DAB
 

AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF
 

D
 

THE fourth letter of the alphabet. It is a
thick letter, being in width a little more
than half its height from top to bottom.
In lower case it is nearly like an overturned
p, but with a difference in the serif. The
capital D, it is said, was copied from the Greek A or
Delta. As an initial letter on medals, &c., it indicates
the names of countries, cities and persons ; also the
words devotus, designatus, divus, dominus, &c.; D. M.,
diis manibus ; D. O. M., Deo Optimo Maximo. Among
Roman numerals D signifies 500, but it did not do so,
according to a German authority, until fifteen hundred
years after Christ. The Romans designated 1,000 in
this way : CIO. The early printers, continues the same
authority, thought it best to express 500 by half the
character of 1,000, and therefore introduced 10, which
soon grew into D. If a line was marked over it it sig¬
nified 5,000. In dedications D. thrice repeated signifies
Dat, Donat, Dicat; or Dat, Dicat, Dedicat. As an ab¬
breviation of the jurists, D signifies the Pandects (Di-
gesta). D stands for doctor in M. D., LL. D., and a
number of other abbreviations. It is the second note
of the scale, beginning with C. In lower case, d. stands
for penny (denarius). C. O. D., collect on delivery;
A. D., year of our Lord.

Dabber.—A soft leather or silk ball, used instead of
a roller for inking a printing-form, more frequently by
engravers than printers. In former years, before the in¬
troduction of rollers, this was never known under any
other title than ball.

Dabbing.—In bookbinding, to dab a wet sponge
filled with some color upon the cover of a book, either
covering it completely or only in part, then following it
with another sponge having a different color.

Dagger.—A reference mark, thus : f, used in print¬
ing and writing; also called obelisk. It is the second
reference mark, coming next after the star. In German
books and newspapers, following a person's name, it sig¬
nifies that he is dead.

Dallastypie.—A method of process engraving.

Daily Newspapers.—These have been in existence
in the United States since 1785, the Daily Advertiser
having been begun in Philadelphia in that year, and a
journal of the same name in New York two years sub¬
sequently. It was not long before this example was
imitated in the other cities of the United States, and the
number of dailies has now increased so rapidly that there
are said to be 1,536 in the Union at present and ninety in
the British provinces. A daily newspaper has a three¬
fold character. It is a daily historian, collecting the
news of the whole world as well as it conveniently can,
but that of its immediate neighborhood very fully; an
agency by which private persons can make known to
the whole community more effectually than in any other
way what they desire to buy and what they have to sell;
and it is also a printing-office, where the news and adver¬
tisements may be set up, printed and distributed. In the
smallest dailies a single person may sometimes supervise
all these functions, but the success of the enterprise then
depends completely upon the health and industry of that
individual.   The classes into which daily newspapers are

130
 

generally divided are four. There is the small daily,
such as may be found in towns of twenty thousand peo¬
ple, having a circulation of fifteen hundred or two thou¬
sand copies, and total receipts annually varying from
$10,000 to $30,000; the daily in places hke Syracuse,
Troy or Des Moines, where circulations may reach ten
thousand and total receipts of the largest approximate
$100,000 or $150,000 ; the daily in large places like Min¬
neapolis, San Francisco or Baltimore, perhaps reaching
twenty or twenty-five thousand circulation and having
receipts from $200,000 to $400,000; and the large and
expensive newspapers carried on only in Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St, Louis and Chicago,
having receipts varying from half a million to two mill¬
ions annually and circulations varying from forty to
a hundred and fifty thousand. Those last named can
spend money on projects which would bankrupt smaller
publications, and yet have them productive. In the jour¬
nal of the second class given there will be an editor and
assistant, who together manage the paper and write the
editorials ; a telegraph editor, a city editor and a num¬
ber of reporters, from four to ten, according to the size
of the place and of the newspaper; a man who looks
after the markets, and two or three paid correspondents.
In the counting-room there will be the publisher, a book¬
keeper and several clerks, and outside there will be a
collector of advertisements. At night there will be the
mailing and delivery clerks, and the carriers will appear
at daybreak. In the printing-office a foreman and from
fifteen to twenty-five men are required, and in the press¬
room two or three pressmen and as many boys. With
each enlargement the force increases, possibly reaching
in all departments five or six hundred persons in the
largest establishments. Here each subdivision is very
much specialized. Instead of a single man being em¬
ployed to do a certain thing, there is an army.

The effort of most newspapers of to-day is to make
the largest attainable profit. Their conductors care lit¬
tle about influencing public opinion if their balance-
sheet looks right at the end of the year. To attain this it
is necessary to have their paper interesting, that it may
sell well. The plain matter of fact account of murders,
quarrels, crimes and public affairs which suited the last
generation, and still suits the English, is too dull. It
must be copious, as each reader does not peruse the
whole journal, but only the portion which interests him.
It must omit nothing that is in a rival's newspaper, for
that leads to the impression that the management is
careless in the collection of news. Having taken care
of these things, provided specialists for the topics that
ordinary men know very little about, and commented
suitably upon what has happened, the editor's duty is
done. The publisher has several things to see to of
almost equal importance. He is, of course, charged
with the responsibility of furnishing the money to keep
the business going, to pay the salaries and wages and to
buy the supplies. All the employees, including those of
the printing-office, are under his control and subject to
removal by him, except those in the editorial depart¬
ment. He must see that the paper is delivered and that
the proper efforts are made to extend its circulation.
This extension, however, is determined chiefly by^ its
readableness and by the interest it creates in its neigh-