{ "system": "GoGuides Verified Text", "api_version": "verified-text-v1", "status": "ok", "response_type": "verified_text_record", "source_key": "britannica_1926", "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)", "license_code": "public_domain", "attribution": null, "license_url": null, "chunk_id": "1926:newspapers:436ead61ad54", "title": "NEWSPAPERS", "section": null, "hash_alg": "sha256", "hash_sha256": "49aa890dc619bad46272b5bdf55721afadcbfcafb1103072b0876ce4608303fc", "normalizer": { "name": "ggnorm", "version": "1.0" }, "verified_text": "the outstanding feature of the newspaper world during the years 1910-25 is the remarkable change that has come over the press in great britain during that period by the formation of great newspaper trusts and amalgamations, the elimination of the financially weaker jour- nals and the enormous expansion of the popular illustrated newspapers. i. press enterprise in great britain at the beginning of 1910 there were 2,331 newspapers in the united kingdom, distributed as follows: london, with the postal area, 414, of which 23 were morning dailies and 7 evening dailies; the english provinces, including localised issues, 1,342, of which 46 were morning and 76 evening dailies; wales, 118, including 4 morning and 4 evening dailies; scotland, 258, includ- ing 8 morning and to evening dailies; ireland, 183, including io morning and 7 evening dailies; the british isles, 16, of which 5 are dailies. after 26 years the newspapers, in spite of the addition to the population, had decreased owing to amalgamations and cessa- tions, to 2,149 in great britain and ireland, distributed as follows: london, 406, of which 23 were morning, including specialist papers (jewish express, in hebrew, jewish times, lloyd’s list, and lloyd’s daily index), and three evening dailies (and the jewish evening news, published in whitechapel). the newspapers in the english provinces and wales, including localised issues, numbered 1,330, of which 37 were morning and 79 evening dailies; scotland, 235, including 7 morning and 9 evening dailics; ircland, 166, including 8 morning and 6 evening dailies; the british isles, 16, of which 5 were dailies. while the number of newspapers has decreased, the sales in the period have more than doubled. up to the year of the world war the halfpenny newspaper gained in popularity and prestige. following upon the unprecedented success of the daily matl, which had become a national newspaper, with simultaneous publication in london and manchester begun during the boer war, other newspapers had come down to a halfpenny, including the old established daily news and daily chronicle. these papers appealed to a new and wider public and were made interesting to the masses. the new class of readers included women and young pcople, who had hitherto been only occasional patrons of the daily press. space was devoted to social news, personal gossip, maga- zine features and serial stories, which had a stabilising effect on sales. the late lord northcliffe was the first journalist to see the significance of women readers. not only did the attrac- tion of women readers mean a wider public, but it stimulated advertising. the remarkable success of the daily muitl was due primarily to the influx of advertisements which appealed specially to women. the introduction of the half-tone pictures to illustrate the news of the day was another new element in extending the sphere of the daily press and in popularising it. the continued journalistic and commercial success of the halfpenny newspaper had created a revolution in the newspaper world and made it increasingly difficult for the old-fashioned provincial newspapers to prosper. the world war brought other changes. at first, like all other industries, except those concerned with the production of munitions or in some way associated with catering for the 1050 forces, the press was disorganised. the government recognised that the press was an essential element in national effort, and facilities were granted to newspapers, both in regard to obtaining materials and in retaining man power. for the first time also, war correspondents became more than camp followers, were granted uniforms and became officially attached to armies. many papers suffered losses in the earlier years of the world war, but adapted themselves to the emergency, and made up in profits on sales for what they lost in advertisements. in the boom period after the war their prosperity increased amazingly. the post-war period brought more amalgamations and organi- sation of syndicates. picture papers.—encouraged by the support which he received from women readers of the daily afail and of his many weekly variety papers, lord northcliffe issued a newspaper which was to be edited by women for women. he produced the daily mirror, intended to be a higher type of paper than the daily mail, and to appeal more to the interests of serious- minded women. it was stillborn. it was lord northclilffe’s greatest failure. it was a lucky failure. the paper which was intended to be the women’s times was transformed into the first illustrated daily newspaper, and became, with its offshoot, the sunday pictorial, as great a financial success as the daily mail. a new type of paper was thereby added to daily journalism. other picture papers were started, and every newspaper was by-and-by led to introduce half-tone illustrations. the times, the daily telegraph and the morning post were the last to adopt the new feature. press photographers became as indis- pensable as reporters; photo-engraving was a new big industry associated with the press. the first phase in the popularisation of the press was the growth of the halfpenny paper which began with the morning leader in 1892, followed by the daily mail in 1896. next came the establishment of the illustrated paper beginning with the daily mirror in 1903. another development has been the introduction of features specially for children, which, in the case of the illustrated dailies, has become a big factor in circulation. there has been a general adoption of a system of insurance, the object of which is to keep up sales, and, for the same reason, cross-word and other puzzles and competitions are introduced, including competitions in connection with sport. the evening press.