The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-12-21
N~eWspaper Failures.
TIE REASON WHY THERE ARE so MANY
OF THEM.

TIE REASON WHY THERE ARE so MANY
OF THEM.
In his recent excellent address before
the Press Association of Tennessee,
Gen. Ira P. Jones, of the Nashville
Union and American, gave the follow
ing truthful account of newspaper
mortality:
We do too much work without COM
~pcnsatl0n. We pay too much money
without any return whatever. We es-
tabllsh an eleemOsynary institution ut
our W expense. We keep a charity
school on our own hook. We conduct
business as it we owe everything to the
public, and the public are not indebted
to us a farthing. We are preyed upon
by the sharpers and the i%nnocents alike.
We advertise gratuitOusly every week,
when we should have the money for it.
The general public are entirely ignO-
rant-prObably we ourselves are not
fully war Of the extent to which
newspapers are burdened by this insid-
lOus drain upon their resources. 1t
insinuates itself in every conceivable
form. 1t does it through reporters,
through agents, through cOrrespOn-
dents, through editors, through bust
ness managers, through prOprietOTS and
generally, too, with as much disadVan-
tage to the public as to the press.
There is not a business, from the dis
peDser of ginger cakes and cider to the
largest mandatory, which will not adj
vertise with you gratis-whiCh will, if
you listen to it, endeavOr to convince
you that it is your duty to the public to
ito so. There is not an aspirant for
public s~tatiOn-and when | contemplate
the numbers Of these, I experience an
overwhelming sensc Of cOmmingled
amazement and disgust-from constable
to the Senate of the Union, who does
not cOnscientiOusly believe it to be the
imperative duty of the press, daily and
weekly, to speak, with Il pen of teles-
cOpic power, of his microscopic deserv-
ings. Even that army of strollers,
which infest the country and the peO-
pie as a sort of visitation of Providence
for our inquities, from the street-cOrner
seller of prize candy or magic oil to the
operate empreSsariO, will expect you
to write an indefinite number of editO-
rails on a three-square advertisement
inserted for five days, changcable daily,
without charge! We are required to
write up, urge up, and put through
every enterprise, great or small, that
seems to have a possible connection
with the public. But we never hear of
a share of stock, OF of a dividend. The
Church, the State, commerce, industry,
art, invention and humbug alike seem
to regard, the press as their SENATORS,
and to be rIm and sustained for then
advantage.
There is a line of demarkatiOn in all
these things between public demand,
public utility, newspaper duty and in
dividual gain. That line should be de-
fined, and held, as it in reality is, the
Dead Line. Not a letter o a space n01
a figure, not Il comma 0 a period
nothing of all the innumerahle particles
that enter into the form and structure
of a daily or weekly newspaper, is there
that its picking up and putting down
does not cost cash money. Not a reYO-
{ luton of the press, not a square inch OF
paper, that does not cost something i'll
cash. This should be understood by
/ the public. If it is not, its %COrrelativt
should be practiced Ivy the press, l dc
not mean that the press should abandon
, its position of being the foremost CHAIR
= table institution i'll the world, 1t should
hold to that, for its munificent liberali.
ty, after purging itself of nine-tenths O.
the daily swindles practiced upon it
will exceed that of any other business
Z To get rid of this stupendous fraud o
gratuitous advertising, this cancer
A canker-call it anything, provided YOU
select an epithet that will characterize
: it strongly enough a prescribe NJ
other rule than this: Put vOluntaril,
and without charge any and everything
into your paper which you deem advan
> tage0us to it in being beneficial to tn,
public. All else, exclude, being of adj
c vantage to those who wish to max,
money upon your capital and enter
prise. Hold your space at its value
Fix your rates at a fair price for you
u circulation, and adhere to them. Fai
d dealing will accomplish more than foul
g at all times and everEaAere. For be i
+ known that the American press is not
vampire, to be constantly sucking tn
life-blood of the people. IT has o vastl
a higher m~issiOn-but it should also b
known that it will not longer be mad
the victim Of the thousands of vampire
that come daily to the counters, IN even,
" conceivable garb, to have it's life-bl0ot
incontinently sucked away,