The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time, Part 8

Author: Maxwell, Hu, 1860-1927
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Morgantown, W. Va. : Acme Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 538


USA > West Virginia > Barbour County > The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 8


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51


61


SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.


Virginia, part of the original county of that name, and its county seat is the same as at first- Staunton.


In 1769 Botetourt county was formed from Augusta and included the territory now embraced in McDowell, Wyoming, Mercer, Monroe, Raleigh and portions of Greenbrier, Boone and Logan. No county in West Vir- ginia now has the name Botetourt. It is thus seen that no one of the first counties in the territory of West Virginia retains any name in it. Essex, Spotsylvania, Orange, Augusta and Botetourt, each in its turn, embraced large parts of the State, but all the territory remaining under the original names is found in old Virginia, where the names are preserved. The Dis- trict of West Augusta was a peculiar division of West Virginia's present


+ Fort Cumberland


Y Fort Maidstone


MARYLAND


MARYLAND


Nicholas Fort


w Anderson


acresats


JEnach's Fort


x Fort Sellers


Cremetso~


.Furmans Fort


to mad


o Rogers


. Pearly Fort


. Fort


Edwards Fort


North Branch of the


Altan's Creek


Mineral County


Mill Creek ...


of The Path mac


Little Canecaphon


, Mackey's Fart


Patterson's


Smith Fort


Fairfax Stone


Cheat River


[Tucker Co


Luney's Creek


Fort Holland


Wardens Fort


-


FortGeorge


---


HAMPSHIRE COUNTY


1758


-- Key.


Mouth of Senace


Original County Line --


Lines of Present Counties


Forts are Marked x


o Supper Tract


Ruins of Fort Seyhert


MAP OF THE FIRST COUNTY WHOLLY IN WEST VIRGINIA.


territory. It was not a county. Its boundary lines as laid down in the Act of Assembly in 1776, failed to meet-that is, one side of the District was open and without a boundary. Yet counties were formed from West Augusta as if it were a county and subject to division. From it Monongalia was taken, yet part of Monongalia was never in the District of West Augusta. The confusion was due to the ignorance of the geography of the region at that time. The boundary lines, from a mathematical standpoint, enclosed nothing, or, at any rate, it is uncertain what they enclosed. The act of 1776, declaring the line between Augusta County and the District of West Augusta reads as follows:


[Pendleton ) County]


Grant Countyl


the Fork of Sound Branch


Lost River


--- ---


Ishenandodh County]


Redal's For


Fort Pleasant!


South BYAT


[Hardy


& Hampshire. . Courilysl


North County]


[Frederick County]


Styx Rover


New Creek


+ G. Parker's


He K jaken's


Preston County]


William's Fort


Caperaphon &


MorganCountis


D South Branch


Rocking


Places are Marked o


Randolph County7


"Beginning on the Alleghany Mountain between the heads of the Potomac, Cheat and Greenbrier Rivers, thence along the ridge of mountains which divides the waters of


62


SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.


Cheat from those of Greenbrier, and that branch of the Monongahela called Tygart's Valley River to the Monongahela River, thence up the said river and the west fork thereof to Bingeman's Creek, on the northwest side of the said west fork, thence up the said creek to the head thereof, thence in a direct course to the head of the Middle Island Creek, a branch of the Ohio, including all the waters of said creek in the aforesaid Dis- trict of West Augusta. All that territory lying to the northward of the aforesaid boun- dary, and to the westward of the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, shall be deemed, and is hereby declared to be in the District of West Augusta."


The territory so laid off would include of the present counties of West Virginia a narrow strip through the center of Randolph, east of Cheat Mountain, one fourth of Tucker, the western half of Preston, nearly all of Marion, and Monongalia, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock, part of Tyler and Pleasants, a small corner of Doddridge, and an indefinite part of the present State of Pennsylvania. The eastern parts of Tucker, Ran- dolph and Preston, outside the boundaries of West Augusta, were subse- quently included in Monongalia County, under the apparent presumption that they had belonged to West Augusta.


Following is a list of the counties of West Virginia, with the date of formation, area and from whom named:


HAMPSHIRE, 630 square miles; formed 1754 from Augusta; named for Hampshire, England; settled about 1730.