—one of the more remarkable develop- ments of the post-war period has been the great progress of the evening press in its earning capacity and its circulation. in these respects it has gone ahead in the provinces. the average man in provincial cities has little time to read the morning paper, but devotes his leisure to the evening sheet when his day’s work is finished. thus it comes about that the conditions of modern life favour the evening press, which is accordingly in a state of increasing prosperity. the local evening paper is not subject to the competition from national news- papers from which the provincial morning papers suffer. some of the latter have gone under, others are kept alive by evening papers issued under the same ownership. the trend of events indicates that before many years there will not be in england more than a dozen provincial morning newspapers run on a commercial basis. the demand for net sales forced by lord northcliffe, and taken up by the association of british adver- tising agents, has had a prejudicial effect on country morning newspapers with small sales, although the value of publicity cannot always be measured by numbers. much depends on the class of paper and the nature of the goods advertised. london has fewer evening papers per head of the population than any city in the world. there were once nine evening papers in the metropolis. in ro1g there were six. in 1926 there were three. the old-established glebe was absorbed by zhe pall afall gazette which in 1924 was taken over by the evening standard when the latter was acquired by lord beaverbrook, while the westminster gazette retired from the evening field, in which it occupied a distinctive and influential position, and joined the morning newspaper journals among which competi- newspapers tion was intensely keen. the three existing evening papers, which have a monopoly of circulation in a population of over 10,000,000 living within ro m. of fleet street, are the evening news, belonging to the rothermere press, the evening standurd, controlled by lord beaverbrook, but in which lord rothermere has a 49° interest, and the star, issued by the daily news. glasgow, with a population of a little over 1,000,000 publishes three evening newspapers—two belonging to the glasgow her- ald—which contain far more news than the london evening press. indeed, the provincial evening newspapers, as a rule, contain more reading matter than their london contemporaries. phe sunday press.—the colossal growth in the sale and pros- perity of sunday newspapers since the world war is of par- ticular significance in the light which it throws on the changed outlook of the nation towards its duties, moral and ethical. a few of these journals show continual improvement in make-up and matter; but the big circulations are practically monopolised by those which pander to the more sordid tastes of the masses. the sunday newspaper is a national paper. by special trains it is circulated all over the country. in order to reach the uttermost parts early editions are printed on friday night. sunday newspapers represent almost the best, and certainly the worst, of english journalism. if we exclude the sunday illus- trated papers, which are of a special type, the less creditable productions have the largest sales. the observer and the sunday times are in a category by themselves and consist chiefly of saturday’s news home and foreign and special features. fol- lowing upon these, but of a more popular type, come the sun- diy express, the weekly dispatch and the sunday news, while the large sellers give more space to the news of the week, or of the world, selecting the most sensational stories of crimes, and serving up the reports of unsavoury law cases, although several days old. the majority of the sunday papers give such full accounts of saturday’s news and sport that they make inroads into the former news province of the monday paper. on april 16 1926 a bill was introduced by sir evelyn cecil and supported by the government for restricting the publication of the reports of judicial proceedings “‘ in such a manner as to prevent injury to public morals.” the second reading was carried by a majority of 222 to 3. the general strike and the press ——a development of the coal dispute in england, which came to a head at the end of april 1926 was a general strike organised by the general council of the trades union congress. it began on may 3, being pre- cipitated by the action of members of the national society of operative printers and assistants in the office of the london daily mail, who objected to the opinions expressed in an edi- torial article. as the editor refused to accept their dictation, the men left work, although other sections of trade unionists, including the compositors, process engravers and tclegraphists employed in the office did not then join the strike. stoppages of other newspapers, before the general strike was formerly declared, followed, and for the same reasons, viz.: that the national society of operative printers and assistants objected either to opinions expressed or to certain items of news. the strike developed quickly and paralysed newspaper pro- duction. it was the direct cause of the break off tn negotiations by the government for the settlement of the coal dispute. interference with the freedom of the press was considered by the government to be an overt act and they called upon the trades union council to withdraw the strike notices, as a con- dition precedent to the resumption of the negotiations. the trade union leaders did not accept this suggestion and the strike became general. the policy adopted was not consistent in regard to newspapers, nor was the suppression of the press complete, while 2#e daily afail of monday, may 3, was sup- pressed in london it was permitted to appear in manchester and was circulated throughout the country, in some towns the employees of newspapers were not in agreement with the gencral strike policy and resumed work. newspapers began to appear in the first instance mostly by photographic processes, but in two or four diminutive pages newspapers which were gradually increased in size as voluntary labour was obtained. yhe limes appeared as a four-page paper two days after the strike took place. the government issued an official paper, the british gaselte, containing all news relating to the strike, describing the action of the government to meet the national emergency, and appeals to all classes to help in main- taining the supremacy of parliament and constitutional action, the trades union council, which was placed in charge of the strike, produced an official organ entitled zhe british werker by trade union labour. the newspaper and periodical business probably suffered more by the strike than any other industry, as a considerable proportion of the staff had to be retained and heavy general expenses incurred. the general strike was called off under the government’s original conditions, on thursday, may 13, and after negotiations the newspapers resumed normal publication on tuesday the 18th. one condition of the settle- ment was that “ there shall be no interference with the contents of newspapers owned by members of this association ” (7.