NEWSPAPER 



477 



143 ; Oregon, 133 ; New Hampshire, 126 ; Florida, 

 121; South Carolina, 120; North Dakota, 119; 

 Vermont, 83; District of Columbia, 68; Rhode 

 Island, 64 ; Montana, 58 ; Delaware, 38 ; Nevada, 

 24. It is estimated that the total issue of a single 

 edition of all these papers represents a circulation 

 of 41,524,000 copies, being an average edition of 

 2335 copies. According to classification it is found 

 that there are 27 publications with circulations of 

 150,000 for each issne, 28 with 100,000, 35 with 

 75,000, and 42 with 50,000 ; while at the other end 

 of the scale there are 5426 publications classed as 

 issuing only 500 copies per issue. New York prints 

 more than a quarter of all the papers which tare 

 sold, and Pennsylvania, Illinois, ami Massachusetts 

 more than another quarter. Nearly 75 per cent, 

 of all the publications issued appear weekly. 

 Aeeiirding to an expert statement there were issued 

 in the l'nite.1 States ami Canada in 1899 a total of 

 22,061 newspapers and periodicals, of which 15,688 

 were weeklies, and 2229 were dailies. 



The earliest newspaper published in America 

 was Pitblick Occurrences, 1690 ; this was followed 

 in 1704 by the Boston News-letter, which continued 

 without a rival until 1719, when" the Boston 

 Gazette was issued ' by authority. ' Later on the 

 News-letter extended its title, and became the 

 Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-letter, ami 

 was conspicuous for its support of the British rule 

 in the early days of the war of independence, ceas- 

 ing to exist, however, when the English troops 

 evacuated Boston. In 1721 the jYfio Enyfaml 

 Cn iirnnt was established bv James Franklin, ami 

 subsequently was conducted by his more renowned 

 brother, Benjamin Franklin. The latter started a 

 paper of his own, the Peniuiylvaniii Gazette, in 1729, 

 after the death of the Cuurant, and this appeared 

 weekly down to 1745, when it merged in the North 

 American. Edes's Huston Gazette, begun in 1755, 

 was for a long time the chief organ of the popular 

 party, and was the medium through whicn John 

 Adam* published his ' Letters of Novanglus.' The 

 fifruxicniwtts S/iy was another paper of note on 

 the revolutionary side. On lieing removed from 

 Boston to Worcester its title was changed to the 

 Worcester Spy. At the revolution the New 

 England colonies possessed 14 newspapers ; Penn- 

 sylvania, 9 ; New York, 4 ; and the middle and 

 southern colonies, 10. All save the semi-weekly 

 Advertixrr of Philadelphia were published weekly. 

 From this period onward the progress of American 

 journalism was marked by rapid strides; it extended 

 ny leaps and bounds, developing an originality all 

 its own, and displaying an activity in some direc- 

 tions altogether out-distancing the achievements 

 of Great Britain. 



What the existing journalistic enterprise of 

 the North American continent represents has 

 already been indicated ; it is desirable, however, 

 that some of its more salient features should l>e 

 referred to. American papers have always been 

 more strongly personal than English journals. 

 It is to the transatlantic reporter that we owe 

 the introduction of 'interviewing' anil the inven- 

 tion of ' head-lines,' amongst other things. No 

 ell'ort is spared to make an American news- 

 paper understanded and admired of the people ; it 

 gives news in abundance, usually presented in a 

 sensational manner, and vents its views and 

 opinions with what an English journalist would 

 regard as a reckless unrestraint. The organisation 

 and equipment of the leading papers of the chief 

 cities are most complete, including an editorial ami 

 reportorial staff of many sulxjivisions, backed by a 

 proprietary of remarkable vigour and enterprise. 

 The great majority of American and Canadian 

 pajx-rs are, of course, printed in English, but there 

 18 a considerable number published in other tongues. 



