Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-03-01
Who was Right!


A few weeks ago, an incident &C.
Cured, in a quiet Ohio town, which
most aptly illustrates the difficulties
which editors sometimes experience
in their efforts to please few humid
red subscribers. The incident re.
ferred to, was none other than the
sudden unearthing of stupendous
scandal, involving, in its sensational
details, several, of the first fam
lilies" of the usually quiet little com
munity. For prudential reasons,
the two local papers paid little at
tention to the subject, so long as no
legal action was taken, while, at
the same time, every dame in the
place became walking daily paper,
and from morning till night, spent
the time in doing little else than
advising good people as to the pro-
gress and color of events. The mat
ter was finally dragged into a justice
court, where IN dttache of one of the
papers, with sharp pencil and nimble
fingers, took down q truthful report
of the trial as it progressed from day
to day, and the same was published
in the paper he represented, and
which we will ell puper No l. Pa
per No 2 made q passing notice of
the trial and then dropped the mat
ter entirely. OF course, in the
minds of the people, both papers
were right, and both quite wrong.
An even one-half of the subscribers
of paper No l were shocked at the
wanton publicity of their dear
friends crookedneSses, and in less
than o lunar week, persuaded the
other half to think just as they did.
The next human consequence was,
that the editor of newspaper No l,
received five hundred peremptory
requests to stop my paper" and,
as he AYERS, and good editors won't
lie, when it is known they have done
anything with their little hatchets,
he was left almost without sub
scriber on his books. Just as he
was about to commit suicide or run
away with his neighbours wife, he was
as suddenly surfeited with about as
many new subscribers as he had
lost; to be particular, the number
was dozen or two more, and each
subscriber had the facial GOODNESS to
pay in advance. The subscriptions
lad come in by mail, not altogether
sinsly, but in squads of ten, fifteen
and twenty per letter. While his
imp opened the letters, the half in
sane editor took the names and
counted out the grand cash in ''specie
payment" currency and postal Or
tiers. After this pleasant repast
was over, the imp stood on his head
four minutes and the editor turned
seventeen back aummersaults con-
secutiveiy. The next thing to be
done was to open O new subscrip-
ton book and transfer upon its viz
gin pages the names of the new sub
scribers with the address of each,
and round credit for full years
subscription. This was no short job,
and hardly had the work of faith and
labor of love commenced. than 10! it
was discovered that every name was
that Of q secessionist from newspaper
No 2! Wonder of wonders!" Ella
culated the editor, and he began to
sing, in fearful accents, Do 1 wake,
or am dreaming ?" But the whole
story is told in q few words. The
same thing that had happened to
editor No 1 had also happened to
editor No 2, only, as mathematician
say, in an inverse ratio. He, too,
had lost his old subscribers and re-
ceived as new ones what the other
had lost. One newspaper, by holding
its peace, had displeased its own sub
scribers and pleased those of its con-
temporary; the other newspaper, by
giving publicity to a big scandal that
wasin everybody's mouth, lad pleased
the subscribers of it's contemporary
and displeask its own.
Moral. How nice it is to be an
editor.
A YOUNG man in Seattle named