The Arkansas advocate., 1830-11-10
VARIETY. H.
NEWSPAPERS.

of those who contract them, Of inferior
 obligation to allnost.any other. I is nol l the less true, that, upon every principle of business, and in tue strictest right, they arc of as high obligation as debts ol
 any description can be.
 \ man pays cash for. his daily food
 and clothing, and rallmcchanics works.
 He pays interest sfs tsltss,essee upon his
 bank debts, and his credit is dishonored 1 Ii he fails to de 1t. So far from paying in advance, many of our friends think they act literally if they pay for their
 newspapers at the end of every year;
 and men, who plume themselves upon their punctuality and scrupulously hon. est dealing in other respects, viii jet ] their newspaper accounts run for one, two, thrce,-or more years, if not called upon, until the amount of the account produces almost an inability to pay 1t,
 and not unfrequently a doubt of it's ac- cpracy.
 Now, 7uhy should a man pay his butch CT or his baker, his tailor or his shoema- ker, or his landlord, more willingly than lie pays the publisher of the newspaper to which he is subscriber? The butch CT and the baker turn over theirmoney perhaps fifty times in the year. The money received to-day islaid out for a fresh supply of flour before the end of the week, which is sold out again the week following. A profit of ten per cent. upon their sales may therefore be a profit of five hundred per cent. per an- nun upon their first outlay; profit re- eeived day by day. How IS it with the publisher? He pays cash for the paper he prints upon-cash for wages, for house-rent, and all the contingencies of his business: and he lies out of his mo- ney, not for weeks, or menths, but for years, unless he presses for payment. it the tow price to which competition
 has reduced newspapers, how islt pos sible for any one to conduct a business Of this sert, without without payments being made in advance, or at least with regu- larity, and at reasonable intervals?
 There are those who suppose that newspapers yielda large profit, we have
 even known some good people who sup pose that the publishers of them can af- lord to furnish them gratuitously, and
 therefore they never trouble their heads
 aboutpaying for them. Some persons
 are even oifendedaf an account is pre-
 sented to them, as though it was inten- ded diei to pick ttlaeir pockets. Once for all, let ussetthese gentlemenrighti in this particular. In the large cities, having q population sufficient in each to sus- tain newspapers, without caring for q wider circulation; in such cities. where payment as well for subscription as for extensive advertising can be col leoted quarterly or haif-yearly. and as ! certainly relied upon as the revolution of the seasons or the flow of the tides, ] popular newspapersTeeeiveavery hand some profit. Very different is it with those whose circulation extends through
 q whole State, and every county and every village in it and still more with those which circulate through the whole United States. and whose subscri- bers are dispersed over surface offouI ] or five hundred thousand square miles. The expense of publishing such a pa- lper is greater, the certainty of its reve- nue less, than what is incurred by the ! city Journalists, besides the expense and delay of collection being cut of ali pro. portion. There have been years ir which the expenses of this paper. pre- haps more widely circulated than any other in the Union, are believed to have been even greater thanit receipts, ow. ing to the extended reports of debates
 and the many supplements which we (erroneously have conceived ourselves
 under an obligation to publish, in order to keep up with them. ltis only by the
 closest attention to its collections that
 any Journals, situated as this is, can De
 maintained. Were our subscribers once
 convinced of this, we are sure, f thes i place any value upon our iabors, tllai
 they would'with cheerlulncss seize any
 opportunity to make payment, even 1T advance, which might he offered to them Those who arc not willing 10 do so, rnis understand the terms upon which theil
 subscription has been received.
 To return tothe grievance. complain cd of by our correspondent. Such pis atations as that which he describes arc unreasonable. But if we do not place
 our accounts in the hands of collectors