BERKELEY, 320 square miles; formed 1772 from Frederick; named for Governor Berkeley, of Virginia; settled about 1730.


MONONGALIA, 360 square miles; formed 1776 from West Augusta; named for the river; settled 1758.


OHIO, 120 miles; formed 1776 from West Augusta; settled 1770; named for the river.


GREENBRIER, 1000 miles; formed 1777 from Botetourt; settled 1750; named for briers growing on the river bank.


HARRISON, 450 miles; formed 1784 from Monongalia; settled 1770; named for Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia.


HARDY, 700 miles; formed from Hampshire 1785; settled 1740; named for Samuel Hardy, of Virginia.


RANDOLPH, 1080 miles; formed 1786 from Harrison; settled 1753; named for Edmund Randolph.


PENDLETON, 650 miles; formed 1787 from Augusta, Hardy and Rocking- ham; settled 1750; named for Edmund Pendleton.


KANAWHA, 980 miles; formed 1789 from Greenbrier and Montgomery; settled 1774; named for the river.


BROOKE, 80 miles; formed from Ohio 1796; settled about 1772; named for Robert Brooke, Governor of Virginia.


WOOD, 375 miles; formed from Harrison 1798; settled about 1773; named for James Wood, Governor of Virginia.


MONROE, 460 miles; formed 1799 from Greenbrier; settled about 1760; named for James Monroe. 4


JEFFERSON, 250 miles; formed 1801 from Berkeley; settled about 1730; named for Thomas Jefferson.


MASON, 430 miles; formed 1804 from Kanawha; settled about 1774; named for George Mason, of Virginia.


CABELL, 300 miles; formed from Kanawha 1809; settled about 1790; named for William H. Cabell, Governor of Virginia.


TYLER, 300 miles; formed from Ohio 1814; settled about 1776; named for John Tyler.


63


SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.


LEWIS, 400 miles; formed from Harrison 1816; settled about 1780; named for Colonel Charles Lewis.


NICHOLAS, 720 miles; formed 1818 from Kanawha, Greenbrier and Randolph; named for W. C. Nicholas, Governor of Virginia.


PRESTON, 650 miles; formed 1818 from Monongalia; settled about 1760; named for James P. Preston, Governor of Virginia.


MORGAN, 300 miles; formed 1820 from Hampshire and Berkeley; settled about 1730; named for Daniel Morgan.


POCAHONTAS, 820 miles; formed 1821 from Bath, Pendleton and Ran- dolph; settled 1749; named for Pocahontas, an Indian girl.


LOGAN, 400 miles, formed from Kanawha, Giles, Cabell and Tazwell, 1824; named for Logan, an Indian.


JACKSON, 400 miles; formed 1831 from Kanawha, Wood and Mason; settled about 1796; named for Andrew Jackson.


FAYETTE, 750 miles: formed from Logan, Kanawha, Greenbrier and Nicholas 1831; named for Lafayette.


MARSHALL, 240 miles; formed 1835 from Ohio; settled about 1769; named for Chief Justice Marshall.


BRAXTON, 620 miles; formed 1836 from Kanawha, Lewis and Nicholas; settled about 1794; named for Carter Braxton.


MERCER, 400 miles; formed 1837 from Giles and Tazwell; named for General Hugh Mercer.


MARION, 300 miles; formed 1842 from Harrison and Monongalia; named for General Marion.


WAYNE, 440 miles; formed 1841 from Cabell; named for General Anthony Wayne.


TAYLOR, 150 miles; formed 1844 from Harrison, Barbour and Marion; named for John Taylor.


DODDRIDGE, 300 miles; formed 1845 from Harrison, Tyler, Ritchie and Lewis; named for Philip Doddridge.


GILMER, 360 miles; formed 1845 from Kanawha and Lewis; named for Thomas W. Gilmer of Virginia.


WETZEL, 440 miles; formed 1846 from Tyler; named for Lewis Wetzel. BOONE, 500 miles; formed 1847 from Kanawha, Cabell and Logan; named for Daniel Boone.


