Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/187

 to do with a 'halfpenny rag,' as the Echo was euphemistically called. Regardless of every persuasion, of every temptation, including the delivery to them of the paper in a manner that evening papers had never been delivered before, they said, 'No; we make little enough out of the penny papers, and we are not going to ruin ourselves and give ourselves double work by selling halfpenny ones.' And sell the Echo they would not. The public, too, who had never been accustomed to recognizing the value of halfpennies, did not seem at all anxious to assist us by persisting in having the paper. Matters looked serious, but buoyed up by the belief that there was an opening for halfpenny papers in London, it was decided to fight the matter out. At last the Echo caught on; public opinion turned in its favour, and on this account the trade were obliged to supply it."

"I may, perhaps," says Mr. Voules, in an article relating to his share in the enterprise, "take a little credit to myself for having thus overcome the opposition of the newspaper trade to a halfpenny paper. I know that it is a great responsibility to feel that one has been, to a certain extent, the originator of the newspaper street boy, but this feeling is greatly modified by the satisfaction of knowing that one has been at the same time associated with the originating of the halfpenny daily paper in this country. . . . During the Franco-Prussian War the machines were kept running day and night, and the sale of the paper extended not only through the whole of London but throughout England. For instance, in Birmingham alone we often sold 40,000 copies in the course of the day."

Naturally, this state of affairs soon brought competition, but competition in this instance was useful, as it assisted in educating the people to understanding that a trustworthy, readable, and interesting paper could be produced even at a halfpenny.

By the close of the first half-year a very pronounced success had been attained. Soon afterwards the