Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/349

 ever.

CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH

In the North the daily paper suffered no such difficulties as found in the South in the matter of securing the raw product on which to print the news. The larger dailies, however, were forced to carry the additionally heavy burdens of war correspondents. In the general advance in prices on all merchandise the news- paper was no exception. Printers shared in the increase in wages and this added a considerable amount to the cost of production. Printing-paper doubled in cost the first year and again the second until it brought thirty cents a pound. After the first year of the war most of the leading dailies advanced then- prices about one cent every twelve months until they were selling at four and five cents a copy. There were, however, a number of noticeable exceptions to this advance in price. The Sun, of New York, which had been founded as a penny paper and had taken great pride in its price, held off for a long time before increasing its rate: even then it found a subterfuge by advertising, "Price one cent in gold, two cents otherwise." Part of this increase in price was due to the fact that newspapers increased their size, not by enlarging the sheet as in the case of the old six-penny blanket papers, but by increasing the number of pages, now possible through the invention of Hoe. Other papers partially met the increased cost by increasing the charges for advertising and by still keeping their old size.

The war, especially in the North, made many additional newspaper readers. Papers were eagerly purchased in order to learn whether relatives or friends were among those wounded or lost in battle. The desire to know the news gave a great im- petus to the Sunday newspaper, which, until the Civil War, had attracted but little attention. For the Sunday edition, though no larger than regular issues, an increase of one cent was gener- ally asked. This additional charge was justified on the ground that the distribution of papers cost more on Sundays. Gradu- ally the papers began to add, by way of good measure, a few additional features, chiefly semi-news in value, to the Sunday editions. In this way began the differentiation between the daily paper and the Sunday.