a substitute for the press, it has not been superseded by it.18 An ephemeral rival of thebroadside to-day is found in the bulletin board that many newspapers keep in their street windows for the benefit of the passerby, but the bulletin board does not record public opinion, it makes no appeal to the public or on behalf of it, and its value even as a business asset has been seriously
questioned. The news-letter may also be said to be continued to -day in another form through the various news services that are rendered by commercial agents to private clients needing special news, or more particularly, the interpretation of special kinds of informa tion .
Even the town crier is continued in remote or backward dis
tricts. “ In the small Bohemian town the newspaper is a crier who summons the people by a vigorous roll on his drum , and when the curious townsfolk are assembled he proceeds to
impart the latest news to them .” 19 Hospitality was a virtue on a Southern plantation, as well as
in ancient Greece, and it was rewarded by the guests who brought news from distant parts. The New England town meeting and the intermissions between sabbath services were favorable times for learning of the events that concerned absent neighbors. The
country postoffice, the corner grocery, the church sewing circle, and the fashionable city club have each in its turn served as a
medium for exchange of news as well as for the discussion of new ideas. There have thus been many forerunners of the newspaper that in an incomplete way have served this time-old and universal
desire for " news.” 20 The somewhatmeager histories of the press on the continent,21
outside of France, seem to indicate that the first stage in its history concerned the collection of news, and that early news 18 The long and extensive use of broadsides is indicated in the catalogues announcing auction sales of significant collections.
19 L . S . Kirtland , “ The Obstacle Race in Central Europe," Travel, May, 1921, 37 : 5 - 10 , 34 .
20 The predecessors of the press are discussed by E . Hatin , Bibliographie de la presse périodique française, pp. xlii-lxii, and Histoire de la presse en France, I, Preface and pp . 3-60. 21 See, however, Ludwig Salomon , Geschichte des Deutschen Zeitungs wesens, 3 vols., 1899- 1905.
