NEWSPAPER 



4186 



NEWSPAPER 



Bit down to breakfast with a New York daily 

 before him. The paper was printed in New 

 York, probably soon after midnight, was rushed 

 to the railroad depot, where a fast train was 

 waiting for it, and covered the 100 or 200 miles 

 or more to its destination in a few hours. At 

 the same time papers in smaller quantities are 

 delivered to subscribers or dealers in more dis- 

 tant cities. Thus a newspaper printed in Chi- 

 cago at 2 o'clock on Monday morning will reach 

 New York early Tuesday morning. 



Mechanical Development. Remarkable as has 

 been the growth of the newspaper, nothing 

 about it is more marvelous than the perfection 

 of the mechanical processes by which it is 

 made. From the single sheet, printed on a 

 small hand press, it has developed to a modern 

 90-page Sunday newspaper. All the improve- 

 ments in telegraph and telephone could not 

 have brought this change, but improvements in 

 printing made growth inevitable. 



When the copy is ready, it is sent to the 

 composing room, where it is set into type by 

 the linotype. After proofs have been read the 

 type is sent to the foundry, and stereotype 

 plates are made from it in about ten minutes. 

 The modern web rotary press, which does the 

 printing, receives the paper from a large roll. 

 The press prints both sides of the paper at the 

 same time, and then, by various ingenious de- 

 vices, cuts and folds the papers ready for dis- 

 tribution. The largest of these presses can 

 print and fold 150,000 twelve-page papers in an 

 hour. Such improvements, enabling a press i<> 

 turn out hundreds of thousands of copies, when 

 once only hundreds could be printed, is chiefly 

 responsible for the decrease in the cost of the 

 newspapers. So nearly perfect have the me- 

 chanical processes become that newspapers arc 

 frequently being sold on the street fifteen min- 

 utes after news of a great event has reached the 

 editorial office. 



Historical 



The First Newspaper. The earliest attempts 

 to circulate news were in ancient Rome, and in 

 Peking, China. In Rome the Daily Events 

 (Ada Diurna) was published from early days 

 of the Empire until its fall in A. D. 476, and be- 

 sides its general circulation, was used as a me- 

 dium of communication between military offi- 

 cers and their armies. The Peking News 

 (Tsing-Pao) is a monthly publication, founded 

 early in the sixth century, for the purpose of 

 making known the imperial edicts and other 

 official news. Early in the seventh century the 

 Peking Gazette appeared, and both of these 

 Chinese papers are still published to-day. 



Soon after the invention of printing, news- 

 papers were circulated in Germany. They 

 were small sheets, generally in the form of a 

 letter. Some numbers still in existence con- 

 tain accounts of the discovery of America, the 

 surrender of Granada to Ferdinand and Isa- 

 bella, and such local occurrences as earth- 

 quakes, executions and witch burnings. In the 

 sixteenth century an official newspaper was is- 

 sued in Venice, with accounts of battles and 

 other matters of public interest. This paper 

 was widely circulated throughout Europe, and 

 originally sold for a small coin called a gaz- 

 zetta. In time the paper was called gazzctta or 

 gazette, a name which is still used. These lit- 

 tle sheets, issued occasionally, had little in com- 

 mon with the great newspapers of to-day, with 

 their great number of news items. 



First European Papers. The earliest serial 

 newspaper of modern style was printed in Ger- 

 many in 1615, and was called The Frankfort 

 Journal. The first English newspaper to appear 

 regularly was "The Certaine News of the Pres- 

 ent Week," edited by Nathaniel Butter in 1622. 

 About the same time the London Weekly Cou- 

 rant appeared. The first known advertising in 

 newspapers was in the Commonwealth Mur- 

 curie, in 1658. In 1665 the Oxford Gazette was 

 published by the government while the Court 

 was temporarily residing at Oxford on account 

 of the London plague. It 'was later called the 

 London Gazette, and has had an interrupted 

 existence to the present time, as the English 

 official organ for official announcements. It is 

 published twice a week and contains proclama- 

 tions, orders of council, promotions and ap- 

 pointments, and such orders and rules as are 

 directed by act of Parliament. In 1785 ap- 

 peared the London Daily Universal Register, 

 which three years later changed its title to 

 London Times. The success of the Times was 

 largely due to the enterprise of its original 

 promoter, John Walter, who introduced various 

 improvements in the art of printing, and sought* 

 to secure the best literary talent for all depart- 

 ments of his paper. This has ever since been 

 the great English daily newspaper. 



In the United States. The first attempt to 

 start a newspaper in colonial America was made 

 in Boston, in 1690. The sheet was called Pub- 



