Penny weekly newspaper

“ The Field (sporting, weekly) , 18,000, six pence; Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper (Sunday) , 140,000, one penny; Weekly Times (Sunday) —owned by London Journal, which has a circulation of 200,000—110,000, one penny; Cassell's Weekly Magazine, 90,000, Weekly Dispatch (Sunday) , 215,000, two pence; Reynold's Newspaper (Sunday) , 280,000, one penny; Jewish Record (weekly) , one penny, 7,500; Tablet (Catholic weekly) , four pence, 36,000.
SUB-EDITOR'S ROOM, "TELEGRAPH" OFFICE.
[Pg 652]
The Morning Telegraph is the most popular daily newspaper in the world. ”

“ The harbinger of the new journalism was Benjamin H. Day, a former compositor for the Evening Post, who in September, 1833, began issuing the first penny newspaper with sufficient strength to survive, the Sun. The idea of this innovation came from London, which had possessed its Illustrated Penny Magazine since 1830, sold in huge quantities in New York and other American cities; Bryant had often praised it as an instrument for educating the poor. ”

“ During the week which followed there were no idle moments for the staff of the newly organized Weekly Times. Leaving Louise in charge of the news output, Penny concentrated most of her attention on the problem of winning advertisers. Starting with a page taken by the Malone Glass Company, she and Jack Malone toured the city, selling a total of forty-two full columns.
The novelty of the enterprise intrigued many business men, while others took space because they were friends of Mr. Malone or Mr. Parker. Money continued to pour into the till of the Weekly Times. ”

“ We propose to supply week by week a magazine fully equal in the quality of its contents to any of the popular monthly magazines; whilst the quantity of reading matter and the number of illustrations will be fully one-half of those given in publications costing six or even twelve times as much."
No one can charge the projectors of the new weekly with lacking a robust belief in its deserts and its fortunes:
"In the New Penny Magazine," the editorial pen proceeded, "readers will find themselves in possession of a treasure-house of literature old and new, both solid and entertaining. ”

“ Not all of the six-penny newspapers, however, were so chari- table toward their younger brethren found in the penny press. They resented the strenuous competition which they must meet in the gathering and selling of news. The aristocrats of the day thought that the newspaper was their especial property and should be published for them exclusively. It was something of an honor before the establishment of the penny press to be a newspaper subscriber; it was somewhat similar to having a piano
in the house ”

“ The public, which might not, it was presumed, be familiar with the journalistic revolution that had taken place in New York, where there were now three penny papers—two of them successful, the Sun and the Herald — was informed in the first announcement that "in the Cities of New York and Brooklyn, containing a population of 300,000, the daily circulation of the penny papers is not less than 70,000. This is nearly sufficient to place a newspaper in the hands of every man in the two cities and even of every boy old enough to read. ”

“ The Herald, feeble as it was, managed to survive financial diseases concomitant with newspaper infancy, and at the beginning of 1847 it appeared with a new dress as The Morning Herald and The Evening Herald. An editorial spoke as follows about the penny press in Boston: "The competition of the penny press has caused a mental activity among all classes; rash and impul- sive it may be, but, nevertheless, far preferable to the dignified stagnation which, in times of yore, was seldom broken by the larger and more expensive journals." ”

“ The Illustrated London News had been announced for publication on the Saturday of the week in which I saw the wretched foreigners standing at the bar. I knew something about hurrying on wood-engravers 281 for the Penny Magazine, but a newspaper was an essentially different affair. How, I thought, could artists and journalists so work concurrently that the news and the appropriate illustrations should both be fresh? ”

“ Naturally, politicians bitterly opposed this new press, and did what they could to prevent it from feeding at the political crib of State and National advertising. Nevertheless, the new journalism, opposed to politics and independent in spirit, continued to thrive. It was said that in ten years it did more good by exposure of municipal scandals than the older press had done in twenty. In the birth of the penny newspaper may be found the beginning of the independent press in America. ”