¢., the association of newspaper proprietors), and other conditions were agreed to by both parties which considerably reduced the powcrs hitherto exercised by trade unions without, however, modifying the policy of collective bargaining. the era of amalgamations the great change in the british press was begun by lord northcliffe in promoting limited liability companies to take over harmsworth bros., and afterwards the evening news. amalgamations and groupings of papers followed. referring to this phase of newspaper devclopment sir robert donald, in an address at york, as president of the institute of journalists in 1913, said: ‘“‘ combination has been the chief characteristic of industry all over the world, and the press could not remain outside this tendency. one company sometimes owns or con- trols a serics of newspapers. there have been absorptions, amalgamations and alliances, with the result that vast aggrega- tions of capital have been built up in which thousands of share- holders are interested. these agglomerations, piling up power and wealth, are controlled by the same forces which operate in other fields of industrial activity.’? he also predicted that the future would see combinations increase; there would be fewer newspapers and “ colossal circulations would continue to grow.” the newspaper run as a luxury and for a mission, and not as a business enterprise, would be squeezed out of existence. there would, therefore, be fewer newspapers, but the total circulations would be greater. these predictions, made a year before the world war, have been fulfilled; but no one foresaw that the press combinations would reach such gigantic proportions, or become so immensely ‘profitable. the war expedited and facilitated the rise of the press syndicates. the movement for consolidation received its chief impetus since the war, and more especially since the death of lord northcliffe. the daily amfai? trust, ltd., was incor- porated on sept. 27 1922 to purchase the 400,000 deferred (controlling) shares in associated newspapers, ltd. sanctioned by the court. the price paid was £1,600,000, which was met by an issue of 7°% first mortgage debentures. early in 1923 the trust purchased 49% in the london express newspaper, ltd. a little later it purchased the large newspaper business of fe. hulton and company, ltd., and paid for it by a second issue of £8,000,000 7° debentures, liquidating out of the procceds the former issue of £1,600,000 debentures. at the same time the trust acquired 49% interest in the evening standard. in the same year the trust sold the greater portion of the hulton press to the berry brothers for more than the original purchase price, while retaining possession of the duily sketch, the sunday herald and new printing works; these three assets being sub- sequently promoted and sold for £1,600,000 under control of lord rothermere. the trust paid £4 for the deferred shares in associated newspapers, ltd. they appreciated almost as much again. the trust in two years discharged a debenture obligation of £0,000,030. its financial success enabled it to benefit by premiums and. to issue bonuses. the marketing price io5i of one share (2/— paid in 1925) was {2 ro-o. a bonus of 5/6 per share was allotted out of reserves to the orclinary share- holder in nov. 1925. the capital was {810,450 and £1,158,779 debentures but these were being redeemed. | the rothermere group.—the daily mail trust is controlled by lord rothermere through the daily mirrer and the sunday pictorial, which in turn control associated newspapers, ltd. in 1925 lord rothermere sold the glusgow durty record and the sunday afatl to the berry group. the chief combinations at the end of 1925 were associated newspapers, ltd. (capital of £3,000,000 increased by the gilt of bonus shares and capitalisation of reserves), proprictors of zhe daily mail, the evening news and the weekly dispatch; daily afirror newspapers, ltd. (capital £1,110,000); proprictors of the daily mirrer, associated with which is the sunday pictorial, ltd. (capital £1,370,000); and the daily sketch and sunday iterald, ltd. (capital £1,710,000). the above news- papers form the rotherimere group. debentures are included in the capital. the combined sale of the daily papers in the group in 1925 was about 3,500,000 and of the weeklies nearly 3,000,000. in addition to these newspapers the rothermere group, through the daily mail trust, owns 49°, of the ordinary capital in the daily express, the sunday iixpress and the evening standard, lord rothermere’s companies also own very large paper-making works in england and newfoundland. he is also proprictor of the continental daily mail, the berry group.—tthen there is allied newspapers, i.td., capital £8,157,015, and allied northern newspapers, ltd., capital £4,000,- 000, including £3,000,000 debentures. these companies form the berry group, so called because sir william berry and mr. gomer berry are the controlling sharcholders, and consist of a large number of properties including the following daily and evening newspapers: the financial times, the daily graphic, the daily despatch, man- chester, the evening chronicle, manchester, the north muil, newcastle, the glasgow daily record, the newcastle evening journal, the glas- gow evening news. vhey also own the sunday times, the sunday chronicle, the empire news (manchester), the sunday sun (new- castle), the sunday mail (glasgow). the berry group have also acquired a large interest in the sheffield daily telegraph, the shef- field evening telegraph, and star, weekly telegraph and associated publications. among the other properties of the berry group may be mentioned kelly's directorics, a group of technical and trade papers, fashion journals, the old publishing business of cassell, the weekly graphic, the bystander and large printing works, the beaverbrook group.