Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-15
The Long Felt Want.

Robert j. Burdette, having related his
experience with young and struggling
daily, move that other brethren present
relate their own little history. | think it
is sometimes relief to unburden the soul
by confession.
toyed with daily once which was in
cOrporated to fill long felt want. l did
not know it was loaded. There was a
rival daily that had been running two
years and we entered the arena, hoping
to win an easy victory over this paper
and become great power in the West
We made it our business to boom every
thing that was boomable and to sheer at
the lack of enterprise of our adversary.
We got specials by mail, press report bv
slow freight and showed a style Of fear
less enterprises that was the envy and the
admiration OF many large metropolitan
journals. We thought that our adversary
wouldn't last more than month after
election, but Thanksgiving came and found
the ECenipq SquGlCber still on deck. The
editor would come and borrow print paper
OF us and then use it to call us the slime
bedecked and putrid exponent of a still
more baneful political faction. We would
borrow font of BREWER of him and char
acterize his paper as the wailing found
ling, dying in the poisonous vapors of the
deadly swamp of political filth, wherein
foe of the laundress and Lindley Murray.
man who had evaded justice for forty
years, and, not content with the outrage
of all moral sense, had declared war on
the spelling book.
Thus we kept up a spirited contest for
a long time. Sometimes we couldn't get
our paper out of the freight office. and
sometimes he couldn't, but we would loan
each other the last quire we had and keen
friendly while fbpO1I OH ba al g
respective papers we spoke of each other
In language which might have been con-
strued as repr0achful to some people.
1t was an exciting time. One day the
SquGlCEer would offend a subscriber. and
he would come over to us, and the next
day we would unwittingly tread on the
toes of one Of our great army of sub
scribers, and he would go over to the
enemy.
The editor of the other paper and myself
saw that it was going to be war Of eX-
termination. We ground our teeth and
our shears and sailed in. At the end of
the first year he had discharged his SER
want girl and my paper owed me $500 SAL
airy. At the end Of the second year he had
blown in his fine brick residence and /
had taken my salary as Police Justice and
thrown it into the rapacious nav Of my
little hungry long felt want.
One day the little, muddy, measly. long,
suffering features of the EUeninq Squd1Cker
failed to appear. We kept asking the Of
flee boy why the SqudUker didn't come.
He didn't know. Finally he went to the
publication office. The door was locked.
A map of Dakota was hung over one win
dow and printers towel over the other,
The Office boy raised the map and stole in.
The uncertain light here and there broke
IN struggling rays through the threadbare
places in the towel. On the desk Law a
letter from the advertiser of a Collie Eraser
in which he offered to take column in
the SQuGlcker year, following pure read
ing matter and with 1000 lines Of reading
notices 10 be strung along through edito-
rails from day to day, in bold faced type,
and in consideration therefor to furnish
for two years to the editor or his order
fifty bottles of the Collie Eraser at pub
lisheF's price, delivered ON board the cars.
Everything about the Office showed that
the work had been going braYely on when
the summons came. In fact, the summons
lay there on the desk among other papers,
along with a writ of attachment for $253
50. This shows what hold paper gets on
its subscribers, and also what a hold the
subscriber gets ON the paper. The Sheriff
had been subscriber to the SQudlckeF
ever since it started, but we didn't know
his attachment for the paper was so great.
We won the day, but at what sacrifice.
The smoke of conflict cleared away and
showed that the victory was not worthy
of the carnage. We had survived but we
were not proud. The Sqltdl1keF had fought
us bravely and now its still, cold form lay
IN state in the basement of the chief cred
itor and the usual notice of attachment
was tackled on the door.
The editor and myself met on the fol-
lowing day and he was the more cheerful
of the two. He said he felt sorry for me.
81 can use what 1 get hereafter on my
family said he; "but you can't. You
will feel guilty if you buy barrel of -four
for your own use, knowing that it may
imperil the next issue Of the paper. /
have passed all that" And he was right.
The quicker a man decides to cease pub
fishing a daily paper where it is not need
ed, just simply through high moral sense
of duty, the sooner he will become light
hearted and joyous. L paid 81, 900 for the
privilege Of knowing this, and present
it to every paid-up subscriber without
money and without price. 1 don't know
very much, but if there's anything / do
know, and know it hard and know it with
one hand tied behind me, it is that.