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328 TEE LEAPEE, [Saturday,
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IS THIS DEPARTMENT, A3 ALL OPINIONS, HOW...
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OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. - (To the Edi...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The New Newspaper Stamp Act. Facts And P...
at present , but prepared like the Provincial Press to sell for one penny less per copy . For the country villages and hamlets , where I have continually seen the stamped T imes received by train , it will , of course , be posted like the Provincial . Press ^ or sent unstamped by train , and will , therefore , stand at no disadvantage in price so far . The only one point where it could be damaged would be by purchasers in the country placing a postagestamp on the paper , which would only frank it for
one transmission ; but here , again , the country agent has only to order a stamped impression for the country purchaser , and this inconvenience is obviated ; the Times still sells at the same price in the country town as the country paper proper , and enjoys the same advantages as the country paper in multiplied postal circulation . You will perceive , therefore , that these dexterously-contrived clauses , if intended detrimentally to affect the London Press , will fail of their purpose for the facilities enjoyed by the Times are also possessed by the other
metropolitan papers . These enormous advantages cannot be commanded by the Country Press to London , or even by the Country Press from town to town , since the demand being so small , the bookseller would not incur the expense of a daily railway parcel for the problematical dissemination of a country newspaper , in which few people take any interest . Having disposed of the above- question , one of greater difficulty meets us , the rapid publication of fac similes of the London papers .
It appears again to be a very general impression that the Bill under consideration creates additional facilities in the above respect , and this impression is in so far based on truth , that the deposit of certain moneys and certain securities , and the prepayment o Stamps for the impression are abolished . With these few exceptions additional country papers will possess simply the privilege now possessga by the country press and by the . London journals , viz ., that of stealing ad libitum from any contemporary either news articles or other- materials without acknowledgment , and with only such inducements to honesty as may be afforded by a tender editorial
consciencea not very substantial guarantee in the best of cases . That there will be the most shameful pillage after the passing of this act is to be anticipated , inasmuch as there has been the most shameful pillage from time immemorial . With the diminution in price of the stamp duty on the London papers , however , and on the present Country Press , and seeing that no additional facilities are created in respect to a system which is already unjustly legalised , I do not perceive how it can become more advantageous to steal in future than it is at present , and I certainly cannot perceive how additional injury to the London Press can arise . The-Country Press Jbas ajreadyjbr years
past stood in the same position towards the London Press as it will henceforth stand ; and the same clauses which it is said would cause now an indefinite multiplication of metropolitan and country sheets , the facility of transfer , the consequent saving of expenses in all departments , & c ., have been always in existence ; and since for many years past it has not served the purposes of speculators to establish richauffes of intelligence , I do not believe that it will answer in future . Responsible persons could certainly always have provided the necessary caution-money and securities hitherto ; and , with respect to a low and
debased literature , resulting from the non-employment of those precautions , certain it is that such a literature , however injurious it may be to the nation , will be perfectly harmless ns regards the excellent journals at present established , which are conducted with too much enterprise and ability , and with too much gentlemanly feeling , to sustain a loss of influence from such an opposition as is here mentioned . The above considerations would , therefore , lead to the conviction that the Times and other journals will sustain remarkably little , if any , diminution in tho number of their impressions from the new Act .
