Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/261



(Enlarged)

Legal notices found in six-penny contemporaries were reprinted by the cheaper papers and bills mailed to county officials. Al- though unauthorized, these bills were paid because politicians did not dare to offend the penny sheets who were in a position to expose the petty grafts of the period. Before the type-revolving cylinder press made its appearance, many of the newspapers were so profusely illustrated that they resembled catalogues rather than newspapers. Some of the more fastidious sheets seriously objected to the use of these cuts which gave such a black appear- ance to the newspaper, and charged extra for their insertion even though no extra mechanical labor was involved.

EPIDEMIC OF MEDICINAL ADVERTISING During the Colonial Period the newspaper publisher was often a seller of medicines. There were several reasons for this; one was that the colonial printer was forced by necessity to supple- ment the income from his press by that from other sources; medicinal preparations, then, as now, allowed large profits. In the second place, the early settler was forced by isolation to be his own doctor. What was more natural, therefore, than that the post-rider who brought The Gazette should also bring house- hold remedies for cases of emergency. It made matters easier when both these items could be purchased at the same shop. The American, forced by necessity to be his own doctor, soon came to be his own doctor from choice. All that was needed to increase the sale of pills and powders was an epidemic of bodily ills. This " curse" came at about the time that the masses were getting the penny press. An epidemic of dancing swept across the country. Previously, balls had been confined to the more aris- tocratic gatherings, but dances became popular with the me- chanics, the gatherers of ashes, the clerks in shops, etc. Econo- mists who have studied this period of American history say that the amount spent on balls by all manner of society was simply enormous. Dancing was prolonged into the morning hours. Ventilation of ballrooms was then so poor that the result was a flood of almost all ills to which the human body is heir. Manufacturers of proprietary medicines found they could reap a fortune by advertising their nostrums in the public