“ Passing the stereotyping department, the girls entered the press room where slumbered ten giant double-decked rotary presses. Lying on the roller of one was a torn strip of newspaper, the last issue of the Morning Press ever printed.
“It gives one a queer feeling to see all this,” said Louise. “Why do you suppose Judson closed the plant when it was prosperous?”
[41]
“No one seems to know the answer,” Penny replied, stooping to peer into an empty ink pot. “But it doesn’t seem possible a man would give up his business, throw so many persons out of work, without a good reason.” ”

“ Up to the repeal of the stamp duty few people bought newspapers for themselves, and many newsvendors’ chief duty was to lend the Times out for a penny per hour, while a second or third day’s newspaper was considered quite a luxury by those whom business or habit compelled to stay at home, and therefore who were unable to glance over the news—generally while some impatient person was scowlingly waiting his turn—at the tavern bar or the coffee-house. ”

“ The success of the Penny Magazine was a surprise to the publisher and an astonishment to most persons. At the end of 1832 it had reached a sale of 200,000 in weekly numbers and monthly parts, and it soon produced a revolution in popular art throughout the world. Stereotype casts of its best cuts were supplied for the illustration of publications of a similar character which appeared in Germany, France, Holland, Livonia, Bohemia, Italy, Ionian Islands, Sweden, Norway, Spanish America, and the Brazils. ”

“ It is to economize time rather than money that the modern reader would often prefer a halfpenny paper; while the man of leisure, who likes to peruse leading articles and full descriptive accounts, finds what he needs in the more highly priced journals. The halfpenny paper in England has not had to contend with the opposition that the penny newspaper met from its threepenny contemporaries in the 'fifties and 'sixties. This is largely due to the fact that in most cases the contributors, paper, printing and general arrangement of the cheaper journal do not leave much room for criticism. ”

“ In the old Press building?”
“You took the words out of my mouth, Dad. Everything is there, awaiting the touch of my magic wand.”
“There’s a little matter of rent. Several thousand a month.”
“I have a solution for that problem.”
“Your staff?”
“I’ll gather it as I prosper.”
“The necessary capital?”
“A mere detail,” said Penny grandly. “I meet only one obstacle at a time. Tomorrow I shall accost Mr. Veeley with an attractive proposition. If he falls into my net, Riverview’s newest paper, The Weekly Times, makes its bow to the public.” ”

“ The life and power of any newspaper or periodical is thus doubly entrusted to the hands of its readers and to their opinion of it. They must draw from it amusement, instruction and business facilities and for the latter the newspaper proprietor is even more concerned than for the former. The secret of the miracle whereby 6d. or 10 cents worth of news and literary matter can be sold in the streets for one penny or one cent is that the reader makes a return to the newspaper for every copy, which he buys, equivalent to the difference in price. ”

“ In this commonwealth, in the main, the country press endeavors to ascertain and further the interests of the people surrounding them. In the large cities, what is popularly called “Yellow Journalism,” with its gross headlines, its vulgar and perverted art, its relish for salacious events and horrible crimes, and all the other symptoms of newspaper disease, is gaining a foothold. There is a daily newspaper of wide circulation, published in the City of Philadelphia, ostensibly by a Pennsylvania corporation. ”

“ It has absorbed monthly magazines or forced publishers to resort to illustrations—to a sort of picture-book literature for grown-up children. It has driven the lumbering quarterlies into smaller fields and diminished their relative importance. The average citizen craves the news from a journal having the very dew of the morning and of the evening upon it. It must come to him damp and limp, bringing whatever is best at the smallest possible cost. The newspaper is the herald of the new era. ”

“ Devoted to "literature, drama, police and court proceedings, news, etc.," it had a short life, in its first appearance in 1834, and a not much longer in its second in 1836. Kingsley later, however, rendered a more effi- cient service to American journalism by improving the method for stereotyping page forms of newspapers. Women were not neglected by the penny press. An attempt to reach them was
made on April 29, 1836, when The Ladies 1 Morning Star, price one cent, appeared above the newspaper horizon. ”

“ Subscribers received their papers by carriers, and tran- sient purchasers had to go to the counters of newspaper offices. The penny press, however, did not wait to enroll annual sub- scribers, but tried to market its merchandise daily through boys. The pages of the early penny papers fairly bristled with advertisements of "Boys Wanted." The first issue of The Public Ledger in Philadelphia contained a small advertisement to this effect :
50 MEN AND BOYS can make it an advantageous business to circulate this paper. ”

“ Before the introduction of Penny Postage, a newspaper transmitted by post between a post-town and, with few exceptions, any of the 10,000 places which have now sub-offices, was subjected to a charge of at least one penny; and when transmitted between any two of the above 10,000 places, with but few exceptions, to a charge of at least twopence.
At present a newspaper, even without the impressed stamp, if posted at any one of the 11,400 places at which head or sub-offices are now established, provided only that it does not exceed 4 ozs. in weight, is delivered at any other for a single penny. ”

“ Garth Pevensey was a reporter on the New York Leader. His choice of an occupation had been made more at the dictate of circumstances than of his free will; and in the round hole of modern journalism he was something of a square and stubborn peg. He had become a reporter because he had no taste for business; and a newspaper office is the natural refuge for clever young men with a modicum of education, and the need of providing an income. ”

“ Weems!”
Leaving an exhausted housekeeper behind, the girl made a quick trip to the downtown newspaper office.
As she reached the building, newsboys were on the streets crying the first edition, just off the press.
Upstairs, in the newsroom, reporters were relaxing at their desks, taking a few minutes’ “breather” between editions.
Swinging through the entrance gate, Penny created a slight stir. At one of the desks under a neon light, Jerry Livingston, pencil behind one ear and hair slightly rumpled, tapped aimlessly at the keys of a typewriter. ”

“ A lady news agent, that has a good location and a small circulating library, told me she has occupied the place for several years, and so has regular customers. She does it to aid her husband in supporting and educating their children, but thinks an individual could earn for self alone a comfortable living by keeping a news depot. In the large cities of the North are newspaper agents (men) who solicit advertisements, for which they receive a commission from editors. There is a Miss S. in New York, who makes a very good living by obtaining advertisements for the principal city papers. ”

“ The door closed in her face. Distinctly she heard a key grate in the lock.
“Well, how do you like that?” Penny muttered angrily. “Who does he think he is, anyhow?”
She started away, only to pause and gaze thoughtfully back at the darkened windows. To return to the newspaper office without a story would be humiliating. A good reporter never failed.
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“There must be some way to see that ceremony!” she reasoned. “Perhaps I can slip in through a rear door.”
Penny circled the building, taking care to avoid snow patches where revealing footprints would be left behind. ”

“ But Jerry Livingston, one of the best reporters on the paper, was still pecking out copy on a noisy typewriter.
“Hi, Penny!” he observed, grinning as she brushed past his desk. “Have you caught any more witch dolls?”
“Not for the front page,” she flung back at him. “My newspaper career is likely to remain in a state of status quo for the next two weeks. Dad and I are heading for Pine Top to dazzle the natives with our particular brand of skiing. Don’t you envy us?”
“I certainly would, if you were going.”
“If!” exclaimed Penny indignantly. “Of course we’re going! We leave Thursday by plane. ”

“ Possibly The Sun of New York was the first to use news boys in this way. Almost at the start that paper contained a notice :
TO THE UNEMPLOYED. A number of steady men can find em- ployment by vending this paper. A liberal discount is allowed to those who buy to sell again.
For the first time journalism was brought directly to the people. By making the daily papers easy to buy, the penny press brought something of a revolution into American journalism. ”