PUTNAM, 320 miles; formed 1848 from Kanawha, Cabell and Mason; named for Israel Putnam.


BARBOUR, 360 miles; formed 1843 from Harrison, Lewis and Randolph; named for James Barbour, governor of Virginia.


RITCHIE, 400 miles; formed 1844 from Harrison, Lewis and Wood; named for Thomas Ritchie of Virginia.


WIRT, 290 miles; formed 1848 from Wood and Jackson; settled about 1796; named for William Wirt.


HANCOCK, 100 miles; formed 1848 from Brooke; settled about 1776; named for John Hancock.


RALEIGH, 680 miles; formed 1850 from Fayette; named for Sir Walter Raleigh.


WYOMING, 660 miles: formed 1850 from Logan; an Indian name.


PLEASANTS, 150 miles; formed 1851 from Wood, Tyler and Ritchie; named for James Pleasants, governor of Virginia.


UPSHUR, 350 miles; formed 1851 from Randolph, Barbour and Lewis; settled about 1767; named for Judge A. P. Upshur.


64


SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.


CALHOUN, 260 miles; formed 1856 from Gilmer; named for J. C. Cal- houn.


ROANE, 350 miles; formed 1856 from Kanawha, Jackson and Gilmer; settled about 1791; named for Judge Roane of Virginia.


TUCKER, 340 miles; formed 1856 from Randolph; settled about 1774; named for Judge St. George Tucker.


CLAY, 390 miles; formed 1858 from Braxton and Nicholas; named for Henry Clay.


MCDOWELL, 860 miles; formed 1858 from Tazwell; named for James McDowell, governor of Virginia.


WEBSTER, 450 miles; formed 1860 from Randolph, Nicholas and Brax- ton; named for Daniel Webster.


MINERAL, 300 miles; formed 1866 from Hampshire; named for its coal. GRANT, 620 miles; formed 1866 from Hardy; named for General U. S. Grant; settled about 1740.


LINCOLN, 460 miles; formed 1867 from Kanawha, Cabell, Boone and Putnam; settled about 1799; named for Abraham Lincoln.


SUMMERS, 400 miles; formed 1871 from Monroe, Mercer, Greenbrier and Fayette; named for Lewis and George W. Summers.


MINGO, about 400 miles; formed 1895 from Logan; named for Logan the Mingo.


65


SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.


POPULATION OF THE COUNTIES OF WEST VIRGINIA EACH TEN YEARS FROM 1790 TO 1890, BOTH INCLUSIVE.


1790


1800


1810


1820


1830


1840


1850


1860


1870


1880


1890


Hampshire


7346


8348


9784


10889


11279


12245


14036


13913


7613


10336


11419


Berkeley.


19713


22006


11479


11211


10518


19972


11771


12525


14900


17380


18702


Monongalia


4768


8540


12793


11060


14056


17368


12357


13048


13547


14985


15705


Ohio.


5212


4740


8175


9182


15584


13357


18006


22422


28831


37457


41557


Greenbrier.


6015


4345


5914


7041


9006


8695


10022


12211


11417


15060


18034


Harrison


2080


4848


9958


10932


14722


17669


11728


13790


16714


20181


21919


Hardy


7336


6627


5525


5700


6798


7622


9543


9864


5518


6794


7567


Randolph Pendleton


2452


3962


4239


4846


6271


6940


5797


6164


6455


8022


8711


Kanawha


3239


3866


6399


9326


13567


15353


16151


22349


32466


42756


Brooke


4706


5843


6631


7041


7948


5054


5494


5464


6013


6660


Wood


1217


3036


5860


6429


7923


9450


11046


19000


25006


28612


Monroe


4188


5444


6580


7798


8422


10204


10757


11124


11501


12429


Jefferson


11851


13087


12927


14082


15357


14535


13219


15005


15553


Mason


1991


4868


6534


6777


7539


9173


15978


22296


22863


Cabell


2717


4789


5884


8163


6299


8020


6429


13744


23528


Tyler


2314


4104


6954


5498


6517


7832


11073


11962


Lewis


4247


6241


8151


10031


7999


10175


13269


15895


Nicholas


1853


3346


2255


3963


4627


4458


7223


9307


Preston.


