Telegram-herald., 1886-06-28
TELEGRAM HERALD
It's Circulation Doubled IL Ten
Short Weeks.
OUR REH WEB PE8FICHsG PRESS
Buiis 70 Print -. 900 Papers pr Hour
What "Boiie- Plates" Mean-
The Progress Of THIS Journal
Its SWorn Circuiation--
Present Press Facii-
tiles

HE neB paper comes With bright hopes
! for tie future. 81 time a ben al the AR Is
d-ei With the sweet songs of birds. aud
while buds AMI blossoms give promise of
/ golden fruits 10 be gathered in tie after
+ harvest days such was tAe greeting OF
/ tie IaLEsEAN-l ten weeks apo. " hen
/ % started ouJ With the idea OF being news
paper believing thai there was d possi-
! biAty of being aggressive without being
/ abusive. and searching for the sunshine
( rather than ihe shadow lt was intmaied
then that a perieciing press was among the
/ probabilities before the snow should hy
again The field in which Tie new daily
was 10 circulate was shown by table Of
towns embracing population Of 20 800 per
sons. The perfscung press idea was sneered
at by the boilerplate dailies and
the rag tag and bob-iail weekly publications
which This city has suffered Tor lhcse many
years.
The perleetins press is being manufae-
tured.
The TmEeEAN Herald. while il has by
no means covered its field is circulating
hundreds OF papers in small towns far be-
yond and outside Of the field circumscribed
by the published table
The purpose of this article, however, is
not 70 ind fault with the shortcomings OF
the boiler-pa'e dailies, as this journal is IN
no sense a competitor with any of them
either in quality. quantity or price The
fact that the daily Democrat has reduced
its price from - cents per week 10
ID cents may be significant 10 the
public. but the fact that the sale of Chicago
and Detroit dailies has dropped more than
one half i'm this city within the past month /
is vastly more significant 10 this paper Ii |
is well known fact that the Democrats |
rates for advertising are bat five and six |
cents per inch, and II Is equally as well |
known that the IELEGRAM- II ERALn's rates /
are three and four times as much There Is 1
a field for Air. Balls paper here in Grand /
Rapids and he should have the foresight 10 /
occupy it. This field lies in being the organ |
OF the Democratic party, consistent party /
paper and good local daily. I'm both of /
these respects the paper is lameniably de /
fcient The Democrat should learn lesson /
from the Leader. The latter is by long 1
odds the best local paper in the city-with /
the exception of the TELEGRAM HERALD-
bright sparkling and well written. IL is 1
Fusion paper ont and out. and is consistent. /
The TELEGRAM HERALD does not and viii |
not attempt 10 compete with any of the /
daily publications in this city, because it |
aims and does take the place of thousands |
of Chicago and Detroit dailles that circu- |
late in Grand Rapids and the surrounding |
towns. This Is the smallest of the |
daily newspapers published here, and yet it /
employs more printers and publishes more |
reading matter tnan any one OF .hem; in |
deed the actual amount of reading matter |
published BY Us in one week is consider |
ably more than two of these dailies fls& we 1
might name, counting hseir plates as HtH as
matter printed Gf home II b0iier-plate |
matter ard news three days old is IS sails
factory TO the public as original matter and |
fresh teiegraphic news then il would be |
something worse than folly 80 publish s1ch /
a newspaper as Is the TELEGRAM II BRAID /
here in Grand Rapids. That boiler plate /
news is not satisfactory to the Valley City /
and its ncighbOring towns is shown in the |
fact that tins paper has doubled Its circu.a- /
ton in ten weeks and that il is increasing |
dav bv dav and week by week until our
press facilities are entirely inadequate to the
demands made upon them. Boiler plates
have cen often spoken OF in these columns.
and vet not day passes that some
employe of this office Is not asked
% explain what they are. The term
"boiler plate has been given 20
thin strips of metal stereotyped from the
face % columns of type which have been
set up IN the boi,ei plate factory. This
matter is taken from morning daily papers
in Chicago. set up and stere3typed into thin
plates and sent out in the evening. The
next morning OF evening. OF the following
morning as The ease may be. IL appears 10
the papers here with the dafes set anead. as
telegraphic news. The TrLEGRAN-H HFEAtn
has shamed some of these alleged newspa-
pers here to such a point that they have
dropped the te'egraphic news but
they still continue 10 use columns
OF miscellany. This stuff costs from
twenty to thirty cents per column all ready
for the press. while it costs from II 90 10
So 10 set Up column Of the TEIEeEAw-
HFRAIp- ielegraphic news which is re-
ceivei over o leased wire, beng originally
made up bv United Press correspondents
located in every quarter OF the globe and
whom fhis paper helps - paw by It's regular
membership ass ssments Thus ii VIII be
seen that the contents of tbis paper are
somewhat more expensive than the
stuff published in the boiler plate
sheets and ifs quality may be supposed to
vert'sinE rates 81 this paper are higher than
those oi the other papers. hut the principal
reason. and The one That interests adver
tisers particularly iies in tie fscf Chat the
circulation # the IETEgpsu-H II BRAID IS
qeadupie That of one daily. three times
that of another and double any one ~
ihem we believe no reader ~ this paper
doubts this statement bot II anyone does
fauhf if We earnestly request thsf person o.
cone CD this Office. examine 01r books aud
then - 90 W. vs. HsrTs urrssr0om
and ask that gentleman whether ~ not cur
statements of circulation are nst absolutely
correct
VII anr other daily psper n fhis cfr
permit fhis If sn u there VIII - no
ahcl'fe Ed ascerfs'ninE aua e1ra pairing ne
rireu Iafio1 ol aN fhe Grand Rau j. dailes
The swofn circulation 0f the EEiEsEts-
n HEntIn tnree weeks aE1 vas a aailF f9r
the Reek flliarIaE fise average uss lps--
this average being swei'ei consiaera' r 6y
fhe fsef thaf oa Friday fhst week 4eH eK
-ra pagers we're s0 9 nr see1aat gf q oaseTF.
fln ~ Pc opening sna te1ef.rn 81 re
@ Wssh e-NonE th Hre ir tae pas
raes orr average asr waF
f r srEfe- from fhs aFr-
F7F W-HFRtfH rrrE rtTT1N
Monday. June . ....-.-. $50
Tuesday. june p 4.Go3
~ Nedreeosv June , .-.... f.eff9
THURSDAY. June ...-....- fts1
Tr-en -rf1