Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-05-31
4 FEW WoRps ABoUr OUR

the business public who have sus-
tanned us by their patronage, will bear
us out that we have at no time VEN
tured to obtrude our business affairs
! upon them, and have never sought to
violate editorial or business courtesy
and good neighborhood by attacking
what might be deemed the weaknesses
of those engaged in the same business.
We are conscious, that although de
handing, perhaps, more unremitting
labor and attention than any other
profession or calling, the publication
of a newspaper is attended with the
least amount of profit; therefore, there
is little for the best of US to boast of,
and therefore we have not "puffed or
bowed" preferring to push our en-
terprise by honest labor, and so makeit
a success for all concernedin it. Since
AINsLIE, HEATING & Co. purchased
the APPEAL, it has been a paying sue
cess, promising as much in the future
as at any time in its long areer of use
fulness for the Memphis public. The
proof of this lies in the fact
that we have been able, recently,
at great expense to present the paper
in a new dress; and also to announce
the partnership connection of a gen
tleman of discretion and good sense,
whose long previous editorial connec-
ton with the paper enabled him to be
thoroughly intelligent as to its status
and its prospects as an investment.
This much we offer by way of intro
ductiOn to an unnecessary, unprO-
voked and unjust publication, calcu-
lated to injure u credit abroad and
impair our business as business men,
which appeared in the Ledger of last
evening, as follows:
1. THE APPEAL vs.. THE LEDGER.-But this
/ old fossil sheet that is seen floating around
town-that IS sold and bought only as a Gu
| stand what is published in its own columns.
Ledger, Friday eUenfng.
If our contemporary will take a glance at the
Assessors books he will find that this " old
/ fossil - sheet las he calls the APPEAL was sold
and bought, to the profit OF its proprietors, to
the extent of S30O0moFe than and quite double
the sum realized by the Ledger during the
quarter ending the first instant. That's b
we call selling a " curious relic of the buried
past to some purpose.-Appeol, 18th inst.
If our contemporary will take a further
glance at matters, he can see where the
Ledger has made a handsome amount of
| nrOtit Whpra tho Appeal has mot hPPn
able to clear a cent.
| 2. We would ask our contemporary
whether or not thirty thousand dollars
would pay the APPEAL out of debt? We
have heard that it would not.
3. Then, if this be correct, what is the
value of the APPEAL in dollars and cents?
Not more than fifteen thousand dollars at
the outside, which statement of figures
would show the old relic to be a bankrupt
institution.
4. But the APPEAL swells over its large
circulation, which, be it known, includes
weekly as well as daily papers, while the
Ledger has a daily circulation equal al
most to the entire issue of this boasting
sheet. Then the business of the two Off
ces-what is that? We would venture to
say that the Ledger, in twelve months,
will do as large a business as the APPEAL,
and double the same paper in amount of
profits made.
). People who live N glass houses should
not throw stones. The question we pro-
posed to discuss was the empire, and not
the value in money of either the APPEAL
or Ledger. If such matters are brought
before the eve of the public, we are not
responsible. Our illusions was to princi-
ples-nOt dollars and cents.
l. In the paragraph numbered one
above, the reader will perceive that
the Ledger, by its inuendO as to our
circulation, provoked the rejoinder
which we made from the Assessors
books, but for which, in the fifth para
graph, it says it is not responsible.
,. This is an impertinent question,
and n that our contemporary would
resent as we do, if applied to itself.
But we will say that it haSheard what
isnOt true. On the contrary, the debts
of the APPEAL to-day are not one
sixth of its credits.
3. The valuation of the APPEAL by
the Ledger is as gratuitous as its indie
cent assaults upon us, and both are
without foundation. The courtesy is
always extended the owner of putting
a value upon his goods. But our
neighbOr is at fault again, as i9ean
ascertain, Gas others recently have),
on application at u Office. Had it
said $4,000 it would have come
nearer a valuation of our paper, made
within the past month, by intelligent
gentlemen having a knowledge of the
newspaper business.
4. All we have to say to this is to
offer the following figures, from the
Assessors books, showing the returns
made by two papers on their sworn
circulation for the quarter ending on
the first of April last:
90
240S 90
.. Our readers will agree with us
that we have not provoked discussion
with the Ledger upon the empire or
anything else, and that it is entirely
responsible for the most unjournalistic
attempt to injure the business stand
ing and affect the credit of a newspa-
per concern, ever made in Memphis,
at least in our time. Our comparison
of circulation had no connection,
near OF remote, with the money
value of either the Ledger or the
APPEAL, with our Indebtedness or
our worth, u earnings or our abili-
ties. Our neighbor has gone farther
with this matter than propriety and a
becoming sense of what is due be-
tween two journals would warrant,
and has placed itself at a disadvan-
tage before the public for an attempt
ut u injury, by the use of what it
confesses in its second paragraph is
only hearsay. We hope that, for its
own sake and for the sake of the dig
and prOprieties of the press, the
will do us the justice to with
1raw, what we are inclined to believe
was penned in anger and without the