CURIOUS NEWSPAPERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 97, 14 October 1911, Page 12

CURIOUS NEWSPAPERS.

UNIQUE PRODUCTIONS OF THE PRESS. A well-known American journalist, Mr. TheodoTe Stanton, has announced that he is going to start a novel newspaper, to be called "Le Journal International." It is to be printed in French, and is to be ran by an international advisory board numbering eighty persons. The paper is to be thoroughly compolitan in nature, and it is hoped that it will do a great deal towards furthering the cause of international peace. This paper will, it is svid. be quite unlike anything that has been published before, and already the idea has caused something like a sensation among journalists. Since the advent of the popular press, there have been many curious newspapers published in various parts of the world. For instance, not long ago, in a small French provincial town a paper came out which had some of its pages lightly coverol with "fly-destructor" in•tead of with reading matter. This journal was exceedingly small in, size, and an editorial note stated that "As the time has arrived when all the inhabitants) of the countryside are entirely taken up with cultivating their fields,, and have practically no time to read the newspaper, we have decided to condense the important news of the week into a paragraph of three lines." Concerning the "fly-destructor," the editor said: "By means of this paper, readers will be able to reduce the plague of noisome insects which poison the countryside and disseminate a number of diseases."

Another remarkable paper was recently published in Greece. It was called "The Modem Greek," and was printed from beginning to end entirely in verse. A journal for fat 'people was started at Liege, in Belgium, not long «go. Its title was "I/Orange OHiciel des cent Kilos," and it circulated mainly among people who weigher 10 stones or over. In one of its numbers, a walking match for fat men was announced and numerous prizes were offered. Thus, he who had the biggest waist, was to get a quart bottle of eu-de-cologne; he who 'lidd- the finest calves, would receive six boxes of toilet soap, and so on. Paris has a special periodical devoted to the doings of the Apaches, or "holigans," of that city. It is written entirely by hand and is passed on from one Apache to another until it has been practically the whole round. Its articles deal exclusively with the crimes and less reprehensible acts of the criminal classes, and among its many features is a "fashion column," which describes the correct kind of costumes for the lady Apaches. Needless to say, this unique paper never finds its way into the hands of the general public. In the year 1831, there appeared in England a journal known as "Berthold's Political Handkerchief." It was printed on cotton, and readers were advised, after they had l perused its contents, to have the printed matter washed out and use what was left as a handkerchief.

A remarkable journalistic enterprise was started a few years since at Zurich, in Switzerland. A paper was brought out entitled "The Engaged Couples' Advertiser." It appeared every week and contained a list of all the engaged men and women which the editor and his staff could discover. Agents were sent all over the country to find out people who intended to get married, and shopkeepers and manufacturers of every description found the paper most useful to them for extending their business, as they used to forward their circulars to happy pairs and very often reap substantial orders.

Prague was the 'headquarters of a journal issued for the sole purpose of "emancipating man." "The Bachelor," as it was called, protested vehemently against the "women's rights" movement, and bewailed the fact that women were progressing so greatly in almost every sphere of life. This extraordinary paper was mostly bought by jilted lovers and hen-pecked husbands. America is the land of big tilings, and it probably holds the record for the biggest newspaper ever printed. Just over fifty years ago there was published in New York a paper entitled "The .Illuminated Quadruple Constellation." Its single issue of nearly 30,000 copies contained enough paper to produce ,0,000,000 copies of an ordinary penny newspaper.

"My baby cries all night. I don't know what to do with it,"" "I'll tell what I did. As soon as our baby commenced to cry I used to turn on all the gas. That fooled him. He thought it was broad daylight and went to sleep."