The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1876-02-10
.Pafent Outsides."

bill has been introdu need into the Leg
making it legal to publish fuch anSe - IN some
as are required by law TO he p""i'S" cam
paper printed in the County ~ VIZ" -.-,h,t ;s
monty called "patent onfSide' par -
nspers with one side printed 10 o.
other eastern city, and furn's'e" :" -.
print.d n, the other side in inc N"""'!
-, w. have never entertained a very
hill i,;,, of these ''patent ouIsi"es' i"e
,,a,,.r q, he sure is generally most eAceieh''
ami selected with great care; but IN many cas's'
,I,,. mr., \ fraad upon men who are ehnraVorihg
a., .,-,v on a legitimate newspaper business, as
,,.., .naIIe men who do not understand OF care
r,b. I,usiness. who may be able to procure an
Ia ,,r.ss and n mere handful of type, to set up
-, ,i,ce in oppositiou to practical printer, who
has spent wears in preparing himself for it, and
has his all invested in his business; in which
uneoual competition, the "patent outside" can
take work at figures which are ruinous to the
other. and can pull up and get away without any
sacrifice, when the profitable work is completed
This has been a curse to the newspaper business
in Kansas.
But we have never taken much stock in the
claim that advertisements printed in such pa
pers were illegal. As long rs the side containing
the legal advertisements is printed in the Conn-
ty it is immaterial, except a matter of taste,
where the other side is printed. 1t might as
we'll be insisted that the white paper should be
manufactured in the County, as that both sides
shunld be printed there. To come down to the
plain truth, while great deal of imposition is
practiced with the "patent Outsdes,' there art
many ihinly populated Counties that conld not
afford respectable sized paper on any other
plan. Those printed Outsdes are procured at
but lite more than the first cost of white paper,
thus enabling the publisher to put up the inside
at light expense. Not only is it an advantage
to the sparsely settled Counties, but the wealth.
ier Counties are being gradually reduced to the
"pateDt outside" plan. 1t seems to he an estab-
lished principle with law makers and public Off
GERS, to go through the newspaper men without
mercy. They are all eager for the support aud
puffs of the newspapers hnt as soon as elected,
they seem to he seized with mania for cutting
down the prices of printers. No matter how lib
eral the prices paid for all other kinds Of labor,
they never flag in their zeal to cut down print
ers' wages below living rates; and then they try
to get it down to nothing, by inducing the print
ers to bid against each other. In all the State OF
Kansas, only DORiphan and one or two other
Counties have been satisfied To pay printers liv-
ing wages-and in these Counties, there have
been those who were unhappy because decent
living prices were paid. Under such system,
printers finding ont that pride in the profess
ion doesn't pay, and are adopting "patent out
Sides" or any other cheap or patent system to
get ont their papers at the least possible cost.
The Commtte OH Retrenchment and Reform in
fha IF have
thier report, made the very sensible recommended
tion that the County printing be required by law
to be done in the paper having the largest crcula-
tion in the County, regardless of politics. The
County Board of Doniphan County established
this precedent before the Legislature met, and
probably gave that Committe its idea upon the
subject.
But in enacting law making advertisements
in "Patent outsiles" legal, the Legislature should
be careful not to leave the door open for gross
frand 1t should require that at least one side
of the paper shall be printed in the County where
published. If it simply requires the paper to be
published in the Connnty, without specifying that
any part of it shall be printed there, it will open
the door for certain city establishments to smOth-
er out the County papers on short notice. Those
city offices could issue papers for every County
in the State, containing precisely the same mat
ter, except headings, date lines, and County ad-
vertisng which could be altered to suit the diff
fereut Counties They could have offices of pub
LEGATION in the different Counties, with agents to
distribute papers, aud ak these agents could be
supplied from the central Office in the city. Thus
every County could have paper published in it,,
with not type in the County. Those city con-
Germs could, by means Of this monopoly, take the
legal advertising at perhaps one-ifth the regular
price, rendering it impossible for country offices
to compete with them, the same as they are now
offering to supply the Counties with assessment
and other blanks at almost the cost of blank pa
per, TO the detriment of the country offices.
Having all the printing of the State, they could
make good profit on very slim margin from
each County. That there are offices prepared to
go into such monopoly, is shown by the exist
ence of the monopoly known as the stray adver-
tising, Shich has been enjoyed by one paper for
years, aud which is held to with the grip of
grim death. That is but a sample, on u small
Ecale, of what would he done with all the Coun-
ty printing, in such contingency we have re-
ferred to.
We trust that the Legislature, whatever meas
urc they may deem just to the "patent outsides,"
will not leave the gate open for fraud such as
We have indicated.