1894 The Chicago Daily News Patriotism Medal, For Essay on American Patriotism

Up for sale is this Antique 1894 The Chicago Daily News Patriotism Medal, For Essay on American Patriotism.The Chicago Daly News newspaper was founded in 1875. It was the first and only 1 cent newspaper. The price was chosen at the lowest denomination coinage of the United States in order to bring news to the masses. At one point it was the largest circulation newspaper in Chicago and the West. In 1899, the year of this medal, its daily circulation was 260,000.In June, 1888, the Daily News tendered the board of education of Chicago the annual income of an investment of $10,000, such income to be expended in procuring suitable medals to be awarded each year under the auspices of the board, for essays on “American Patriotism” by pupils of the Chicago grammar and high schools. The purpose, as stated in the letter to the board, was to “stimulate interest in the study of patriotic literature by the pupils of the public schools, to the end that familiarity with the causes that led to the fou