Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1884-05-31
form. A very large proportion of newspa

form. A very large proportion of newsps
pers give up entirely too much space to nd
Vertlslng. Less space thus consumed, charg
Ell ior what it is worth. and more devoted
reading matter will, in nine cases out of ten
result III grealer money return than is nov
received. For no kind of advertisements ex
cept legal does the average country newspa
per receive in the aggregate over oEe-haI
ply refuse to insert advertisements ut prices
below regular rates and would preserve
uniform price Tor what they have, they wOul,
not only maintain their dignity but in the en-,
would get greater results. If publisher
feels that 1t is too large to justify him in ap
better cut down its size than TO let its col
umns grow up with the weeds of profitles
advertising. Some OF the brightest and mos
prosperous papers in Missouri to-day are o.
small size. Fertility of soil rather than ex
tent of territory is what is wanted. Cultivat,
well what You have rather than waste your
self i'll acreage that is non-productive. Hav,
vonr price and stick to it. If the patrOl
leaves you and goes to your rival because b,
Is lower, let him go. In q majority of case.
ne VIII return to you, finding that your bet
Ter system OF business makes your paper tht
cheapest in the end.
HIGHER BUSINESS STANDARD NEEDED.
Why should not newspapers preserve the
same self respect and follow the same rule:
recognized as Legitimate in other branches OF
business. With the highest power in III
hands. the recognized guide Of intelligence
aud inf lcnce in every department, the
source no less Of news than of thought, VIII,
Is 1t that SO rarely we see really money
making newspaper! While millions are
made annually in branches of business de-
manding not One-tenth the thought and effort
why is it that business requiring such mul-
tiform characteristics of culture, thought,
energy, business, sagacity and enterprise Is
not only especially in country localities ,ktiled
with tOilers eking out u hard and thriftless
living, but Is strewn With commercial wrecks
from one end of the land to the other Why
is it that reference is so slightly made to the
little country newspaper, accompanied by q
smile or shrug of the shoulders 1t is per-
haps needless to say that for all this the news.
papers are themselves chiefly to blame.
Take two newspapers in the same town
DO they, like other branches Of business, have
uniformity of prices; or il they have them,
are the prices adequate to the service render
ed, and do they stick TO them? On the other
hand, are they not engaged chiefly in pulling
each other down, quarreliing through their
columns-to Use Western business phrase,
''cutting one anOther's throats," and general
ly placing themselves at the mercy aud max
ing themselves the laughing stock of the
If they want to fight over poll
ties and the town pump, need they carry it
into their business! Is there any other branch
oil trade of which such folly is 80 generally
and emphatically true?
ADVERTISING AGENCIES.
Perhaps the greatest affliction to country
newspapers is the advertising agencies which
infe.t the great cities. Finding the country
press without any unity of ideas or purpose,
weakened by divisions and without business
they have fattened of and persis-
tently whipped it in detail from one end of
the land to the other. While there are honor.
able exceptions. but one word, not an elegant
one, fits the advertising agent. 1t is not pre-
arrogance, audacty. While they
are ill true OF him the phrase that invoices
him is Il classic one. 1t is "cheek," He needs
no introduction 10 the country editor. You
have all heard of him. not once, but several
times week for these many years past, and
your waste baskets are loaded with his
epistles, for the advertising agent is a great
letter writer. They generally begin to bid
always ask shall be the best-"top of column.
next to reading matter" You write them
politely that your lowest price on that space
is 800. Finally, after an interminable amount
Of writing, they increase the offer to $lS,
which they gravely announce is the amount
they pay the BungtOwn Shrieker IA cOntem-
porary of 125 circulation), ami they think
you should congratulate yourself. be thankful
and close the contract, although you have an
time and again that your price for
This space is 500! What would be thought
Df all this sort of thing in any other business ?
What would you think, for instance, of u man
who, having received st. Louis firms price
list quoting u hogshead Of sugar ut 800, then
would proceed to open months of cOrrespOn-
llence with the house, offering $12, S13 and
finally S1S for that hogshead Of sugar! Nay,
here is the pertinent inquiry, one
would be your opinion OF the st. Louis firm
if it accepted that proposition! AS If to offer
insult additional, knowing the thinness of our
financial blood, they not infrequently bait
their hook with 9reenback of small denOm-
inntiOn, reasoning, and reasoning Alright, that
such is the impecuniosity of the person ad-
dressed that he will pocket the funds as he
does the insult which their Offering implies.
In addition to all this the advertisements sent,
beside being frequently Objectionable In mat
ter, are nearly always ugly and dishguring,
and haye to occupy such particular positions
and have so many changes aud extra reading
notices AZ to render the contract almost i'm
possible of fulfilment or make it necessary to
give two years insertion in-te id of one in
order to get the money, which not unfre-
4uently is never gotten ut all.
THE REMEDY.
Now what is the remedy for all this. Sim
ply to refuse to insert advertisements for
foreign concerns at all unless they paw the
same rates and submit to the same conditions
As home patrons. If special privileges are al
lowed to any they should be to local adyer-
iscrs. for 1t must be remembered that in adj
iition to the greater personal obligation the
matter Is more interesting 10 your readers. 1t
Will pay better to bear the expense of devot-
nS the space to reading matter. or, Us has
been said. TO decrease the size of the paper
han burden conscience and columns with such
p,lh tishn
themselves from the thraldom of the agents.
If they want advertisements away from home
/ Will pay them better to do their own sulic-
tlnS, OR employ some cheap person to do so;
ieal directly with the advertisers and let the
agencies go. The fact is that 1t is hopeless to
expect to secure advertisements without cOn-
0rmnS to the universal rule Of modern bust
less and going after them. That publisher
who sits i'll his sanctum and Eliminates against
l community because it does not patrOnze
iim will be sure, whatever the merits of his
medium, to die OF gangrene and starvation,
or in these days the public buy nothing that
: not brought to them.
NECESSITY OF ORGANIZATION.
Much has been said of the necessity of Or
saniZation in order to protect publishers
against the pirates that forage upon them and
N order TO put their business upon better
basis. realize that any attempt of this as
sOciatiOn to secure the enforcement of a uni
loFin system Oh rates would be largely i'm
practicable.
And yet think that much could be effected
in this direction by, say, the appointment of
a committee, or, if thought better, a salaried
secretary, whose business it should be TO keep
publishers constantly informed of the vari-
nj, swinding concerns that infest the land
aud of getting as many publishers as possible
fo consent to the establishment of more uni
fOrmlty and higher standard of rates. They
could do more. They could collect facts
touching actual circulation and advertising
rates at present charged by every Missouri
paper, and, with such data before them, could
arrive at some rational standard OF rates for
various kinds of advertising, and report the
same TO this body with suggestions embody-
Ing feasible plans. If we cannot thus secure
Of prices we can at least obtain
md strengthen organization. As
it Is, we have 10 data, no unity of purpose,
no organization aud sOne of the advantages
which how from union. think the purpose
ni this organization should reach wider
range than that Of social intercourse. and |
believe sensible policies NAV be devised to
that end.
News.
As Il vehicle of news the country ncwspa-
per occupies II sphere peculiarly its own. A
ftcn.nitiUn of this fact i essential to success.
In :, lime when the raplity Oflransit and the
hralne>> of price place, the large city week
hin the reach uf .ill Ihp nEnnla If il