Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-11-20
Newspapers aIm.,t Live.


: French peasantry and likely enoug
s there will be readers who will hav
the same reply on the tips of thei
tongues when they read the title c
this article. ~ can do very wei
without newspaper" such. me-
). will say; "my ledger is reading
y enough for mel fail to see the ne
cessity."
We do not pretend to think tina
we have many such readers; on tn
contrary, all, with very few excep
: tiOns, will be ready to admit tina
Q good journals are a necessity t.
. every prosperous community. Die
we not think this we should not b.
at the trouble of writing the present
3 paper, for it is only intended to in
terest those who appreciate the
value of the newspaper press.
Well, then, we will suppose our
selves addressing a bona Jfole sub
scriber, one who reads his paper
and pays his subscription. You get
your paper and you read it; we
trust you find either entertainment
or instruction in it, or both; we
have expended labor, both bodily
and mental, in endeavoring to make
it acceptable to you. You also pay
for it, and, as Sou pay all we ask
for it, we can have no dissatisfaction
with you. But what we want to
impress upon you is that your two
dollars year is far from paying for
what you get. There is not a paper
published in Tennessee which, if it
had only its subscription list to rely
upon, could continue its business for
a week; no, not if all subscribers
paid up punctually. To run a news
paper Especially. in place no larger
than Clarksville) every knife must
cut. The proceeds of the advertise
ments, the job-printing, as we'll as
the subscriptions, are essential to
the support of the concern, and if
anyone of these fails, the business
can no longer be carried on at Il
profit. Subscription. - sG'szaaements
and job-work these are &ise three
feet that ioafaalisn sta:ltis on, and
the greatest of these Is the advertis-
ing.
This brings us to the point we are
aiming at. We have to state it as
"a fact that the advertising business
in GAINESVILLE is falling off to an ex-
tent very seriously affecting journal
ism as a business. Concerns which |
used to have standing advertise
ment the year through now adver-
tise once in the spring and again in
the fall, when they are getting their
new goods in, and leave the columns
a blank the rest of the year. Others
who used to be frequent advertisers
now do not advertise at all. The
job-work is a good deal the same.
Show companies carry programs
and posters with them ready print
ed, and think they do a good deal
for the local press if they get date
or two printed to paste over the
posters and leavetwo or three tickets
at the Office, and even for this they
expect a preliminary notice and a
critique after the performance, and
are highly dissatisfied if in the latter
their geese are not cried up as swans
of the first magnitude.
But this is beside our present ques-
ton; it is the advertisements we
are speaking of at present.
1t is no grievance peculiar to this
paper we are insisting upon. Our
of the Tobacco Leaf has
recently had two editorials on the
same subject, and without them or
the present article, anyone
who knows what the newspaper
business is could tell by a mere in
5pectiOn of the two papers that there
are not enough advertisements in
them to make their publication a
paying business. 1t was not so all
ways: we could point to several
concerns now doing a large business,
the beginnings of which we conf
IDENTIFY claim were due in a large
measure to advertisements in the
.ocal papers of the town. OF course
they have right to judge whether
heir business still needs that aid or
rot; they seem to think not, yet we
venture the opinion that they will
not find it to their advantage to
Kick down the ladder by whose aid !
hey rose to their present height. .
GAINESVILLE has her rivals, and !
hey seem to think advertisements
If some Importance. Look at the
papers printed in Hopkinsville, in 8
oaducah; for that matter look at :
he Guthrie paper, and see them all 9
with advertisements, while .
seems only anxious to =
tide the light of its commercial 7
ABILITIES from the eyes of the world. i
The truth is that papers can't be 5
printed on the resources now sup y
lied to them, and those who are
in the prosperity of the !
lace have to determine whether i
hat prosperity can be maintained 3
Without the publicity derived from
Ocal newspapers.
Fire on the SOuthside. =
We have to record with much u
orrow the destruction by fire of =
Irs. Johns residence, just across .
he Cumberland. The fire took :
lace last Saturday night, the 18th n
nst,, at two in the morning, and ;,
he progress of the flames was so =
apid that scarcely anything could Y
'e saved. Indeed it was only by =
eXertion that Mrs. :
ohns herself, who is an aged lady, :
nd was sick at the time, could be
escued from the burning house. :.
l.