—the beaverbrook group, in which lord rothermere has a minority interest, consists of the daily express, the sunday express, owned by london express newspapers, ltd. (capital £539,439), and the evening standard. the policy of lord beaverbrook has not been to distribute dividends on the ordinary shares, but to extend plant and building, reduce capital and organise a future impregnable position. united newspapers (1918), ltd.—this company (capital £2,000,000) owns zhe daily chronicle, the northern edition of which is printed in leeds, the sunday news and the edinburgh evening news. it also controls the yorkshire evening news, and the don- caster gasette. the cowdray growp.—a widespread association of newspapers is described as the lord cowdray, sir charles starmer, and kowntrce group. its nucleus was the northern echo of darlington. it ex- panded rapidly and includes the following morning and evening newspapers: the birmingham gasette and the evening dispatch, the nottingham journal and the evening news, the sheftheld independent and the sheffield mail, the northern echo and the northern evening dispatch (darlington), the swindon evening advertiser and the islington daily gazette. lord cowdray, who had for some years been supporting the group, added the westminster gazette as a morn- ing newspaper to the combination. at least 12 weekly papers throughout the country are under the same control, and also a sun- day paper, the sunday mercury and news (birmingham). the foregoing represent the national owning syndicates. there are a number of other combinations among newspapers. the glas- gow ierald owns two evening papers and one morning paper in glasgow. the liverpool daily post and the echo have acquired interests in the liverpool daily courier and the liverpool fvening express, there have been a number of local concentrations as in aberdeen, dundee, plymouth and other cities, where, in each case, all the morning and evening newspapers are under one pro- prietory. the increased prosperity of newspapers is due partly to improved organisation, but chiefly to the fact that the selling price has been doubled and the rates for advertisement trebled, which more than covers the extra cost of production. the weekly literary and political reviews have lost ground, and so have the monthlies. on the other hand, the illustrated weekly press shows a remarkable vitality. the six chief illus- trated newspapers, zhe illustrated london news, the sphere, 1052 the sketch, the tatler, the illustrated sporting and dramatic news and eve, all belong to sir john ellerman, the shipping magnate. organisations.—a net-work of organisations exists for employ- ers and workers. in the newspaper business collective bargaining is the rule. on the employers’ side, there is the newspaper proprietors association, which represents the london press, the newspaper society for the provincial press, the scottish news- paper proprietors’ association, and the irish newspaper society. there is also the british trade and technical trade journals organisation. since 1913 the position of the working journalist has been vastly improved by the continued activities of the institute of journalists, ard more especially by the influence exercised by the national union of journalists, which is organised on trade union principles and was the means of raising the standard in the lower ranks of newspaper workers and of establishing the principle of the minimum weekly salary to all ranks of jour- nalists. on the side of the manual workers there is also a complete net-work of organisations. the chicf federated socicties are the typographical association, representing compositors throughout the country; the london society of compositors; the national society of operative printers and assistants and printing machine managers. press telegraphists; correctors of the press; electrotypers and stereotypers; pressmen; paper-makers anc others engaged in connection with newspapers, all have their unions. beyond the federated societics is a large number of affiliated federations covering great britain. advertisers have organisations also, including advertising managers, circulation managers, and, indeed, every one asso- ciated with the production and distribution side of the press. newsagents combine chiefly in the federation of wholesale newsagents and the national federation of retail newsagents. another organisation which represents not only the press of great britain but of the dominions, is the empire press union, which was the outcome of the first imperial press conference held in 1909. it represents newspapers, either by proprictors or responsivle members of the staff. it has branch sections in the overseas dominions and keeps a permanent supervision over such questions affecting cable services and charges, and matters of common interest to the press as a whole. the second impcrial press conference was held in canada in 1920, and the third in australia in 1925. ‘the first president of the i:mpire press union was the first lord burnham, and he was succeeded by his son, the present lord burnham, who is also president of the newspaper proprietors association. the chairman of the council from 1915-26 was sir robert donald, who was suc- ceeded by mr. j. l. garvin. the empire press union has insisted continuously on better and cheaper communications with the overseas dominions and has devoted particular atten- tion to the promotion of empire wireless. after many years delay the first empire wireless station began to operate in jan. 1926 in the super-station at rugby. a series of stations was erected, which began to operate in the same year for communi- cation to and from the dominions. cheaper communications —cheaper and quicker means of communication and distribution of news is always in process of evolution. what are known as “ loaded cables ”’ have been jaid down, increasing enormously the capacity and speed by which messages can be transmitted by cable, the advantages of which newspapers will share. in the address to the institute of jour- nalists in 1913, to which reference has already been made, sir robert donald visualised a time when news would be collected by wireless telephone and the reporter would always have a portable telephone with him, with which to communicate with his paper without the trouble of going to the telephone office, or writing out a message. the competitor, he said, to the national newspaper would not be another national newspaper, but a method of circulating news by means of some scicntific mechanism for transmitting