Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-20
WHY TIE EAGLE PRosPERs.
A Talk About Newspapers and Newspa-
per Men.

An esteemed contemporary the other day
in complimenting the EAGLE on its success
concludes with the observation that nc
town in the state of Kansas had ever stood
by paper so literally as the people Of
Wichita had stood by the EAGLE. The
compliment was duly acknowledged, but
it forcibly reminded us of the expression
made by good sister in church the otheI
Sunday to the effect that she '.loved the
Lord because the Lord first loved her >
Her inspiration was selfish one, but very
human Children are wont to measure
their affection for their playmates by thu
degree of love or friendship proffered in
return So with our esteemed contempor
ary He forgot that while Wichita loves
her EAGLE that her EAGLE first loved her.
1t is all well enough to say that Wichita
made the EAGLE, but the other fact that
the EAGLE has had much to do with the
making of Wichita should not be over.
looked
And that brings us down to what We
started out to say The great trouble with
the average newspaper, the secret of their
want of patronage is not with the people of
their towns or localities, not with their bus
mess men or with their patrons. Their
lack of support lies at their own doors.
Dozens Of newspaper men of Kansas have
said to us that had they such a people as
are in Wichita what a paper they would
have Now while Wichita business men
are very enterprising and liberal they are
'Old business to man. Let's see: The
EAGLE opened out in Wichita nearly fifteen
years ago, when the place was wild Dor
der town, built of shakes, boards up and
down, etc, but instead of appearing as an
average country paper, the EAGLE came out
clean, clear and beautiful, fully up to the
standards the entire press of the state at
the time declared-of the finest sheets of
eastern cities. 1t opened out with the sim
pie and sole idea of Wichita and the Arkan-
sas Valley. 1t doomed Wichita her inter
ests, and Sedgwick county and the great
Southwest, in season and out of season,
drouth, grasshoppers and what-not to the
contrary notwithstanding. Whenever the
town scored a victory the EAGLE would be
improved or enlarged and still kept to the
front. OF course, the people stood by the
paper just as they stood by any other per-
sonal or municipal interest. They stood by
it without regard to party, religion or pro-
fession. 1t was simply like our good old
lady friend who loved Jesus because Jesus
first lover her. Other papers had been run
in the town before and many since, and all
failed, their names having been even for
gotten. AT least dozen attempts since
then have been made to establish daily pa
pers in Wichita, all of which failed.
The same men who patronized the EAGLE
so literally were here then, and they were
just as liberal then as they are now, as
shrewd and as forehanded. The trouble
was with the papers, not with the people.
So it is with the papers who eternally quote
the EAGLES patronage and success The
trouble is with themselves and not with
their patrons.
Therefore if any publisher in the state of
Kansas feels inclined to wonder why the
DAILY EAGLE, which has been as large as any
daily in the state, should again appear in a
fine new dress, printed on new and expen-
sive machinery, made up in metropolitan
style, let us whisper, this is the EAGLES
way of soliciting patronage, and the only
way ii ever did solicit patronage