3422


5144


6866


11708


13312


14555


19091


20335


Morgan


2500


2694


4253


3557


3732


4315


5777


6774


Pocahontas


2542


2922


3598


3958


4069


5591


6814


Logan


3680


4309


3620


4938


5124


7329


11101


Jackson


4890


6544


8306


10300


16312


19021


Fayette


3924


3955


5997


6647


11560


20542


Marshall .


6937


10138


12937


14941


18840


20735


Braxton


2575


4212


4992


6480


9787


13928


Mercer


2233


4222


6819


7064


7467


16002


Marion


10552


12722


12107


17198


20721


Wayne


4760


6747


7852


14739


18652


Taylor.


5357


8463


9367


11455


12147


Doddridge


2750


5203


7076


10552


12183


Gilmer.


3475


3759


4338


7108


9746


Wetzel


4282


6703


8559


13896


16841


Boone


3237


4840


4553


5824


6885


Putnam


5335


6301


7794


11375


14342


Barbour


9005


8958


10312


11870


12702


Ritchie


3902


6847


9055


13474


16621


Wirt.


3353


3751


4804


7104


9411


Hancock


4050


4445


4363


4882


6414


Raleigh


1765


3367


3673


7367


9597


Wyoming


1645


2861


3171


4322


6247


Pleasants


2945


3012


6256


7539


Upshur


7292


8023


10249


12714


Calhoun


2502


2930


6072


8155


Roane .


5381


7232


12184


15303


Tucker


1428


1907


315]


6459


Clay .


1787


2196


3460


4659


Mc Dowell


1535


1952


3074


7300


Webster


1555


1730


3207


4783


Mineral


6332


8630


12085


Grant ..


4467


5542


6802


Lincoln


5053


8739


11246


Summers


9033


13117


Mingo 5


951


1826


2854


3357


5000


6208


5243


4990


5563


8102


11633


CHAPTER VII.


:0:


THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.


Newspaper history commenced in the territory now forming West Vir- ginia nearly one hundred years ago; that is, in 1803. The beginning was small, but ambitious; and although the first journal to make its appearance in the State, ceased to pay its visits to the pioneers generations ago; yet, from that small beginning has grown a press which will rank with that of any State in the Union, if population and other conditions are taken into account. West Virginia has no large city, and consequently has no paper of metropolitan pretensions, but its press fulfills every requirement of its people; faithfully represents every business interest; maintains every hon- orable political principle; upholds morality; encourages education, and has its strength in the good will of the people. This chapter can do little more than present an outline of the growth of journalism in this State, together with facts and figures relating to the subject.


The first paper published in West Virginia was the Monongalia Gazette, at Morgantown in 1803. The Farmer's Register, printed at Charlestown, Jefferson County, was the next. These were the only papers in the State in 1810. The oldest paper still being published in West Virginia is the Virginia Free Press, printed at Charlestown. It was founded in 1821. The Monongalia Gazette was perhaps an up-to-date journal in its day; but it would be unsatisfactory at the present time. It was in four page form, each page sixteen inches long and ten inches wide. There were four col- umns to the page. Its editors were Campbell and Briton; its subscription rate was six cents a copy. or two dollars a year. It was impossible that a weekly paper so small could efficiently cover the news, even though the news of that day was far below the standard set for the present time. Yet, had such a paper been edited in accordance with modern ideas, it could have exerted a much wider influence than it did exert. No other paper was near enough to make inroads upon its field of circulation and influence; and it might have had the whole region to itself. But it did not expand, as might have been expected; on the contrary, within three years it reduced its size about one-half. More space in it was given to foreign news than to the happenings of County, State and Nation. Before the days of railroads, steamboats and telegraphing, it may readily be understood that the events recorded from foreign countries were so stale at the date of their publica- tion in the backwoods paper that they almost deserved classification as ancient history. The domestic news, particularly that relating to distant states, was usually several weeks old before it found place in the Gazette. County occurrences, and happenings in the neighboring counties, were


67


THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.


