Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-10-12


If he attempts to act hesitatingly, or under or
| ders, or tenlporzes with public events Or men.
he will find that he is certain of pleasing no one,
and like the old miller and his son, will prob
| ably conclude by displeasing everybody and los
ing his ass in the bargain.
| Probably every editor before me has had evil
dence of the necessity of having money to do
| WITH in order to realize the possibilities of in
| dependence to which have just alluded, and
this brings me to topic that demands the Sc
| rious consideration of every publisher and one
which, in Importance, really transcends any of
| those already mentioned. / refer to the bust
ness management 1t has been too common in
newspaper business for publishers to be at once
editor, business manager and man Of all work
| about the establishment. and there IS class of
! happy-go-lucky individuals who can write
| smart thing if they try but who rarely try who
/ 60 drifting along In the profession much as
class of strolling players get on, sometimes
| penniless occasionally in funds for short sea-
| con, but never prudent or sytematlc under any
! circumstances. This class have put their stamp
| upon the business until shrewd business men
and the public generally have learned to look
| upon the newspaper too much in the light of
| necessary evil. They have style of polite
commiseration or patronizing contempt in their
| intercourse with newspaper men. This is all
wrong and it is a pity there is any such thing
| possible.
Gentlemen of the press, the fault is yours
wherever this spirit is found. No man who
| sets low spirit for himself can hope to have
another place him above it. Too many papers
are conducted without regard to business prin-
! ciples, and this fact not only affects these
| papers themselves but the whole craft. IF
| newspaper is what it should be it will usually
| command the patronage. 1t will not have to
| beg it. And it can not get patronage upon
promises that it will be- sometime, better
| paper.
| There is no better plan for successful news
| paper business than to follow the style of the
old recipe for cooking rabbit pot pie. which be-
| gins" First catch your rabbit" You must
| have your good newspaper if you want to get
business for it, and if you have It the business
soon follows Lazy papers are not good papers
/ and the disposition that leads publishers of
weekly papers to use "patent sheets, so-called,
| is either lazness what amounts to the same
! thing in the publishers finances, misunder-
| standing of the business. | mean the class of
"patents in general use, in which the county
publisher contracts, for few cents week, two
or three columns of his space in which the
patent manufacturer puts the best adver-
Using of the day and gets well paid for it.
| may now be venturing upon the chosen
ground of some here present and may meet
with your opposition. [ shall, nevertheless.
| express myself plainly but without assuming to
be infallibe. We want some of these points
| discussed and this is the place to do it. Every
| weekly publisher. as we'll every daily pub
Usher, should control his advertising columns
| and if he does not do il he gives away the
| cream of his own business and aids in demor-
aHzing the entire advertising system. The
| prices paid for advertising are generally fair if
/ the man who sells the space understands its
value. Well posted advertisers are not to be
! misled much as to the value of a medium, if
they know its location and possible field. Ii all
| the publishers in Wisconsin should cease to
use "patentS" containing advertising the first
result would be that they would have better
| papers. Better papers would make better cir
| citations and fine ODDOrtJnifv TO command this
! advertising at good rates would be improved at
| once. Every good advertiser appreciates the
newspaper that looks tidy and enterprising.
| The publisher who does most for bis paper, the
advertiser RICH tfully concludes, will do most
for him also. If publishers would consider
| these points and improve the weekly papers of
| Wisconsin as careful management might i'm
| prove them, they would, / believe, reap re-
| ward for their trouble.
In this question of business management
comes another topic closely related to that just
| alluded to-the question of dealing with adver-
| Using agents. The advertising agencies have
| been growing away from the position and the
| DRY upon which they started, and from being
mere brokers between the advertiser and the
publisher, they are becoming the publishers
dictator, assuming to be, and exercise
power, where they can, that is as demorahzing
to the business as it is to the pecumary inter-
ests of the press. They assume to fix prices for
publishers and ii publishers take beggarly
twenty-five per cent, or more, as premium
| for the munifcent privilege.
If the publisher refuses to take the advertis
| ing at the rate offered, the agent will bid up
slowly until he gets to the point where the pub
| Usher will come or he will let the attempt to
| get fair figure go entirely unnoticed and re-
| new the old offer. So systematic and persist
| ent (and devilsh I sometimes thlnk) are these
| agents IN their devices for obtaining bankrupt
| prices that too many newspaper men think they
l
| advertising patronage. And the newspapers
| that now attempt to get fair rates out of these
| concerns do find themselves at a disadvantage.
| The agent uses all the means in his power to
| mlsiead advertisers as to such papers. They
| are misrepresented as to circulation in the So
| called newspaper directories" and their rivals
who patronize the agency, or pay the agency
/ for the doubtful honor of being patroniZed, are
| correspondingly exalted. 1 have been surprised
/ TO discover these practices some of the firms
| standing at the head of the business E
| An agency with which have done quite an
| extensive business, and very pleasantly also.
issues beside its g newspaper directory anoth-
| er volume designed for advertisers only. Twas
surprised to discover that my paper had much
larger circulation in the latter book than in the
! former, and that my weekly had more than
ever claimed for it, by one hundred per cent, if
my memory serves me. 1T is a disadvantage to
any newspaper to have figures made to lie as
they do in many of these agency directories. A
| paper can better afford to have the truth told
even If the figures are small than to have it
| distorted either way.
Newspaper men should take some decided
| action in this matter and put themselves in
| shape to do their own business. They have
been preyed upon too long already. IF Wiscon-
sin will lead the way other states will be glad to
| follow. Men must advertise, and newspapers
| that are conducted on business principles will
get the work to do, while those that are not
will suffer, but they should suffer alone and not
drag down their brethren. If practical reform
can lie instituted in these matters, business
management must be the main spring. News
| paper space must be valued at home as well as
abroad and the man who makes the price must
not put it SO high or so low as to be ridiculous.
He must know how much it Is worth and how
| to get its value.
/ am certain that at the present stage of
newspaper progress everything that can be done
to strengthen the country press should be done
without delay. The contagion of the age is
monopoly, aud every year Is lending aid to the
efforts of mammoth city papers to monopolize
| the entire newspaper business of the land New