Those published in the German language number 

 724, while 112 are in French, 59. in the Scandi- 

 navian languages, 34 in Spanish, 16 Bohemian, 12 

 Dutch, 7 Polish, 4 Danish, 5 Welsh, 8 Finnish, 5 

 Italian, 2 Portuguese, 2 Chinese, and 2 Hungarian. 

 The principal pcipers of America and Canada have 

 a world-wide renown. The Herald, originated by 

 James Gordon Bennett, the Tribune, founded by 

 Horace Greeley, the World, the Times, the Sun 

 are the chief papers of New York ; and in Chicago, 

 Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, St 

 Louis, San Francisco, and other cities there are 

 journals hardly less famous. Amongst the chief 

 Canadian papers may be mentioned the Toronto 

 Globe, which claims to be the leading paper of the 

 Dominion, the Montreal Herald, the Quebec Morn- 

 ing (Jironicle, the Ottawa Free Press, and the 

 Ottawa Citizen. There is a considerable sprinkling 

 of Canadian papers printed in French, the chief of 

 them appearing in Quel>ec and Montreal. The 

 Sunday paper lias long been a specially popular 

 institution in America. Nearly every prominent 

 daily in the States issues its enlarged Sunday 

 edition, which in addition to its news proper 

 contains a vast amount of miscellaneous reading, 

 culled from all kinds of sources, and often includ- 

 ing special contributions of great merit. In Canada 

 Sunday papers are not so common. In some of the 

 large cities of Smith America, also, as in Uio de 

 Janeiro and Buenos Ayres, there are ably con- 

 ducted English newspapers. 



France. Journalism in France began with the 

 Gazette, in 1031. The first French dally paper was 

 the Journal de Paris, started in 1777. Many 

 journals sprang into existence with the Revolution, 

 but most of them had but a brief career. Under 

 the first Napoleon the freedom of the press woa 

 much restricted. It was then that the danger 

 attending the handling of political questions sug- 

 gested tne filling of a large portion of the sheet 

 with the ' Feuilleton ' (q.v.). There are at present 

 almut 44 daily papers (morning and evening) pub- 

 lished in Paris alone. As newspapers, in the full 

 sense of the phrase, the journals of France cannot 

 lie compared with those of Great Britain. They 

 contain less matter, and they do not, as a rule, 

 report with any degree of fullness home or foreign 

 events. The Tempi, which is said to have a circu- 

 lation of 45,000 per day, approaches somewhat to 

 the English standard ; but the Figaro, which, with 

 its singular mixture of clericalism and worldliness, 

 would be considered frivolous in England, has a 

 circulation of 100,000 daily. French daily papers 

 generally cost at least twice as much as English 

 ones. A notable exception, however, is found in 



Le Petit Journal, an evening paper costing 5 cen- 

 times (one halfpenny), which lias probably the 

 largest circulation of any paper in tne world ; it 



put down at 950,000. See also GALIGNANI. 



Belgium. An illustrated war-gazette called the 

 NievKtijdinglie was the first journal published in 

 the Low Countries, in 1605, and was succeeded ]>y 

 the Gazette van Antwerjien, which survived until 

 1805. The Belgian newspapers are now numerous, 

 including about a dozen daily journals in Brussels, 

 and half that number (mainly in Flemish) in 

 Antwerp. The Independance Beige, on the Liberal 

 side, and the Journal tie Bruxelles, as the organ of 

 the clerical party, with the toile Beige, are the 

 leaders of public opinion. 



Holland. The newspapers of Holland were at 

 an early date remarkable for the fullness and 

 accuracy of their intelligence ; but until 1830 their 

 news was chieHy confined to commercial mjvtters. 

 The principal Dutch journals of to-day are the 

 Allgemccne Hanrfelsblad of Amsterdam, and the 

 Amsterdam Courant ; the Uarlemsche Courant ; 

 and the Journal de la Haye, De Nedei-landsche 



