Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-10-18
pAUpER1z1NG THE COUNTRY PRESS.

PAUPERIZING THE COUNTRY PRESS.
For $40 you can place an advertisement of
one inch space in lS5 good newspapers"
This pregnant sentence occurs IN posters,
circulars and advertisements, issued by firms
OF so-called advertising agents. 1t means,
in plain words, that by reason of the pow
erty of the country press, the advertising
agents, who prosper and wear purple and
fine linen, can guarantee to any advertiser
the occupancy of one inch of space in a
country newspaper for less than seven
cents.
This is done through the use of ready
printed sheets, and of what is known as
'plate matter" That is-to explain to
the uninitiated-the promoters of the
schemes, and there are scores of them, print
and furnish to country newspapers one
complete printed side, of two or four pages,
of a paper, containing assorted" miscel
laneous reading matter, embracing from
two to six columns of advertisements. The
cost to the country publisher is about the
price of the paper bS the pound. Or, the
country editor is furnished reading matter
on thin metal, or plates of other compost
ton, which slip upon metal bases, making
the matter "type high" at rate immeas
urably below the cost of setting the type,
in consideration of the privilege of sand
wiching into such matter given number
of columns of advertising. In some cases
this matter does not cost the countryman
to exceed IS cents page of seven columns.
The advertisements inserted in this
matter are taken from patent medi-
cine men, patent agents, manufacturers
of cheap jewelry, promoters Of rob-
bling schemes, publishers of cheap
books, and prohibited pictures and
others, with a few advertisements of
reputable manufacturers and dealers. OF
course the rate to these advertisers is ex-
ceedingly low. The matter has to be
placed in type but once, and can then be
indefinitely multiplied by the stereotyping
process. When the sheets are ready fur
nished printed on one side, beyond the
first cost of composition it is merely
question Of presswork and wear and tear of
machinery, the countryman paying for the
paper and the transportation, and slight
advance in addition.
Either Of the systems is vicious. They
aim directly at the independence of the
country press; they practically transfer
the country paper to the city; they de-
prive the vicinity Of each country publish
ing place of the benefits of labor locally
expended; they put, in short, the country
newspaper under mortgage to the metro
politan agencies which supply this ready
printed matter.
The California Press Association has
grappled with this question and is endeav-
oring to free its membership from the bur-
den. 1t has to contend, however, with the
power of aggregated capital, the greed of
the advertising agents and the handicap
of poverty. The vital life of the State is
largely resident in its country journals.
They reflect the condition of localities,
the thought of constituencies and the pros
perity or poverty of their sections. Every
agency, therefore, that makes the country
publisher lean upon metropolitan influ-
ences weakens and cripples and finally de-
stroys the spirit of selfhelpfulness, and
cultivates in country communities the idea
that their press is not dependent upon
their support.
OF course it is unnecessary to indicate
to the intelligent reader what the logical
and inevitable results must be-they are
apparent to all. But the evil does not end
with the paralyzing effect upon the capac-
ity of the country newspaper to promote
the material interests of its section. For
while this multiplication of plate adver-
Using puts the local advertiser at a dis
heartening disadvantage in the COMPETE
ton with the man who for a song secures
insertion of his advertisement in multi
tude of papers, it also contributes to the
momentum Of the tendency to centralize
in cities all the business of the country.
Wherever that tendency is in full tide,
except in the immediate suburbs of me-
tropolis, the country will be found more or
less poverty -stricken and at the mercy of
city influences. The legitimate outcome
of having work done in the city that
should be done in the country is to rob
the interior of the benefits of local effort
There are fewer laborers, consequently
fewer homes and lessened circulation of
the mediums of exchange. There is less
industry responding to industry; less Of
the reciprocal relations that are the essen.
tials OF healthy country life; less commu-
nifty of interest and greatly less of commu-
nifty self-helpfuIness.
There is nothing in the plate-print sys-
TEN, and the "patent outside" to prevent
the city from practically owning all the
newspapers in the country, for ownership
is yalueless where control is exercised by
another. We care nothing whatever who
owns the good things of the world, if only
we may possess and enjoy them. The