Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-02-18
There is great deal Of good sense in the
following article from the Montpelier Patriot !:


COUNTRY NEwspArERs.--It has appeared
for sometime, that the Importance of the
Newspaper Interest of the State is not duly
appreciated.
Country printers do not attempt to get up
their papers as cheap as the city weeklies,
which are simply re-hash of some hllf dozen
dailies, because they can't do it. The cheap
city weeklies are made up of matter that has
been used in daily, frequently tri-weekly,
and a semi-weckly, and paid for three times
before it goes into the country. They can well
be afforded at nominal price. Country
printers can't compete with such papers, any
better than our country tradesmen can
compete withe the city craftsmen, and they
don attempt it. Yet, after all, we don t see
| how we are to get along without some count
| ry. Al city won't do, and people who stop
| their country, and take city papers, because
they are few cents cheaper, should reflect
| that the system upon which they act, would
| ruin all sorts of business. The country can
| only be prosperous by mutual mtcrcha ge Of
| business interests. The farmer raises his beef.
his pork. his butter, and his potatoes, and
cannot rely upon the city as Il market for it
all. He must live in some sense, at home,
and in order that he mdv live. other inter-
ests about him must prosper Ono man.
one interest uOps nOt make Il community. ne
Farmer. the Merchant have their products
and their merchandise to sell The printer
has his paper to sell, and it is for the inter-
est of each that each may prosper ; and in
order that each may prosper, each should
sustain the other. We put it to the people
of the State, if they would not ccnsidel it
calamity, if every paper in the St"te were
obliged to suspend Tor want OF patronage ?
Would it not be considered an unmistakable
evidence that the State was going to seed 2
And vet, look ut it , how immense n pro-
portion of all the people of the State do all
in their power to bring about that calamity
Not IA town in the State that has its paper
would part with it, if there were real ability
and business to sustain it. Still, how little
is done to keep it alive , Newspapers are
necessary to the business OF the place. Stop
all the papers in Montpelier employing
constantly some forty or fifty individuals,
and connected with whom are not less than
an hundred who are fed nd clothed in the
place, and making home business of S25,- !
to $50, 900 at least. Still, how many there are
among us who never think Of sustaining this |
large interest, who take not one OF our four
papers, and who expect the patronage of
those connected with them, without dollar |
in return We mention Montpelier, only, |
because the newspaper interest is the largest,
here, of any town in the State.
OF what interest tol Montpelier, to any |
place, any County, State or individual in the
State is the success of newspaper in Bos-
ton, New York, of Philadelphia? Do the
men who publish them purchase any of our
goods, do any thing for us? Yet it is not |
uncommon to see a mechanic who is largely |
indebted to the printers of his own place for |
patronage, sweating aboutthe streets, getting |
al T,r 1,x- btnbl
operation he gets his for nothing' Neither is
it at all uncommon to see a Postmaster, \
respectable portion of the income of whose
Office, flows from the newspapers in his village
or County, engaged in the same business, by
which he gets few cents postage
Now we should like to know what the
shoemakers, for instance, Of Montpelier would
say if 'ce were to get up club of people for
the purpose of procuring quantity of boots
Of a dealer in Boston, representing that by
taking quantity they would come cheaper
than they could purchase them here, and by |
which arrangement We should get pair for
nothing?
To any mans right to 90 where he reases
for his newspaper, Of course we make no OBJ |
lection, but the simple question is, while all
other interests talk about home patronage and
sustaining home industry whether the
W>pdDcr Interest Oh une country Is not OF SUM-
cient consequence to be considered among 9TH
or interests as one that ought to be sustained
and encouraged instead of being neglected
and left to shift for itself as Of no considera-
tion whatever.
If an intsrest, creating and sustaining its
thousands of dollars of business, expending
its thousands of dollars among our people,
paying its portion Of the taxes, contributing
its portion to the wealth, the talent and the
population of the State, had better be sacri-
feed to the necessities Of the cities and the
peuny-wise notions of some Of our own citi-
zcns-why, say SO, and let those who have
their capital invested in the business under
stand it if not, then let it take position
it has right to demand, and let the people
Of the State consider it an interest to be cared
for and sustained, and dealt as honorably by
as other interests are, both in patronage and
pecuniary obligations, and let the notion
that country paper is the last thing to be
patronised, and when patronized, the last
thing to be paid for, be abandoned as soon as
possible.