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 leader-writers, critics, reporters (more narrowly considered part of the “sub-editorial” staff), &c. The actual owner of the paper, the proprietor, may or may not take part in either side, but in law his authority is delegated to those who produce it. The older ideas of journalistic management survive in making the editor, publisher and printer, but curiously not the “manager,” liable in a writ for libel, contempt of court, &c., together with the proprietor in English law. But no satisfactory legal definition of “editor,” still less of “manager,” is possible, since their positions and powers vary according to circumstances.

The history of the Newspaper Press is told for various countries of importance under their respective sections below. The practical development of the modern newspaper is indeed due to a union of causes, largely mechanical, that may well be termed marvellous. A machine (see ) that, from a web of paper 3 or 4 m. long, can, in one hour, print, fold, cut and deliver many thousand perfected broadsheets, is, however, not so great a marvel as is the organizing skill which collects information by conversation, post or telegraph, from all over the world, and then distributes these communications in cheap printed copies regularly every day to an enormous public, sifted, arranged and commented upon, in the course of a few hours. But for a high ideal of public responsibility and duty, conjoined with high culture and with great “staying-power,” in the editorial rooms, all these marvels of ingenuity—which now combine to develop public opinion on great public interests, and to guide it—would be nothing better than a vast mechanism for making money out of, man’s natural aptitude to spend his time either in telling or in hearing some new thing. A newspaper, after all, is essentially a business, conducted by its proprietors for gain. That the commercial motive is a danger to honest journals is obvious, were it not indeed that here as elsewhere honesty is in the long run the best commercial policy.

The example of American journalism has so greatly affected the developments in England and other countries since about 1890, that it is important to realize the conditions under which, in the United States, the newer type of journalism arose. In substance very much the same causes produced very much the same effects

though at a slower rate, in England; but British conservatism operated here as elsewhere. Several circumstances combined in the last quarter of the 19th century to promote

great changes in the condition and character of American newspapers. (1) Paper was enormously cheapened. Before and during the Civil War it cost large New York newspapers at times 22 cents per ℔ for even a poor quality. In 1864 it cost 16 cents in February, and ran up a cent every month till in midsummer it touched 21 and 22 cents. As late as 1873 it was still sold at from 12 to 13 cents. As new materials were found and machinery was improved, the price slowly declined. When the manufacture from wood-pulp was made commercially successful, the profits tempted great investments of new capital; bigger mills were built, competition became keen, and new inventions cheapened the various processes. Thus in New York in 1875 the average price for the year for fair “news” paper was 8·53 cents per ℔; in 1880, 6·92; in 1885, 5·16; and in 1890, 3·38. At last, about 1897, large contracts for a good average quality, delivered at the press-room, were made in New York at as low a figure as 1·5 cents per ℔. Subsequently advances in raw materials, one or two dry seasons which curtailed the water-power, and combinations resulting from over-competition, caused some reaction. Yet it could still be said in 1900 that prudent publishers could buy for $1 as much paper as would have cost them $3 twenty years earlier, or $10 about 1875. (2) Printing machinery for great newspaper offices was transformed. Instead of the old cylinder presses fed by hand, with the product then folded and counted by hand, machines came into common use to print, fold, cut, paste and count and deliver in bundles, ready either for the carrier or the mail, at rates of speed formerly not dreamed of. The size of the paper could be increased or diminished at will, as late news might require, within an hour of the time when it must be in the hands of its readers. Instead of cutting down other news to make room for something late and important, more pages were added, and this steadily increased the tendency to larger papers. Devices were also found for printing the same sheet in different colours at the same rate of speed; and in this way startling headlines were made more startling in red ink, or a piece of news for which special attention was desired was made so glaring that no one could help seeing it. (3) Hand-setting (for great newspapers) was practically abolished. Instead of the slow gathering of single types by hand separate lines were now produced and cast by machines, capable when pushed to their utmost capacity of doing each the work of five average compositors. Thus between 1880 and 1900 there were reductions in the cost—(1) of the raw material for the manufacture of newspapers from two-thirds to three fourths; (2) of printing, at least as much; and (3) of composition, at least one-half, while the facilities in each department for a greater product within a given time were enormously increased. The obvious business tendency of these changes was either a reduction in price or an increase of size, or both.

Electricity became the only news-carrier. New ocean cables broke down the high rates charged at the outset. The American news appetite, growing by what it fed on, soon demanded far fuller cablegrams of European news; and the wars in which Great Britain and the United States were involved accelerated the movement. The establishment of a strong telegraph company, capable of efficient competition with the one which practically controlled the inland service in 1880, likewise cheapened domestic news by telegraph and increased its volume. The companies presently recognized their interest in encouraging rival news associations, and so getting double work for the wires, while promoting the establishment of new papers. Wild competition between news agencies was thus encouraged (even in the cases of some already known to be bankrupt) to the extent of credits of a quarter or half a million dollars on telegraphic tolls. The rapid spread of long-distance telephone lines further contributed to this tendency to make the whole continent a whispering gallery for the press. Every great paper had both telegraph and telephone wires run directly into its newsroom.

Photography and etching were added to the office equipment. Various “process” methods were found, by which the popular desire for a picture to make the news clearer could be gratified. Drawings were reproduced successfully in stereotype plates for