given little attention. Many a valuable scrap of local history might have been permanently preserved in that pioneer journal; but the county his- torian looks through the crumpled and yellow files in vain. But, on the other hand, he encounters numerous mentions of Napoleon's movements; the Emperor of Russia's undertakings, and England's achievements; all of which would have been valuable as history were it not that Guizot, Ram- baud and Knight have given us the same things in better style; so that it is labor thrown away to search for them in the circumscribed columns of a pioneer paper printed on the forest-covered banks of the Monongahela. Joseph Campbell, one of the editors and proprietors of the Gazette, had learned the printing trade in Philadelphia. It is not known at what date the paper suspended publication. It was customary in early times, as well as at the present day, to incorporate two or more papers into one, drop the name of one and continue the publication. The Gazette may thus have passed quietly out of its individual existence.


Monongalia County fostered the first newspaper west of the Allegha. nies in the State, and it also has had perhaps as many papers as any county of West Virginia. The full list, from the first till the present time, num- bers between thirty and forty. The list compiled by Samuel T. Wiley, the historian of Monongalia, shows that the County had thirty-one papers prior to 1880. Nearly all of these suspended after brief careers. It would be difficult to compile a list of all the papers established in this State from the earliest times till the present. It would perhaps be impossible to do so, for some of them died in their infancy, and a copy cannot now be found. There were, no doubt, many whose very names are not now remembered. It would not be an extravagant estimate to place the total number of papers published in this State, both those still in existence and those which are dead, at five hundred. It would be a surprise to many persons to learn how ephemeral is the average newspaper. It comes and goes. It has its beginning, its prosperity, its adversity, its death. Another follows in its path. Few can be called relatively permanent. There are now more than one hundred newspapers published in West Virginia. Only nine of these were in existence in 1863, when the State was admitted into the Union. These nine are the Wheeling Intelligencer, Wheeling Register, Clarksburg Telegram, Charlestown Free Press, Charlestown Spirit of Jefferson, Shepherdstown Register, Barbour County Jeffersonian, Wellsburg Herald and Point Pleasant Register. Of the papers in existence in this State in 1870 only sixteen have come down to the present day. The cause of the early death of so many papers which begin life in such earnest hope is that the field is full. Two newspapers try to exist where there is room for only one. It does not require an evolutionist to foretell the result. Both must starve or one must quit. If one quits there is always another anxious to push in and try its luck.


West Virginia's experience does not differ from experience elsewhere. Journalism in country towns is much the same the country over. In cities the business is more stable, because conducted on business principles. Men with experience and business training accustom themselves to look before they leap. The inexperienced man who is ambitious to crowd some one else out of the newspaper business in the interior towns is too prone to leap first and do his looking afterwards. There is no scarcity of good news- paper men outside the cities, and West Virginia has its share, but at the same time there are too many persons who feel themselves called


68


THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.


upon to enter the arena, although unprepared for the fray, and who can- not hold their own in competition with men of training in the profession. To the efforts and failures of these latter persons is due the ephemeral . character of the lives of newspapers, taken as a whole. Country journal- ism comes to be looked upon as a changing, evanescent, uncertain thing, always respectable; only moderately and occasionally successful; inaugura- ted in hope; full of promise as the rainbow is full of gold; sometimes mate- rializing into things excellent; now and then falling like Lucifer, but always to hope again. There is something sublime in the rural journalist's faith in his ability to push forward. Though failures have been many, country journalism has builded greater than it knew. West Virginia's development and the rural press have gone hand in hand. Every railroad pushing into the wilderness has carried the civilizing editor and his outfit. He goes with an unfaltering belief in printer's ink and confidence in its conquering power. He is ready to do and suffer all things. The mining town and the latest county seat; the lumber center and the oil belt; the manufacturing village and the railroad terminus; these are the fields in which he casts his lot. Here he sets up his press; he issues his paper; he booms the town; he records the births, marriages and deaths with a monotonous faithfulness; he expresses his opinion freely and generously. In return he expects the town and the surrounding country to support his enterprise as liberally as he has given his time, talent and energy in advancing the interests of the town. Sometimes his expectations are realized; sometimes not. If not, perhaps he packs his worldly assets and sets out for another town, richer in experience but poorer in cash. There are men in West Virginia who have founded a number of newspapers, usually selling out after a year or two in order to found another journal.


