Were the stamp-duty
abolished, the large town papers would be relieved from all the
drudgery and annoyance attendant upon this department of editorial
work. There would no longer be any necessity for devoting six or eight
closely-printed columns of the paper to local news, which are not read
by one-twentieth part of those who purchase it. Each small town in
Lancashire and Yorkshire, as well as elsewhere, would have its penny
or twopenny newspaper, in which local news, local politics, and local
talent, would have fair play; while large papers, like the _Manchester
Guardian_ or the _Leeds Mercury_, would be greatly improved by the
change. They would be enabled to substitute good readable matter,
literary or political, of which there is always abundance, for the
very dull stuff which they are now obliged to give under the head of
"District News." By this improvement in character, and by the
reduction of price, in such papers as we have named, from 5d. to
3-1/2d., their circulation would be greatly increased, in spite of the
number of penny and twopenny papers which would then supply the demand
for news among that numerous portion of the working-classes who cannot
afford such a luxury at present.'
Such is a fair statement of certain advantages to be derived from the
abolition of the penny stamp, and the substitution of the penny label.
The advocates of the stamp-duty allege that, while the foregoing line
of argument may be perfectly valid, something, on the contrary, is due
to the advantage of having well-supported metropolitan newspapers as
centres of intelligence.
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