The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-07-21
neadheadS.


The following just remarks on the SUBJ
ject of deadheads are taken from For
ncy's Progress: With what are called
''deadheads," in general, over the rail
roads and at the theatre, Ihave nothing
to dc, the present purpose being to
prove, if possible-thetruth OF two prop
Ositions:
1st. That no other business is so
preyed upon by "deadheads" as that of
journalism, and
ID That the most accomplished and
successful of the deadheads, which af-
llict the newspaper offices, are the rail-
roads and then the theatres.
In proportion to the expense involved
in its preparation, no particle is SO cheap
ly supplied rs the newspaper. Its cost
TO its readers is rs near nothing rs it
could well be, and to make living prof
it. to It's owners il must look elsewhere
for revenue than to its subscription
list That, in many establishments. is
positive loss regarded by itself. but the
circulation attracts the advertiser, and
the advertiser furnishes the sinews of
war. To get the advertiser you must
first pet the circulation, and to get the
circulation you must give the people a
paper that will please and interest
them. Every line which newspaper
publishes for any other reason than that
its editor thinks it contains something
the people wish to know, is more or less
an injury to him, because it occupies
space which otherwise would be filled
with matter which would aidin building
up or retaining the popularity of his
journal. To this must be added the cost
of putting the puff" in type and the
other OUTLAWS it requires. The wise
newspaper proprietor limits the number
of columns to which he will admit adj
refreshments, or increase his columns to
accc,mmodatc II rush, knowing that to
crowd the reading matter though it may
temporarily make happy the heart of
his cashier, means speedy and pcrma-
nent ruin. Yet there is not newspa-
per in the country which does not give
away in the course of year many col
umns of its valuable space-a trite, but
true eXpressiOn-and more than that,
places these gratis notices in positions
which the money of the legitimate adj
vertiscr, paid down over the counter,
could not buy. The people who ask
these notices, and who are offended il
they do not get them, are legion. but no
class approaches anywhere near the
rapacity of the railroads and theatres.
If other newspaper advertisers received
free notice in the same proportion rs do
room for nothing else. And not only
are the railroads and theatres granted
these free notices, but in many eases
their paid advertisements are inserted
for much less than the regular rates.
| do not refer to the so-called criticism of
| PLAYS and the attention called to the
change of timetables on the railroads,
which may 90 under the head of mat.
tiers of interest to the public, though
they are of advantage in every instance
to the road or house of which they speak,
but to the preliminary pulls OF plays,
notices of the improvements along the
line, etc, which are never paid for,
which are source of expense in the
newspapers. and oftcntimes necessitate
the omission of news. Why, you may
ask, do the newspapers submit to this
imposition? Clearly, the affair is in
their own hands. All, gentle reader.
YOU do not know the ways of the rail
road and the theatre men? They mus
be pcttcd and coddlcd more than any
other advertiser ever dreamed of. II
one newspaper denies what they ask
another one will grant it, and away may
90 the advertisements from the sheet OF
the bold journalist. There are certain
| order of advertisements which some
newspapers cannot afford to be without
and among these are the cards of rail.
roads and theatres, and this, not be
cause of the money they bring in, blu,
because they are supposed to establish
in the minds of other advertisers, from
whom fair prices can be had, that the
circulation is of some account. Those
who control these advertisements are o.
course aware of this, and presume upOr
it to compel acquiescence in their de
mands for the free insertion Of this, tina
and the other.