This is the class of editors who blaze the way into the woods. They bear the same relation to the journalism which follows as the "tomahawk right" bore in early days to the plantations and estates which succeeded them. After the adventurous and restless journalist has passed on, then comes the newspaper man who calculates before he invests. He does not come in a hurry. He is not afraid some one will get ahead of him. He does not locate before he has carefully surveyed the field, and has satisfied him- self that the town and the surrounding country are able to support such a journal as he proposes establishing. His aim is to merit and receive the patronage of the people. This becomes the solid, substantial paper, and its editor wields a permanent influence for good. Such papers and such editors are found all over West Virginia.


Journalism among businesses is like poetry among the fine arts-the most easily dabbled in but the most difficult to succeed in. It may not ap- pear to the casual observer that the newspaper business is nearly always unsuccessful, or at least, that nearly all the papers which come into exist- ence meet untimely death in the very blossom of their youth. An examina- tion of the history of newspapers in nearly any town a half century old will show that ten have failed where one has succeeded. The history of journal- ism in Monongalia County, already alluded to, differs little from the history of the papers in any county of equal age and population.


In 1851, when Horace Greeley was asked by a Parliamentary Commit- tee from England "at what amount of population of a town in America do they first begin the publication of a weekly newspaper?" he replied that every county will have one, and a county of twenty thousand population


69


THE NEWSPAPERS OF WEST VIRGINIA.


usually has two weekly papers; and when a town has fifteen thousand peo- ple it usually has a daily paper. This rule does not state the case in West Virginia today. The average would probably show one newspaper for each six thousand people. In the small counties the average is sometimes as low as one paper to two thousand people, and not one-fourth of these peo- ple subscribe for a paper. It is not difficult to see that the field can be easily over-supplied; and among newspapers there must be a survival of the fittest.


The early journals published in this State, as well as those published elsewhere at that time, say seventy or eighty years ago, were very differ- ent in appearance from those of today. The paper on which the printing was done was rough, rugged and discolored, harsh to the touch, and of a quality inferior to wrapping paper of the present time. Some of them ad- vertised that they would take clean rags at four cents a pound in payment of subscriptions. At that time paper was made from rags. It is now mostly made from wood. The publishers no doubt shipped the rags to the paper mills and received credit on their paper accounts. Some of these early journals clung to the old style of punctuation and capitalization; and some, to judge by their appearance, followed no style at all, but were as out- landish as possible, particularly in the use of capital letters. They capital- ized all nouns, and as many other words as they could, being limited, ap- parently, only by the number of capital letters in their type cases.


As late as 1835 all the printing presses in the United States were run by hand power. On the earliest press the pressure necessary was obtained by means of a screw. Fifty papers an hour was fast work. The substitu- tion of the lever for the screw increased the capacity of the press five fold. This arrangement reached its greatest development in the Washington Hand Press, patented in 1829 by Samuel Rust. This press is still the stand- by in many small offices. The printing done with it is usually good; but the speed is slow, and two hundred and fifty impressions an hour is a high average. Printers call this press "The Man-Killer," because its operation requires so much physical exertion.


The early newspapers in backwoods towns attempted to pull neck and neck with the city journals. They tried to give the news from all over the world; and the result was, they let the home news go. They were long in learning that a small paper's field should be small, and that the readers of a local paper expect that paper to contain the local news. Persons who desired national and foreign news subscribed for metropolitan papers. This was the case years ago the same as now. In course of time the lesson was learned; the local papers betook themselves to their own particular fields, with the result that the home paper has become a power at home. The growth of journalism has a tendency to restrict the influence of individual great papers to smaller and smaller geographical limits. All round the outer borders of their areas of circulation other papers are taking posses- sion of their territory and limiting them. No daily paper now has a gen- eral and large circulation farther away from the place of publication than can be reached in a few hours. This is not so much the case with small papers. When once firmly established they can hold their small circulation and local influence much more securely than large circulation and large in- fluence can be held by metropolitan papers. The trouble with the country papers is that the most of them die before they can establish themselves.




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