The Russellville Democrat., 1877-03-29
A WORD FOR THE DEMO-
 CRAT.

SuCtcSS ol every Iuau uepeHus al most wholly upon his own exertions No matter what his avocation; if ht Is a farmer l.s own eye must oyerseC and his own good judgement must direct; if he is a merchant his owr mind must shape the manner of his investments, and watch the iuctua tions of commerce; ii he is q me chanic hls own strong right arm must beat the iron into shape. In every pursuit of life success must be merited by one's own exertions. But while this is the case, we are not un- aware that the friendly aid and counsel of friends is of great avail Every pound taken from the laden beast as he struggles up steep as ccu;, staggering under q heavy bur den, is an aid.
 Now. to those of our fellow citi- zens of Pope County, who arc friends to enlightenment and civilization we wish to make an appeal in behalf oi the newspaper press. We are not going to consume space and time Tn arguing that the newspaper Is the great hand maid to civilization, the great educator of the masses, and, in fact, the index by which communi- ties are iunged. These are self-eyi- dent propositions, which the expert ence of all past time has proven. We believe that every dollar devoted to the sustenance of good newspaper in any county is brought back sen- fold by the influence of the press; and just in proportion to the support given newspaper, and in proportion to the extent of it's circulation, is it's power to benefit it's constituency. In Pope county the newspaper busi- ness is yet in it's very infancy. The county never had a press of it's own until 1870. Up to that time, so far as the pubic prints were concerned, Pope county was seldom ever heard from, and away from home it was not known that there was such & place in the world. Is it any won der that she is sparsely settled? Is It any wonder that other counties which have for the past Thirsy years sustained and sent out newspapers have outstripped her, and grown in population, in wealth, and in schools and church houses? Can you place your light under bushel and ex- pect those who love light to be at tracted by it? As well had you ex pect this, as to expect an intelligent population to be attracted to your county without the aid of that friendly advertising which only d newspaper devoted specially to your own county and section can give. We might fill pages of our paper in relating the thousand and one adyan- tages winch county with newspa per devoted to her own interests has over one which has none. But this is unnecessary; those who read the newspapers already know all that, and those who don't read them would be none the wiser If we were say volumes on this subject. And right here, IN THIS MATTER OF PRO- CURING MORE READERs--is where we wish to invoke the earnest aid of those who are friends of the newspa- per, for it matters not how good a paper we may make, it matters not how honestly and faithfully we may apply ourselves to the task of writ ing up such articles as will consti tute a paper valuable and needful to our people, it matters not how we'll We may succeed in all this, for if VIC have no audience among the masses our labor is in vain, and will be bar ren of the good fruit which would result from it if we had the whole people for readers of our paper. Here is the difference between the newspaper business and other occu- pations. The eXeltions of the most talented man in the world on a news paper are lost If his paper has no readers.
 For more than two years have we now labored earnestly and faithfully to make the DEMOCRAT a paper of value and worth to our county. We have tried to make it worthy of the support of our people, We have ,ried to make 1t not only means of information and good counsel to our people here at home, but we have
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