Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-07-14
THE GRATUITY FEATURE OF
NEWSPAPER BUSINESS.

no CLASS OF business Is so much I'M.
posed upon, and so often called upon
for costly gratuitous contributions.
People generally do not appear to
comprehend the fact that 1t costs
money to publish q paper. Every
type that is set and every piece of
paper, and every bit of ink must be
paid for. There may be a great deal
of glory in publishing a newspaper,
but newspaper men and the families
Of newspaper men, are like other men
and their families-they can not live
by glory alone. In a recent editorial
on this subject the Nashville Bonner
says:
There is no business thatiiis called upon
BALI so often for gratuitous work as that of
the publication Of a newspaper. Every
species Of advertising is attempted to be
worked into the local columns under the
guise Of news, and as of interest to the
general public, to the serious detrimeut Of
advertising columns and advertising re-
ceipts. Il is truly problem sometimes to
know what the general public think Of the
resources Of the newspaper business. One
comes in with long resolution Of thanks,
occupying probably half column, and re-
quests the publisher to please stick that in
somewhere and often with the remark
that "you need something to I'LL up with
any way They forget that the editors
greatest trouble is to ind room for the mass
Of matter before him each day, and does
not know that the Filling up is the east
est part OF his labors, and that his greatest
trouble is to get the choicest and mos. read
able matter into the small space allotted
him-which space is large or small in pro-
portion to the large or small cash paying
patronage given TO tie publication by the
community. Another instance Of injustice
to publishers is the constant drain on its
resources by people who do not hesitate to
ask the favor of copy of "this mornings
paper, on the ground that one paper is but
a little matter, and "you have plenty over
any way" They forget here too, that
each copy of the paper printed that morn
ing has cost the publisher money, and unless
each copy returns its proportion Of the
profits the account is against the publisher
just that amount, aud it is these small
amounts that foot up the formidable totals
on the wrong side Of the ledger, SO damag-
ing to the business. The same individual
here instanced, would not go to the fruit
dealer and say, Give me half dozen
apples or peanuts, as you will not sell them
all TO night any way, and they will not
keep till next week. Who thinks Of going
to the merchant and asking for yard of
calico, spool of thread or pound of sugar,
without offering pay for the same. Yet a
good many do not hesitate to come to the
publisher and ask for paper, which has
cost the publisher money.
No public enterprise is discussed or inau.
gurated but finds cheerful champion in
the newspaper, and every line put into that
paperin relation to it, costs the publisher
money, and the outlay is rarely appreciated
by the outside world.
The publisher while spending his money
in advocating and bringing about useful
public enterprises is always called upon
aud expected to pay down as much money
as those who have been at no outlay, and
whose only effort has been in talking
about it.
The subscriber to a weekly edition seems
to forget that he has the fall worth of his
money in the ifty-two numbers he gets,
when he asks for copy Of the daily every
time he is in town, and probably gets more
copies of the daily without paying for them
, than he does of the weekly, and his apology
for asking this contribution is in the fact
that he says he is patron aud "takes the
; weekly"
1t is estimated that one man in ten in
each Southern community, who read news
papers, are subscribers 10 them. Here then
l are nine out of every ten readers who have
their reading furnished to them at the ex.
Pehse oil the publisher.
The secret of success Of METROPOLITAN
journals lies in the fact that they are sur
rounded by large contiguous populations Of
= readers who pay for what they read-who
I would as soon think of borrowing a cigar
or loaf Of bread or a box Of matches as
a newspaper.
= - --
IT IS A FACT, as we have taken &C.
casion to say before, that at this day
: there Is more sectional bitterness and
! strife in the Protestant churches of our
: country than in any other organiza.
ton. Why this is so we will not un.
dertake to say. That it should not
be so we need not affirm. That it is
contrary to the teachings and profes.
sions Of their churches, no intelligent,
well informed man will doubt. Wheth.