The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-04-26
MEwsPAP z FAILURES.
The Difference betwsoen q
Good ritter" and Coco
Editor." illustrated.

The present editor Of the
Chr,.tian Advocate who has carried l,
M to an edition of near ten thousano
copies weekly. writes as follows a'ou.
the past history of the concern; L
shows the secret of continual laiiuieo
in the newspaper business.
1.-THE noble and unsel6sh man, Dr.
Jimmy Duncan shall We ever see his
like againD kept the dear OLD paper
a,iye-sometimes printed on = whois
sheet of dingy color-sometimes on
hall sheet. till the flames that iaio
Richmond in ashes Consumed every
thing pertaining to the Richmond
| christian Advocate. 1t lay ~ dead
cinders for months and months. Inc
brave Duncan called it from the tomb.
He breathed the breath Of life lEto IT'S
ebarred body. But like the raised daugh.
ter of Jairus, something must be
Given her to eat The great soul and
matchless genius wrought manfully and
well to provide s~ustensnce TOR tue
Advocate. His WORK was a labor or
love, but publishing a paper is fearful'y
expensive. He gave up the task. Inc
wonder was how he held out SO long.
COSTLY EXPERIMENT.
..The greatest editor OF his day, the
late DR.. Thomas E. Band, assisted by
the brilliant Robert Holland, attempt
ed to establish the Baltimore Chrast,dh
AdrOcate, and IN eighteen months SIX
thousand dollars were sunk, anh the
enterprise failed. The paper never had
it's equal in Southern Methodist jour
nalism, nor any writer u superior pres
tiee to Bond. The law Of success in
the vocation Of journalism is ine1or
able and exacting. Every such project,
whether begot by genius or born vi
impotent vanity (if it livss,) is made
perfect through suffering. The usual
fate is death, before weaving time
MINT OF SUNK.
ssThe fortunes Of laymen and preach
ers in St. Louis have been los: in the
effort TO give to the Church n re-
%ligious paper. So in North Carolin
SO in Texas. The quarter of a million,
our share in the Book Concern suit,
was TO a large extent, lost trying to es-
tablish Church papers at different
points. And The same hard law rules
in secular journalism. In the room
where we write, not long ago, thirteen
Thousand dollars was lost in SIX months
on tie new venture OF q daily 1ht
Commonwealth. Down main street, 8
hundred yards or SO. thirty Thousand
were consumed on a daily that persisted
without paying a dividend. On the
other side of the same street twenty
thousand in cash sunk before . dime
was netted. Two hundred Thousand
has been lost in Richmond since the
war in Establishing" papers that il
this good year of grace 1882, are nj
more.
The starting a paper is like th'
TASK OF THE DAUGHTERS OF DANAUs-
DIPPING WATER WITH A sIEvs,
or building a railroad in an entirely
new country. 1t costs enormously t
put the track down and buy the en-
giues. There is a terrible outgo o
expense and little business while wait
ing for the land to be settled up. Th'
original stockholders never rellze F.
cent, for the sheriff gets the concerr
before the population is plenty enough
to pay fares and finnish freight.
!. It is . provcrb among publishers tha
there is no safer investment than in al
old newspaper, and there is none mor'
worthless than in a new Venture will
types
!, @ Why is this thus, friend Adro
cate, Answer: because the practiceG
journalist learns to give the people
journal they want and not a mere We
hicle for fine writing, brilliant edito
rails; AMI political hobbies.