The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-07-04
4 few more words on Newspapers.

prletoIS OF tne press Ol OUT Oldte. Oui ieui NV
offended to be general in their characte and it in the
application of the subject we should touch too closely
upon some individual case, we hope it will be regard
ed necessarily incidental to candid discussion OF
the matter and not be attributed to any unworthy mo-
tive or unkind temper on our part We ehave too
much respect for the press Of our State and for its con-
ductos. with the most Of whom we have the pleasure
OF personal and in cases, an intimate acquain.
tance to make nvidous determinations which would
provoke or inju:e their feelings We disclaim any
such intention; yet candor compels us to treat this
subject with much planness and freedom Of thought:
We intimated on recent occasion, that We attribu.
ted nuch and we might say ALL Of the i'll success OF
newspapers now to that miserable system Of halfpr-
ced terms for subscription, and merely nominal rates
for advertising, which has been introduced within
few years past in State We dislike it from seve.
raj considerations and one is it savos too much oil
Northerism, the entering wedge of other innovations
whih will follow as matter of course if the plan be
adhered to and followed up. We leave this thought
just here, for we have not time to dwell upon it.
The income Of newspaper Offices consists mainly in
advertising and the subscription lists When these
two and sometimes only mainsprngs are so weakened
and embarrassed scarcely to answer the purposes Of
the machine it cannot Of course be long before the
whole affair will get out OF order, and unless promptly
repaired or strengthened from some other source must
cease altogether. 1t is impossible, nowadays to do
anything without money-itis of those necessary
evils which cannot DO dispensed with The time was
when man might work almost for nothing, and yet,
by proper diligence and economy, get along, and pos
sibly grow rich. Not 80 in these latter days-the
whole nature of things has undergone a complete
and thorough change. The time was when good, even
first rate Journoymen Printers could be employed in
country Offices at from to eight dollars per week
now fifty per cent. increase on those rates ia hardly
too great an estimate. Paper has risen in the came
RATIO certainly twenty-five per cent upon former
prices. In fact the demand having go largely ncreas-
3D. the mills complain OF scarcely being able to supply
the market These facts taken in connection with
another mostlamentable one-the want of dsposi.
tion the part Of subscribers to pay-show what the
chances ormoney being made upon the subscription
lists. Did our dollar friends ever make a close
calculation Of what it costs them to publish their pa
pers7 Let them dsso, and with all their strictness-
an idea only iyH. Carolina-about advanced payments
Der wh9<ome up among the delinquenss-itis so, and
it is &ly to conceal the tact from our own eyes
Theunusua increase Of newspapers all over the States
As produced these enormous prices Of labor and ma.
terias without corresponding increase or adherence
to old prices for work. The consequence is many are
obliged to struggle on droop and finally die.
Advertising constitutes the handspring Of vigorous
action to printing Office in our State-itheretore, the
rates be cut down and lessened how is it possible
with all these accumulating difficulties that paper
can be made profitable which must rely upon chance
for its patronage Itis mistake gentlemen Of the
press to work any longer for nothing You will find,
we fear by bitter experience, that this course will in
jure if not bankrupt many Of the papers in our State
Let be persisted in longer-ask reasonable prices
for your labor and do not compromise the dignity and
position Of the press, by accepting the poor, pitifu
contributions Of half priced patrons. We alude now
particularly to advertising question great mpor-
tauce here presents ITSELF Is it right, editors and
proprieors to pursue course which is not only sui
cidal and unjust to ourselves, but absolutely wrong
in principle, false in policy and, to say the least we
can of it. hardly honest, in publishing our terms and
then make contracts which do not approach within the
remotest range Of those terms? To make ourselves
mure distinctly understood. ought paper which ad-
vertises its rates to be cents per square for
the first and half that for all subsequent inser
IS. contract at tenth part these rates Or in
palmer words yet is it right to do in the neighbor-
hood Of fifty dollars worth Of advertising for fue dol
lars? Strange things dohappeu sometimes, and strange
it may appear, it is nevertheless act that there
are newspapers in South Carolina which advertise
equal to five squares for six months for the poor,
pitfnl contemplate sum Of five dollars worth almost
ten times that amount to follow published terms.
So far as we are concerned, we would infinitely pre-.
fer advertising for nothing for then might possibly
hope 10 have some slight claim upon the charities of
the public without the restrictions and obligations
which would be imposed by nero pretensop Of paIs
mol We ere Ass ioss TO determine by
what principle Of justice consistency newspapers ex
pect to live at such rates of advertising We under
stand very well how contracts for year or for Sc
ries of months are made much lower than the usual
terms, but we are totally unable to divine by what
casustical process such remarkable elasticity and eon
cation prodncedadvertise for five dollars where it
should be five times 6ve There is something wrong,
fundamentally and positively wrong in this NATTER
Such gross Inconsistencies are objectionable. We OBJ
ect the doctrine that every has the right to do
as he pleases-there is no authority in the Bible, in
the law books which makes any quite this free
No man has the right to :nure his neighbor and are
we doing our neighbor justice when deprive him,
by any means, however remote they may be, of his
duesf Are we following out the good old golden rule
Do unto others you would they should do unto you
when we advertise in the very face of our published
terms at rates which will barely the cllaroa Of