The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1880-01-10
TEE .DEEFOCR1fT
s.aJURD.A T..-....Jn1a. 10.


&ASAAt ASf . We 49, t%Nt'fi
m cx.membcr of the Legislature,
in renewing his subscription at the
close Of the year to the Daily IN
telligencer, takes occasion to re-
mark that the paper has been 8
daily visitor 10 his hons" since the
commencement OF the great robeli-
ion, in 1861" and he seems to
think that it is Il sort OF necessity
to his housekeeping arrangements.
We receive many letters of this
kind in the course OF IL year from
people who have either themselves
taken the lntclligcncor for over Il
quarter of II century, or who have
continued on tho subscriptions Of
thor fathers or other relatives for
that time. The subscription list
Of n long-cstablishe6 papor, like
tho Intclligcnccr, shows a large
and continually increasing consti.
tuency of this kind, 1t becomes Il
matter of family pride at last to
continuo the visits of paper with
which every member Of the house
hold has grown up, and which their
fathers, and, in many instances,
their grandfaIhers, wore accuston-
cd 10 read. This is the reason tina!
all established newspaper becomes
OF least snch a valuable property.
1t is really an indcstru:tiblc prop
orty, us has been over and over
again proved in tbs examples of
papers that have been burned out,
such as those at Chicago, the Re-
publican at st. Louis, and other
journals that have passed. through
tho flames. Notwithstanding the
fac: that their presses and all their
machinery were destroyed, yet so
indcstructihle was their good will
TINT svon in spite Of total wiping
out Of their subscription books, the
old constituency in every instance
found its way back to the resuscl-
tated paper, and no new venture Of
any kind, started 10 forestall its
success, could keep the old pat
rons from supplying the names Of
their own accord to the receipt and
reading of which they had been 70
long accustomed. There is al af-
fiction in business outside Of dol
lars and cents, and ull business
men know, and in no branch Of
trade is this characteristic more
stril;ingly manifested than in the
relations of a paper to It's readers.
This feeling grows with the years,
and ut last takes such firm hold
of a community that public senti-
ment solidiiies around . journal
and makes it proof against Succcsa-
full rivalry. We remember visiting
Mrs. Cruger one Sunday many
years ago, at her home in the old
Stone house at tho forks Of Wheel
ing Creek, and We happened 10 find
her reading the Tri-WeekIy Nation
al lntclIigencer. Said she: This
paper has been coming to mo for
sixty years, ever since Colonel
Shepherd began takingit," and al
though she was then upwards Of
a hundred years old and altogether
everything in the past connecting
her with public events or public
life had become nv a half forgotten
dream, yet such WAS the force Of
habit that this old lady clung to
her family paper after having lei
60 Of almost everything else that
was cotcmporaneous with it, and
long alter its contents possessed
but little practical interest for her,
II is this feeling, thus illustrated,
that has kept tho established news
paper property Of the country i'll
exceptionally good condition all
through the pHnic. In Commenc-
ing the year 1850, We can say that
our circulation is decidedly larger
than it was at the outbreak of the
panic in 1878. Our new Hoe
press is taxed to the utmost to get
out our daily edition in season in
tho mornings, and if our growth
continues A3 it hNs been progress.
ing since We got this splendid NH
chino in the summer Of 1878, we
will be obliged, in another year,
perhaps, to order Il press that will
do tie work still moro cxpedi-
t;nrsIv ThcaI;n1 MI,lI;o.ursr