Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/413

 THE LITERARY INTERESTS OF CHICAGO 397

East, was reflected in the literary periodicals of Chicago. This impulse toward the national standpoint showed itself in the magazines and journals undertaken in the period between 1865 and the great fire of 1871. There was also the influence of an intensified local spirit. Chicago was growing like an adolescent giant. The population had increased from a little more than 100,000 in 1860 to over 200,000 in 1866, and by 1870 it was more than 300,000. This growth was matched by a buoyant movement in commerce and industry. A flood of energy which had been diverted to the war was directed anew to these channels. The name " Chicago " appeared on thirteen periodicals of literary appeal in the late sixties and early seventies. The Chicagoan, a literary weekly coming out on Saturdays in the years 1868 and 1869, was one of the best of these. But in tracing development, the beginning of a tendency toward nationalization is more impor- tant. It is to be found in the magazines that were published east as well as west.

The establishment of agencies for distributing periodicals and newspapers aided in widening their scope. Mr. John R. Walsh founded the Western News Co. in 1866. This machine for Middle West distribution of periodic publications was built upon the growing web of railway lines centered in Chicago. The Western News Co. became an organic part of the American News Co., which had been established in New York ten years earlier. Like every branch agency at a subcenter, the Western News Co. proved a great aid to the magazines of New York in securing national circulation. Mr. Walsh held then, as he does today, in 1905, that there can be only one literary center in a country. He cites the shifting of literary production from Edinburgh to Lon- don, in Great Britain's experience, as evidence. At any rate, but few promoters of western publishing ventures have had capital enough to send out through the news company, for display at the newsstands, many copies which might be returned unsold. The news company holds back the collections on three issues of a new periodical as a guarantee that the publishers will fulfil their agree- ment to take back copies not sold. Nevertheless, Chicago pub- lishers, except those of the present decade, have complained that