Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-03-20
A SENSIBLE RULE.


Head Benevolence.
The Newport NtJ ErDrcSS announced
last week Il "new departuren in regard to
gratuitous advertising, which newspapers
everywhere are being forced to adopt It
says
1--WE have done large amount of gra-
tutous advertising in the past for sOcia-
DlcS, donations, benevolent societies. etc,
and we thinkiwe have done enough. Here
after Il notice of any entertainment ut
which any admission fee is charged Will
be subject to our usual advt Rising rate of
ten cents II line. If the entertainment is
worth putting into print ut all it CNn uf-
ford to pay its advertising bill. The OBJ
lection will be urged that most OF these GI,-
tertninmcnts are FOR II charitable purpose.
But "Charity doth not behave itself TN
scemly,p and what i, more lusccinlN than
to eNtort from one iii order 10 have SOME
thing to give another. I!c publisher may
have the kinutat feelings tO,yNrd every
charitable effort, but there * u huttOm to
his pocket Hnd hc cannot afford 10 give to
all. Every inch square ia ic paper has Il
money value It is no. fair 10 make the
publisher carry tn" charity Of others in
any enterprise 10 matter how laltdahlp.
TO illustrate : Il iHrmcr has 800 bushels Of
potatoes III lllS cellar il uciIlibpr comes to
him ana tells Of Il starving family near hy
and asks for 4 buShcl Oh potatoes to 10
lieve their suffering and gets them AN
DINER comes Witu Il similar request and
the generous farmer complies. soon he
gets reputation Tor generosity, and the
wider that extends the fewer the potatoes
he has left. Now we will suppose these
were all cases of genuine suffering and
each is relieved by the buShcl of potatoes
Wouldn't it look full us well for these
sympathetic nelghbors to pay for the pota-
toes occasionally themselves, a. to make
the generous farmer bear his own burden
nd I.ir .b.Ii 4 ,i,,1-
sufficiently explains the newspaper posi-
ton
/ 1t has frequently happened too, that
when we have given space to advertise en-
tertainments or meetings gratultously,
any job printing necessary for the Occa-
sion, such as tickets or programmes, has
been taken to some other Office. This has
not made the matter any easier to bear,
for the publisher has naturally thought
that when he had cheerfully given up his
space, the recipient might help to square
up by turning such extra printing as he
could into the publishers hands.
The Brattleboro Rcformcr concurs with
the Express. 1t says
1t is IL fact that where papers submit to
the imposition, they are obliged to con-
tribute ten times more III actual money
value to all these benevolent purposes
thau any other individual OrcOnceIn with
in their territory. The ETprcsS states the
case so clearly and fairly that any man
ought to be able to see the justice of it,
position, The practice it adopts is strictly
chat of the Rctormcr.
This practice of "spongiug' notices has
arisen from the proyerDial and extreme
4ood-nature of newspaper men and it is
certain that there Will be plenty of re
quests for gratuitouS advertising, as long
as such requests are commonly granted
Hundreds of persons come to the publish
ers for free notices, VINO would never
think of asking the baker for free bread
or the grocer for free sugar, for their EN-
tertainmentS or gifts of charity. They
forget that it costs money to print paper
and that to give advertising is to give
what the publisher lives by, and is pre-
ciSely the same thing it is for the baker
to give bread, or the shoemaker to civ,
shoes. Every square inch of paper COST
cash. 1t costs money to set ever, type
and the value of it in money is lessened b,
every impression from it. Every turn o
the press takes money from the publish
er's pocket. If the publishers of this papc
had the money they have spent on gratui
tous advertising for the benefit of Others
they could retire on handsome fortunes
The newspaper men, as rule, are willin!
to bear their share of the support of chart
ties and society: but they commonly bea
more than their share III the ways men
toned, and then often get no credit fo
doing or giving anything. They can con
, troll the matter, however, If they will ant
1t should be done by the general adoption
of the rule above advocated