the spoken word. he predicted that all the news of the day would be laid on to houses and offices, newspapers just like gas and water. during the years 1924 and 1925 the development of broadcasting brought this vision within the region of realisation. newspapers look on this development with a watchful eye, lest it should, in addition to supplementing their functions, arrest their progress. subordinaiton of the editor—compared with 50 years ago, the most marked change in the personal side of british jour- nalism has been the ascendancy of the proprietor and the subordination of the editor. this is reflected in the now prevail- ing habit of referring to the northcliffe press, the rothermere press, the beaverbrook press and the berry press. there are now only a few well-known editors whose personalities are impresse.! on the public mind. first, there is mr. c. p. scott, the veteran editor of the aflanchester guardian, who is also controlling proprietor of his paper. mr. scott represents the finest type of editor-proprietor in england, while his journal, distinguished for its honesty and consistency, stands for the highest ideals of journalism and has acquired a great interna- tional reputation and influence. it has been under the control of mr. scott for over half a century. on the occasion of the centenary of the manchester guardian in may 1921, king george congratulated mr. scott on his 50 years’ association with the paper which, ‘‘ under your courageous and high-minded guidance, has secured for itself a position of such eminence and esteem in the world of journalism.” the other great personality in english journalism is mr. f. l. garvin, editor of the observer, who is pre-eminent as a writing editor, brilliant and independent. he is a recognised authority on foreign affairs, who has exercised an influence on world politics for many years. in 1926 mr. garvin took on new responsibilities, becoming editor of the encyclopedia britannica and chairman of the empire press union. four editors of london papers who were controlling policies before and during the world war lost their posts, partly through proprictorial changes. mr. ii. w. massingham, who had been editor of two daily newspapers and, afterwards, of the nation, died in 1924, soon after he was dis- placed from the editorship of that journal; mr. a. g. gardiner, of the daily news, mr. j. a. spender, of the westminster ga- zette, and sir robert donald, of the daily chronicle, who had all for many years been controlling editors, left their positions during these years. the proprictor who pushes himself before the public occa- sionally prints signed articles in his papers. he uses them as vehicles for expressing his personal views. one effect of the change, accentuated by thc syndication of newspapers, is that consistency ts not so well maintained and editorial responsibility is very much weakened. the old conception of an anonymous entity, who regarded a newspaper as a public trust and took responsibility scriously, has been dispelled. one individual may be in financial control of several or many newspapers; but as organs of opinion they either become a “‘ gramophone press,” or different interpretations are given to the same policy in papers under the same ownership. the mass production of public opinion does not carry weight. the changed system of ownership has unseated most of the old newspaper dynasties. the press families no longer in power include the lloyds (dutly chronicle, etc.); hulton (daily dispatch, ete.); ingram (illustrated london news); and borth- wick (aforning post). the walter association with the times is maintained, but the family control has gone. there remains, however, the daily telegraph, in control of the second lord burnham, representing the third generation of the lawson family. the times has reverted to its traditional policy, as the first newspaper in the world, occupying its place with easy dignity. its scholarly editor, mr. geoffrey dawson, maintains anonymity, while the controlling proprictor, hon. j. j. astor, m.p., maintains the reserved tradition of the walters. the change has, however, assured 7/ie times the position of inde- pendence as a national newspaper. when tire times holding company, ltd., acquired lord northcliffe’s controlling interest in the newspaper, special restrictions and conditions were intro- duced, which provided that none of the shares may be transferred newspapers to any person other than major astor or mr. john walter, unless or until such person shall have been approved as a proper person to hold ordinary shares in the company by a resolution of the committee which the articles of association appointed. the same restriction applies to a corporation. the committee consists of the persons who for the time being are lord chief justice of england, warden of all souls college, president of the royal society, president of the institute of chartered accountants and governor of the bank of england. the decisions of this committce must be by a majority of votes, the chairman to have a casting vote. in exercising their decision in regard to the transfer of shares the committee must have regard to the importance of maintaining the best traditions of the times newspaper, and national rather than personal inter- ests, and eliminating as far as reasonably possible questions of personal ambition and commercial profit. sir william berry and mr. gomer berry carry on their vast and varied interests in a business spirit without bringing their personalitics before their many millions of readers. an arresting personality in the british press is lord beaverbrook— controlling proprictor of the daily express, the sunday express and the evening standard. he went into the newspaper business during the world war and it wasnot long before he showed striking gifts for the particular kind of journalism which he took up. he has the news and the political sense highly developed and if he frequently annoys he always interests. popular weeklies —the popular periodicals during the last 30 years attained great sales, pushed up artificially by means of prizes, competitions and the insurance system. the period, which may be described as the era of popular journalism, was begun by the late sir george newnes over 40 years ago with tit bits. two men who had been contributors to his paper followed his example. alfred harmsworth started amswers, and c. arthur pearson, pearson’s weekly. these three little weekly papers were the foundations upon