Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/346

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on has no


more foundation than a similar charge brought against the voters of the South.

The threat implied in the assertion of The New Orleans Bul- letin proved only too true during the war. The supply of paper soon became so inadequate to the demand that practically every paper at strategic points in the South was forced to reduce its size. The Charleston Courier, for example, was compelled several times to make such reductions: the first was on September 1, 1861, when it reduced its pages to 18 x 26; the second on January 1, 1862, when the pages were reduced to 15 x 24; the third on April 1, 1862, when the pages were made 13 x 20, with only five columns to the page; later it appeared on a single printed sheet, until by February 13, 1865, it was a small sheet, 10 x 15, with only four columns to the page. In numerous instances papers of the South did away with headlines, and simply issued small news- sheets about the size of handbills in which the news was printed on the smallest type with which the office was equipped. On ac- count of the scarcity of paper some of the leading newspapers began a systematic gathering of "cotton or linen rags, white or colored," for which the highest market price was paid either in money or in subscriptions to the newspapers themselves. Many of the papers were forced to suspend publication entirely: others, not knowing how long they might continue publication, published notices limiting the period for which they would receive sub- scriptions. The Memphis Daily Appeal did not take subscrip- tions for a period longer than two months and The Macon Daily Confederate refused all orders for more than three months.

EDITIONS ON WALL-PAPER

Before entirely ceasing publication many newspapers availed themselves of such materials as common wrapping-paper, writ- ing paper, and paper bags : a few actually printed the news on the blank side of wall-paper. Among the latter with wall-paper edi- tions were the following: The Pictorial Democrat, of Alexandria, Louisiana; The Daily Citizen, of Vicksburg, Mississippi; The Courier, of Opelousas, Louisiana; The Southern Sentinel, of Alexandria, Louisiana; The Courier, of St. Martinsville, Louis- iana; The Stars and Stripes, of Thibodaux, Louisiana; etc.