The Globe-republican., 1892-07-11

pers invariably create an unfavorablt
impression concerning the region
from which they emanate, in the
minds of strangers who chance to see
them. Money spent in generously
patronizing home paper is the very
best investment city or county can
possibly make, and nothing could
please us better, as tax payer, than
to see this liberal spirit toward the
press beginning to manifest itself in
our city government. Even though
it does not in this instance add to the
revenue of this particular paper, the
principle is good, and il persevered i'll
will help make our county TEEN with
prosperity, and Dodge City overflow
with commercial greatness.
Why are Sedgwick county farmers
growing richer every year and their
lands worth more than those of Mis-
souri, or Iowa? It is mainly due to
the fact that the people of Wichita
poured money into Marsh Murdock's
Golfers with such unstinted profusion
as to seem like reckless waste to the
more conservative. In return for
which the Eagle made Wichita the
Peerless Princess" and thus returned
to the generous people their money
with increase of more than Il thousand
fold.
When we came to. Rice county it
WAS very much like Ford is to-day
except there was no such place as
Dodge City nearer than hutchinson.
It was thinly settled and not many
new people coming in. But the coun-
ty commissioners believed in newspa
per ink. They paid newspaper all
the law would allow for doing county
work and actually appropriated $500
for extra copies of the paper to send
east, and every Jim Grow grocery
store carried S. to $40 ad. per
month. The result was the newspa-
per doomed and an intelligent, wide
awake class of English speaking peo
pie soon began pouring into that
county. They plowed up the native
sod, and never had failure of crops
since. Land there of precisely the
same character as ours is worth fifty
dollars per acre. Taxable values have
increased one thousand per cent. and
the thousands of dollars thrown to the
newspaper with such prodigal hand
Was not felt at all by the tax payers.
1t is time our city fathers awoke to
the fact that they have been strang
ling the very life out of this commun
ity by their manner of dealing
with newspapers. Bills by home pa
pers are cut down, and bids called for
to induce newspaper men to cut each
others throats through spirit of ri
valry. They took more delight in
sealping off the legitimate profits from
newspaper work and job printing than
any other department of their official
duties. They would spend hours
squeezing few dollars from print
cr's bill and then gloat over it as
though public blessing had been
wrought. when in fact the very foun-
tain Of prosperity had been UNDER
mined by thus crippling and stinting
into dwarfed and NANCY existence
papers which properly sustained
would 60 abroad as prima facia evi-
dence of thrift aud happy messengers
of good to those who are seeking
western homes. To-day even the
council proceedings are not published
because of this mistaken sentiment
which grudges the newspaper every
cent Of earnings which can possibly
be kept from it.
We made every reasonable effort to
get some Of the city printing. but
failed. Now since the Times has Sc
cured it, we cannot be accused of self
interest in demanding that the pro-
ceedings be published. The city
councilmen owe it to the people to let
them know what they are doing, and
they ought to put their official acts
before the public and pay the Times
for publish ing them. Now that the