Connecticut western news., 1875-05-07
THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS.
Whnt n Well Known Western Editor nnt
 Publisher Has to Say About It.

Whut u We'll Known Western Editor md Publisher Has to Say About It.
 Col Aikens, editor of the Milwaukee
 EUeni,ag Wisconsin, in referring to the newspaper business, says: The average newspaper reader thinks he could i'm prove the newspaper he reads, if he were the editor. It is very common for edi- tors of long experience-men who have devoted lifetime to the profession-to get letters from subscribers offering ad- vice. No doubt some editors need ad vice; but as rule an editor, fit to be in his position, knows better than any one reader what should go into his paper. The readers of a newspaper are con- munity, and their wants and tastes are broader than those of one man, hence tho acute editor will find his way to the satisfaction of the greatest number. In this course he will circumscribe himself only by regard for truth, right, and public good. He is, however, constantly tempted by the large sale of purely nasty and immoral papers, to increase his at the expense of decency. But tonly on the ground that the devil is the best paymaster can this course be justified. Edit paper within the bounds of de- cency and right, and the best test of the editors work is the sales of his wares the number of his readers. Edited upon any other principle the paper be- comes a tract, and people don't buy tracts-the benevolent societies give them away.
 Another popular fallacy with regard to newspapers is the very general belief that fabulous fortunes are made in pub fishing them. Of course everybody knows that not much money can be made in printinga small paper Tn coun- try town; but we speak of prominent pa pers in great cities. It is Q common re- mark that we hear with regard to Chi cago newspaper fortunes. There are five principal newspapers in Chicago, and we understand from most excellentauthority that there has been no money made by them for the past year. We know the newspapers of Milwaukee have not paid expenses the past year. The difficulty has not been with the papers, for they have been good. It is the loss of adver- tising. Business has been dull and mer chants and manufacturers have not at tempted to expand by advertising. In tho United States are printed some six thousand publications. We do not call to mind twenty men who have made for tunes in the business. So we repeat, it is not money making business.
 Perhaps the worst popular fallacy with regard to newspapers is that gener- ally entertained that newspapers ought to be printed and published in the inter- est of the community--particularly the indigent portion of the community. Churches, poorhouses, asylums and all sorts of charitable enterprises run to the newspapers for gratuities, as @ child runs to it's mother for help. Politicians, ofice-seekers and scallawags generally count on the unpaid support of newspa- pers. Now @ newspaper, to be worth anything as 0 business enterprise, should be printed in the interest of its proprie- tor-just as much as @ merchant should run his business in his own interest alone. This popular fallacy has been largely bred by the establishment of party md personal organs, that live by begging for support, and other newspa- per mendicancy.
 Another very common fallacy that has possession of the average mind--and in Milwaukee particularly-is that an ad- vertisement of one's wants and business inserted Ill newspaper, IS patronage, III a sort of generous sense. The fact IS that the publisher of a firstclass news paper usually charges less than the cost of the white paper covered, for the in sertion of an advertisement. So, if there is any patronage in the transaction, it is on the part of the publisher. A stranger picking up a paper from an unknown city, judges of it's business and general reputation for enterprise more by the advertisements than by the editorials. The little advertisements on the fourth page of the EUeni'.g Wisconsin index the city of Milwaukee better than all the editorials or commercial reports that can be written. When that index goes up business is good, when it goes down business is dull