Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-02-19
THE VALUE OF A COUNTY PAPER.

From the Richmond, No., Depocrst.1
Occasionally you hear of some farmer
being swindled by sharpers, with light
ming rods or some other scheme BY
which the innocent are taken in, and
tleeced. These travelling swindlers are
a slick class, and choose their victims
with care. They find out lfia man
reads his county papers before they
commence operations. II he does not
they then find out about his nelghbors.
aud what their means OF intorwAtion
are,. By this means they know before
they make the attempt whether they
can succeed in swindling the victiml tor
the man who fails to read the county
papers, and keep up with the times. II
the legitimate prey of these sooundrsls
who make their living BY ways that
Take Ray county as an example. Sew.
eral men have been swindled here BY
tue Lightning rod" and shay fork"
schemes, but when you come 70 sxam.
inc into the matter, not one 0fgAesvic-
Tins was subscriber TO-, or asreadSr Of,
the county papers. Probably . few
dollars spent in this wat mik66 have
saved an hundred ioid. g Buty sitfiA pse-
less to argue this question. ter leIWers
will go ON frofh year to year Without
spending cent for a county piper,
which does more to bring hib6ootion
into notice than all the city papers
combined, and when yeu use thit ergu-
ment to one OF these fossils, he s0aA hay,
..Oh! you are interested capdi ijh35&aut
my money! We can't, argue With such
a man, because he WON'T lock 9t facts
as they exist. Only last week fafmer
and stock raiser, come in. and feopped
his paper because he wanted ~ take one
from Nashville, Tennesse,, and couldn't
afford to. take two. In the anxd6S OF
| common sense, what cam .sspApeS ut
What information could he possibly get
er farmers in the county were AQipgf
love stories or something of the kind, it
would not interest his childrsxs and
create within them q desire foe Inf6sma-
tion, but then 1t Is printed. away from
home and there is an old fogy notion
abroad in this land, that nothfnE worth
\ | Jytttur papcrs art -urd5ase-r4A. lA'e.sss
office, which paper do you open and
read first? He candidly admitted that
the Richmond Democrat Was always
the first paper read. Yet he stopped it
to secure a paper from another state.
Now there IS secret in all this. Tho
paper from Nashville, 10 probably .
cheap print. made up from daily paper,
and he could secure 1t, probably. tor 90
or IS cents year less than he would
, have to pay Tor the Democrat, and tor
this pitiful sum he was willing to de-
prve his little boys and girls OF the
privilege OF reading about matters that
they felt an interest in. 1t is this spirit
, OF iogyism that is doing more to keep
,, Ray county in the back ground than
: anything else, and the sooner our cit'-
zens put it aside the better It will be for
the county. Other sections Judge com.
muuity by its newspapers. 1fthe news
papers are thrifty and energetic in tho
c dissemination OF news, strangers know
that they live in locality where they
q can afford TO settle. for there. Is litl
4 there. If the newspapers are poorly
!, patronlzed by the farmers and mer
d chants and only manage to exc ont
p precarious existence. they will show I
v on their face and the thrifty mechanic
i or farmer seeking new home in ths
west, will steer clear OF that locality
r. for such men are not looking Tor
"a sleepy and thriftless people to settl'
If among. These remarks apply 70 q con
n siderable extent to Ray county. and
!. Is time we were waking up. lsss