St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-16
NEWSPAPER DELIVERY SYSTEM.

All metropolitan newspapers are now and
then burthened with complaints from sub
scribers because of their failure to receive
their morning papers regularly each morn
ing, or always at the same hour. 1t some
times happens that complaint of this kind
is lodged at the GLOBE counting-room, and
1T has occurred to us that no harm could
come of talking this matter over with our
patrons in order that they, as well as our
selves, may have a more intelligent under
standing of the causes which lead to these
complaints, and with the hope that we may
be mutual aid to each other in remedying
the difficulty. AS is well known, the city
delivery is made by the carrier boys
1t would be expecting too much of human
nature to suppose that every carrier boy is
an angel. 1t will now and then occur that
an inefficient boy will get on the force, just
as Inefficient people get into all branches of
business and it may sometimes happen
that subscribers paper is not delivered
promptly. This does not frequently occur,
however, for it is the crculator's duty to
keep track of the boys and whenever one
fails to perform his duty he is dismissed
from the service. When the paper is missed
from the doorstep in the morning in nine
cases out Of ten it is no fault of the carrier.
1t is more frequently stolen than otherwise.
Occasionally it happens that a neighbor
Is too stingy to subscribe for paper. and
thinks it no breach Of neighborly etiquette
to borrow morning paper from his friend
next door or just across the street. 1t
more frequently occurs however, that
some enterprising boy who is UP with the
lark sees the paper lying on the doorstep Of
mansion whose inmates are asleep. and
knowing that it is worth a nickel in cash
cannot resist the temptation of carving il
OFF and selling it to the first individual he
meets who wants to buy the morning
paper. 1t is not long since that the
GLOBES detective force ran in an urchin
of this enterprising nature who was max
ing livelihood by stealing the morning
papers, and the youthful culprit is now try
ing to reform his thievsh propensities
by a training in the reform school.
But boys are not the only newspaper
thieves. There is class of men who are
given to it. 1t is generally the tramp who
by stealing and selling half dozen papers
can get enough money to buy his morning
drink and breakfast, or some poor unfortu-
nate creature out of money and out of en-
ployment who thinks it no harm to take
the paper and go off to himself somewhere
that he can sit down and read over the
want columns with the hope that his eve
may catch something that will bring him
work and bread. This is particularly true
OF the GLOBE, whose advertising columns
are sought after by everybody. Thus it is
newspaper subscribers can understand the
many ways they can be deprived of their
morning paper without it being the fault of
either the management or the carrier bovs
Having explained this matter to our suh-
scribers the GLOBE now wishes To say IN
them that it makes every effort to make the
delivery system perfect. 1t EMPLOYS only
the most efficient boys, and they are kept I'M
der the stricteSt discipline and surveillance
In addition, the GLOBE EMPLOYS a detec-
tive force to hunt down newspaper thieves
Now we ask subscribers not only to in
form this office of each time the paper is
missed, but also to aid us in Detecting
thieves who are in the habit Of stealing
their papers. And in this connection we
suggest that 1t would be a good idea that
every person who takes a daily paper
should have place fixed on the front
porch, into which the carrier can deposit
the paper No person would think of