Chapter II: Weekly Press

Exclusive of the weekly editions of the daily journals, there are about 133 weekly papers published in the city of New York. Some of these are literary journals, some political, some the organs of the various religious bodies, and some devoted to the interests of trade and manufactures.

The best known weeklies are the literary, religious, and political papers, and of these the most noted are, _Harper's Weekly_, _Harper's Bazaar_, _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_, the _Nation_, the _Chimney Corner_, the _Ledger_, _Home Journal_, _Weekly Review_, _Sunday Mercury_, _New York Weekly_, _Hearth and Home_, the_ Sunday News_, the_ Albion_, _Dispatch_, _Sunday Times_, _Citizen_, _Revolution_, _Spirit of the Times_, and _Police Gazette_, among the secular papers. The most prominent religious journals are the _Independent_, _Examiner_, _Evangelist_, _Methodist_, _Observer_, _Tablet_, _Liberal Christian_, _Christian Advocate_, _Christian Union_, _Christian Inquirer_, and _Church Journal_.

The _Ledger_ has the largest circulation, having an actual sale of 300,000 copies per week. It is so well known throughout the country that it would be superfluous to describe it here. It is the property of Mr. Robert Bonner, who has reaped a large fortune from it. Next in popularity is the _New York Weekly_, which is much inferior to the _Ledger_, but which claims a circulation of over 200,000 copies. There are about a dozen illustrated papers of various degrees of merit, _Harper's Weekly_, the _Bazaar_, and _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ head the list in popularity and worth. The first and second claim a circulation of over one hundred thousand, and Frank Leslie claims about seventy-five thousand for his paper. Some of the other illustrated journals are simply indecent sheets, and should be suppressed. The _Nation_ is regarded as the highest critical authority in the country, and holds here very much the position of the _Saturday Review_ in London.

The literary journals are well conducted, and one will often find articles of genuine merit in some of the most unpretending. The reason is that journalists are unable to live on their salaries, as a rule, if they be married men, and are forced to make up the deficiency by contributing to the magazines and weekly papers. As a matter of course, they must dispose of their wares wherever there is a market, and where they are sure of being paid, even at starvation rates, for their labors. From $2.50 to $5.00 per column is the rate of payment with the most of the weeklies, and many men and women with whose names and labors the literary world is familiar, are glad to write for them at this beggarly price as a means of increasing their legitimate incomes. The number of writers is very much in excess of the demand, and literature offers a thorny road to the majority of its followers in the metropolis.

The Sunday papers are generally high priced and nasty. They are entirely sensational in character, and are devoted to a class of news and literature which can hardly be termed healthy. They revel in detailed descriptions of subjects which are rigorously excluded from the daily papers, and abound in questionable advertisements. All of which they offer for Sabbath reading; and the reader would be startled to see into how many reputable households these dirty sheets find their way.