The circulation remaining undiminished , the advertisements that now appear in the London journals would still seek publicity through the same channels . It is not alone the number of copies sold by a paper that constitute it a valuable * medium to the advertiser . The character of tho paper is , perhaps , a still more important consideration . The Times addresses all classes , high and low ; its advertisements are therefore directed to all classes . The Morning Post ,
although generally circulating also , circulates more especially in the higher regions of the community . Consequently , persons seeking publicity are willing to pay that journal its present high rates for advertlserrients , and find their profit , I presume , in so doing . The Builder , Lancet , and other journals are prominent instances of this " class" advertising , but the operations in force- as regards their columns are quite as powerfully operating in regard to the press generally , although the shades of difference are not
so broad nor the HniStof demarcation so plainly marked . This class consideration is of very great importance in its bearing upon the new journalism , so much so , that for my part , taking this question conjointly with the questions of character , circulation , postal transmission , and facilities , of transfer as elaborated above , I con fess it I do n * bt understand how the Me-: tropolitan , nay , even the Country Press is to be materially interfered with . In fact , these points confessedly remaining the same , can it be supposed that the mere abrogation of the caution money and security clauses , taken conjointly with the reduction of price effected by the removal of the stamp , will so liberate journalism , or will so diminish the total
price of a paper as to cause a universal alteration in the condition of journalism ? Doubtless manj' inferior sheets will be started , but only by those who could not comply with the laws previously in force . This consideration constitutes the paper a priori & stale sheet , makes its news some hours old , and precludes the enterprise , expenditure , and rapid information which , whatever may be asserted to the contrary , have for years past ensured the superiority of the London Press , and prevented the profitable transfer and republication of news . Had this not been the case , it were quite preposterous to imagine
that the mere caution money , security , and stamp duty , confessedly the only obstacles opposed , would for so many years past have acted as insurmountable hindrances to the establishment of new Metropolitan and Provincial papers . Had there previously existed any law of copyright , and were it now proposed to abrogate that law , doubtless these alarms would be natural enough : and yet , as the event has proved , such alarm would be unfounded , for the daily papers , although unprotected by a law of copyright , have not up to the present time recognised themselves transferred and under a new name in the pages of a
diurnal copyist . As respects question 5 , 1 confess it , I do not see ray way so clearly . There is , doubtless , some foundation for the belief that journals of an inferior character , and addressed only to the lower classes , will be prepared for publication on the day the new stamp act shall come in force . There may also , and I doubt not will ; be somefew journals of a somewhat higher character , specially intended for those who cannot afford to buy a daily paper , . and take it home under present circumstances , but who would frequently indulge their families with a late copy of news if it could be obtained at a considerably less cost . It will be , however , for such persons only that the new journalism can be made available , since the present high clasff papers may be obtained of any news agent hour two hours / and
for perhaps one penny per , or so on . The educated classes , merchants and others , will still adhere to their high class paper for many reasons . The lower classes , should they be fortunate enough to obtain instruction from the new prints , will resort to other pages the moment their intelligence , knowledge , and general ideas respecting the movements of the day shall have been educated to a better standard . The new journalism , indeed , is much morer likely to provean efficient coadjutor to the established press—a sort of preparatory school , indeed—than to do it injury . On the other hand , in the event of any licentious sheets being published , and the hew act encouraging such publications , its repeal will be an infinitely more rapid measure than its enactment .
Points 6 and 7 are so intimately connected that they must be discussed together . The first portion of point 61 have already endeavoured to elucidate : respecting the second , limiting the weight of a newspaper to six ounces , there is much to be said pro and con . Taking the Post Office as an office established solely for the convenience of the public and not as a source of revenue to the government , and considering that there are other papers than the Times which exceed tho weight appointed as the limit ; and seeing that these papers are , as a rule , the best in their districts , it would appear but just that the limit of weight should be the present weight of the largest journals . This would establish a limit , which is , of course , a necessity . Yet it may be said , that on the publication of
two editions of the same book , the one an abridgment at Is . passing through the post for 6 d ., the other a full , complete , and admirable edition , heavier from these very causes , and requiring a shilling to frank its transmission , a manifest injustice would be done to the enterprising publisher who had already gone to greater expense , and produced a more admirable and instructive book for the public benefit . Such arguments , doubtless , have weight ; but Sir G . Cornowall Lewis will find that an endeavour to abolish a restriction which would doubtless weigh heavily upon the enterprise and-talent of the country , would at all events clear tho Government from suspicions and aspersions based upon the evident encouragement held out tp this new journalism .
The new Stamp Act has now been fully considered in its different bearings upon the journals already established , nnd upon those that may possibly be projected ; but there are several other circumstances introduced by public necessity , which also have a very important bearing upon the question .
