American union. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1859, 1858-07-16
D0LLiR IyEEKLJES.

with propositions to take our paper
and pay for it in advance too-if we
will take One Dollar a gear as payment
in full and when we decline, however
respectfully, to comply with the offer,
we arc sometimes told, rather CURLY.
" Wei, L can get as good paper for
the money" and there the matter ends.
Now, we intend to print few plain
thoughts. on this subject, in self de-
fence; and if these do not commend
themselves to every mans conscience,
and produce n reaction in favor Of the
country press, We have no more to say.
There are two questions to be settled
in order to set this matter right in the
public mind -
I. Is tic Dollar Weekly Of the city
Iress as good a paper or, in other
words, as useful and intcrcsting-to
country readers generally, as their own
county paper? There are exceptions,
wo grant, but, MS general thing, tho
Dollar Weeklies Of the large cities arc
neither very interesting nor very use
full. They arc made up in part of the
current events of the week, and in part
OF plcayunc romanccs, or love stories
OF the most trivial and otter immoral
character; and furnish, to q country
reader, no idea whatever of what is CO.
ing on in his own county or communi-
ty. y well conducted country paper,
on the contrary, contains all the news
of Importance, foreign and domestic
together with local occurrences-mar-
rlagcs and Observation-Disclosures of
all business men, (Which alone, to wide
awake men, are worth the price of
newspaper several times overland
glance at all matters of interest to all
classes of readers. If an ordinary
Dollar Weekly can compare successful
~ with sprightly country paper, our
Judgment is amazingly at fault.
2. Can respectable Country Paper
lie Afforded at One Dollar a year?-
Let us examine this matter a little in
detail, and make out bill of items:
paper, for 1000 copies per week, will
amount to 2OS reams, at 80. SG24 90
Labor--2 hands at 81. per week.
and boy at SO. amounts to SIT.
M
Editor, for all work, pcr year, son 90
Rent, fuel, lux, insurance, &c. 10000
Total, S2I09.O0
Now look al the income -
1000 subscribers al Sl.0O. $1,000 90
Advertisements, Jobbiug, 60. say
$50. per week, 500 90
Total, $3.50 90
Take $500. from S2lOS and you have
1888. as the annual LOSS, to say nothing Of
bad debts, an extra expenses. such as doc.
tors bills, oyster snppers, sc. &c.
If you dispense with the services of
an Editor, and make the Proprietor
fill the several stations Of editor, fore
man, compositor, paste master, &c. &c.
you save $500 year; but arc still
$88 perS lnnum above your receipts!
How, then, do City publishers af-
ford to issue their Dollar Weeklics p
simply thus: they arc, without sin
gle exception, issued from the Offices Of
daily papers, so that the types for the
weekly arc read set up to hand, or
what is technically called "dcod mat
ter'--not paragraph is set up fresh
for the weekly. The press work is
ratified off by steam, cheaper than can
be done by hand; and there is your
boosted "Dollar Wcckly!' The reader
complaisant)y sits down to "sccona
table," and fcaSts upon tt0ice cooked
viands, or rather cold rictuals, and en-
joys them with peculiar gusto, because
they are cheap!
After this explanation, no man who
reads it, and has any sclf-respcct, will
ask us to furnish him with our paper
at 81. year. 1t is Of questionable
morality for ono person knowingly to
ask another to engage in losing Ju-
siness; and if the person employed in
such business happens to be too ycrdant
to know what he is doing, and is led
into ruinous debts and cDtanglemcnts,
On ,nrol, tlo ,ror,o g.. a. ,,., a.. H., I'll