which arose three great pub- lishing and newspaper businesses. the george newnes publish- ing business expanded in several directions. sir george newnes himself made excursions into newspaper journalism. he founded as a political organ the westminsicr gasette and other papers which did not survive. c. arthur pearson (afterwards sir arthur pearson), besides building up a big periodical business, also entered the newspaper world, but was not commercially successful. the newnes business is now amalgamated with pearson’s, and publishes a large number.of popular information and entertaining weekly papers. the one man who attained unprecedented success, both in the periodical and newspaper ficld, was alfred harmsworth (see northcliffe, viscount). his creation, amalgamated press ltd., is to-day the biggest business of its kind in the world. its publications appeal to all classes, and in recent years it has been expanding and appealing to a higher class of reader, pub- lishing a number of very useful encyclopaedias, histories and reference works of various kinds, issued in very attractive form. ii. the british dominions trish free state-—newspapers in the irish free state are settling down to dominion conditions, but it cannot be said that the new political freedom has stimulated newspaper enter- prises. the dublin morning papers are now the frish times and the irish independent, and the evening papers, te herald and the dublin evening mail. in 1910 there were four morning papers and three evening papers in the irish capital. the historic freeman’s journal passed throu,h many vicissitudes, and finally disappeared in 1923, after 160 years of existence. there are two morning papers and one evening paper in cork. british newspapers, daily and weckly, have a considerable sale in the irish free state. canada.—there are no more independent newspapers than those published in the british overseas dominions. they are comparatively free from government influences, and are not subject to the domination of syndicates or trusts. the press of cach dominion has its own characteristics. canadian news- 1053 papers not unnaturally reflect the style and appearance of american newspapers, while retaining some of the more sedate qualities of english journalism. there are no sunday news- papers in canada, although american sunday newspapers are sold at railway stations and at hotels throughout the dominion. the evening press is more important than the morning press. such evening papers as the montreal star and the toronto globe have very large sales and are second to none in enterprise. the canadian press publishes a great deal of british news and car- rics american magazine features. there are no national newspapers in canada, as the dominion is too vast for papers to circulate beyond the area of one prov- ince, but there are several newspapers of national reputation and wide political influence, such as the manitoba free press, the montreal gazette, the toronto globe, the vancouver darly province, and the halifax chronicle. in merit, such newspapers stand high, and canadian journalists are continually being tempted to cross the border to fill important posts on the american press, and in recent years have been drawn in greater numbers to london. in some towns, such as ottawa, the same papers have morning and evening issues. there is a healthy french press in the quebec province. la presse of montreal claims to have the largest sale of any newspaper in canada, french or english. every town in canada, even if its popula- tion does not exceed 5,000, has a daily newspaper, as is the case in most communities in other british dominions. the trade and technical press of canada compares well with similar papers in other countries. monthly publications are at a disad- vantage because of competition from the excellent cheap maga- zines and sunday supplements from the united states, which regard the dominion as a dependency for periodical literature. the small town of st. john’s, population 38,645, in the large istand dominion of newfoundland, prides itself in having one morning and three evening newspapers. australia and new zealand.—in australia, two-thirds of the population are concentrated in cities. the evolution of the press in australia has led to the building up of very prosperous newspaper propcrtics. there are not many newspapers per 1,000,000 population. competing newspapers and cable agencies send a very full service of news from great britain, and the place occupied by an australian newspaper is determined chictly by the volume of british news which it contains and by the literary quality of its editorial articles. the australian daily press combines the dignified appearance and solid qualitics of british papers like the times, the daily telegraph, 1 he man- chester guardian and the glasgow herald. without exception, they are prosperous and are efficiently equipped mechanically. in melbourne, which with its suburbs has a population of nearly 1,000,000, there are only two morning newspapers—7he age and the argus—a pictorial paper, founded in 1922; and one evening paper, the itercld. the selling price of each is 13d. in sydney, the parent city of australia, with 1,000,000 inhabi- tants, there are four morning newspapers and two evening newspapers. sydacy has the cheapest newspapers in the world. the morning herald an: the sydacy daily telegraph are larger than the times or the london daily telcgraph, and are sold at id. brisbane has two morning and three evening papers, all ad. each. adelaide has two well-known morning newspapcrs, the advertiser—“ from 096 to 252 columns daily,’’—and 1 he register, sclling price 13d. there is one evening newspaper. australia possesses a healihy weekly press which devotes snecial attention to the farming industries and several national journals, notably “he syditey bulletin, which is read throughout the island-continent, and trwue/, described as “ the most virile or.can of democracy.”” there are labour daily and weekly papers in australii. an act has been in operation for some time in australia, which provides that during a federal electoral cam- paizgn all articles on reports or news dealing with political mat- ters must be sizned by the writer. a similar law has been adopted in south africa. wealth is well distributed in new zealand among its popu- lation of 1,000,000 and the trade statistics per head is excep- 1054 tionally high. this state of things is reflected in the prosperity of the new zealand press. the daily press is even more char- acteristically english than are the australian newspapers. the capital, wellington, with a population of less than 100,000, has three daily newspapers. south africa.