These circumstances are the establishment of clubs , reading-rooms , and the electric telegraph . The two first have already created peculiar classes of newspaper readers , men of taste , judgment , and education , who are now not at all satisfied unless ther are enabled to read or to skim over the majority of the London journals , not only daily , but weekly . The reading-rooms , coffee-houses , and taverns , also offer convenient and cheap enough opportunities to read the morning papers ; and so largely , indeed , are these facilities taken advantage of , that where a London paper is purchased for only one person , its readers may be numbered by dozens , and that too
both in town and country . The electric telegraph more especially affects the establishment of country sheets , . since the present Country Press can procure late telegraphic summaries for their first editions and summaries « at about ten a . m ., which are published in the form of a slip , and given away . The newsrooms again have telegraphic summaries as late as two and three , p . m . What is the new journalism to effect against this mass of telegraphic news ? The Times and other papers are already telegraphed down , or at least their choicest intelligence . This is concentrated into the quantity of perhaps two columns . Of what avail to republish all this news
some hours afterwards in a more ample and extended form ? The new journalism can do little enough with the telegraph that is not already done . Should it copy from the London papers on their arrival , the entire valuable portion of these republications will have already appeared . The newsrooms -will be still obtaining later intelligence , and the new journalism will effect something new indeed , if notwithstanding all these obstacles , it should succeed ia establishing itself in public favour , and in obtaiuing public support . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , A Fkiend to " The Leader . "
328 Tee Leapee, [Saturday,
328 TEE LEAPEE , [ Saturday ,
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Is This Department, A3 All Opinions, How...
IS THIS DEPARTMENT , A 3 ALL OPINIONS , HOWEVER EXTREME , ARE ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOR NECESSARILY HOLDSIHSt-. SELF RESPONSIBLE FOR HOSB . ]
Observance Of The Sabbath. - (To The Edi...
OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH . - ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —Although our modern Scribes and Pharisees cannot yet be induced to acknowledge that the Sabbath was made for man , and not man for the Sabbath , it can hardly fail that the late motion—illustrated by Lord Stanley ' s good sense—will have done some service in battering in breach a time-honoured prejudice , which most men support merely from fear of offending their wives . If perchance any one be bold enough to speak in favour of innocent recreations on Sunday , some lady or other in the company is cartain to exclaim with mingled solemnity and alarm , " Remember the Sabbath day , to keep it holy , " at the same time laying a marked emphasis on the last word . But in what language does " holy" mean
" gloomy ?" --In-this case the translation itself , is in fault , for it should run thus : " to keep it separate " - that is , separate from the six days allotted to labour . And in the Book of Deuteronomy the reason assigned f or this " separation" is , that the Jews should not forget the years of bondage and affliction they passed in the land of Egypt . In the twentieth chapter of Exodus , indeed , another motive is given , viz ., the commemoration of God ' s repose from the work ot creation . But this is evidently rejected by Christ , when he declares that the Father is continually working without cessation even on the Sabbath . He also repudiates the doctrine and practice of passive inertness on that day , and everywhere inculcates by precept and example a cheerful spirit and social mirth
. . . ' Besides , the Jewish festivals , with one single exception , were occasions of rejoicing , of eating , drinKing , and making merry . And so far was dancing from being looked upon as a carnal device and invention of the Evil One , that King David danced Defore the ark " with all his might . " But whatever may have been tho custom ot an isolated race of men , our reason revolts at the idea oi a Creator being honoured by tho gloom and ennui oi His creatures . By all means let the seventh < 1 ay w > set apart for rest , that men may gather strength lor the duties of tho six days that follow . It ; «• « oog also that thanks bo offered to the Most High for al the blessings of this life . But the ^ V ™ * ° 1 nwi i « mnn ; wnri in nn unrierht heart and pure , ana social
in a faithful discharge of all duties , domestic , , and political . Against these there « mm | law . Ana that man is tho best citizen and Christian w »» u « votes tho seventh day to tho development of his . own faculties and to tho improvement and education oi those who depend pponW That day cannoti * better employed than in instructive » m « fonient , sucn as may bo found in Museums and Galleries rather than among the donkeys of HampstoiuMienth , ortno tea-and-shrimp parlours of Greenwich . Yours , « c > v
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1855, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07041855/page/16/
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