The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1884-06-26
HOW TO SEIZURE SETTLERS.
LOCAL NEWSPAPERS rs CIRCUS
BILLS.

cent issue, says:
An eastern owner of Redwood coun-
ty real estate, recently expressed to US
some views of the various methods OF
real estate booming that would make !
good reading, could we but reproduce
them with their original vim and point. |
He took very little stock in the red.
handful and boom statistic methods, |
and thought that the intelligent and
desirable class of eastern citizens gave |
such documents even less consideration
than they were worth, considering
them just about as correct measure of
the real advantages of the sections they
advertise, as are patent medicine alma.
macs Of the nOstrums they proclaim
They might provoke al interest. but
what shrewd home seekers want is in.
formation, and they ask for q better
kind than they can get in boom PAM
phlets or boom newspapers. The cas-
tern man thought that what gave a
much more satisfactory measure of 4
new country was it's local newspapers,
from week to week, boom editions and
all. He has used his copy of the Ga
Zette with good effect that way, and
with it had convinced some of his
friends that here in Redwood Falls ex-
listed all the essentials of u comfortable
home life-an orderly and intelligent
community, good schools and churches,
and constantly good outlook for i'm
prOvemenC in all respects. The local
paper showed how the price of land av-
eraged in the various real estate trans
fers, showed the financial condition of
both city and county to be healthy, i'll
dicated the general health of the coun-
try. Even its advertisements were of
interest to strangers, who want to
know what goods are sold and the gen.
eral condition of trade. The same with
Ma, ket and crop reports. A still surer
index was the country correspondence,
which could not well be doctored for
effect on eastern readers, and will pref
ty plainly reflect the conditions Of
the surroundings of correspondents
themselves. Our friend thought that
subscribers to the Gazette should circu
late and use them in order to bring
about better acquaintances between
the land we live in and the class of peo-
pie we want to come here and share in
our rising prosperity. HIS theory is
certainly reasonable.
This method, as our readers are
aware, is not Il new thing to the AD.
VANCE, for we have urged it time and
again.
The ADVANCE Of April 18th, said:
The country has been so flooded with
posters, pamphlets, circulars, ETC., that
people have come 10 think them mere
advertising lodges, not to be believed
when read, or to be thrown aside un-
read. But Il newspaper which repre-
they read with avidity, and it speaks
with an authority which no other doc
ument can command. Besides, it shows
everything. People want to see the
whole community focused. and they see
it in the newspapers. They want to see
the advel tisemcuts, locals, markets, di.
rectories. fights, scandals, politics, re-
ligiOn, and all.
For ten years the ADVANCE has sent
| from 100 to $50 papers each week to
parties abroad who were posting up AS
to this portion of the West. Scores
and even hundreds have 10 doubt lecl,
influenced thus to locate or to invest
here.
If Il fund could he raised in Worth
ington to take 500 copies of the Worth
iugton papers once Il month. and then
let each settler in the county send III
Il list Of names of parties still living III
the town or county which lie came
from. and have i list nt such names
kept by the Secretary of the Board of
Trade, and papers sent to the parties
every month, there would he some eff.
fective advertising done.
We. Of course, do not wish to under
rate the value of posters, circulars
pamphlets, etc, all of which are valua
ble in catching the eye and securing
the attention of settlers, especially
those who are already or the road tt
the West But their is one way, and
one only, by which a home seeker Car
form complete estimate of commu
nifty, unless he is Oh the ground, and
that one way is by reading a regularly
established newspaper. which epitOmi
zes the whole community.
Commenting upon the above from
the Redwood Falls Gazette, the Win
dom Reporter says:
Let each subscriber Of every county
paper i'll the Southwest send his copy
each week to a friend in the East, and
|
Dle. People are Surfeited with the cir.
and of reading the special ':write up
in special publications, which on theil
face say they are intended to boom q
locality, as u merchant advertises his
goods. to sell them. Bat the local pa
pers contain from week to week all the
advertising the country needs. Let tht
subscribers OF the Worthington AD
VANCE, Redwood Falls Gazette, Jack
son Republic, Luverne Herald. til,
Window Reporter, and the many Other
papers in the Southwest De sent East
weekly, and the volume of informal iOr
disseminated about the Southwest vii
far exceed the special edition that thu
Southwestern Minnesota Home Asso
citation have talked about for 81,
months or more, and not yet material
lied. 1t would cost each subscriber
penny week to thus advertise til,
country, or 81 cents year, whicl
would be a small sum for each to in
vest in an immigration movement
compared with the mammoth displa,
that is now being made, and far NOR
remunerative. The average list of
. coui.try paper is from 500 to 800 TAX
, the former, and in a year 26.OOO copie
of a single paper would find their wa
. into the East. A movement to i,duc
! this system of advertising would be fa
preferable to the schemes that tn
Southwest has been trying to work VI
. the past year. The Southwestern coun
ties can get 10 better advertising tina,
is given them every week in the year
and all the finely written ESSAYS o1
, their resources, &C.. will fail in iDf1u
ence compared with the hundreds o
items and editorials that tell what i
being done from week to week with NJ
apparent effort to ''catch sucker"
Sometime since we also published
, statement that the business men q
; Faribanlt had arranged to send 200
copies of the Faribamlt papers once
month to non subscribers in the East
The lMnprS of cOnrSa will nnh|is