i86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



our Alcalde school, says this means ' nothing hurts nobody.' But 

 I am sure that there is more in it than that; besides, whatever 

 it is we can prove it by inversion: Nihil nocet nemini; nihil ne- 

 mini nocet — one is true like the other, and its s^nnbolic significance 

 is proved by its three N's, for N is the symbol of eternity. At 

 least, this is what the president told me. But now that I am back 

 in Alcalde, the whole thing seems like a dream, while all the things 

 I had learned to call dreams seem more real than ever. Maybe 

 I am still on the Material Plane after all, in spite of all I have 

 done and all the rest of us in Alcalde are doing to try to rise 

 above it." 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMEFtlCAN NEWSPAPER. 



By WALTER L. HAWLEY, 



OF THE NEW YOKK EVEXING SUN. 



At the beginning of the present century the newspapers pub- 

 -^-^ lished in the United States numbered 200 — one for e?rch 

 26,450 of population — while at the present time the total of regu- 

 lar publications slightly exceeds 20,000 — one for each 350 inhabit- 

 ants of the country; and in that growth and development of the 

 business is represented more of science and art, more of physical 

 ingenuity and mental activity, than in any other line of human 

 endeavor. One hundred years ago the publication of a news- 

 paper did not rank as a business, and the preparation of its con- 

 tents was regarded as a pastime or the indulgence of a whim, rather 

 than a profession. At the end of the century, journalism is the 

 history of the world written day by day, the chief medium of en- 

 lightenment for the masses, the universal forum of scholar, sage, 

 and scientist. As a business enterprise, the newspaper of to-day 

 commands unlimited capital, and as a profession it ranks second 

 to none. 



For three centuries and a half following Gutenberg's inven- 

 tion of type little progress was made in the art of printing, and 

 the production of a newspaper in this country in 1800 was accom- 

 plished with crude machinery and involved much slow and diffi- 

 cult hand labor. The printing was done on wooden presses of 

 primitive pattern, the type was large and ill formed, the paper 

 used was in many cases inferior to the lowest grade made at the 

 present time, and the production of a large number of copies of 

 any issue was out of the question. No attempt was made in this 

 country to publish a daily paper until 1784, and in 1800 daily edi- 

 tions were issued only in four or five of the larger cities. 



