Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-08-01
He next launched out into consider

and duties OF citizenship. This 6ed of labor, no
matter how small and insignificant the journal,
calls Tor the exercise OF the wise and temperate
judgment OF sage, and the skilled acumen OF q
learned counsellor. Notwithstanding the I'M
American citizen still imbibes his religious,
political and social ideas LARGELY rom the news
paper he reads A notab BILE Illustration of this
has been given within the past six months by
Chicago newspaper which took it upon itself to
procure by sheer dint of newspaper advertising,
the nomination OF q worthy citizen OF neigh
boring state for the presidency. Day after day,
week in and week out, Sunday and Monday, it
labored increasingly to convince the public that
its candidate possessed all the Virtue necessary
in q presidential candidate, that he
the only man in the United states who
possessed these virtues in exactly the right pro-
portions out OF which president ought 10 be
constructed. and that IL he were not selected
the presidential nominee, this great and glorious
country would go straight to perdltion. Given
three columns of advertising matter, always top
OF column next to reading matter. tot
day, daily every day and weekly six months
supplements allowed II next to reading matter
should not advertising OF this kind accomplish
something? And 1t did accomplish It's work.
Draw line GROUND the territory OF which Cnica
is the recognized leader and within this line the
delegates to the nominating convention favored
the newspapers candidate and not only the dele
to believe that he was about the only man fitted
for the nomination. venture to say that there
are q tnOuSAnQ men III the On1teQ StAteS VINO
would make equally as good a president. The
difference lies In the fact that this one mans
good qualities were thoroughly advertised.
while the other nine hundred and ninety
nine like 'mute inglorious Milton" were
allowed to 'blush unseen" and conhne their
merits al home.
press Is a trite one and was well worn before any
of US were born but nevertheless we all liable
to forget that we are morally responsible for the
exercises of this function Of the newspaper. We
lose sight OF the nO6lesse oblige, II may term
ii. Ii we furnish spectaces for the public we
should be careful that our gla's are clean and
means they should never distort or dis
color. II the newspaper is fountain
from which the thirsty public satisfies it's
some and free from impurity. It will not do to
give your patrons skim milk. or sour milk, or
vinegar, or molasses or mush, ALTHOUGH any of
these commodities is good enough in its way
and for certain purposes are invaluable. Yet
when Farmer Jones approaches your weekly
heaIthful invigorating. Inspiring cold water
how disappointed he must be to drink either
skim milk, or sour milk or vinegar, or molasses
or mush.
The other function OF the country journalist Is
to so manage a business which theoretically is
more for the public, and practically the public
thinks it runs, that the owner may get from 1t
sufficient bread and butter for himself and fam
lily. To many of us this is harder problem than
the GoIdlan knot the Egyptian labyrinth or
the 14-l5 puzzle. / often think it requires the
economy OF John jacob Aston or an A. T.
Stewart, combined with the business sagacity of
Gould or Vanderbilt. the heroism of jean Val
jean, the humanity of John Howard, the cour-
age of Alexander the Great or Napoleon Bona
parte, the humility OF Uriah Heap. the charity Of
st. John, the ambition OF Caesar, the wisdom of
Solomon and the patience OF job all combined in
one. And yet, after comparing our kind of
business Gnd our methods of doing business
with other kinds of business and other methods
of doing business, am sOrroTiully compelled
to admit that much OF our poo. success as bust
ness men is due to ourselves. The same rules of
business which other men of less average intelli
gence learned long ago put in practice in print
ing office would result in more profit and less de-
lnQuences. AS publishers we are simply man.
ufacturerS. To manufacture good article and
sell it for what 1t Is worth, to develop our mar
ket, extend our business, and keep the limit of
necessary expense as far as possible below the
line of average incOme-this is the problem in
q nutshell. It looks simple enough, but in prac-
tiCe it is not SO easy.
Probably the most important event to us as
newspaper publishers IN the past six months the
remarkable decline in the price of Chicago
newspapers. Until this decline the regular price
for a newspaper was five cents and the public
could not complain because the public had
value received every time. The New York pa
pers, spurred on by vigorous competition had
made the cut to two cents some four years ago
and 40 sooner was it made than the discovery
followed that the price was too low. The Chi
cago papers held out some Of them at five cents
and others at three cents until now the Tribune
and Times are reduced to two cents and the News
to one cent. The effect OF this reduct on will be
telt materially in Wisconsin and must result,
urbC, III al luCr0aS0 OF LOT CQ1Ca-
go papers and, second, in stronger competition
against Wisconsin newspapers. Our on
ly remedy is in strengthening our de-.
lenses by doing better work and if
possible by reducing prices so as to meet our OPP
ponents on common ground. OF course 1t is a
hopeless task for Wisconsin daily newspaper to
expect to excel or even equal Chicago paper,
because Chicago papers, are unquestionsbly the
best i'll the world, but in our distinctive field,
that of the local paper there is almost limit to
the Improvements we can make, and in this field
we cen hold our own against any opposition.
This is true OF the weekly as we'll as the daily
press. aid every publisher should understand
that the general aud unlimited circulation OF
cheap Chicago papers in this locality means
more opposition to him and harder work to sat
isfy his customers Like all other contests, the
| strongest will survive and the best way to meet
competition is to boldly oceed to forrify your
self by turning out better and stronger work:
You have the advantage with your patrons and
you can hold it only by constant development
and improvement.
while 5 cents is probably cheap for q copy of
almost any newspaper, there is no reason why IL
should be held at that. In England, Scotland
and Ireland the provincial newspapers are gener-
ally sold at penny or cents OF our money,
aud IN time this will undoubtedly become by
custom the standard price of American papers
also. Those of us who see this now should take
advantage of it, because in the newspaper field,
in every other the low price wins, other
things being equal. Better sell your paper at
cents and work up little transient trade for 1t
than hold it at and not sell any.
There is one more improvement which the
Chicago papers should adopt to MAKE them more
nearly perfect, anu that Is they should be reduced
in size. They have not yet learned the art of
editing a newspaper in the sense that Mr. Dana
edits the Sun. The American not only wants his
opinions carefully edited for him. but the news
tastes the best and suits the digestion best which
is laid before him in the daint est possible map-
ner. The Chicago papers as rule endeavor to
satisfy the demand for quantity, apparently re-
gardless almost OF the quality. Said Chicago
business man to me: Il take all the Chicago
papers, but the only ones read are the Herald
in the morning and the News at night. / have
no time for the others" Work bestowed upon
the preparation OF your paper generally tells In
the appreciation of your readers
We all of us have a sufficiently good opinion
of ourselves, it is not necessary for me to say
anything more in praise of our work. We all
believe firmly that the newspaper is one OF the
pillars in which rest the whole fabric OF society.
We all know these things and nothing but our
natural modesty prevents US from saying them.
The difficulty seems to be with most Of us that
we are unable to transmit sufficient amount Of
taffy into greenbacks soft words into cash at
ten cents per line.
After few words of peroration, Pres
ident Hicks closed with the words Of
''Tiny Tim, ""God bless US. every one"
CIGNARALE'S LIFE SAVED.
Gov. Hill Commutes Her Sentence to