Page:The Newspaper World.djvu/19

8 be taxed a penny and half-sheets a half-penny. But the newspaper proprietors of the day raised a strenuous and successful protest, and for ten years the evil was averted. In Anne's reign, during the administration of Harley, when party spirit ran high, and the occurrences which led up to the Peace of Utrecht were engrossing attention, the stamp duty was levied, as previously proposed. Every newspaper lawfully issued from the press was thenceforth required to bear in the corner one of those stamps in red ink which were continued down to our own time; and, when abolished for revenue purposes thirty-five years ago, were continued for postal use down to 1870. The increases in the newspaper tax were made chiefly in the reign of George III., and were attended with a consequent increase in the price of newspapers, so that sevenpence was at length the usual charge for an article directly and indirectly taxed above its commercial value several times over. The penny duty was raised to 1½d. in 1776, to 2d. in 1789, to 2½d. in 1794, and to 3½d. in 1797, the year before Pitt levied the first income-tax. The increased taxation was due almost entirely to the immense war expenditure which had to be met at this time.

These increasing imposts tended to make newspapers essentially an article of luxury, which could only be purchased by the well-to-do. Though there was, of course, less general demand for newspapers than in later years, owing to a large section of the people being without education, yet, as the result of taxation, surreptitious endeavors—often attended with success for a time—were made to supply the people with cheap newspapers. These attempts were, however, more boldly and effectively carried out during the next century. But up to the middle of the eighteenth century, while the stamp duty remained at a penny, the growth of the press was very marked, insomuch that Dr Johnson bore testimony that "Journals are daily