Crítica
- CRÍTICA reaches everywhere—even María Poey’s bedside
- CRÍTICA could print 500,000 copies if it had its Hoe presses
Crítica foregrounds its bedside interview with María Poey de Canelo, whose selected recollection describes the evening and a proposed visit to her mother. A separate notice blames limited presses and train schedules for distribution shortages and prints circulation figures with a ten-copy arithmetic discrepancy.
Selected, image-checked first-page passages; partial reading, not complete articles or the whole page.
Translation
CRÍTICA reaches everywhere—even María Poey’s bedside
María Poey de Canelo spoke at length to CRÍTICA today. She poured out a spirit tormented by anguish through these hours—probably the most intense of her life. Amid memories of the tragic night, hesitant and restless, as though she felt something near her pursuing, surrounding and cornering her, she struggled, through interruptions and sobs, to tell of the dark drama that had overshadowed her future.
Her account begins—
“Well, sir,” she began, “where should I start? So much has been said, so much talked about...! It is impossible to reconstruct that scene of horror, those terrifying minutes that felt like centuries.
“We had finished dinner. Chicho's uncles—that was what I called Carlos in private—had left, and Mr. Pereyra and I went upstairs to the bedroom. We found him in bed, sitting up with his sweater on, reading papers, going through the ones he had brought home from the Council that night. I went on and he stayed alone with Mr. Pereyra. A little later I returned and sat on the edge of the bed. When I came back, I thought he had closed the bathroom door. We talked about trifles, those little things people say, things they tell one another, news they have read... I asked him for something. I had been ill and was convalescing; I wanted to visit my mother and asked him to take me the following day.”
CRÍTICA could print 500,000 copies if it had its Hoe presses
Yesterday's print run of CRÍTICA exceeded every optimistic calculation. Even we are astonished, despite the relentless, remarkable increase recorded day after day. With every passing hour, CRÍTICA wins new readers. And loses others... because it cannot print more, because its rotary presses cannot meet the tremendous demand. It is already amply evident that trying to obtain CRÍTICA on the outskirts of the metropolis and throughout the interior is futile. Our agents constantly demand larger shipments, but, regretfully, we must limit their supplies. Train timetables are inflexible, and so CRÍTICA loses countless readers whom it will soon retain, when the magnificent battery of eight rotary presses we illustrated a few days ago begins operating.
For now, we record yesterday's extraordinary print run:
CAPITAL 209,850
INTERIOR 50,615
TOTAL 260,455
Context
Why begin a crime story in the bedroom?
The interview moves the story into a familiar domestic setting: dinner, relatives leaving, papers brought home and a request to visit a mother. The dramatic introduction promises access to private anguish, then the direct speech gives the reader the sensation of hearing a witness personally. It is a way of making the people in a public crime story emotionally close, before the account even reaches the violence.
An exclusive interview also advertises the newspaper
Founded by Natalio Botana in 1913, Crítica developed a popular style using large headlines, plentiful images and colloquial language. Here its claim to reach even María Poey’s bedside appears beside a boast about circulation. The two stories reinforce one commercial message: this is the paper with exceptional access, and its growing audience is proof that readers want that access.
How printing speed limited a national audience
A newspaper destined for the interior had to be printed before its train departed. Once that deadline passed, additional copies could not catch the same distribution service. Crítica therefore links machinery to geography: eight presses promise not merely more copies, but more copies in time to reach distant buyers. The separate capital and interior totals show why a metropolitan publisher cared about this bottleneck.
Original
“CRITICA” QUE LLEGA A TODAS PARTES, LLEGO HASTA EL LECHO DE MARIA POEY
María Poey de Canelo ha hablado hoy extensamente para CRITICA; ha desahogado su espíritu trabajado por la angustia en estas horas que ha vivido, las más intensas, probablemente de toda su vida, y entre los recuerdos de la noche trágica, vacilante, inquieta, como si sintiera cerca de ella algo que la persigue, que la bloquea, que la arrincona, ha hecho el esfuerzo del relato interrumpido y sollozante del drama sombrío que ha obscurecido su porvenir.
Comienza el relato—
—Y bien señor, — comenzó — ¿por dónde empezar? ¡Se ha hablado tanto, se ha dicho tanto...! No es posible reconstruir aquella escena de horror, aquel espanto de los minutos-siglos que he pasado.
—Habíamos terminado de comer. Los tíos de Chicho — así llamaba yo a Carlos en la intimidad — se habían retirado, y nosotros con el señor Pereyra subimos al dormitorio. Lo encontramos en cama; incorporado con el sweater puesto, leyendo papeles, revisando los que había traído esa noche del Concejo. Yo seguí camino y quedó solo con el señor Pereyra. Al rato volví y me senté en la orilla de la cama. Al volver me pareció que había cerrado la puerta del cuarto de baño. Conversamos futilezas, de esas trivialidades que se dicen, cosas que se cuentan, noticias que se han leído... Le hice un pedido. Yo había estado enferma y estaba convaleciente; quería ir a visitar a mi madre y le pedí que me llevara al día siguiente.
500.000 EJEMPLARES PODRIA TIRAR CRITICA SI TUVIERA SUS HOE
Las cifras del tiraje de CRITICA, ayer, superaron todo cálculo optimista. Nosotros mismos estamos asombrados, a pesar del incesante aumento registrado a diario en progresión ascendente admirable. CRITICA es diario que, cada hora que pasa, conquista nuevos lectores. Y pierde otros... por no poder tirar más, porque sus rotativas no alcanzan a la formidable demanda. Es un hecho ya harto comprobado, en los alrededores de la metrópoli y en el interior de todo el país, la inutilidad de conseguir CRITICA. Nuestros agentes exigen constantemente aumento de envío, pero, con pena, debemos limitarles las remesas. El horario de trenes es inflexible y, así, CRITICA pierde un sinnúmero de lectores, que los retendrá dentro de poco, cuando entre a funcionar el estupendo equipo de ocho rotativas que publicamos días atrás.
Por el momento consignamos el extraordinario tiraje de ayer:
CAPITAL 209.850
INTERIOR 50.615
TOTAL 260.455
Source: Source: Internet Archive / Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina