Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-06-09

We Disce0fa1. Hefswiah. !
The death of the Oxford Leader
presents fine subject ",o point
moral . we'll ~ to "adorn tale"
The doctrine Of foreordination has
in this death Of the Leader, q strong
confederation. Local pride may, for |
q while, press sufficient support from
the people to keep paper, in such a
small town, alive, but an old book
tells US that pride goes before de.
struction, and, however much il NAV
have been TO the self.gratulaticn and
esteem Of the citizens OF Orforc to
keep the Leader at their town, the
cost Of It was more than could be
borne. The smaller paper the great.
er its comparative expense, and, con-
sequently, the greater compa, alive
drain upon the pockets Of those whose
interest it is to support it. We do
not call Oxford q small town by way
Of reproach. Ills were the size OF
Tama City, it would not be able to
support a prosperous newspaper,
with no more country on which to
rely for aid, than Oxford has. The
Leader has not been able, by reason
Of it's location and size, TO be to its
readers county paper. It had, con.
sequently, few readers who could
not take two county papers, or whose
interest 1t was not to support it. I'm
der these circumstances, we have re-
garded the death of the Leader as
only question Of time, although an
unexpected and unpre e d cnte d
growth OF town and country might
have rendered all our expectations
thereof nugatory.
The fact is, lama County has had
too many newspapers. This may be
a fault of most counties, but the fault
of this one especially. A county of
fifteen thousand population, having
no town with more than fifteen hun.
dred lnhabitants, cannot furnish suffi.
cient support tor three papers, either
in the way OF subscribers or adver-
tisements. No paper can be an hon.
or to town or county unless it is in
a prosperous condition; IN other
words, no paper can exhibit that dc !
gree of enterprise due TO great, rich
and growing people, whose publisher
is not making more than .. bare
living. Three papers cannot prosper
in that degree, in county, essential.
" an agricultural one, Of fifteen thous-
and inhabitants, and three papers
in this county were less an honor and
pride to the county, than one good
one would BE-. This county does not
furnish more support, either in the
matter of subscribers or OF advcrtis-
ing and jobbing patronage than one
good paper ought to have, and while
it may be to the interest OF q few.
and panderinG TO the local jealousy
OF many more, to have several papers
scattered ovef = small county like
Tama County, tho readers Of these
papers arc the direct losers,-losers
OF more, in the aggregate, than the
few who support them are gamers.
There is not . paper in this county |!
that is not virtual disgrace to t...e
people thereof. For the plain eason
that no one OF them has Patronage
enough to moro than !j..s. live upon.
The subscribers to t,.,e three papers
did not, probably, exceed q thous-
aud. A good county papers ought
to have As many as that. Many pa
pcrs have more.
A Newspaper, in a certain sense,
is q business enterprise, purely. In
another sense. it is . public enter.
prise, tho same 40 railroads are pub !
lie enterprises. While carried on w
privaso means and TO subserve pri-
vate ends, it il, yet, public necessi-
ty, and cannot be made q success
without tho aid and cooperation OF
the public. In so far as paper is
true to its mission, it is ; representa-
tive ct the needs. enterprises, public
spirit, culture and Intelligence OF the
people, its constituents. and its exis.
tence conters upon the locality where
it Is published benefit that cannot
be measured by any money standard.
The benefit is not always discerned,
much less acknowledged. People
continue to subscribe for their coun-
ty paper because they are solicited
to subscribe, and pay for it because
it is debt Of honor, like a gambling |
debt. Many will advertise in their |
county paper, because they are asked |
to d. 1t, and because they have too
much local pride to see their local |
paper die, protesting the while that
the advertisement docs them no man.
ner ct good, and is given as gratu,-