—with a white population of 1,350,000 divided racially between the british and the dutch, the union of south africa makes a good showing in the matter of the press. all branches of the newspaper business are well organised. the leading english papers are well known outside the union, such as the cate times, the cape argus, the rand daily mail and the star of johannesburg. there are four well-conducted daily papers in natal. the friend of bloemfontein and the diamond field advertiser of kimberley are also influential organs. the leading dutch papers are die burger and ons land of cape town and volkstem of pretoria. it is customary for many newspapers in south africa to be sold by subscription. there are newspapcrs in the smaller towns throughout the union and in every british settlement of a few thousand pcople in all african colonies. india.—the part played by english newspapers in india cannot be measured by the copies which they sell. in calcutta, with a population of nearly 1,500,000, is published the oldest newspaper in india, the englishman, and also the most popular, the statesman. the times of india (bombay), the afadras weekly mail, the pioneer of allahabad, the civil and military gazette of lahore, are the best-known papers and organs of opinion. there are quite a number of official journals in india. the vernacular papers are growing in number and in influence, and some of the nationalist organs are published in english— as, for instance, the amrita bazar patrika of calcutta. some papers are published in two languages, in english and vernacular. bibliography.— mitchell’s newspaper press directory (1910-26); the newspaper world (1913); h. simonis, street ef ink (1917); robert donald, the parliament of the press and the work of the empire press (1920); w. il. mills, the manchester guardian. a century of iistory (1921); j. saxon mills, the press and communica- tions of the empire (1924); the romance of the daily mirror 1903~24 (1925); printers and stationers year book and diary (1926). sce also walling’s press guide (annual); sell’s dictionary of the world's press (irregular); t. b. brown, vhe advertisers a.b.c. (annual). (r. d.) ill. the united states and s. america the newspapers in the united states tend with the passing years to become more and more economic products. they offer two things for sale: to the reader they sell news, editorials and other interesting reading matter, and to the advertiser they offer white space at so much per inch. economic complications are numerous because these two joint products must be mar- keted in the same containcr—the white paper on which the news is printed and on which the advertising is displayed. the economic side.—in other economic products the cost of the container is relatively small in comparison with the cost of the product itself; the paper which wraps a cake of soap may well serve as an illustration. in the newspaper business the cost of paper is the largest bill the publisher must pay. the increase in the cost of newsprint paper, especially during the world war, forced an increase in subscription price. during certain war years this high cost necessitated a curtailment of the privi- lege of returning unsold copies, compelled some newspapers to limit the number of their pages, required editors to present news in condensed form and reduced in many instances the size of headlines. those publishers who, having during this period a liberal supply of white paper from their own mills, were able to maintain pre-war sizes, often printed issues nearly as valuable for waste paper as for news media—from the finan- clal point of view. since the war the increased subscription price has for the most part been maintained. after the outbreak of the war economics in newspaper pro- duction were secured through pools and combinations. [pools in cable tolls came with the advance in rates for trans-atlantic messages. london sewspapers resold their news to american newspapers, and obviously, after the declaration of hostilities, newspapers news from london was wanted more in detail. consequently when the new york world, the new york times, and the new york tribune pooled their interests and let one cable dispatch serve all, each saved two-thirds in tolls. | the war period —when the united states, after entering the war, made preparations to send troops overseas newspapers combined to save expense in war correspondence. such com- binations are scen in the accredited correspondents who were permitted to accompany the first expeditionary force to france and who represented the following: the associated press, the united press, the international news service, the associated papers, the newspaper enterprise assn., the philadelphia ledger syndicate, the munsey group of newspapers, the new york times and group of newspapers, the new york herald syndicate, the chicago tribune and group of newspapers, the new york jvorld and group of newspapers, the new york tribune, the philadelphia north american and group of news- papers, the denver post and collier’s weekly. the hearst string of newspapers was represented by the international news service. it will be noticed that most of these newspaper combinations were headed by either a new york or a phila- delphia newspaper. american troops overseas soon had their own newspaper, the siars and stripes: its publisher was richard h{. waldo, formerly business manager of the new york tribune. the stars and stripes was run as a commercial proposition, was entirely self-supporting, and, mirabile dict, had, when it ceased publication, a large surplus. press censorship in the united states during the war may be dismissed with few words. a committee on public informa- tion, appointed by president wilson, consisted of the secretary of state, the secretary of war, the secretary of the navy and one civilian, george creel. its two principal purposes were first, to be a clearing-house for the news of the various depart- ments at washington; second, to act as censors for war intelli- gence received from overseas. in practice it limited its activities principally to the dissemination of information. but it did publish a pamphlet, similar to that issued by the press censor of canada, to aid american newspapers in voluntary censorship. (see censorship.) “v