PUBLIC SALE OF UNSTAMPED NEWSPAPERS.
The circulation 'of the unstatnped penny papers published in London has reached an enormous amount. There are now published every Saturday a greater number of these penny 'papers than there are of those regularly esta- blished journals who pay annually a large sum to Government for stamps and advertisement-duty. 'Latterly the proprietors of the unstamped papers seem to have taken it into their heads that they are recognized by the Government, and that their publications are legal ; and therefore they adopt every means to give their journals all the features of a regular newspaper, in order to increase their sale. Formerly, these papers were published with some little show of conceal- ment and disguise; but now they are regularly sold at stated intervals without the least let or hindrance, just the same as the established newspapers. Several of those which formerly appeared in the form of a pamphlet, now assume the appearance of a regular newspaper ; and a person at a cursory glance could not ascertain the difference. Some are five column papers, the front page composed of advertisements, taken at a low rate, but which, of course, yield a great profit to the proprietors, as no stamp-duty is paid by them ; and the other pages are regularly filled up with the ordinary routine of news, leaders, &c. : in fact, they combine every essential of a newspaper. Calculations have been made, on good grounds, that the combined circulation of the unstamped papers amounts weekly to more than 300,000 in number. —Morning Chronicle.
Probably this statement of the numbers of unstampcd papers sold is exaggerated: but that the sale of these illegal publications is carried on much more publicly than it was a few months ago, we have had an opportunity of observing. There are two shops in tha best part of the Strand, the rent of each of which must, we should suppose, be at least 200/. a year, devoted to the sale of penny awl twopenny newspapers. On Sunday, numbers of people may be seen standing around them, and openly purchasing the Poor Man's Guar- dian, the Twopenny Weekly Dispatch, &c. Handbills giving the contents of these papers—which consist principally of articles headed with such significant titles as "Rights of Property, 'Wrongs of Industry," "All the Scandal, Twaddle, and Abominations of the week," and the like—are placarded all over Westminster. There is no concealment practised: the sale is not confined to obscure and dirty shops, or to poor hawkers, but, as we have stated, is car- ried on in the best streets in the Metropolis, and on very decent- looking and expensive premises.
Comment on these facts ought to be needless. The Government has made some feeble efforts to protect the honest dealer in news- papers, but they have been unsuccessful. The smuggler (if he can be called a smuggler, who carries on his illicit traffic in the face of day, and in the most open manner) has proved himself too strong for the law. He has that public sympathy on his side which the law wants ; and his victory is therefore certain, if not profitable. Can there be any question, under these circumstances, as to the course which justice, simple justice, to the fair and re- spectable newspaper proprietor requires ? Has not the latter a clear right to demand, that he should be freed from a tax which the Government does not and cannot collect from those who ridi- cule and defy its power ?
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