Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/519

 THE LITERARY INTERESTS OF CHICAGO 503

lation. The Chicago Ledger managers often point out that 69 per cent, of the people of the United States live outside of the cities, and that the circulation of the "mail-order" papers is in the country towns, villages, and rural communities. In the seventies the percentage of the population classed as rural was even larger. And since the Chicago Ledger and the "family- story" papers have never been much read in the cities, they were used from the start to get advertisements to the country people. The general advertising agencies were becoming an important factor in certain lines of business by the late seventies. For the large campaigns which they conducted, the first mediums they used, after the local newspapers eyerywhere, were the "family- story" papers, whose publishers were thus saved from great outlay in their organization for securing advertisements. This aided greatly in a quick realization of profits.

However sensational the call for a reader's attention, and despite the country reader's interest in the advertisements, the Chicago Ledger still appeals to the aesthetic interest broadly defined to the interest in story. Incidentally this journal has lived for thirty-three years, and maintained its identity, char- acter, and name. No other Chicago periodical having some sort of a dominant literary character can boast as much.

Thirty per cent, of the literary periodicals begun in Chicago during the period after the fire were of this "family-story" type, a larger percentage than the figures for those of its kind started in any decadal period since then. Among the ventures of this class in Chicago following the fire were the following papers : Our Fireside Friend, 1872-75; the Cottage Monthly, 1873; Turner's Minaret, 1873-75; Western Home, 1874-75; the Old Oaken Bucket, 1876; and Sunset Chimes, 1876-87. One of the newspaper annuals contained a standing line which described the contents of these and similar periodicals as "entertaining literature."

The relative permanence of the literary periodicals started in Chicago after the fire, including those of the higher as well as those of the lower literary orders, is one notable feature of the period, despite the fact, pointed out by E. Steiger, of New York.