Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1873-02-26
The Country weekIIes.


circulation in the cOan'ies where they are
priaied. This amendment. which is die
iaivl by every sentiment Of equality aud
e'eln Workmanship in legislation. Is OPP
i.u.ed b. the country week.-Mrs. and the
publishers Of iusides, " two parties repre-.
sentins the supPosetl Interests Of rural
journalism.
The growth OF the inside" journalism
deserves passing notice aud explanation.
A single lobby agent before the committee
at Washington represents the ''iHsidcs"
that is the second aud third pages. Of
1900 singe sheet country papers A
publisher at some central point, as Chica-
O.. edits sufficient selected natter anb dis
cission Of general news, to ell, with adj.
vertisrSeuts. one side Of country sheet.
He selects this matter to Ct large tract
OF country, say all Illinois. or even the
whole Northwest. lie then sends the
sheets, thus printed on one side. To little
WINS and county ceuters here and there,
in this area. The local editor puts his
local news, his own opinion, fhe has any.
aud his own advertisements on the other
two pages and issues the sheets to his sub.
scribers. A. very few of his readers
have orortunity compare two neighbour
ing local papers, The sameness Of the ill.,
side matter axes lirtle difference TO them.
The central publisher makes money enough
E ON his own advertisements to pay the
cost Of composition aud he sells the half
printed paper to the local publ her for no
more th;n the cost OF the bare paper.
Sometime the outsides instead Of the in.
sides are ready.madc, according to the
taste Of the parties. but the early preva.
lence Of the latter style fixed the name.
All through the midleand western states,
this style OF doing business has got a
strong hold and the men interested in it
Of course made strong fight for the
country press" at Washington. But
The evil influence OF this cast- on system,
by which the local editor loses control of
halt his conmrs and is reduced 10 ped
ding other peoples work. like Il hand
bill boy. is very evident. All the oldor
aud more respa' table country papers irowu
upon it, and those editors, country or
Otherwise, wko have any respect for their
vrofession. should support Congress in
ahulishing any little excreaccnces Of ia
poritism that would foster it.
As to tho legli mate country weeklcs
the ease is somewhat different. They have
their use aud their field, and an iudusli.
Gus cultivation OF that field will raise them
above the necessity of begging favors in
the wa Of postage. The country pa.
pers, ia so far as they fail Of making a
living, do so by miSstaking heir field.
It is not their field to PRINT The news lro,L
Erp. or even from New York, however
dairy they may boil it down, --peoplc
will 90 to the dailies from the cities for
that. Net that the country paper should
be oblivious to those topics or dun upon
them; on the contrary, it may be ever so
Il i've to thcm but it will make no head
way attempting to compete with the dali
lies, or to supply their place in FURNISHING
such news. But it must fnd the chief
reason Of its existence and the chief profit
of it, in cleaning faithfully the local news
The editor must take down that ancient
and lazy heading of the column, request.
ing patrons Ito sen! in items of intclll.
gencc,' and get the news himself For
him and his constituency, the great ISSUE,
is not the republic III Spain, but the
coming town-meoting, the question of .
new road here and new bridge "a there,
or the latest sales OF working-oxen and
butter. Hc'e is field for live napers OF
moderate size, home.manufactured on both
sides. with corner FIR the incipient poet
and Il column for the blushing contributor
Of his first "piecs," characters who in at.
ter development have cut no mean figure
in our Anlerlcan life however anuch we
laugh at them IN their debut. There is
something to be said in behalf of this
wide dissemination Of journalism, from.
IN educational point OF view. Country
newspaper Offices are not always the best
schools in the profession, but they are at
least u @t'[naing adyeriismeut Of lit.9 The
boy Greeley stumbled,upon one Of those
advertisements and resolved upon his
profession Utmost before he was knee.
high toa tree load,s as the country ex-
preston is. The press cauno: be conseut-
rated in theegrcat cities. If il could be,
the effects upon the profession of iouroal.