Page 4 was always composed entirely of advertisements. Unlike those on
page 3,
however, these tended to be ads that clearly cost the most to place.
They frequently were
larger in size and had more detailed graphics accompanying the text. In
addition, ads on
page 4 were more likely to be from outside Staunton than those on page
3. Three or more
columns were often headed "Richmond Advertisements," while two others often
went under the label "Medical" and advertised any number of patent
medicines. The
distinction between ads on page 4 and those elsewhere in the
Vindicator is similar to that
between page 4 of the Spectator and the rest of its content. The
Spectator also tended to put
its large and extralocal advertisements on page 4, keeping ads for small
local businesses on
earlier pages. This shared tendency among the Spectator and
Vindicator suggests that page
4 was designed to be of greatest concern to those with the greatest
financial resources. Not
only did the ads appearing here tend to be for businesses out of town
(and thus, requiring
the most time and money to reach), but they also tended to be for luxury
items. In the
February 3 Vindicator, for example, ads appeared on page 4 for pianos,
sewing machines,
fine photographs, carriages and buggies, and safes and vaults--certainly
not items commonly affordable for the middle-class consumer, who likely
was more concerned with
(and more able to afford) the new stock at the shoe store reported on
page 1. This is not to
suggest that a strict dichotomy existed in the weekly paper; ads for
small businesses did
appear on page 4 as well, and ads for events such as fur sales appeared
on pages 1 or 3.
Nor is it to argue that the middle-class consumer was discouraged from
reading page 4;
anyone who could read and buy a subscription was entitled to their
weekly paper in its
entirety. What the placement of advertisements suggests, however, is
the way
newspapers of the nineteenth century consciously differentiated between
the items they
advertised. Sales at the grocery store went in one place, land auctions
in another, and luxury
items someplace else still. Individuals of different economic or social
statuses knew where to look to find that in which they were interested.
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