the war favoured the evening papcrs in the presentation of the news and the reason may be found in the difference in time between europe and america. if correspondents filed their cable dispatches promptly and if they wrote their accounts so that little, if any, work was required by the official censors there was time enough to record the hostilities of the day before the late editions of the evening newspapcrs went to press. previous to the war there was a marked tendency on the part of the evening papers to present the day’s news more or less in bulletin form and to devote most of the contents to special features, to regular household departments and to comic strips. there were notable exceptions to this tendency, but they were the excep- tions which prove the rule. war, for the time being at least, put the news back in the evening papers. the editorial page, which had been steadily declining in influ- ence since the days of greeley of the new york 7ribune, dana of the new york sux, godkin of the new york post, medill of the chicago 7vibune, waterson of the louisville courter journal—to mention only a few—came to be a necessity for thoughtful readers. to them the news from overseas needed not only presentation, but also interpretation. this interpreta- tion, plus the tremendous increase in the amount of foreign news, gave an international character to the american news- paper never found before. facts and figures —census figures collected by the u.s. govt. about newspapers, while technically accurate, are some- what misleading. among daily newspapers, for example, they include the dailies published by undergraduates at various uni- versities, such as the daily californian, the yale daily news, the new york university daily news, the harvard crimson, the columbian spectator, the wisconsin daily cardinal, etc.—to say nothing of the daily trade bulletins issued in the interests of various industries. the statistics compiled for the inierna- newspapers tional year book by the editor and publisher are more reliable. its figures for 1925 show that there were in the united states 427 morning newspapers with a daily circulation of 12,440,387; 1,581 evening newspapers with a daily circulation of 21,208,982; and 548 sunday newspapers with a weekly circulation of 23,354,022. these figures mean that there was one and one- third (13) newspapers for every family in the united states and one sunday paper for nearly every home. the number of weekly newspapers has cleclined almost steadily every year from 19ro to 1925. at the close of the latter year the united states had 13,176 community weeklies. of these a little over 11,c00 might be considered as small town newspapers. ‘the number of weekly newspapers serving special sections of cities has increased and doubtless will continue to do so as cities expand. since the war country newspapers have shown a decrease of something like 3,000. but what rural newspapers have lost in quantity they have made up in quality. the associated press, the great co-operative news-gathering organization, in 19ro was furnishing its service to 826 papers; at the close of 1925 it had on its list 1,211. during this period its annual cable tolls increased from $87,187.46 to $147,912.18. facts and figures about the new york times illustrate from the business side the making of a leading metropolitan news- paper. the paper consumption increased from 24,421,082 lbs. in 1910 to 160,230,367 ibs. in 1925. advertising, measured by lines, grew from 7,550,650 to 28,200,444. the average number of pages for a daily issuc in 1910 was 18-6 and in 1925 was 40-5. for the sunday edition the average number of pages was 74-6 (1910) and 173:0 (1925). the 646 employees in 1910 were distributed as follows: business, 158; editorial, 159; mechanical 329; the 2828 in 1925 were thus divided among the various de- partments: business, 757; editorial, 418; mechanical, 1,653. to visualize these figures it may be said that if all the printed matter, including advertisements and illustrations, of an entire sunday edition of the times could be pasted on a ribbon a column wide this ribbon would circle the globe twelve times. amalgumations —the movement in the american fourth estate is unquestionably toward consolidation. space does not permit mention of the amalgamations of smaller papers, but important changes in metropolitan fields may be noted. frank a. munsey before his death in 1925 had in new york city merged the press with the sun in 1916, later in 1920 he purchased the new york herald and the evening telegram. discontinuing the aforning sun he transferred that title to the lvening sun with which in 1923 he merged the globe. at about the same time he purchased the evening mail which he consolidated with the evening telegram. he then sold (1924) lhe herald to the new york tribune, now published under a joint title. in boston the herald (morning) took over (1912) the traveler (evening) and continued it as its evening edition. later (1917) the herald absorbed the journal (morn- ing). in kansas city w. s. dickey bought (1921) the journal (morning) and (1922) the post (evening). he continued the journal as a morning paper and the post as an afternoon, with joint publication on sunday, with a flat subscription price for both papers. in this he followed the example of 7'#e star which since 1901 has been printing the times as its morning issue, with both papers going to the same subscribers. in philadelphia cyrus h. kk. curtis became on jan. 1 1913 the publisher of the public ledger which he purchased from adolph s. ochs. on sept. 14 1914 he started the evening public ledger with which he united (1918) the evening tele- graph. in 1920 he purchased the press to unite with the public ledger and in 1925 he did the same with the philadelphia north american. in chicago the record-hwerald purchased (1913) the inier-ocean and appeared as the herald which later was purchased by w. r. hearst and united with his chicago exam- iney. in cleveland the plain dealer absorbed the leader and in st. louis the globe-democrat purchased the republic, one of the oldest daily papers in missouri. new developments —newspapers showed in 1925 a most marked improvement over those of 1910 in mechanical make-up. i055 especially has the change for the better been noted in the arrangement of material on the first page, where aitempts have been made to give that page something like an artistic balance. a few papers have conducted expensive experiments to