of their bearing upon his legiti- mate business. He is open to conviction upon all subjects. He has not narrowed his life down to the few things that affect him personally. He is active, public- spirited and intelligent. He is not wedded to traditions of the past. He reads his newspaper THE PORTLAND " OREGONIAN. 371 from the first line to the last. Signs and big advertising displays are not such very minute things with him that he ignores them. He is willing to make an innovation in his daily life that promises some betterment of condition. This is true whether it means a substitu- tion of Castoria in the family medi- cine chest for the nauseous castor oil, or of the slouch hat for the Derby on the score of comfort and suitability to climatic conditions. H. H. Warner, the veteran ad- vertiser, remarked some time since that, "when I was pushing my Safe Cure the hardest, I found my most profitable field on the Pacific Coast." Mr. Warner's experience has been that of many general advertisers. In order to cover this productive territory com- pletely it is not necessary to use, in addition to the Oregonian, more than four or five other papers at the outset. The tremendous influence of the Oregonian upon the people of the Pacific Northwest and along the Pacific Coast can be estimated when it is said that it is generally admitted that the Oregonian carried the State of Oregon during a re- cent campaign for sound money. More than this, it is very generally asserted that its strong presenta- tion of the question whipped the big San Francisco papers into line. It is said that this resulted in saving the State of California for McKinley. If these claims are true, and they are very generally admitted on the coast, it would appear that the Oregonian exerts an influence that is not exceeded by papers like the New York Sun, the Chicago Tribune and the Louis- ville Courier- Journal.