Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1830-11-11
2

| II is a trite but opposite remark that every
person is willing TO subscribe for a newspa-
per, but few to pay for it. A calculation
which does very well on paper, IN a blank
concern in the long run. The convenient
time" for paying IS like the baseless fabric OF
a yisioa-ualike thelandscape, distance lends
no enchantment TO the view. Ii a person is a
! patros to your establishment, the honor
should suffice. 1t is the custom, perhaps, TO
lend a hand to a new enterprise, that others
siay be induced to subscribe. Ifsueh be The
case, it is a custom s'more honorea in the
breach than in the observance" Seriously
we pray our readers, patrols We mean, to
read the following extract from the National
Intellisencer attentively and candidly. The
expenses of every paper for one year, is We
ry heavy. We hope that every one who may
have forgot the terms Of our paper, will re-
fer to the same. No enc, We are confident,
can be displeased with so gentle an inuendo
Cincianoti .4aaerice..
.It is a fact. we believe that newspaper
debts arc held by 4 large majority OF those
rho contract them, Of inferior ootgsioa to
! almost any other. Ii is not the less true, that,
upon every principle Of business, and in the
s~trictest right, they are OF as hlgh obligation
as debts Of any description can be.
n HlAD pays CdoN fOF H.s dtftt ioot 0bh ti'
! thing, and for all mechanic works. lie pays
interest IN aaoaace upen bis bank debts, and
his credit is dishonored if he fails to do IT.
So far from paying in advance many ofour
friends think they act literally ifthey pay for
their newspapers at the end oil the year; and
men, who plume themselves upon their pune
tuality and scrupulously honest dealing in O.
ther respects, will let their newspaper ac
counts run for one, two, and three years II
net called upon, until the amount OF the ac-
count produces almost an inability to pay 1T,
and not ~unfrequently a doubt OF ITS accuracy
Now, ,vhp should a man pay his butcher
or his baker, his tailor, or his shoemaker, OF
his landlord, more willingly than he pays the
publisher OF a newspaper to which he is a
subscriber? The butcher and the baker turn
over their money perhaps fifty times in the
wear. The money received to-day is laid on
for cattle, or for a fresh supply of fear be
fore the end of the week, which is sold out a
gain the week following. A profit of ten PEI
cent. upon their sales may therefore be a pro
fit of five hundred per cent. upon the frs
outlay: a profit received day by day.-Hov
i it with the publisher? He pays cash fo
the paper he prints upon-cash for wages, 10
house rent, and all the contingencies of hi
business: and he lays out OF his money, no
, for weeks or months, but foryears, unless IA
presses for payment. At the low price t
!, which competition has reduced newspapers
how is il possible for any one to conduct a bu
! siness OF this sort, without the payments TIC
;ae made in advance, or at least with regala
ritz. and ut reasonable intervals.
There are those who suppose newspaper
WELD a large profit; we have even know
: some good people who suppose that the pub
I fishers Of them can afford To furnish them grs
tuitousIy, and therefore they never troubi
their heads about paying for them. Som
4 nersons are even offended if an acceunt
presented to then, as though it Was inteade
: TO pick their pockets