St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-16

the closest attention as he proceeded as
follows:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of the
National Editorial Association: l am under
great obligations to your president for intro
ducing me as an informal talker. have not
come here with any prepared speech or ad-
dress, and | can assure you, after having seen
the St. Paul papers this morning and having
read what your president had 10 say 10 you
last night, that there would be topics enough
suggested to keep your asso :iation here for
number of weeks; and, if l desired 10 dwell
upon them myself think could talk con-
siderable length of time. As he has said to
you, and you will pardon my talking about
myself. l began with the country weekly,
and l still think that the country Office is
the proper place for the newspaper
man 10 begin. The subject l am
to speak upon is metropolitan Journal
ISM The metropolitan daily, published as
1t is necessarily, from its name, in the large
cities the proprietor or editor, or manager of
the papers meets in the city so many people
who know how TO conduct newspapers, and
who are willing to tell him just how TO do it,
that really he does not have the opportunity
there to be as self-asserting or 10 learn the
practical part of the business as he does in
the country. | asked Mr.. Stevens when he
spoke to me about coming to st. Paul, TO per-
NIT me to talk informally, and to possibly say
something about an association similar TO
this organization, of which / have the honor
to be president. There is, as you probably
know, an association known as the American
Newsp :pers Publishers Association. 1t is
devoted more to the business inter
ests of newspapers, and its members
are the proprietors and managers of papers
in the large cities, that is. the great majority
of the members are from the larger cities OF
the country. The association includes all of
New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia,
St Louis Cincinnati and the dailies Of st.
Paul. And right here l would like to say
that if there is anything to be learned from
Il. . 10 cF
this association, it certainly can be learned
from the papers Of the city of ST. Paul, which
you have seen this morning. l think the
manner in which they have handled the re-
ports OF yesterday and last evening is credit
20 the newspapers everywhere. No paper
certainly could do it any better. Applause.
Very fortunately this little book which hold
in my hand THE convention programme con
tains topics pertaining TO the theme 10 be
discussed, and as these topics have been pre-
pared by your executive committee, l prefer
to take them up in the order that they are
arranged: and, as your president said, 1t will
be very pleasant for me to answer any queS-
tions relative to any department of city
newspaper which any Of you desire to ask.
The Chicago Association.
This, I am told, is a meeting OF practical
newspaper men. If you want TO know how
much l pay for white paper or how much l
pay for anything else, or what rules we have
in my Office or any Office similar to mine
relative to anything l shall be very glad to
answer | would like to say at this point
that in Chicago we are very fortunate in
deed in having a local newspaper assocla-
ton known as the Daily Newspaper Associa-
ton of Chicago. 1t Is composed OF the pro-
prietOrs and managers OF the city dallles.
Ii holds regular meetings every month. The
meetings consist of Ii lunch at one of the
common clubs, and to secure attendance.
when the association was first started, 1t was
decided that the members OF the association
1 e. slaTr laav ar.Ff -,
whether they were there or not. Although
small matter, ii had the effect of reminding
a man on the day of the meeting that his
lunch was paid for and by himself. and GER
tainlv he attended We have succeeded i'll
dong in Chicago what has not been accom-
plished IN any other city; that is, there is the
best of feeling existing between the editors
and prOprietOrs of the different newspapers.
There is no personal journalism. OF course
we disagree edltOr1ally and we may say sharp
things about one another. but they are said
in pleasant way, and if any question in
business arises, where one of us thinks
another has been in any way unfair or un-
Just we do not do as is ordinarily the case,
attack the man on the ch irge made against
him before first seeing him and getting an
explanation. The result is that in our busi-
ness methods we have adopted uniform
rules. We have made rules relative to the
breaking of columns for advertisements, etc.
We have q rule that we will not break a col
umn unless man takes 80 lines deep or 100
altogether. Consequently man does not go
to one daily paper in Chicago and say, Il can
get this advertisement twenty-five lines
double into the Tribune or the Times, and
would like to put il in the Inter Ocean or the
Herald because the rule prevents adver-
tisements being taken in that way.
The president has very kindly said the
Herald is well known for its typographical
beauty. l believe the typographical beauty,
with good white paper and ink. has as much
to do with circulation of a paper as any
other feature connected with it. l be
lieve that a metropolitan newspaper which
has a very large transient sale. and which
attracts people at the news stand, at the
depot, at the hotel, or on the street has
great advertisement for Itself II printed on
whittier paper and better ink-I think ii has
an advantage in that respect. Certainly it
has proven to be a success with the paper l
manage, and l am certain the other good
looking papers of the country are prospering.
Circulation Methods.
The first question or point mentioned in
this pamphlet / have in my hand is What
are the best methods for increasing circula-
tion:' Possibly il would be well for me to
explain to you the method OF circulation in
the larger cities Some of the newspaper
offices sell their city circulation to one and
he arranges with carriers to deliver the paper
for him and he does the collecting. The
method that has been adopted recently in the
larger cities and the one that is
most satisfactory is what is known
as the Philadelphia Ledger plan.
1t is one Mr.. Charles inaugurated when he
bought the Ledger number of years. and
the one / adopted myself when l started the
Herald. We arrange small districts in the
city of about eight or ten square blocks and
give that district to one man, saying to him
that we would secure for him subscriptions
in that district and give him orders that he
might deliver them. We would sell him the
paper at the wholesale price and he could de-
liver and collect by the week or month, as ne
chose. OF course at first 1t was necessary to
do some eanYassing for the newspaper to